Museum of Natural Science

We had a field trip today.  We went to the Museum of Natural Science.  We saw the Grossology exhibit. On the way we were listening to classical music making up stories as they sang.  It was very entertaining.  I had to stop it once I got closer to Raleigh because it's difficult to navigate to the museum.  Last time we went we got "misplaced." 

Ever wonder why dogs sniff each other’s rear ends, why cows need four stomachs to digest their food or why cats spit up hair balls? We had our chance to find out! Animal Grossology, took us on an adventure that was unique and scientific.  We saw nature’s slime-making, vomit-munching and dookie-loving creatures.

The grossology exhibit was adapted from the best-selling Grossology children’s book series by author and science teacher Sylvia Branze.  It was oozing with disgusting science and entertaining hands-on learning games such as Blood Sucker Blow-Up.  We saw what happens when ticks and mosquitoes have too much to drink, and Chew Chew Express, a detailed look at the various steps of digestion in cows, one of the gassiest animals on Earth. We also learned how leeches are sometimes used after surgeries to assist in the healing process and why scientists are studying the slime produced by slugs and snails for clues in treating cystic fibrosis. Safety tips were dispersed throughout the exhibit, such as what to do if a jellyfish stings you and how to protect your food at the next family picnic. By the way, do you know what honey really is? How do you feel about bee barf on your biscuit?

The exhibit featured five thematic areas:

Blood Slurpers – Blood is very nutritious (high in protein) and many animals slurp blood for their meals. Sometimes, blood slurpers transmit infectious diseases. This exhibit helped identify those that can be a health hazard while providing information that may keep you safe from Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Dookie Lovers – Dookie comes in all shapes, sizes and textures, providing scientists with useful answers to many animal mysteries. We learned how some animals depend on poo for survival, and how others, such as the Scarab Beetle, prevent the spread of disease produced from rotting piles of dung.

Slime Makers – Slime is essential to some animals, serving important functions such as facilitating motion, aiding in digestion and acting as a defense mechanism. We explored a plethora of strange underwater creatures and their unique characteristics and we voted for the “King of Slime.”

Vomit Munchers – What has four stomachs, four legs and produces 200 liters of saliva daily? Ruminants, which also produce methane gas, making them belch and toot a lot. Some animals have to barf to eat, while others have to spew after they eat. We discovered how regurgitation is crucial for some animals’ survival.

Other Gross Stuff – We discovered some not-so-familiar animals, including one that lives in an intestine (a 60 foot tape worm.) We explored how animals use common scents for recognition, attraction and defense.

We missed you lots today Grammy.  The butterfly garden just wasn't the same without you. 

A good day

It was another good day for JD and I. I guess because we didn’t do all of our lessons again.

The devotion was about a slave named Androcles. He was hiding in the woods and stumbled onto a cave. He was sleeping in the cave when he was awaken by a roaring lion. The lion was hurt and Androcles went over and pulled out a thorn from the lion’s paw. The lion went out and found food for Androcles day after day until the Roman soldiers found him hiding. His punishment? He would be forced to fight a wild animal in the coliseum. The gate was opened and out came a huge lion. It was the lion Androcles helped. They rolled around in the dirt. Once the crowd heard the slaves story both Androcles and the lion were set free. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

Today’s math lesson was all about finding the surface area of faces, bases, and curved surfaces. The lesson unfolded objects to make it easier on us. (Yeah right!) There’s a formula for each one. And of course they are all different. First we found the surface area of a rectangle. Then, we figured out a cube and finally a cylinder. I don’t know why we didn’t complete the quiz today other than it was a frustrating lesson. I’m glad this lesson is over and I hope we don’t see it on the assessment.

I had JD sign onto T4L to continue with comprehension. Today he learned to compare and contrast stories through an interactive guided study. He did not do a quiz on this.

I also cleaned my clients house today along with my own because my mother-in-law is visiting this weekend. 

A very busy day

It was a very busy, busy day today. We had almost a full class load and I did many other things during and after school.

