A busy review week

Wednesday-Friday, May 18-20, 2011
We spent these three days reviewing all of the math lessons we did from August to May. UGH! That’s a lot of formulas to keep straight in our heads.

In between reviewing I was preparing the church ministry boards for various ministries.  The ministry fair is this Sunday and I'm heading it up. 

We had another game tonight. Do I really have to tell you how it ended?

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

It was another good school day

We did a devotion and then moved onto T4L. 

Our lessons in Time4Learning are now completed. We completed the last math and language arts lesson for the year. Now it's review, review, review.

The last math lesson that needed to be completed is now done. It was about writing algebraic expressions for word problems. Ugh! How frustrating. But were done now. JD scored a 100% on the quiz.

JD also finished up his last two language arts quizzes in T4L today. They were about comparing and contrasting stories and passages. He scored two 100%‘s.

So we went out after dinner tonight and bought some ice cream and fixings to have a Time4 Learning party.

Monday, May 16, 2011

A good day

It was a busy weekend.  Saturday we had the rescheduled Spring Fling.  That is the opening ceremony for baseball.  Then, Jeff had to go to the church to prepare a meal for the Daycare Appreciation meal.  Then, we had a baseball game.  We lost this one too.  (Sad I know.) 

Sunday was the AWANA end of year awards ceremony and Teacher Appreciation meal for all of my teachers.  Jonathan was awarded his two medal awards for finishing book two and three.  Jeff prepared the teacher appreciation meal too.  (Thanks Jeff, you're a real trooper.)

Our day was a bit mixed up today. We did science first. JD and I watched a live streaming of Space Shuttle Endeavour's last flight. Kids in school won't see it live, but JD will. It’s Endeavour’s last take off. It was cool until they showed the office in Houston. It was just a bunch of boring rocket scientists doing nothing but working on their computers. We just made up conversations for them because we couldn't hear any of their conversations.

We did our devotion and moved onto T4L. 

The math lesson today was frustrating. It was about combinations and permutations. A permutation is an arrangement of items in a particular order like: President and Vice President. If there are five people running for class president then this is a permutation. A combination is an arrangement of items in which the order is not important. An example would be winners of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in a race. And of course there are more formulas to memorize. And we also learned the new term “factoral” today. An example of a factorial is 9. You would take 9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 and that would equal 362880. (Really? Because I’m going to use this when?)  JD scored a 90% on the quiz. 

We did the T4L today for language arts. It was about the Author's Purpose. It was Quiz two from yesterday. JD scored a solid 100%. Then JD did a interactive guided lesson on Inferencing. And he took the corresponding quiz and scored another 100%.

The last school related task of the day was reading his magazine for thirty minutes.

We had another game tonight.  You guessed it we lost.  I wished these boys would stop having attitudes about not pitching.  It sure makes for a long game with all the whining.  One boy was benched for this game because of disrepect.  This is an ongoing thing with this boy.  And it spreads like a disease through the entire team. 

Probability...no problem

I got so far behind with my blogging that I missed a devotion somewhere between last week and this week. We did do a devotion today but I posted it under 12 May. I need to do a better job of blogging daily and not weekly.

Even though today was the scary day of Friday the 13th, we had a good school day.

The first math lesson was called “Using probability.” It gave us the formula for the number of ways the event can occur to the # of equally likely outcome. The dice rolling a 1 would be 1/6. Then we learned the compliment to probability. That is the opposite of the ways the event can occur. The dice rolling something other than a 1 would be the compliment and that # is 5/6. Then, we had to take to event like flipping a coin and rolling a dice and figure out the formula for (example) getting a heads and a 1 would be ½ times 1/6 = 1/12 of a chance. Confusing I know. But we finally got it today! JD scored a 100% on this quiz. The second math lesson was call “dependent and independent” events. Bottom line: Dependent means it does not affect the outcome and Independent means it does affect the outcome or you don’t replace a name from a hat or you eat the jelly bean. JD scored a 90% on this quiz. There are only two more math lessons left for the year! We’re having a Math party soon!

The language arts lesson today was the Author’s Purpose quiz. He only scored a 67%. I will have to spend a bit more time with him reviewing Author’s Purpose lessons with him. As a matter of facts I will review all of those comprehension lessons before the assessment.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

A tough math day

We had a good school day but the math lesson were terribly difficult.  The language arts lesson also threw JD for a loop.

