A short school day

Today was a short day at school because we had many errands to run. It getting very busy around here with school, church, and baseball.

I loved the devotion today. It was about a French doctor during WWII. He was concerned about babies in orphanages. He notice those that receive regular love and attention faired better than those that didn’t. He ran a brief experiment. He separated the babies into two groups. They all received food, diaper changes, and bathes. However, in the experiment one group received love and affection. Those babies that were cuddled and loved thrived. This experiment showed the doctor that humans need to receive love in order to thrive. This does not change as we get older either. God’s command to love one another can help us to become productive and useful in our knowledge of Jesus. This in turn makes a difference in our health and development (like the babies.)

JD and I did some bible reading for the AWANA book challenge 7:6. We were looking up the Holy Spirit’s “jobs.” JD found out the Holy Spirit guides us, makes information Jesus knew available to us, (he) leads us, teaches us, reminds us, convicts us of our sin, searches things of God and reveals them to us, and carries us along. (I’m thankful for this because sometimes we need carried.) JD also finished challenge 7:7 where the lesson said, “We don’t want you to do anything in this section, other than think. Think about the Holy Spirit being with you to help you, guide you, comfort you, and encourage you.”

The math lesson today was all about quadrilaterals. Those tricky squares, rectangles, parallelograms, rhombuses, and trapezoids. JD had to identify if they had right angles, congruent sides, opposite parallel sides, and opposite congruent sides (equal). Then he had to figure out the angles of each side. He did much better on that part than I ever could have. Geometry is his thing, he just doesn’t recognize that yet. He scored an 80% on the quiz.

Did not do Language arts, social studies, or science today. My plan was to go to Lowe’s and look for sulfur for science, but we didn’t find any. We did however find different kinds of manure to spread in our yard, but we didn’t purchase any. (Truth be told, I think the “dirt lesson is the wrong lesson to teach and I need to find something else.)

JD read his book for thirty minutes as we drove from here to there and back again.

First we drove to Lifeway to find communion cups for Sunday. (Jeff is cooped up in an office all day and I wanted to help him out.) Then, we met Jeff at Play it Again Sports to pick up a pair of baseball pants for JD. We have a two day baseball tournament this weekend. (We have only had four real practices…ouch.) Then, Jeff, me, and JD went out to Dinner at Smokey Bones. It was so good. So it’s been a busy couple of weeks and I finally caught up on my blogs for this week.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

A completely full school day

The devotion was about the happiest people in the world. Even if someone has power, prestige, and wealth they are not truly happy. The happiest people we know are those that show love to other people. Hate hurts us and love enriches us. Those people that act in love toward all those around them experience love twice - once when they give it away, and once when the receive it back again.

Today in JD’s AWANA book he learned he is sealed by the Holy Spirit. I love how they used a signet ring like the Kings used to own. Once it was sealed no one could mess with it. JD also memorized two bible verses to back up this fact in challange 7:5. 

I strongly disliked today’s math lesson. It was about identifying different angles of objects. We had to identify what the top, bottom, and side view look like. Seems easy enough but it’s kind of tricky. JD had to identify different views on prisms, pyramids, cylinders. JD scored a 90% on the quiz.

I had JD work in T4L today for the language arts lesson. I want him to become familiar with summarizing articles of reading. That’s what’s on the assessment. It’s so close to the assessment date. I can’t believe it. This school year went by quickly. JD did both the interactive reading and the quiz. JD did not do well on the quiz. He only scored a 67%. I’m not sure why that score is so low. I think he was distracted because he knows this stuff. Thank goodness because there are parents out there fighting with their children to teach them this concept. There’s another quiz on summarizing that he’ll do before school is out. We’ll see what he scores then.

JD read from the Louis L’Amour book for 30 minutes a day.

Today we did a fun science lesson. We tested three sand/dirt samples from the iris garden, the flower garden, and the vegetable garden. We had six containers filled with sand/dirt. Two were from the iris garden, two from the flower garden, and two were from the vegetable garden. We placed vinegar in three different samples. We were looking for bubbling or fizzing. We charted the observations. Then, in the remaining three different samples we watered it down and put baking soda in it to see if it bubbled or fizzed. Turns out we have alkaline soil. Maybe that’s why nothing significant grows in the iris garden and the vegetable garden. I’ll have to remedy that.

