A frustrating internet day

The devotion was about two knights. One was dressed as a knight should be. The only metal the other knight wore was the metal braces on his teeth. He also had a backwards ball and sunglasses to protect his head and eyes from the sun. He also wore a t-shirt, shorts, socks, and shoes to complete his attire. The devotion then asked which knight would you rather be…the one that’s in restrictive clothing and armor or the one that’s free. God’s commands work like a suit of armor. They are designed to protect us from the “fiery arrows aimed by Satan” (Ephesians 6:16.) God’s commands are not designed to “cramp” our style or spoil our fun; they’re intended-like a suit of armor-to protect us from the strategies and tricks of Satan. (Eph 6:11) 

For math today we learned about how to conduct a survey. JD now knows a good sample should include 10 percent of the people he has. He also learned that there are biased questions and unbiased questions to ask. Honestly I had to write biased is “bad” and unbiased is “good” because I kept getting confused. We got ALL the way through the lesson and the computer (in the words of Suri…got S.T.U.C.K!) Then, the internet and cable went down for the count. So we were unable to do the lesson quiz.

That pretty much confirmed my thoughts of making it a short school day. Lately JD and I have been using Time4Learning for language arts so that crashed the language arts lesson for today.

JD begged to watch the DVD: America the Story of Us so we did. We learned facts about the Civil War. We also learned about the “Minnie ball” bullet and the carnage it produced. The DVD also told us about Robert E. Lee’s and Abraham Lincoln’s positions in the war efforts. We learned that the North lost the battle of Manassas in Virginia. It also talked about the North’s two secret weapons of the rail road and the telegraph. We learned about the battle of Antietam and Clara Barton. JD perked up when her name was mention because of a Tree House book we read about her. The last thing we learned about was about Gen. William Sherman and his March to the Sea. (We love this DVD set.) JD of course watches it while I dictate notes for later review.

It was a tiring and frustrating short day because of the computer so once JD read his book called Hoot for thirty minutes I called it a day.

A better day today

It was a much better day today than yesterday. (Whew!)

The devotion had a boy crab talking to his dad about wanting free of his shell. It was based off of John 8:32 which says, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The father told the son, “Every crab has felt that at one time or another. Soon you will shed your shell and when that happens you will be more vulnerable than at any other time in your life. Until your new shell hardens you’ll have to be much more careful and watchful than usual. You’ll be less free without this shell, not more free.” At the bottom of the devotion it likened John 8:31-32 to a math problem. Obeying Jesus’ teaching + knowing the truth = FREEDOM

The math lesson went further into detail about the terms mean, mode, and median. Then, it called the lesson measures of central tendency. We have to figure out if by adding a number to our string of numbers if the mean, mode, or median number would increase or decrease. The lesson was as easy as yesterday’s lesson. (Thank goodness.)

Today in language arts we learned ten words and their Latin origins. We learned about: omni (all), annus (annual), vita (life), dict (to say, speak, or declare), and magnus (large). JD says he wants to learn Latin since it’s a “dead” language and that’s what the Roman’s used. (My little historian - smile.)

I intended to sit with JD and watch and take notes on the DVD America: The Story of Us but I ran out of time before my part time cleaning job. Not only that our break became extended when JD found a wooden squirrel feeder in our garage that required some assembly. JD built the feeder and hung it outside. I took that opportunity to clean the backyard for the dogs. So we did not do a social studies or science lesson.

JD read his book called Hoot while I cleaned my client’s house.

An unfocused day

I can’t even keep up with the number of times I tried to refocus JD today. It started out with JD getting mad at one of the grandbabies. And it never fizzled out. From that point on it was finding everything else to concern himself with, other than the lessons at hand.

The devotion was called Recipe for Right. It was about a boy that wanted to make his mom a cake. The cake called for a cup of water. The little sister wanted to use her doll cup to measure that water. The boy tried to explain that they needed to use the standard cup to measure the water into, but the girl insisted on using her doll cup. A lot of people try to measure whether its right or wrong by how they feel or what others might say. The truth is the only standard of measurement for right and wrong is God. Deuteronomy says, “He is a faithful God who does no wrong.” So whatever is not like God is wrong and whatever is like God is right.

Before we started the math lesson I had to have JD take an attitude change break. He came back better but no completely changed. The lesson reviewed the terms and definitions of the following words: range, mean, mode, and median. Then we had to display the use of this information in order to provide the answers. It was an easy lesson that was over almost as soon as it started.

We did Time4Learning again today in language arts. Today JD learned about acronyms. He learned they are different from abbreviations in that they do not have periods. There were some words I didn’t know were acronyms, and they are: sonar, radar, scuba, and laser. Sonar (Sound Navigation Ranging), radar (Radio detecting and Ranging), scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatuses), and laser (Light Amplified by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.) This lesson taught JD that acronyms are so commonly used in English today that just like me we think words like those above are words and not acronyms.

JD noticed I didn‘t stick to the “schedule” by listing what we had already accomplished. He apparently came to the conclusion that we must be doing a half day. He even asked, “Is today a half day?” I said, “No” I just went out of order.