The devotion was about Villains. It listed: Cruella De Vil, Jafar, Captain Hook, and Shere Khan among others. These were all characters that were mean and had murderous intents. A lot of people today claim that right and wrong don’t exist. However, right and wrong is not up to you and me, it’s decided by God. He has listed right and wrong for us in the 10 Commandments. God said we are to be self-controlled, “kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”

The first math lesson of the day was called fair games and probability. It taught us how to use the formula to figure out favorable outcomes. Take a spinner numbered 1-6. The chances of spinning and even # is 3/6th or ½ simplified. Then the lesson taught us about fair and unfair events. A fair event would be as likely as unlikely. Like a coin toss. There’s a 50/50 chance of getting either heads or tails. A spinner with the numbers 1-7 would be unfair if we needed an even # because there are more odd #‘s than even. We missed two questions on the quiz and I still don’t understand how to get the answer. (Just like some fraction lessons…oh well.) So JD scored an 80% on this quiz. The second math lesson was extremely difficult. It was called “probability a compliment.” First, we learned that the outcome of a event can be written as a fraction, decimal, or a percentage. It can also be labeled as impossible, unlikely, half as likely as unlikely, likely, and certain. We learned about independent events and their outcome as well as their compliments. A compliment is the opposite of the way the event can occur. A dice rolling something other than a 1 would be the compliment and that # is 5/6. This was a tough lesson for JD and I to figure out. We only got a 64% together on the lesson. We pushed on through the quiz and scored an 80%. This is one of those lessons I end with saying, “I hope we don’t see that on the assessment this year.”

The language arts lesson today was the Author’s Purpose. The first thing he did was read stories and passages with an interactive guided lesson. He will take the quiz tomorrow. 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

A busy errands day

I counted today as a school day even though we did not do any computer lessons because…I can! We did not do any school work because the day was filled with multiple errands. It started by taking Daniel to an interview in Fayetteville. Turns out there were about eight people in the waiting room with no interviewer there. I had so much more to do today than to wait for hours for someone to interview all those backed up people first and then Daniel. Daniel made the decision himself to walk out on the interview. (I was very thankful, because I also had to entertain the grand girls in the back of my Ford.

The next thing JD and I did after we dropped off Daniel and the babies was go to the church to set up the displays I made last night at midnight. Then, I had a small meeting with the pastor about the ministry fair.

We left the church for a bite to eat at Sonic before JD‘s afternoon appointment with his pediatrician for a Zertec refill. He grew ½ inch and kept off those three pounds from the last doctors appointment at Womack.

Once the doctor’s appointment was over JD and I rested at home for about an hour and headed back to the church for a skit rehearsal and a small party for JD and the rest of the kids that recently did a short play at church. (I have a closet actor here you know.) While JD was occupied I ran around the church politicking to fill those remaining ministry positions in the church. It’s tiring asking the same people over and over again to hand in their forms. I still have 21 people to corner, I mean to gently talk to them and coax them into handing me their filled out forms.

We had another baseball game tonight. You guessed it we lost again. It’s our lack of a good pitcher or pitchers.

A busy day

It was a busy day of double lessons and ministry boards. 

The devotion today was about self-control. It started out with a list of things that could make you lose your self-control. Even though some things get on our last nerve we all have the choice to ignore it and press on. That’s a tough choice to make for some people. Self-control is a fruit of the spirit. And Psalm 4:4 say, “Don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.”

The first math lesson today was about drawing conclusions and justifying our answers. It taught JD the term prediction. Basically that is making an educated guess and being able to justify why. Then we had to test his answer with reasonableness by asking ourselves, “Is the answer reasonable?” or “Does it make sense?” One example was 2n+5=13. First we did 13-5=8 and predicted that 2 x’s something equaled 8. So 2x4=8. The “n” in the problem equaled 4. Then we learned that distance on a grid always has to be a positive #. Example: -15 miles x 6 miles = 90 square miles. JD scored a 90% on this quiz. The second math lesson was called limited possibilities. It taught us how to use a sample space or listing all of the possible outcomes to an event. While that is effective it’s much quicker just to do the math. If you have 4 pairs of socks, 2 shorts, and 8 shirts you just times all of them together. Example: 4x2=8, 8x8=64 possible outfits. (time to go shopping now…) JD scored a 100% on this quiz. He was all over this lesson.

