First, I'd like to say that I left out something in the previous post on Wednesday, March 17. For his writing that day, he had to write about what he learned that day. Then on Thursday, March 18, while we were driving, I made up a tale about a white-tailed deer named Will who went to go find other kinds of deer. He went across the North American continent meeting other deer and had short conversations with each type after learning their names. He made comments on the differing antlers and such. Then he had to sneak aboard a ship and stay alive by eating grain, as he travels to Europe. That was the end of that segment of "Will the White-tailed Deer's Adventures ," until I can better research the deers of Europe, then he will move on to Asia and so forth. I'll be showing the boys pictures on Google images of different types as we go along.
*Tuesday, March 23: Proverb and bible story. Jade did a reading lesson (about a secret king who dressed up like he was poor to see how his people were), two math pages, and some Youtube videos (including the Omega 3 one which was listed with the last post with previous videos).
*Wednesday, March 24: Proverb and bible story. We went to buy groceries. Jaden has been pushing Liv in the stroller, and I keep Trusten in the kid's seat in my cart. I tell the clerk how much water I'm going to buy, and then we all go back to the truck. I unload the groceries and strap Trust and Liv in their carseats and lock them up. Jade and I take the water jugs back in to fill them. I can watch the truck the whole time through the front windows right beside the water dispenser. I love our grocery store! We shop at Ozark Natural Foods. We are co-op owners there. They are fairly strict about what they carry: no artificial ingredients or things like MSG, no pesticides, hormones, and definitely no GMOs. On the way home, I explained to Jade what was meant by "as the crow flies," when he was asking how many miles we had left to get to our house. I explained the difference in going along the road and "as the crow flies."
Jade had to write out the scripture verses:
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. -Matthew 15:8
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. -Romans 2:13
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. -Ephesians 6:4
I had already talked to him about these, but I wanted him to write them, too, and to memorize them. This is because of what I discussed in my previous post. As for the last one, he's not a father, but he is like a father to Trusten, since he's the firstborn. Trust imitates everything Jaden does.
I'm happy to say that Jaden is working on changing his ways. He has a way to go, but he's doing well, and Nathan is also improving as a father. We are both trying to be good parents.
Youtube videos: Red Peacock (animated moral story), visuals of World Architecture, planets and stars size to scale--Our Solar System (Jade loved this one), biography of Amelia Earhart
*Thursday, March 25: Proverb and bible story. Jade did three writing pages (making lists), two math pages (intro to double-digit addition), and a reading lesson (Grimm Brothers). The boys and I read and looked at Jaden's newest issue of Your Big Backyard. In it, we read about different types of birds and the different types of nests that they make, and we read about three-toed sloths and some other things. Then I read to the boys a couple of the stories in the previous issue of Heaven's Family, to remind the boys of what types of things go on in the world and how thankful they should be. One of the stories was about some poor widows and their children, and another was about how thankful some very impoverished families were to have biosand filters in order to have clean water.
Youtube videos: plane and forest fires (computer-generated), California wildfires (2007), giant octopus (Trust wanted more octopus videos), octopus, and a moral cartoon story: "The Beggar's Laugh" (animated tale of wit and wisdom)
Oh! And here are a couple videos that I taped this day, of our flooded yard: creek and yard
*Friday, March 26: Proverb and bible story. Jade also did an Explode the Code lesson. He now has only one book left. The boys played outside in the water that was left from the flood, which wasn't much. It clears out pretty quickly.
Youtube videos: monarch butterfly metamorphosis, another monarch butterfly metamorphosis, a dragonfly metamorphosis, 1948 spiders and other arachnids, Discovery Channel spiders, "Treasure in the Fields" (animated moral story), "Dolls" (animated moral story)
*Saturday, March 27: Proverb and thankfulness lesson, where the boys learned how the Levites praised God. We also listened and sang along praise songs by Fernando Ortega, one of my favorite musicians/singers. Nathan also loves him, and he's practicing "Come Ye Sinners" as sang by Fernando with Amy Grant. He says he wants to get it perfectly. It's really sad that he didn't learn to play an instrument at an early age, because I think he could have, and he sings so well.
