A good short day

Friday, 19 Nov - Happy Anniversary to my parents!

It was a short school day.  We only got through: devotion, math, and reading.  It's been an errands-kind-of-week.  I feel like I didn't get enough done with school, but I can only do what I can do.

The devotion was called have a no-good absolutely horrible day. We’ve all had “one of THOSE days.” Paul, from the bible, had a couple of very bad days. In fact he had some bad, no-good, horrible weeks, months, even years. As he carried the gospel from place to place: five different times the Jews gave him 39 lashes, three times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned, and three times he was shipwrecked. He was weary, in pain, had sleepless nights, and went without food, clothing or water. Paul had a different reaction than I would under even one of these circumstances. He was glad...because he understood that through each event Jesus’ strength and power were demonstrated. Jesus once said, “My power works best in your weakness.” The same is true for us.

The math lesson was about dividing fractions and mixed numbers. (This is crazy math and I’m glad fractions is also most over.) First we had to leave the first fraction alone and flip the numbers of the second fraction. Then, divide the top numbers by themselves. Next, divide the bottom numbers by themselves. Lastly, simplify the fraction. (One more day of fractions left.)

JD finished reading the short story called Tomas is Lost before his time was up so we just discussed the story and did not do a book report.

We had another short school day so I could complete yet more errands. Jeff picked up his medications and JD’s too, but he didn’t know I had meds available too. So I picked up my Migraine meds. I also had to drop off some money for JD’s football trophy and championship ring.  Our banquet is scheduled for 4 December. 

School Picture Day

It’s was a good day for school, but not for the public! (You’ll see why in my errands area.)

The devotion was about video games and the consequences of bad moves or choices in the games. Kids today might not lose points or may not make it to the next level in a game but for the most part there are no consequences. As a matter of fact if they need to stop, they simply hit the pause button, save the game, and pick up again in the same spot days later. Real life is nothing like these games. The consequence for not studying for a math test, a failed test. The consequence for deciding not to help a friend, a hurt relationship. The devotion led us to Proverbs 27:12. It reads, “A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

The math lesson today was all about multiplying fractions. This lesson was easy enough once I found out (again) how to do it. All we had to do was multiple the top numbers together and then the bottom numbers together. Then we had our answer. Unless, we had to reduce it or simplify it. JD scored a 90% on the quiz. Daniel’s family has been job searching so Suri has not been attending FCA. (Bummer…)

I had JD read for thirty minutes today while I prepared for our errands. He is still reading the short story called Tomas is lost. (I’m beginning to think it’s not so short.)

Today was “school picture day.” We went to the Fayetteville Wal-Mart portrait studio to get JD’s school pictures. This task was a completely frustrating. The photographer was not personable and appeared agitated. Could that be because I showed up at 12:20 for my 12:30 appointment and the photographer took her friend in the back to photograph the newborn and I called her out? I said, “Um, excuse me…how long is that going to take?” The photographer promised I would be seen on time. (I was not.) Let’s just say I directed and posed JD for his shots. She had him turned completely sideways with only his head turned to the camera. (Really!?) I managed to get JD to smile for two of the five pictures taken because she did nothing to get him to smile and STILL took the pictures. (GRR!) Daniel’s family had the appointment time right behind us. The Reader’s Digest version is…after 40 minutes of picture taking they walked out without any portraits. This was in part because the photographer took up 20 minutes “fixing” her camera and then the little girls took turns becoming agitated. My next stop…Verizon phone company to “fix” our bill. (GRR!) I’m just too frustrated with them to even type about it. I’m ready to go back to the two cans and a string!

A distracting day

The devotion was about the dance called the Tango. It was born on the backstreets of Buenos Aires South America. (I love being able to tie in our lessons.) During WWI the German forces were banned from dancing the Tango because the dance was described as “an affront to common decency.” King David was fussed at by his wife, Michal, (imagine that!) when he danced with abandon before the Ark of the Lord. In Michal’s eyes, David was making a complete fool of himself. David had much to celebrate, because he was chosen over his father Saul to be the next King of Israel. To David it was worth acting like a fool to show his joy in the Lord.

