A VERY short school day

Today was a VERY short school day. My mom came back from Massachusetts yesterday and called to have a visit today. JD was happy about the visit and the short school day.

The devotion was about making up your own rules during a game. They do the same in life too; changing what wrong to make it right to fit their mood. James 4:11-12 says, “When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.”

We started to look for more AWANA missionaries today for an AWANA challenge but we were unable to email from the little computer so we moved onto math.

The math lesson was a short lesson too. It was naming the angles used in geometry. We relearned the names: right, acute, obtuse, and straight angles. JD made the comment that he remembered all this from 3rd grade so I walked away while he did the quiz. We both thought the quiz was locked up half way through. There are usually ten questions to answer, but it turns out there were only five. JD scored a 100%. What a way to end our school day.

The blue flower bouqet

Not long after that both my parents came for their visit. We talked about my Nana’s, the funeral, and other things. My folks took JD and I out to lunch and then our visit was over. Bummer…it was a nice visit. We all promised to visit again when we get back from Europe.

Low tolerance day

It was just one of those days.  I had zero tolerance for immature behavior and a child who was NOT focused. 

The devotion was about two fictional characters named Muck and Mire. They went off on a quest to find the king. The laundry lady said, “There ain’t no King” and the pig farmer said, “I don’t know where to find the king.” When they found the king with a paper name tag pinned on his garb. Written on the paper was “King” but Muck and Mire didn’t recognize him. He waved his scepter and pointed to his crown and said, “See I am the king.” I know when I want things done my way I don’t recognize the King either; even though the signs are all there.

I did not receive an invitation to comedy hour today but I was still allowed a seat. It started during the AWANA book time. Although it was only JD laughing. He did manage to completed challenge 5:6 where JD learned because of Jesus, he is forgiven. He memorized three bible verses to back up that fact. What was stressed about this lesson was just because we’re “Christians” doesn’t mean we will never sin again. It means once we identify something is sinful we need to repent and ask for forgiveness.

During the math lesson JD was extremely unfocused. He was singing and beat boxing (making drum sounds with his mouth.) The lesson was about geometric definitions. We relearned: point, line, ray, line segment, and plane. The quiz was rather frustrating because they introduced new information that was not discussed in the lesson. I hate that when that happens. Luckily he and I worked together to score a 90% on the quiz.

Today I combined the science lesson with a language arts lesson. I got the idea from the book Hoot. I had JD research threatened and endangered animals that are in North Carolina. He decided on the Noonday Globe snail. (Just like my boy to think outside the shell.) JD and I researched the snail and I had JD type another personal letter. He addressed it to the threatened species Point of Contact (POC.) JD introduced himself by telling a little bit about himself. He also told the POC how he researched the snail and saw how it became threatened and also saw what he can do to protect this small snail. His last entry in the letter was thanking the POC for caring about the Noonday Globe snail from Western North Carolina.

It was kind of a tough afternoon because I had to clean my client’s house today. I brought JD with me to have him type the letter while I cleaned. I did not know public school was on a half day today. This made the lesson very difficult to complete. In part to JD’s friend talking to JD the whole time. I had to repeatedly say, “He’s busy right now but he’ll be able to play soon.” I know that put JD in a tough spot but he has to learn to tell his friend himself that he’s doing schoolwork.  He was interested in only typing what absolutely needed to be typed and nothing more.  I was also getting a headache from telling him everything to type. 

We did not do the social studies or reading lessons today.

A movie day

It was another distraction free day. And we finally got to see the movie Hoot.

The devotion was about prices. It asked JD to match up items and prices like: sodas, newspapers, school lunches, cars, a visit to the doctors office, and baseball cards. It mentioned that some items were priced kind of steep while other prices seems like bargains. Then, it transitioned into the price of doing the right thing can be pretty steep too. However, the price of doing the wrong thing is usually steeper. God does not promise that we will be rewarded in this life for every right choice we make, but he does promise that obeying his commands will accomplish our good - maybe not right now, but in the long run, and certainly in eternity.