Tomorrow night is Passsover, and then after that the week of Unleavened Bread. Jade will be off a week from doing written book work. He may write some scriptures. He will definitely be doing one writing project, and all that will be revealed in this week's blog post at the end of the week. I'm hoping it will be a good week! :-)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Time Travel, Birds, Nutrition, Technology, Weather, War & Governments & Religions, Morals
*Sunday, March 14: Proverb and bible story. Jade did Explode the Code. We all as a family watched The Time Traveler's Wife. Nathan had gone by the movie rental store and picked out a couple movies. It's a little ironic to me that we keep watching time traveling movies, and this topic keeps arising. The boys and I had watched that Meet the Robinsons which had time travel. Nathan and I recently started watching lectures about relativity and quantum mechanics. I've been doing a lot of personal research on such things. Anyway, the boys and I ended up watching this movie again the next day, after I answered some of Jaden's questions and explained how the guy traveling in time was not real, that he couldn't really do that. It was a neat movie, though, and he said he understood it so much better the second time. Nathan and I watched 2012, which did have some things that made you think, but some of the stuff was a crock, not to mention the movies Hollywood makes are SO far-fetched. It had to be miracle after miracle for the main characters to live through everything they did. I mean, they would have been dead I-don't-know-how-many-times.
*Monday, March 15: Proverb and bible story. Jaden did 3 writing pages in the 1st Gr. CC, 2 math pages in 2nd Gr. CC, a reading lesson in 2nd Gr. CC, and we discussed time travel and watched that movie again. Well, I halfway watched it and halfway did some writing while Liv slept. The movie mainly played again for the boys, but it was distracting me.
Trusten identified felt pictures and put them on our flannel board. Here are some pics of the boys this day:
This evening was the new month and also the new year. Jaden blew the shofar, and we had brownies for dessert.
*Tuesday, March 16: Proverb and bible story. Jaden and Trusten started out the day watching a Reading Rainbow dvd about family, as I was not out of bed yet. Jade did 3 writing pages, 2 math pages, and a reading lesson. We talked about what a crisis pregnancy center does and then went to town to the nearest one.
*Wednesday, March 17: Proverb and bible story. I literally lectured the boys all day long, explaining to them proper family dynamics, focusing on the role of a firstborn son and the younger siblings. I want Jaden to be a loving ruler over his siblings, to teach them by example how they should act. I want him to be able to constructively find things for them to do together when we're having adult conversations or when I have other things I must do. I also reiterated to Jaden and do so every day--when needed, that he needs to treat Trusten how he wants his daddy to treat him. I'm sure Jade would not like it too much if Nathan pushed him onto the floor or grabbed him by his shirt and shook him around, but he has done Trust that way. He also provokes Trusten to anger; this is a major issue on which we're working. Another issue is his lip service that he is giving us. We can tell when he's sincere and when he's not.
Yet another issue is that hearing and acknowledging instruction just doesn't cut it. Hearing and understanding is not enough. DOING is important. It was unbelievable one day that I told him what he needed to be doing, and he said okay, and so I asked him to repeat it back to me so that I knew he had listened. Well, he repeated it back just fine. He heard me just fine. THEN, astoundingly, he walked over to what he had been doing and went back to doing it, NOT doing what I'd told him to do. Talk about jaw-dropping amazement! A hearer and not a doer! Knowing what the command is is good, if one does it. Not doing it when knowing he should is worse than not knowing it! I will be assigning him new scripture verses to memorize, and that will also comprise some of his writing.
*Thursday, March 18: Proverb and bible story. We went grocery shopping this day, and I don't remember what sorts of things we discussed during this day. I didn't note anything. I don't think Jaden did any book work, though. Aha! I know what we did. We watched an Ice Age "short" on Amazon called "No Time for Nuts," which was yet another time travel video! The boys love the Ice Age movies; they have the 1st and 3rd ones (they saw the 2nd online, and I didn't much care for it). I thought it was a full-time movie and had seen it at a glance a few days before when browsing. Well, it turned out to be around seven or eight minutes long, a "short," as I said, so I found a cheap full-length animated movie they could watch. I chose Gulliver's Travel. I'd never read the book or had seen any movie on that. I halfway kept up with it as I did laundry and such, while the boys watched it. Interesting. The graphics and animation were lacking, but the story had a good moral. An evil astrologer sorcerer was working for both sides of two peoples to keep them warring with each other. A ship-wrecked doctor by the surname of Gulliver ended up on an island with the one people, and he was a giant compared to the tiny Lilliputians. Anyway, in the end he helped make it possible for the two sides to find peace with each other. It was the end for the trouble-making evil man. I explained to the boys that some people were indeed like that and lived to keep trouble stirred up for others. That's the way the evil powers of the world are doing among our real nations, keeping wars going against each other. Very sick.