For science today we did a worksheet from the science workbook where we had to match the “glacier word“ with the definition. The words were: cirque, drumlin, end moraine, esker, arêtes, flord, kettle, plucking, rock flour, tarn, and till. Then, we went to BrainPop and watched three videos. They were about: glaciers, the north pole, and the south pole.

JD continued reading his book called Hoot. I set the removable tab on the clock and laid down so my migraine would diminish. Therefore we did not a social studies lesson during the daytime. Instead, I had JD watch CSPAN with Jeff and me. They had full coverage of the 112th congress. Claiming power beneath the Capitol dome, Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives in November. We watched as nearly all of the 435 representatives called out their nominations for the new House Speaker. Of course Republican John Boehner of Ohio won, replacing Democrat Nancy Pelosi. Then, we listened to Boehner’s speech.

Once Jeff’s replacement cell phone arrived I ran it down to Verizon to have them transfer the “contacts” information.

A productive day

Today was a productive day. Our school day ended quickly and I even managed to run two errands. As an additional treat JD and I ate pizza for dinner on Fort Bragg and I treated myself to a Starbucks coffee. (Can you say "WIRED!")

The devotion today led us to Proverbs 14:12 where it said, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” It asked JD how he made his decision if something was right or wrong. It offered the choices of: a coin toss, considering whether something “felt” right, or considering if the majority of people did it. The truth is right and wrong are determined by God, who is the original, the universal, the absolute standard for everything that is good and right. It went on to tell him lying is wrong because God is true. Stealing is wrong because God is just. Hatred is wrong because God is love.

JD read for more than 30 minutes again today. He loves that Hoot book. (As a matter of fact I went looking for it at 10:40 pm tonight while typing this blog and he’s in bed reading it. I guess it just takes a “good” book to get him to LOVE reading. I can remember those nights during his kindergarten and 1st grade years trying to get him to read without tears streaming down his face.

The math lesson was fun today. It was coordinated graphing. The lesson will have a coordinate grid and give two points. It was JD’s job to find the correct point of the “ordered pair.” He did really well on this last year and remembered most of it this year. The first # goes right or left from the 0 point depending on if it’s a positive or negative # and the second # goes up or down also dependant on if it’s a positive or negative #. He scored a 100% on the quiz.

JD used the Time4Learning website for language arts today. This lesson was also fun. We learned 14 foreign words that are also used in the English language. JD learned what language they all originated from and their meanings. The words were: adieu, faux, al fresco, incognito, a la carte, et cetera, incommunicado, bon voyage, smorgasbord, gesundheit, touché, tour de force, toupee, and hors d’ oeuvres. (It’s ok…no one is looking right now. You can look them up for the correct pronunciation and meaning…I did.) JD has used the word adieu all day. There was a Chapter quiz at the end of the lesson and he scored a (drum roll please…) 100%. My boy is so talented with accents and foreign languages.

The science lesson was structured to be fun. I started it out with a scale model of a glacier. I put bars of soap at the far end of a tin pan. Then we covered 2/3rds of the pan with sand and pebbles. Next we scraped ice cubes across the sand and watched them deposit the sand on the bars of soap. This displayed the erosion made by glaciers. Then we checked out a website called pbskids.org/dragonflytv for additional glacier research. And that was the end of the school day.

I ran by Verizon to get Jeff’s phone fixed but they were unable to fix it and I had to do an insurance claim on it. Then, we ran by the church to talk with the new Children/Youth Minister. The last stop was the travel agency. We did not do a social studies lesson today because my intent was to go to the travel agency to get brochures on Scotland and Ireland. But by the time we got there it was closed. So we made our last stop the Pizza treat and coffee. And that was our day.

A good half day

Today was only a half day.  It was terribly hard to get the staff member and student of the Faith Christian Academy Lions out of bed after the two week vacation, but we finally got up.  I wanted to ease JD back into school so I only had him perform a half day. 

JD and I started a new 1 year devotional book.  It’s called Youth Devotions by Josh McDowell.  It will have different themes for all 12 months.  January’s theme is the Ten Commandments.  Today JD learned about “right” and “wrong.”  We read the suggested passages of Judges 17:1-6 where it said, “In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”  It was written like a TV interview and engaged JD for the few minutes we read it and talked about it. 

JD read for more than 30 minutes today.  He started a new book that he received for Christmas.  It’s called Hoot by Carl Hiaasen.  It’s about a young boy named Roy Eberhardt moves to Florida where he takes on the burden of helping to save the burrowing owls by stopping the planned construction on the piece of land where they live. Not only does he do so, but he makes friends, helps those friends exposes the dishonesty of the companies involved and their disregard for the environment. Through this, he becomes a mature young man. There’s also a movie about it that I will rent when JD finishes the book.  What a treat it will be for JD to see that books are much better than movies. 

Thank goodness today is the last day of charting lessons in math.  Today JD learned about double bar and line graphs. Again, he asked, “Why do we have to learn this?  I already know it.”  (I didn’t have a good answer for his question other than, “Because it’s the next lesson in a line of lessons.  Let’s just press though it.  He scored a 90% on the quiz because he misread a question. 

I forgot to bring the language arts lesson with me when I left for my cleaning job so JD had a really good and easy school day, not to mention I did too.