The social studies lesson was engaging. I had JD go to http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/euroquiz.html to take a 48 question quiz on the countries in Europe. The first time he got an 88 out of 144 possible points and the second time he got a 102 out of 144 possible points. I did it right after him and I scored about 100 myself. It gives you three tries to locate the country it asks for. If you miss the first time you only get two points. If you miss two times you get 1 point. So that’s why JD scored a 102 out of 144 on 48 questions.

A good day

It was an extremely busy school day and errand day.  But it was a good day

The devotion today repeated this statement, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it weren’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great. This is talking about loving those unlovable or extra grace required people. It is hard to love those folks, and not everyone can do it. But loving them makes it great! Love isn’t right only when it’s easy. Sometime it seems impossible but you’re not alone. The Holy Spirit fills our hearts with his love. He’ll help us do the right thing.

Today in JD’s AWANA book he completed challenge 3:7. It required him to do three things this week to show others how much he loves the lord. He’s been working on this for about a week and completed it today. He also completed challenge 7:1 where he had to recite 3 questions, six answers, and six verses. He’s my little preacher I tell you!

Today in language arts I had JD rewrite the AWANA assignment. He was to provide one answer and one backup verse to the following questions. How do I know the bible is true? What do I need to know about God? And what do I need to know about Jesus Christ? It was a tough start getting him to write that much but after a short break and a bribe of a Kinder egg he AMAZING finished a great looking paper. It was a completely full page.

Today in math JD relearned the following terms: face, vertices, and edges. Then he relearned the names for shapes of polyhedrons. They were rectangular prism, triangular prism, triangular pyramid, cone, cylinder, pentagonal prism, and hexagonal pyramid. He remembered the lesson from last year. (Better than I did.) And he blew the quiz out of the water with a solid 100%.

JD nutritionist called me back from last week. I was curious about low calories counts. I was not anticipating a 1200 and two 1600 counts but they happened. She said, “Yes, those are low. You want to keep close to 1800 calories.” So far we are just maintaining a steady weigh. He weighed 31 Mar and weighed 131.4 and this morning he weighed 131.2. This makes me happy. This is what the nutritionist wanted for him too. At this point we just want him to maintain his current weight until he hits his growing tall stage.

This reminded me to try to contact the endocrinologist again. So I did. This time I tried email.

After school we ran out to feed the cats we’re sitting. Then I ran into Spring Lake to pick something up from the church. I turned around and drove back to the cat sitting job because I clean her house once a week. I cleaned and sped to the house to change for baseball practice. Must sit down now…

A busy day

It was a busy school day and we had fun during our social studies tag team game of the European facts.  

The devotion today was about our life being a TV show. If your life was a TV show what would the title of the show be? Mine would be “The Amazing Race” I think, because I'm always on the move. If Jesus’ life were a TV show it would be Love. John 13:34-35 says, “A new command I give to you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The center of everything Jesus did was love.

In the AWANA book today JD completed challenge 7:4 where JD learned that the Holy Spirit helps him pray. He also learned to pray for things that are in God’s will; not his. And that just because he prays in Jesus’ name it may not come true for JD’s sake; rather only if it’s in God’s will. That’s a hard lesson for all of us I guess. He also memorized two backup verses.

The math lesson today was on polygons. Those are objects like triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon. He scored a 90% on the quiz.

For language arts today I had JD do three short lessons in T4L. He worked on antonyms today. He learned: comply, routine, laden, tedious, and corrupt. He scored and 88% on one quiz and 1 100% on the other. Then, I had him do a Think Aloud guided lesson on an informational article.

We did not do science again today.

For social studies today we looked up basic facts about various countries in Europe. There are so many we only focused on: Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. This in itself seems excessive but we had fun talking about each one. We decided we want to visit Iceland (beautiful), Germany (family heritage), Luxembourg (size), and Liechtenstein (because it’s so small, that Switzerland once accidentally invaded the country, by simply taking a wrong turn during a training exercise.) We however do not want to visit the Netherlands because it’s going to fall off and sink. Much of the Netherlands is under water and half of the rest is only 1 meter above sea level.