*Friday, March 19: Proverb and bible story. Jade did a reading lesson. I really like his reading lessons, because not only is he reading aloud to me and answering questions, but he's learning things from what he reads. Sometimes it's history. Sometimes it's a moral tale. They've all been good, though. Jade usually does an Explode the Code lesson on Fridays, but he was exempted today.
*Saturday, March 20: Proverb. I did a thankfulness lesson with the boys today from Choosing Thankfulness. It was just the lesson that needed to be taught, too, because it taught that complaining and finding fault were opposites of being thankful. Of course, it pointed out that at times it was needful to do these things. I think it was eye-opening to Jade. I've told him these things before, as he often complains when I do things for him, without a thank you. But, his seeing and hearing it from that lesson made it somehow more real for him. It snowed this day. It was the biggest snow yet. It had been warm the days before, and we'd gone out with short sleeves. I had to bring my plants in; I explained to Trust that the snow might kill them.
*Sunday March 21: Proverb and bible story. There were two killdeer birds in the driveway bobbing their heads around. They were fun to watch. I got out our bird guide and read about them to the boys. Then later we saw a Northern flicker drilling at a rotten stump in the back, on the hill. I didn't know what sort of woodpecker it was myself, so I had to id it in the guide. I took a couple pictures of it, and I also filmed it. I got it on film throwing dirt with its beak from the base of the stump. I read in the guide that they eat ants in the dirt, so that's what it must have been after. I also looked up pictures on Google images to make sure it was the right bird, since it was a different flicker that they had pictured in the guide's entry.
We all watched a movie that Nathan picked up: Amelia. It was a decent watch, and the boys learned some about a figure in history, namely Amelia Earhart.
Jaden did not do Explode the Code. He will start it back Friday.
We looked at pictures online of various nations, especially island nations, and read about them. We located some of them together on our globe. At the boys' bedtime, I pointed some of the places we'd discussed out on their fabric map on the wall in their bedroom.
*Monday, March 22: Proverb and bible story. Jaden did three writing pages and read a story as part of one of the writing assignments. He also did two math pages and his reading lesson. We talked about many things. We talked about people frog gigging and crawdad capturing and how people eat those things. The boys sure weren't impressed about that. Jaden asked whether I knew anyone who had eaten a horse, and the sad thing is, is that I do know of one person who told us he'd eaten horse, as well as opossum and raccoon, in addition to all the other usual suspects. I'll never forget that man telling me that the horse was really dry. What an abomination...
We talked about governments and religions and how corrupt all man's governments and religions are, including the dominating government and religion of the United States. We talked about nuclear weapons, because Jaden asked me about what they were and what they did. I reminded him of the animated atom video he watched a little while back on Youtube. I briefly explained that atom bombs were created by nuclear fission. I talked about the horrible damage they cause and also about radioactive fallout and how a person needed a lot of protection from that, preferably an underground shelter. I explained to him that simply being in the house doesn't give us much protection from the radiation pouring in and told him you'd have to have a lot of mass between you and the radiation.
Jaden asked about man's technology and whether they could make storms and make other weather catastrophes. I told him that there was evidence that they could but that I wasn't sure how much of the bad weather, earthquakes, etc. was due to man's causing it, because much of it is still going to happen naturally. He said, "And that's God's causing it." I said, "Well, yes, he made the earth in such a way, and those things naturally happen; it doesn't necessarily mean he deliberately says that he wants such-and-such to take place at such-and-such time and place, although he does have the power to do so. I reminded him again of how we are living in the last days when man's knowledge and technology is increased but it will never match God's. I told him there is no telling for sure what all "miraculous" things man will do with his knowledge before the end of this age. I think he asked this about the weather, because he must have been listening the day before when Nathan and I briefly talked about earthquakes and such and how man has the technology via EMP to cause earthquakes.
Jaden looked at my February/March Birds & Blooms magazine while I was busy. I asked him later what he'd read, and he said he'd read about how to build a bird house.
As Trusten munched on a snack of carrots, I took the opportunity to talk to the boys about vitamin A in the form of beta carotene, the latter of which is what gives carrots and pumpkins and sweet potatoes their orange color. I told them we needed vitamin A for healthy skin, hair, nails, and vision.