The devotion was about the Sesame Street song which one of these is not like the other and then we had to choose which one. The last question said, “Which one of these is not like the other, and listed Mercy, Kindness, Compassion, and Unforgivingness.” Many people fail to show mercy by refusing to forgive each other. Peter, one of Jesus’ disciple once asked how many times he needed to forgive someone and Jesus answered seven times seventy. The Rabbis of that day said three. This shows us Christians that we should never stop showing mercy to others.

In math today we learned about similar pyramids. It was not a terribly hard lesson. (Thank goodness.) There were two triangles next to each other with different size sides but similar. It was JD’s job to find the missing value by cross multiplying, dividing, and reducing. The hardest part of the lesson was moving the object in my mind in order to get them side by side with the corresponding angles. The quiz only had five questions and he got 4 out of five correct.

I combined language arts with the AWANA book today. JD completed challenge 8:7 which was to either talk for five minutes or write a full page on what he needs to know about God. It had to include the verses in the book (Matthew 28:18 and Philippians 2:9-10) as well as two other verses. We looked together and found Romans 13:1-2 and Joshua 1:8. I helped him type it up until the end where he had to write how knowing God affects his life

How he knows God helps him in his life:

1.) I need to read the bible more because god tells me to.

2.) I need to obey my parents more because god tells me to.

3.) I need to help others because god tells me to.

4.) I need to be my brothers keeper because god tells me to.

5.) I need to love everyone I meet because god tells me to.

JD has completed book three in AWANAs and will earn another award. He’s well on his way to earning the Citation award and scholarship money for college.

We did not do social studies today.

In science we learned about water. The lesson taught us about molecules again. They also told us about positive and negatively charged molecules. Did you know water is a universal solvent. I never thought of it like that but it’s true. They taught JD the freezing points of fresh water verse sea water. And JD learned about “hard” water minerals.

I had JD read his Louis L’Amour book for thirty minutes.

We put up our pool today.  It's getting hot earlier and earlier these day and a nice refreshing dip in the pool feels good.  I also built a mailbox flower spot and moved some of my flowers to it.  I cleaned my flower garden of weeds too.  The last task of the day...a baseball game.  Unfortunately, the Pirates lost this game. 

Whew I'm tired!

A much better FULL day

Thank goodness today was a MUCH better day. This enabled us to complete a FULL class load today. I think we’re both anxious for spring break.

The devotion was about the movie Hook. The one where Peter Pan is played by Robin Williams. Peter Pan had the motive and means to kill Captain Hook but didn’t. Peter Pan showed mercy. God values mercy. Both Nehemiah and Deuteronomy describe God as a merciful God.

I had JD finish challenge 8:6 for AWANAs and language arts today. He wrote six more reasons 1.) why he knows the bible is true 2.) things he knows about God, things he knows about Jesus, and things he knows about the Holy Spirit. And it looks nicely printed and spaced. He’s definitely getting better with writing.

In math today JD learned all about circumference and area on those pesky circles again. Ugh! The lesson reviewed the terms circumference, radius, and Pi (3.14). It taught JD to calculate the circumference by multiply the diameter. If the diameter was unknown it taught him to multiply the radius. Then, it taught him how to find the area for the circles. These formulas are making me dizzy.

I had JD go to http://www.yourchildlearns.com/europe_map.htm for social studies today. It was another interactive site to help him remember where each country in Europe is.

In science today we went to Brain Pop and learned about groundwater. JD learned about the system of porous soil and rocks, permeable or porous rocks, impermeable rocks, the zones of saturation, geysers, and hot springs. JD scored a 90% on the quiz.

I had JD continue reading the Louis L’Amour book.

A frustrating day

It was a frustrating day because I didn’t learn anything at JD doctor appointment, math was frustrating, and the AWANA and language arts took so long when it could have been written sooner.

JD had an endocrinology appointment today at 11:00am. The endocrinologist appointment was a briefing about the blood work that they drew 25 March. We did not see the same doctor this time. We saw an older lady that asking all the same questions I’ve answered three times already. Things like diet, exercise, and when this weight issue started. That’s our military medical system for you. The blood work came back with everything within normal limits. And thankfully they’ve ruled out Cushing’s syndrome. He has lost 3 pounds and grown 1 cm since his last appointment.