I asked JD if he was bouncing around in the stories he’s reading from the Louis L’Amour book. In fact he is, but he’s reading thirty minutes a day. I just wish he would complete one story and then move to another after telling me what he read.

I got a call from Pope saying JD’s blood work results were in, but I had to contact Womack. I also called JD’s endocrinologist. Still waiting for the results.

We're still cat sitting and JD is still visiting them with me twice a day.  Today he scooted to the house twice.  That 3 miles of scooting and walking today!  Yippie.

A very short school day

I needed a bit of extra sleep last night because I was up until midnight working on some church nominating committee stuff. So, we did not do devotion, AWANA book, social studies, or science today. I hate Mondays. So it was a short school day. We did however, get the Isuzu re-inspected today, and it PASSED! Whew…wouldn’t want to get pulled over with expired tags.

The math lesson today was about Pythagorean theorem. It’s complex to explain. It took us a while to learn ourselves. Basically it was using a formula to figure out TV screen sizes or computer screen sizes. (I think if I need to know that I’ll read the box it comes in - LOL) JD scored a 90% on the quiz.

The language arts lesson was in T4L. Today JD learned about antonyms. I didn’t write down the words so I can’t share them with you. He completed two lessons and did not have to do a quiz.

I also started a cat sitting job Saturday and JD goes with me twice a day to check on them and play with them. He actually rides his scooter during one of the trips both ways for a total of 1.5 miles round trip.

I called Womack again for blood work results. They called me back to tell me to call Pope.  I had to leave a message with Pope.  Grr!

April Fools!

I did not tell JD that today was April Fools day. He fools around enough during our school days. The Isuzu is still in the shop. I’m hoping for a speedy recovery.

The devotion today was about two highly excited angels. They were watching the scene where the Israelites were at the Red Sea. The water had just crushed down on the Egyptians. God talked with the two angels and wondered why God was sad. God’s response, “The work of my hands in sunk in the sea.” God loves all of His creations and he makes it crystal clear that he wants his children to display that same kind of love, even to the mean and hateful people we come into contact with. It’s not always easy, but it’s right.

In the AWANA book today JD learned that he was baptized by the Holy Spirit at the exact moment he accepted Christ. He also memorized two backup verses for this fact to back up challange 7:2.

The math lesson today was classifying triangles. JD had to identify obtuse, right, and acute triangles. He was all over this since he knows those angles so well. The we learned about similar triangle (one small, one bigger) and congruent triangles (the same size) He scored a 90% on the quiz.

For language arts I typed up the Ireland and Scotland questions and answers just the way JD wrote his answers. I showed JD all the errors (tactfully, of course) and had him edit the paper. He corrected most spelling errors and other items I marked, but not completely. I instructed him to physically highlight all the corrections on the paper I provided, but he didn’t understand and missed many errors. I re-edited it and he completed all the corrections. He did a GREAT JOB!

We did not do science again today. I guess I’m waiting to get a dirt “pH” tester to test our soil before planting seeds. I really need to figure out another science lesson until then.

We also did not do a social studies lesson today either. It’s been THAT kind of week.

The Isuzu is finally back. Don’t ask me what was wrong with it but it’s a miracle that it came back today. I spoke with the mechanic about it earlier in the day and he said the part we needed wouldn’t be here until Monday. (WHAT? Is this some kind of April Fools joke?  'Cuz I'm not laughing.) Anyway the part is installed and I can now take it to get it inspected AGAIN and finally get the tags updated.

We got the truck back just in time to race off to baseball practice.  The team is really shaping up and JD loves it so far.  I think that's because his dad is out there helping him.

I placed a call to both JD's nutritionist as well as his endocrinologist to see if they could answer my questions.  I'm curious what came out of the blood work.  And I'm curious about calorie counts being too low. 

A busy and good day

I’m catching up on my blogs from 29 Mar - 6 Apr. So again I’m unsure of the “kind” of day we had.  I do know that the Isuzu had to go to the vehicle doctor today to find out what's wrong with it. (This ought to be fun.)  I had to drop it off and walk home.  Now we play the waiting game...   