***********
Some Youtube videos watched by the boys lately: sea star locomotion, sea stars fighting over a scallop, snail eats a sea star, brittle star eating a clam, shark vs. octopus, atomic and nuclear bombs in action, Hiroshima after the bomb (sad), The Three Fishes (highly recommended animated moral story; I watched it myself after Jaden asked me to watch it, b/c it was good), The Father and the Donkey (another moral story that I also watched with them), How does the body use vitamin A? , and Omega 3's
*Monday, March 15: Proverb and bible story. Jaden did 3 writing pages in the 1st Gr. CC, 2 math pages in 2nd Gr. CC, a reading lesson in 2nd Gr. CC, and we discussed time travel and watched that movie again. Well, I halfway watched it and halfway did some writing while Liv slept. The movie mainly played again for the boys, but it was distracting me.
Trusten identified felt pictures and put them on our flannel board. Here are some pics of the boys this day:
This evening was the new month and also the new year. Jaden blew the shofar, and we had brownies for dessert.
*Tuesday, March 16: Proverb and bible story. Jaden and Trusten started out the day watching a Reading Rainbow dvd about family, as I was not out of bed yet. Jade did 3 writing pages, 2 math pages, and a reading lesson. We talked about what a crisis pregnancy center does and then went to town to the nearest one.
*Wednesday, March 17: Proverb and bible story. I literally lectured the boys all day long, explaining to them proper family dynamics, focusing on the role of a firstborn son and the younger siblings. I want Jaden to be a loving ruler over his siblings, to teach them by example how they should act. I want him to be able to constructively find things for them to do together when we're having adult conversations or when I have other things I must do. I also reiterated to Jaden and do so every day--when needed, that he needs to treat Trusten how he wants his daddy to treat him. I'm sure Jade would not like it too much if Nathan pushed him onto the floor or grabbed him by his shirt and shook him around, but he has done Trust that way. He also provokes Trusten to anger; this is a major issue on which we're working. Another issue is his lip service that he is giving us. We can tell when he's sincere and when he's not.
Yet another issue is that hearing and acknowledging instruction just doesn't cut it. Hearing and understanding is not enough. DOING is important. It was unbelievable one day that I told him what he needed to be doing, and he said okay, and so I asked him to repeat it back to me so that I knew he had listened. Well, he repeated it back just fine. He heard me just fine. THEN, astoundingly, he walked over to what he had been doing and went back to doing it, NOT doing what I'd told him to do. Talk about jaw-dropping amazement! A hearer and not a doer! Knowing what the command is is good, if one does it. Not doing it when knowing he should is worse than not knowing it! I will be assigning him new scripture verses to memorize, and that will also comprise some of his writing.
*Thursday, March 18: Proverb and bible story. We went grocery shopping this day, and I don't remember what sorts of things we discussed during this day. I didn't note anything. I don't think Jaden did any book work, though. Aha! I know what we did. We watched an Ice Age "short" on Amazon called "No Time for Nuts," which was yet another time travel video! The boys love the Ice Age movies; they have the 1st and 3rd ones (they saw the 2nd online, and I didn't much care for it). I thought it was a full-time movie and had seen it at a glance a few days before when browsing. Well, it turned out to be around seven or eight minutes long, a "short," as I said, so I found a cheap full-length animated movie they could watch. I chose Gulliver's Travel. I'd never read the book or had seen any movie on that. I halfway kept up with it as I did laundry and such, while the boys watched it. Interesting. The graphics and animation were lacking, but the story had a good moral. An evil astrologer sorcerer was working for both sides of two peoples to keep them warring with each other. A ship-wrecked doctor by the surname of Gulliver ended up on an island with the one people, and he was a giant compared to the tiny Lilliputians. Anyway, in the end he helped make it possible for the two sides to find peace with each other. It was the end for the trouble-making evil man. I explained to the boys that some people were indeed like that and lived to keep trouble stirred up for others. That's the way the evil powers of the world are doing among our real nations, keeping wars going against each other. Very sick.
*Friday, March 19: Proverb and bible story. Jade did a reading lesson. I really like his reading lessons, because not only is he reading aloud to me and answering questions, but he's learning things from what he reads. Sometimes it's history. Sometimes it's a moral tale. They've all been good, though. Jade usually does an Explode the Code lesson on Fridays, but he was exempted today.