In the AWANA book today JD read four passages in Matthew, Mark, and Romans. This completed challenge 5:5.  He relearned the calling of Jesus’ disciples. He also learned more ways on how to live his life. Things like love sincerely, hate what is evil, and sharing with those in need.

Right after JD and I finished the AWANA lesson there was a knock at the door. I thought they were magazine sales people but it turns out the two ladies standing before me were Jehovah Witnesses. I explained I was currently home schooling. I took their reading material and asked for them to come back later. We never discussed a day or time, but I am hoping they come back. I needed a poke in the butt in order to 1.) defend my (or know why I have a ) relationship with the trinity and 2.) to help them see the differences in the trunk issues between our religions.

I finished reading the book Hoot with JD. He was thankful we read the last of it together. I could tell he wanted to see the movie just as bad as I did. Here’s the official count of bad words: smart @$$ 2 times, bad@$$ 1 time, @$$ 1 time, dumb@$$ 1 time, and damn 6 times. We did watch the movie today for language arts. The disk got scratched while in JD’s care. When I found it weeks ago I worried about that. We got through about 2/3rds of the movie before I finally gave up starting and restarting the scratched disk. I intended to take his copy to the movie store and have the disk buffed but I forgot it at home. I ended up just renting another copy. We noticed a few differences here and there from the book to the movie but overall it was about the same. The ending was largely different from the book. We had hoped one scene would stay but it didn’t make it into the movie. I asked JD which one he liked better and he said the movie. When I asked him why he said, “I don’t like to read that much.” The movie was cuss free. Thank goodness. Personally I liked the book much better.

The math lesson today was about making predictions from graphs and solving multi-step word problems. JD was NOT focused today. I think that’s because we did not do math in the morning like we usually do. The predictions were easy to make once we figured out the pattern. The multi-step problems took some thinking for JD, but he worked through each and every one of them. He did the quiz while I did dishes and folded laundry. He scored an 80%. I can see where he messed up two questions and I would have interpreted the graphs the same way.

A distraction free day

Sarah started a housekeeping job today and the girls are currently being babysat by a friend. Sarah thought home schooling JD and watching the girls would be too much to handle. So today I woke up to a completely quiet house. I have to admit…it made for an less distracting day. JD seemed less “stressed.” We completed all of our lessons today. (Smile)

Standards of measurement

The devotion was about standards of measurements like: a thermometer, a tape measure, a yardstick, a speedometer, a pressure gauge, and God. Wait a minute…God? Yep. If you wanted measure rightness from wrongness of an attitude or action, you measure it against God’s values. He is the standard for measuring right and wrong.

We only worked for a short time in the AWANA book. JD memorized Titus 2:11-12 to remember that because of Jesus JD has salvation.

The math lesson was a continuation from Monday’s lesson. Remember I got up and walked away because JD was frustrating me. He learned the three steps to figuring out sales tax, shipping charges, and discounts. He was so focused his brain was working much faster than his fingers. (That’s a polite way of saying he was hyper.) He scored a 92% on the lesson and a 100% on the quiz. But the best part is he understands the concept. That’s good because it will be a needed life skill.

Today JD did a T4L language arts lesson about poetry. It was a read aloud story about a boy who watched too much TV. Imagine that! But he dad also watched a lot of TV. JD and I also edited two papers he wrote. I was not checking for spelling errors. I mostly “picked on” capitalization in the middle of words. It’s the strangest thing. I asked why he did that and he said, “Well, you always write in capital letters.” (DO I REALLY?) Anyway we edited Top Ten Reasons Why I Love You from 14 Feb and the Boys Verses Girls paper from 23 Feb. Then we reviewed the reasons you would caputalize words. He took the criticism well.

For science today I taught JD how to read the electricity bill. This was a piggy back lesson from 23 Feb where we went out and read the electric meter on our home and figured out common kWh on each one. Then, I showed him how our bill shows us the typical high and low months throughout the year. This of course is in conjunction with the hotter and colder months.