We got a terribly late start with home school today because of the appointment, so we had a short school day. The devotion today was about Mother Teresa who was nick named the “The Saint of the Gutters.” The devotion was loaded with all the merciful things she did and the mercy she displayed. I could list them all but I don’t have that kind of time. God made it clear long ago that mercy is right. Zechariah 7:9 says…“show mercy and kindness to one another.”

I combined the AWANA book lesson with the language arts lesson. In order to complete challenge 8:6 JD had to write eight reasons 1.) why he knows the bible is true 2.) things he knows about God, things he knows about Jesus, and things he knows about the Holy Spirit. He wrote two sentences for each topic today because he misunderstood my instructions.

The math lesson today was about estimating and calculating the area of polygons. In order to find the area of triangles and trapezoids we had to utilize the specific formula. Then we had to estimate the area of objects using a grid when the object was in net form or unfolded. We counted the full squares and partially filled squared divided by two in order to find the area. Then we relearned perimeters. And the last thing we did was find the area of a square inside of a circle or a triangle inside of a rectangle. See this is my problem with this type of math. At least teach things we’ll use daily.

We did not do social studies or science today.

I did have him read for thirty minutes though. He told me he completed “The 6th shot gun” in the Louis L‘Amour book. Yeah one down, many more to come.

A good day

Today is not the official day this year to file your taxes. The date this year is 18 April, because Washington, D.C., will celebrate Emancipation Day on April 15, a day earlier than normal, since April 16 falls on a Saturday. In observance of the DC holiday, Tax Day will be moved forward one business day, this year landing it on Monday, April 18.

The devotion listed types of trees and types of fruit or nuts. It asked JD to match them up. Apples come from apple trees and walnuts come from walnut trees. No matter how hard it tries a cherry tree could never produce apples. That tree just doesn’t have what it takes to produce that kind of fruit. Making right choices is the same. Because we are sinners we don’t have what it take to produce the fruit of the Spirit without God’s assistance. The Spirit lives in everyone who has trusted Christ for salvation. It’s only by praying, reading our bibles, and loving God can we make right choices.

What a coincidence…the AWANA book and the devotion match up. Today we learned the last three characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit and they are: faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These all deal with our behavior. JD completed challenge 8:5 by memorizing 2 Peter 1:5-8. That was a HUGE string of verses, but he did it!

Today’s math lesson was about circles. We relearned the terms: diameter (across the middle of a circle), radius (from the center to an edge), chord (a line between two points), circumference (the area around the entire circle), and pi (the # “3.14”). The lesson was pretty easy for us or so I thought. There were only five questions on the quiz and I had to answer a phone call in the middle of it. I instructed JD not to turn in the quiz until I looked at it. I’m glad I did. JD multiplied and divided by “3” and not “pi - 3.14.” Once he understood that he did well. He changed three answers and scored a 100% on the quiz.

We’re still working on comprehension in language arts. JD went to T4L and did an interactive guided instruction. He read a passage and had to answer questions about the main idea and supporting details on a non-fiction story. This lesson was not scored.

For social studies today I had JD do another type of interactive map game on Europe. He went to http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/europe.html and didn’t score as well as he has in the past. BUT they added countries (or different names) that we did not study. This was good to know just in case the assessment asks something similar.

For science today we went to Brain Pop and watched a video on soil. It was a cool little video that taught us about the zones of soil. They are: horizon A (top), B (subsoil - rocks mineral, and clay), and C (soil not yet broken down.) We also learned about humus (organic matter in soil), weathering, erosion, and leaching (or draining.)

JD did not read today.

We left after school to pick up the Pirate’s uniform’s. They got everything correct except one boy‘s shirt. I got a bit distracted by the beautiful weather so I went out back and planted grass where Tater and Levi (my part time tenant) tore it up. I totally forgot to make dinner. So I ran to KFC and picked up a bucket for the family. We rushed eating and headed out for our Baseball practice.

Another busy day

Happy Birthday Gene!  It was another busy day. I had many calls and emails to make for baseball. But we managed a pretty full school day.

