A play date day

Today was a short school day because JD had a play date with another baseball team player on his team. His mom home schools him too. This was enough motivation to get JD through all the lesson we needed to before noon. I need motivation like that everyday.

The devotion today was about a fable called The Farmer and the Snake. Aesop’s wrote about a snake he saw across the road. The snake was stiff and frozen from the cold. The farmer felt sorry for the snake and picked him up. As soon as the snake was warm again he turned around and bit the man. The farmer was a foolish man for even picking up the poisonous snake. Many people today do things just as foolish. The play around with sin and temptations. And they wonder why they can’t find happiness and fulfillment. Solomon from the bible says, “People ruin their own lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord.” (Proverbs 19:3) People who play with snake should expect to get bitten.

A FedEx surprise showed up on my porch today while we were on break. I have an appointment with the VA in Fayetteville for a general medical examination for left shoulder, fractures right toe, girl stuff, and headaches. While that’s not everything I claimed it’s a start. I mean after all it’s just been two years of fighting for an appointment they claimed I failed to make it to and I wasn’t even aware I had an appointment way back on Feb 2009.

The math lesson today was about Functions and Non-linear relationships. It was a continuation of yesterdays lesson where we had to figure out the value of Y by looking at patterns in the table and writing the rule that applied. Then we learned about linear and non-linear lines on a graph. Linear lines are straight. Non-linear lines are curved. We looked at those lines on the graph and figured out the pattern they would take if they continued on the graph. JD scored a 100% on the lesson.

The social studies lesson today was from Brain Pop. It was all about mapping skills. JD learned about the different types of maps like: physical maps, political maps, road maps, historical maps, and topographical maps. He learned that political maps change often. He relearned about the need for a legend, symbols, map key, and labels. And the lesson ended with teaching scale miles to real miles. JD scored an 80% on the quiz.

The language arts lesson was the Fact and Opinion quiz left over from yesterday. JD scored an 87% on it.

The science lesson today was about pollination. JD learned that trees and grass are often pollinated by the wind and flowers are often pollinated by insects. He also learned that insects are attracted to brightly colored flowers and use the nectar as food. He learned that honeybees and flowers have a mutually beneficial relationship where both parties benefit from each other. I guess I should have known this fact but human sperm cells and pollen both have male sex cells. Also another name for a fertilized ovule is a seed. I absolutely did not know some flowers were pollinated by bats. Those flowers bloom at night. JD did not score well on this quiz. He only got a 60%. I was cleaning while he was working independently. He must have been distracted by something.

JD did earn the right to have his play date. We met the other child at Mendoza Park and then drove both of the boys home. They swam and played in the pool until they could no longer swim. Then, we had a dinner of hotdogs and hamburgers. I called the friend’s mom and asked for the boy to be able to sleep over. She said, “Yes.“ That was a fun day for JD but I can see he needs to work on standing up for what’s right. That means telling his friend he’s a Christian and doesn’t talk or act the way the friend was talking. The friend said he went ot church, but if mom doesn’t go what is he really learning?