The language arts lesson was about Cause and Effect. It was an interactive guided lesson where JD read stories and passages to figure out the cause and effect of the situations presented. He scored an 80% on the quiz.

I was working on some Nominating Committee Ministry Fair displays for church. I finished an AWANA board, a Finance board, and a Baptism and Usher board to display tomorrow as example for the rest of the committees to follow. We’re hoping to sign more that 46 people up for all the various ministry positions around the church.

Monday, May 9, 2011
A doubly good day

It was a busy weekend and a doubly good school day.

The Pirates had a games Saturday. We lost but not by much; the final score was 8-6. Jeff had a prior golf appointment so I told the team, “Let’s win this for Coach Jeff.”  JD got a double at bat.  Yippee!

I hope all of the Mother’s out there had a Good Mother’s day. I know I did. I wish Mother’s day could last six months, but JD disagrees.

I received another FedEx package this morning before school even started. I have looked and looked and I don’t know what I have to drive to Raleigh for, other than a possible psychological appointment. I was already seen for PTSD about six months after retirement.

I decided this is crunch time for Faith Christian Academy. JD will only be doing math lessons and reading comprehension lessons until his assessment shows up. We will double up on both subjects until then.

The devotion was about breaking your usual way of thinking. There was an exercise with 9 dots arrange in row of three under one another. The object of the lesson was to connect all of the dots using four straight lines, without lifting your pencil. There really is a way of doing it you just have to literally think outside of the box. It’s just like getting to know God and His ways. The more you know the more you will begin to think in ways others just can’t understand. Accepting God as your authority allows you to know right and wrong and our thought and attitudes will change. With God’s limitless thinking, the possibilities are endless.

This first math lesson we did today was about distance on a line. We relearned the quadrants on a graph and plotting points. We used those plotting points to figure out the difference between the two points. The second lesson was about the terms horizontal and vertical lines on a graph. Then we learned the distance on a graph must be in “absolute value” or always a positive #. JD scored a 80% on the quiz.

The language arts lesson was on Interpreting Charts and Graphs. It was an interactive guided lesson where he read stories or passages that include some pretty tough charts, maps, and graphs. I actually sat down for one of the maps and I couldn’t figure it out. JD also took the related quiz and scored an 80%.

We had a long baseball practice tonight. Maybe the boys will remember all that they were taught and use it during our next games.

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?

Happy Cinco de Mayo

It was a good day. I particularly like today’s devotion. It started out saying God listed many specific commands about what priest’s should wear, what old testament people should eat and not eat, and even what to do if they found a bird’s nest on the ground. Then, it transitioned into sometimes it’s not always easy to know what’s right or wrong. Sure murder and stealing are wrong, but often times there’s no clear line. It taught JD that if he’s unsure if the choice is right or wrong he is to: put off doing it, pray about it, search the bible for direction, and ask for advice from parents or from a Christian friend he trusts. If it’s still unclear…steer away from it.

The math lesson today was finding the value of Y using either subtraction, addition, multiplication, or division in tables that had patterns. There’s specific ways of writing the rules too. (Ugh!) Next, we used ordered pairs and plotted them on a grid. If the lesson already had them on a grid we had to figure out the pattern there too. JD scored a 100% on this quiz.

The language arts are lesson was on Fact and Opinion. Today JD read the interactive stories or passages looking for fact or opinions. Today he only did the lesson and not the quiz.

JD read for thirty minutes while I cleaned my client’s house. This was the first time she has been home while I cleaned her home. She likes to talk and it was terribly distracting to me because I fly around like a busy bee getting those rooms done. She kept trying to talk with me and pulling me over to her computer to look at this or that. And I kept telling her, “I’ve got to clean your house.” I did as much as I could in the three hours I was there.

A good short school day

Today was a good short school day.  We only did the devotion, math, and language arts.  We did not do science, social studies, or reading time today.  Instead we visited the child of a new couple who recently joined our church. Their three year old boy was attacked by a pit bull while at their friends house. The dog clamped from his chin all the way to his right eye area. Looks like Micah will still have his sight and the doctors did a good job of stitching him up. We only stayed for about 20 minutes and then I prayed with them and left. Jonathan and I took some time before visiting them to get little Micah a present or two.

The devotion today listed three bible characters that did the right thing but ended up in a worse place than before the decision like: Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, Elijah and Queen Jezebel, and Daniel and the lion’s den. Right choices are not always rewarded on Earth nor does it bring immediate benefits, but it does please God when we make the right choices.