*Saturday, March 20: Proverb. I did a thankfulness lesson with the boys today from Choosing Thankfulness. It was just the lesson that needed to be taught, too, because it taught that complaining and finding fault were opposites of being thankful. Of course, it pointed out that at times it was needful to do these things. I think it was eye-opening to Jade. I've told him these things before, as he often complains when I do things for him, without a thank you. But, his seeing and hearing it from that lesson made it somehow more real for him. It snowed this day. It was the biggest snow yet. It had been warm the days before, and we'd gone out with short sleeves. I had to bring my plants in; I explained to Trust that the snow might kill them.
*Sunday March 21: Proverb and bible story. There were two killdeer birds in the driveway bobbing their heads around. They were fun to watch. I got out our bird guide and read about them to the boys. Then later we saw a Northern flicker drilling at a rotten stump in the back, on the hill. I didn't know what sort of woodpecker it was myself, so I had to id it in the guide. I took a couple pictures of it, and I also filmed it. I got it on film throwing dirt with its beak from the base of the stump. I read in the guide that they eat ants in the dirt, so that's what it must have been after. I also looked up pictures on Google images to make sure it was the right bird, since it was a different flicker that they had pictured in the guide's entry.
We all watched a movie that Nathan picked up: Amelia. It was a decent watch, and the boys learned some about a figure in history, namely Amelia Earhart.
Jaden did not do Explode the Code. He will start it back Friday.
We looked at pictures online of various nations, especially island nations, and read about them. We located some of them together on our globe. At the boys' bedtime, I pointed some of the places we'd discussed out on their fabric map on the wall in their bedroom.
*Monday, March 22: Proverb and bible story. Jaden did three writing pages and read a story as part of one of the writing assignments. He also did two math pages and his reading lesson. We talked about many things. We talked about people frog gigging and crawdad capturing and how people eat those things. The boys sure weren't impressed about that. Jaden asked whether I knew anyone who had eaten a horse, and the sad thing is, is that I do know of one person who told us he'd eaten horse, as well as opossum and raccoon, in addition to all the other usual suspects. I'll never forget that man telling me that the horse was really dry. What an abomination...
We talked about governments and religions and how corrupt all man's governments and religions are, including the dominating government and religion of the United States. We talked about nuclear weapons, because Jaden asked me about what they were and what they did. I reminded him of the animated atom video he watched a little while back on Youtube. I briefly explained that atom bombs were created by nuclear fission. I talked about the horrible damage they cause and also about radioactive fallout and how a person needed a lot of protection from that, preferably an underground shelter. I explained to him that simply being in the house doesn't give us much protection from the radiation pouring in and told him you'd have to have a lot of mass between you and the radiation.
Jaden asked about man's technology and whether they could make storms and make other weather catastrophes. I told him that there was evidence that they could but that I wasn't sure how much of the bad weather, earthquakes, etc. was due to man's causing it, because much of it is still going to happen naturally. He said, "And that's God's causing it." I said, "Well, yes, he made the earth in such a way, and those things naturally happen; it doesn't necessarily mean he deliberately says that he wants such-and-such to take place at such-and-such time and place, although he does have the power to do so. I reminded him again of how we are living in the last days when man's knowledge and technology is increased but it will never match God's. I told him there is no telling for sure what all "miraculous" things man will do with his knowledge before the end of this age. I think he asked this about the weather, because he must have been listening the day before when Nathan and I briefly talked about earthquakes and such and how man has the technology via EMP to cause earthquakes.
Jaden looked at my February/March Birds & Blooms magazine while I was busy. I asked him later what he'd read, and he said he'd read about how to build a bird house.
As Trusten munched on a snack of carrots, I took the opportunity to talk to the boys about vitamin A in the form of beta carotene, the latter of which is what gives carrots and pumpkins and sweet potatoes their orange color. I told them we needed vitamin A for healthy skin, hair, nails, and vision.
***********
Some Youtube videos watched by the boys lately: sea star locomotion, sea stars fighting over a scallop, snail eats a sea star, brittle star eating a clam, shark vs. octopus, atomic and nuclear bombs in action, Hiroshima after the bomb (sad), The Three Fishes (highly recommended animated moral story; I watched it myself after Jaden asked me to watch it, b/c it was good), The Father and the Donkey (another moral story that I also watched with them), How does the body use vitamin A? , and Omega 3's
Saturday, March 13, 2010
State Games, Thankfulness, Spiders, Birds, and Butterflies
Sunday, February 28: Nathan and Jaden went to the storage building to get a chain for the chain saw, and Nathan cut down some small trees to start on a log playhouse for the boys. Jade did Explode the Code, and of course we read our proverb and a bible story.
