Another good full day

Today we accomplished another good full day. We completed all of our lessons. I even worked in another independant writing assignment.

The devotion was about a girl playing soccer and she nearly made the game winning goal. But she missed and lost control over her behavior. She even cussed. She apologized to her mom and her coach. Her mom reassured the girl that she loved her, but was disappointed, and more importantly forgave the girl. When we do something wrong we need to know God still loves us and is willing to forgive us. We just have to admit our mistake and ask for forgiveness. Then, trust him to help us make the right decision next time.

JD worked his tail off in the AWANA book today. He had to tell two people (Sarah and me) four reasons how he know the bible is true with four backup verses; as well as four things he needs to know about God with another four back up verses. (That’s eight reasons and eight backup verses.) And he recited the verses like a pro. He’s not ready for the Bible Bee yet, but well on his way. Then, he learned that Christ became a man so He could do what God had planned. Then, he memorized another two bible verses to back up that statement.

The math lesson today was fairly easy. It was all about circle graphs. First, it had JD mark the circle similar to a clock. The marks are 100%/0%, 25%, 50%, and 75%. Then, it had him place marks halfway between those four marks. They were 12.5%, 37.5%, 62.5%, and 87.5%. That way it will, be easy to tell what percent of a circle graph is covered. JD learned it very quickly. He scored a 90% on the quiz.

The language arts lesson was designed on the fly. It started because JD offered me a pencil that was wedged between his big toe and the one next to it. This after he ran around in the dog yard barefooted. I told him that was gross! (Can you imagine grasping that pencil with your hands and then rubbing your face? Gross!) He laughed about and I became infuriated. I quickly sent him to his room for safety reasons. When I called him back out he apologized and we made four lists on a piece of paper. They were named: boys like, girls like, boys do, and girls don’t. From that list I had him write five sentences about boys and five sentences about girls. He wrote…(Warning – some words/entries may offend you, but I wanted him to realize his behavior, at times, is disgusting and inappropriate to me as a woman.)
Boys and girls are very different

Boys like dogs and video games. Boys like action figures, explosions, and war. Boys like to pick their noses. Boys like to fart and burp. Boys like to play with slugs and snakes.

Girls like cats, diamonds, and dolls. Girls don’t like picking their noses, burping, or farting. Girls don’t like sitting in pee. Girls don’t like untamed boys like Mowgle.

I was reaching for and engaging and real world science lesson today. So I went back to NC Department of Education to see what 6th grade students in public school are learning this year. Turns out electricity and energy is a big study. I have touched on some forms of energy but not electricity. So we went out and did a meter reading from the side of our house. It didn’t look like the lesson showed a picture of so we just wrote the five digit number on the meter. We’ll go back out tomorrow to see how much electricity we used in one day. Then, I called our electric company and asked if they had anything on their webpage that shows how much appliances in our house cost per month. She said, “No, but I can mail you a sheet.” Then, I googled the exact phrase she used and found a chart. If the cost of Kilowatts Per Hour (kWh) is $0.078 then our AC alone is $70 per month. Anyone that knows Jeff knows the AC gets overworked here, so that number is probable larger. We looked at typical wattage, est. hours used per month, est. monthly kWh, and cost per month at $0.078. It was amazing to see what appliances burn the most kWh. For example: digital clock (3 kWh), AC (4500 kWh), clothes dryer (5000 kWh), and a coffee pot (1165 kWh). Ok so I picked on Jeff now I’ll pick on myself. That coffee pot has been replaced in the last year because I drink so much coffee. That pot stays on for nearly 12 hours a day. Sad I know. (What will I do in Europe?)

For social studies today we did a quick review of Scotland’s fast facts. First, we learned geography and the surrounding bodies of water. Then things like religion, currency, languages, and main cities. Here‘s a few interesting facts: there are 790 islands near Scotland and only 130 are inhabited, the official animal of Scotland is the unicorn (too much Scottish whiskey?), and a year JD will not forget is 1999. In 1999, Scotland elected its own parliament. Did you know the inventions of TVs, telephones, and video cassette recorders came from Scotland?

JD struggled to read his book Hoot. He desperately wants to see that movie.