The math lesson today was pretty easy too. It was all about subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. That’s easy enough. You just have to make the denominators the same. Then it taught us how to subtract whole numbers and fractions with unlike denominators too. JD scored a 100% on the quiz.  It was a slightly frustrating lesson for the teacher.  My student was self-distracting.  The TN Hyder's left to go job searching so the house was quiet, and yet JD still found a way to get distracted and the lesson took longer than it needed to.

I had JD read for thirty minutes while I prepared for errands.  He is still reading the short story called Tomas is Lost.

After a short school day we went out to run important errands. My main goal was to pick up medications for all three of us NC Hyder’s. Unfortunately, the clinic was closed for training. (Seriously?) So then JD and I went on our short field trip to the travel agency. I was looking for brochures for South America. We scored big. We got three full magazines of vacation packages for Mexico, Central and South America.  Then, we picked up some other brochures of other places we have already been in NC so we could look at the "exciting" ways they use to invite people to that location.  We'll start the brochure project next week.  JD was still finding ways to get on my last half nerve by embarrassing me with his manners (spitting out his drink) and acting in ways that called for me to "warn" him to rethink his decisions. But all in all it was a good school day. 

A productive day

I managed an entire classroom schedule today even before I went to my part-time cleaning job and cleaned.

The devotion went back to 1952 when the Peanuts comic strip introduced Lucy pulling the ball out from under Charlie Brown’s kick. Then it transitioned into our words being important and we should be good promise keepers. Promises back in Moses’ day were binding. And if we break our promises today just like back in Moses' time then it will mean broken relationships and broken trust.

I like it when JD and I feel like the math lessons are too easy. We just don’t like it when they’re easy but long. Today was adding fractions with unlike denominators. Easy peazy…we pushed through the lesson and the quiz with a 100%.

We finally finished up our study of South America in social studies. We learned that during 1850 to about 1960 the United States helped out South America in many ways. We helped them out with their “rights” and policies. Then around 1971 the population sky rocketed and the jobs were down. In the 80’s they had a recession. The last entry in the notes was for 1990. It read 40% of the population is poor. Sad…

For language arts today I had JD copy conversation starters for the dinner table. I’ve never seen him write so fast. It still took a bit longer than it needed to because self-distractions but it was clear to read. As a matter of fact when all seven of us sat down for our everybody-has-recovered-from-puking spaghetti feast, JD went and got his lesson and started it out. He picked one question and asked Daniel, “what superpower he wished he had.” Of course Daniel answered and he asked someone else a question from the paper. This went on until everyone had a chance to ask a question. It was fun so share our answers around the table.

For science today I allowed JD to watch a History Channel program where train number 7551 East crashed going down the San Gabriel Mountains. Apparently the brakes didn’t work because of the unknown weight of the train. The pipeline was inspected near the crash site and there were no cracks found. That overweight train did however cause a crack in the gas pipeline owned by the Cel Nev Corp. Later that pipeline burst and an unsuspecting neighborhood went up in flames. I brought JD back to the classroom to show him the forces of motion poster and we reviewed inclined planes and then friction.

Because I didn’t go to church on Sunday I had JD start reading this set of books Lyndell gave us. He started with book number four called Just Around the Corner. It contains stories from around the world. JD chose the story called Tomas is Lost and it contains the Mexican village of Benito Juarez.

The plague

It's as if the plague hit the Hyder Zoo.

The viral gastroenteritis hit Suri first on Monday (8 Nov.) Then Friday night it got Isabella. Just in time for her daddy to help out.  Poor Sarah is so sleep deprived.  Suri vomiting for nearly 24 hours and was extremly cranky for three days.  Isabella on the other hand only vomited for about 12 hours, but has since had diarrhea. Just when we thought the worst of it was over Saturday night (13 Nov) after a feast at KFC, JD and I both literally laid out on the living room floor having a Puke Party all night! That’s all either of us expelled though. But all day Sunday we were out for the count. Late Sunday night (14 Nov) Daniel and Sarah went down. Daniel has had it the worst out of all of us so far. He just can't stop running to the bathroom. It’s now Monday and Jeff remained the last man standing. But he’s not immune and it finally got him too. So you’re thinking whew, it’s hit everyone and now they can recover. Nope! Isabella has it again. We all wish we could take it for her, but that’s not the way it works I guess.

P.S. Yes, we have been rehydrating.

P.S.S. No, we did not have school today. (Gee I wonder why?)

All the prayers we can get, we'll take here at the Hyder Zoo!