JD totally surprised me during the devotion today. He was able to tell me where the “Black Death” originated. China. He knew this because of a documentary he watched. (Go T.V.!) The devotion told us about the 1334 Black Death epidemic and the flu epidemic during WWI. Then it told us about a different kind of epidemic, more deadly than the bubonic plague or the flu. It’s threatening 5 billion people. It’s called sin. We’re all born with a sinful nature and make wrong choices. There is a cure for this epidemic and that was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. He conquered sin and DEATH! By praying to Him and admitting we’re sinners, believing in Jesus, and confessing our need for Him we can all be cured!

Today in the AWANA book we discussed three more characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit.  The characteristics were: patience, kindness, and goodness.  Yesterday we learned love, joy, and peace deal with our relationship with God.  Today these characteristics deal with our relationship with others.  JD memorized two bible verses to back up challange 8:4.

The first part of the math lesson was easy. It was identifying objects that had the following changes: translation (move or slide), reflection (horizontal or vertical), rotation (turned). The second part was the dreaded graph with objects placed on one quadrant asking us to move it to another quadrant by using translation, reflection, or rotation. It took both of us to figure this one out, but we managed. JD scored a 100% on the quiz.

The language arts lesson was in T4L again. Today JD did the second lesson on plot, character, and setting. I was slightly disappointed with the 73% on quiz number 2. I’m getting a little scared about his comprehension level. But there were short people distractions today. I need to work on this a bit more because yesterday he scored an 80%.

I’m slipping lately. We did not do social studies or science today. But JD did read his Louis L’Amour book for thirty minutes today while I cleaned. He read outside on their porch.

We went out for dinner since we had to pick-up the team’s uniforms. Turns out we left the park before they arrived.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
It was a very busy day.

It was a very busy and distracting day today.  I was cleaning the house while instructing JD. I was expecting Daniel’s mom to bring him home today from Tennessee. So we busted through our lessons so I could take JD to Gamers Guild. It was some type of fantasy game he got into while in Europe.

The devotion started out saying, “God did not create everything.“ And then it listed many examples of what God did make. Then it told us God did not create truth because he is truth. Truth is part of his nature. Moses said, “He (God) is…a God of Truth.”

In the AWANA book today JD learned on challenge 8:3 that the fruit, not fruit(s), of the Spirit are love, joy, and peace. (They only covered three parts of the fruit today. These three characteristics of the fruit explain our relationship with God. The visual example they used in the book was an orange slice in half where you can see the individual sections of the orange. Then, he memorized Galatians 5:22-23 that says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Luckily the math lesson was fairly easy for JD. It was about similar figures (same shape, not he same size), congruent figures (same shape and size), and symmetry (where you can fold it and it’s exactly the same.) He went through the lesson easily. Then he scored a 100% on the quiz.

I was vacuuming the living room while JD did the T4L language arts lesson on plot, character, and setting. He scored an 80% on quiz 1. Maybe I should have held off on the vacuuming. I was in a hurry to get our lessons done to head off on errands.

I had JD go to http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/euroquiz.html for social studies today. He took the 48 question quiz on the countries in Europe. He scored a 139 out of 144 possible points. Yes!

JD read his Louis L’Amour book for thirty minutes today while we were out running errands.

We did not do science again today.

We left the house at around 1:30 pm for errands. I dropped of dry cleaning, and then went to a florist. I’m trying to figure out what type of plant I had outside for the last two years. It didn’t come up this year and I’m sad about it. I have a picture to show florists and plant nurseries, but the nurseries around here are closes.

I promised JD I would take him to Gamers Guild if he did all his lessons today. I brought in my bible and started reading while he talked with the guys. (Have I mentioned all the “guys” are NOT wearing wedding rings?) They are self admitted geeks and nerds according to one guy. Two of them were building and painting. JD went over to look and I suggested he start building his characters. The guys helped him cut, file, glue, reshape, etc. These guys really took him under their wings and love the fact that he’s into this game so young.

I raced off from Gamers Guild to get JD to baseball practice. He loves the team and the coaches. The team is shaping up, but they’re not super stars. Saturday is our first official game.