The math lesson today was all about problem solving. We relearned the formulas for finding perimeters on a rectangle or a square (P=4s), the area on a square, triangle, and a rectangle. Each formula is different. (Ugh!) Then we learned volume on a cube or an rectangle. The last thing we learned in this lesson was circumference. Then all of a sudden the lesson changed to off the wall problem solving other than perimeters, area, volume, or circumference. Things like the # of years between 1953 and 1901, the number of legs on ants and spiders, and time/distance questions. The lesson used the acronym W.O.R.D. to help with problem solving. W = what do I need to do to solve this problem? O = Organize your information. R = Reach for your strategy. D = Did you check the question? JD scored a 100% on the quiz.

The language arts lesson was about the Theme and the Main Ideas on a fictional story or passage. Yesterday JD did the lesson and today I had him take the two associated quizzes. He scored a 73% on the first one and a 93% on the second one. I usually do dishes while de does language arts so I don’t know exactly what it was he didn’t understand about the first quiz.

We had baseball practice today from 5:30-7 pm. The team is really shaping up. Then we visited a child of a church member who was bitten by a pit-bull.  The last event of the night was baseball practice.

A good day

The devotion was about reputations. It listed fictional and factual names and characteristics like barbaric, brave, artistic. Then it asked, “If your name were on this list, what sort of reputation would your friends, family, and other identify with you?” JD listed: brave artistic, smart, athletic, and strong. The more important question was will they say you are merciful and kind. He answered, “Yes.”

The math lesson finally helped JD and I understand cylinders. The lesson was about finding the right formula for volume. We learned about rectangle (multiply the three sides), cube (multiply the three sides), and cylinder (too complicated to type) volumes. JD scored 5 out of 5 correct on the quiz.

I had JD sign onto T4l for the language arts lesson. He’s still in the comprehension lesson and will be for awhile. Today he did an interactive lesson on Themes and Main Ideas on fictional stories and passages. There was not a quiz today.

We went to Brain Pop for science today to learn about natural disasters. JD learned about tornados, hurricanes, thunderstorms, winter storms, tsunamis, and wildfires. All of these are relevant and possible in our part of the country. The lesson emphasized being ready for a storm, having a plan, and a safety kit. He only scored a 70% on the test.

We stayed in Brain Pop for the social studies lesson as well. Today JD relearned the continents of the world. JD learned that not everyone agrees on the number of continents. However, most people believe there are seven. The continent with no permanent residents is…Antarctica. Australia is unique because it is the only continent with only one country on it.

We had our Pirate pictures taken today. I should have them back within two weeks.

Monday, May 2, 2011

It was a short lesson day after a refreshing spring break vacation. We only accomplished three lessons today.

The devotion was about a man talking like he was blurred out on TV. He was speaking under the conditions of anonymity. He “borrowed” money from his boss and was a very rich man now. He was caught and promised to pay back all the money. The boss decided the employee was forgiven and did not need to pay back the money. In the reception area of the building this guys see a man that owes him $2000. He asks for the money and the guys say I need a little time. The now free from debt guy refuses his offer and demands his money. The big boss gets word of this and calls the million dollar “borrower” back into his office. The devotion ends with the million dollar “borrower” behind bars in an orange jump suit. The boss originally cut him a break, but when he did not give mercy to the other guy…justice was served. It’s sometimes hard to forgive someone when the offense seems hard, but look at all that Jesus has forgiven of us. If I tallied all my sins for just one day…

In math today we finished the quiz from the lesson on 21 Apr. It was about finding surfaces of objects. It only had five questions and JD scored a 100%. Then we moved onto wrapping those objects with wrapping paper. This lesson was extremely frustrating to me keeping all those formulas straight in our heads. And it showed on the lesson. Together we only scored a 64%. I had JD print two of the formulas so we could look at them during the quiz. I was extremely scared to take the quiz and it took a LONG time. We scored an 80% on the quiz.

I had JD continue with the T4L language arts comprehension lessons. We took two quizzes on the main idea and supporting details on two non-fiction stories. He scored a 93% on the first quiz and an 80% on the second quiz.

We had another baseball game tonight. JD played catcher tonight and he was the only player that got on base with a hit. Unfortunately, they lost this game. Their record is two losses, one win.