The devotion today was about choices. First it described choices based on our tastes (chocolate or vanilla). Then it had choices based on opinions (greatest baseball player). The last choice was based on right and wrong (like is lying right or wrong). Some things are absolute truths - that means they are true for all people, all places, all times. God has already revealed to us what is absolutely right and wrong.

In the AWANA book today for challange 6:6, JD read three different bible stories to learn about Peter and the lame man, the priest, temple guard, and Sadducees being upset with Peter and John for talking about Jesus, and a husband and wife named Ananias and Sapphira lying about money and dying right there on the spot.

The math lesson today was all about lines. It was a repeat from last year so JD did well. He relearned about parallel lines, perpendicular lines, intersection lines, and skew lines. He breezed right through the lesson and onto the quiz. He scored a 90% on the quiz.

JD did T4L for language arts today. He learned about synonyms. I did not write down what words he learned so I’m sorry I can’t share that with you. (I’m really slipping with this record keeping.

We did not do Science today. (Shame on me…)

For social studies today we went back to www.sheppardsoftware.com and played the map game again. This time we focused on the regions of Europe. There are six and JD was able to tell me that they were: Nordic, Western, Southern, Central, Southeastern, and Eastern. Then, we explored what countries fit into those six regions. All of the counties on that website are said in one voice except one and it cracks us up. So every time we hit the button we say, “Montenegro” like she does. We also crack up when it comes to Macedonia - Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) because they say it really fast. But we’ll never forget where those two are located on the map.

JD and I walked/scooted to my client's house and back while the Isuzu is in the repair shop.  JD read for one hour today while I cleaned my client’s house. The reason is I asked him to read yesterday for at least thirty minutes and he didn’t find time. (I know all about that.) He still reading The Collected Stories of Louis L'Amour, The Frontier Stories.

I called the repair shop at around 2:00 pm today and they hadn't even gotten the truck in yet.  They said, "It's on the rotation for tomorrow."  My very tactful response was, "Well that would have been noice to know earlier.  Then I could have made other plans."  Oh well, walking in the cold rain shouldn't stunt my growth or anything, right?

Car tags due

I counted today as a school day even though we only did one "school" related thing.  The rest of the day were "life" lessons.  JD and I read the devotion and we started reading the AWANA book, but JD just moped around tired.  He complained that the babies kept him awake last night.  I really didn't want a fight on my hands so we showered, packed a lunch, and headed out.  JD and I ran all around Spring Lake and Fayetteville today doing errands galore. 

I got a later start on errands than I wanted to but I managed to run to Big Lots, the Dollar Store, and Wal-mart looking for some items.  After that I went to get my hair cut.  I apparently fried it somehow while in  Europe.  Maybe the converter fried the flat iron, I don't know but my hair feels like a pile of hay.  I didn't get a "short" haircut but I did get alot of bulk cut off. 

Next task...trying to get both the Ford and the Isuzu inspected and tagged.  After about one hour of sitting in the waiting area I received the official score...my Ford passed the North Carolina inspection.  Yippie!  They apologized for the long wait but they had a call into DMV because of some typo on my registration form. 

Now I need to drive to Fayetteville to pick up the Isuzu. It was nice to visit with Jeff for a few minutes.  On the way back into Spring Lake we stopped at an Army recruiters office and asked for posters for JD's room.  They loaded JD up with posters, pens, water bottles, bags, etc.  He was one happy future officer.  

Then, we stopped to help two ladies push thier Ford Expedition off the road.  Turns out the fuel guage stopped working like my Ford did.  I ran and got them gas and pulled into the Jiffy Lube at 4:00 pm. 

I waited in the Jiffy Lube waiting room for 40 minutes for them to tell me the Isuzu did not pass the North Carolina inspection.  It has some kind of emissions leak.  The reason for the delay then was one machine ran out of inspection stickers.  (Um, ok.)  So, I'll take the Isuzu in tomorrow to get it checked out and fixed.  Jeff's tags expire Friday! (Nothing like waiting until the last day...)

Our baseball practice was cancelled for today.  It rained all morning on and off and it's cold.  Hopefully we'll be able to attend practice on Friday.