For social studies today I counted our field trip to AAA to get our International Drivers licenses. It is a quick and painless process when you have all the paperwork signed, photos, and cash. Maybe the Passport people need a lesson in customer service tips. (Smile.) So now we’re free to roam all around Ireland and Scotland in a car too.

After the “boring” and non-eventful Drivers Licence task I dragged JD into Old Navy for some new pants that actually fit. He is officially no longer in “boys” pants. He is now in “mens” pants. (I am sad…a moment of silence please.) He fits into a 30 or 32 waist but I could find nothing shorter than a 30 inseam. So I guess for the next couple of years I’ll be hemming men’s pants. I also opted out of an X-Large boys shirt and chose a medium men’s shirt.

JD did not read his book today but I did. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through all 292 pages. I can’t wait to see the movie!

Frustrating day

Just getting to JD’s doctors appointment was frustrating. The Army closed one of the 24 hour gates at Pope AFB. Since the Army took over everything is messed up. So we drove all the way around the base and came in through the Army side. I called the nurse to let her know of our problem and that we didn’t forget the appointment. They accepted us just as we walked in. The doctor could not find anything wrong with JD’s blood work from the 16 Feb appointment. I was still concerned about the weight gain this past year. I’ve kept an accurate log of all of his appointments since he was 7 years old. In the last year alone JD has gained 32.2 pounds. That should be a red flag to any doctor. On the up side he has also grown 2.6 inches. The doctor referred us to Womack Army hospital to see another Endocrinologist. We went in Sept 2010 but they only looked at Pope’s blood work numbers and said nothing was wrong. We’re waiting on the referral office to schedule that appointment. Shortly after arriving home the doctor called me and wanted to refer JD to a Nutritionist. I agreed and that appointment will be 25 Mar at 10:00 am. (Ah, the military scratch your head and guess game is sooo fun.)

The devotion was about a young girl stuck between going to a party with the cool girl or remaining friends with a not so popular girl. The typical old problem of being tempted to do wrong. The popular girl told the girl she can’t come if she’s friends with the not so popular girl. After a short discussion with mom, the girl decides telling the not so popular girl she’s going to be busy for a while and they can’t hang out as much would be lying. This was a tough lesson of doing the unpopular thing, but the right thing.

Today in the AWANA book JD memorized Romans 8:38-39 to help him remember that because of Jesus, JD is loved. We also started challenge 5:4 where JD learned that because of Jesus, he can have salvation. He memorized Romans 4:5.

Math was frustrating today. I should have known better than to mess with JD’s schedule. It was a frustrating lesson because JD’s mind was not on math. I think he had a stereo going on in his head and ants in his pants. I ended up getting up in the middle of the lesson and telling JD to go read his book. The lesson was about finding a discounted percent off and adding in a percent of sales tax. But JD just didn’t get the concept. So instead of telling me he didn’t understand he just kept distracting himself. We’ll finish that lesson tomorrow.

JD read the book Hoot for thirty minutes. Since he’s so close to finishing I thought I’d better get to reading it so I’m armed with questions for him when it’s finally done. I’ve never seen the movie but I do know the plot. It is an action packed book thus far. I feel for kids that move around a lot and the bullies that pick on them. I’m about one third of the way through the book, but I’m taking notes because of my memory. And JD was right. There are cuss words in it. When JD was little we used to say the word “stupid” was a bad word. So I thought he meant those kinds of “cuss” words. It’s not like a sailor wrote the book with every other word being a cuss word. It’s just scattered here and there. Once were done reading the book we’ll use those dictionary skills to look each one up.

It was an extremely windy day today and branches were falling out of the pine tree in our back yard.  So today I ran a tornado drill.  It was uneventful, but needed.  Since the girls are here now it forced us to find a different hiding spot.  Our plan in the past has been to hide in the closet of the spare room.  Now we pull out the love seat and hide there.