Monday, March 1: Jade did 3 writing pages plus a paragraph on a tablet page, 2 math pages, a reading lesson. I read a proverb, a bible story, an entry in the prayer book, and read the chapter in God's Design for animals on the introduction to invertebrates to both the boys. I've been reading more books to Trusten. I've been reading at least one book nearly daily to just him.
Tuesday, March 2: Jade did 2 writing pages; we did a proverb, a bible story, and an entry in the prayer book. I read a chapter in Swiss Family Robinson, and I reviewed where we were in Prepare & Pray. Then I found a free animated movie online for the boys, and the boys and I watched it together. It was called Meet the Robinsons. It had a nice moral to the story, I thought, and it also gave me the opportunity to briefly explain that a person cannot travel in time to the past and go back and forth from the present or past to the future and back.
Wednesday, March 3: We went to town on this day, and I didn't have Jaden do any book work this day. We just did our usual...proverb, bible story, and book readings.
Thursday, March 4: I am sick of getting too many catalogs in the mail that are only good for recycling. I hate that so many trees are cut down for this nonsense. I canceled seven catalogs, and since then I have remembered two more I need to cancel. If I want to buy something from any of these people, I'll go online and find their stores! I reminded Jaden of how so many trees are cut down for all this excessive advertising. Some of these companies give a catalog once a week or more! At least that is the way it seems. We get some of them a lot.
Anyway, Jaden William did 3 writing pages, a reading lesson, and 2 math pages. We did a proverb and a bible story. I got out the metal detector for Jade to use in the yard while I sat out on the front porch and read and Trust followed him around, and he unearthed some hunk of something. I'm not sure what it is. The boys and I raced out on the road a few times. That was fun and good exercise. Jaden also made a slingshot. He wanted to play Funschool after we came in, and I told him to try out the states games that he hasn't played in well over a year. He did well. This also reminded me that his Clever Island account should be canceled soon. I am going to assign him to work on his time, addition, and maybe a couple other things on there, and then it will have served its purpose. My dad gave him the subscription to that.
Friday, March 5: Jade did Explode the Code. I took away his toys and gaming privileges. I want him to have a heart of thankfulness, love, respect, and obedience. I reminded him and Trust how they should treat each other and us. Jaden has become unthankful, and I think it's because he has so much and doesn't realize how good he has it. We also looked at the pictures of me in my school yearbooks, and I discussed and demonstrated how prison schools...uh, I mean U.S. government [public] schools run, and Jaden thought he was being tortured. I told him that we had to actually go through it, including being punished for having to go to the bathroom!
Saturday, March 6: We did a proverb and thankfulness lesson out of the Choosing Thankfulness book. We spent much time outdoors. We all went walking through our woods, including Liv being held by Nathan. I held Trusten's hand. When we got back Jaden and I looked through the spider field guide and the bird field guide. We had seen a spider's empty egg sac on the the ground. The bird field guide was looked through mainly because Jaden decided he wanted to look at that, too. Oh! I've seen a bald eagle flying twice recently while out and about driving, both times in the same area.
Sunday, March 7: Nathan and the boys worked on the playhouse in the afternoon, but then the chainsaw cord broke. That figures. Jade saw and described a butterfly, so I took out the field guide, and we discussed the possibilities of what it could have been. I later taught Trusten about caterpillars, chrysalis, and butterflies, as well as patience when when I dry him off after bathing. He was wet and pretending to be a butterfly wanting to leave, impatiently. I said that butterflies had to be patient while emerging and drying off their wings. And of course I read them a proverb and a bible story.
Monday, March 8: We read Jaden's March issue of Your Big Backyard magazine. Some of the things the boys learned were about the ears of different animals and the different functions ears served for animals (hearing, cooling off, etc.), as well as the different locations and appearances of ears; the difference between hares and rabbits, shapes in nature, and bluebirds.
We looked through and discussed my latest issue of Arbor Day news. The night before Jaden expressed an interest in wanting to learn more about sea stars (sometimes called starfish), and Trusten has been asking about octopuses, so we looked at some pictures in a book we have called All About Animals by Childcraft. I then read the lessons in the God's Design for Science for animals on mollusks and echinoderms.
Jaden has talked a lot about numbers. He often asks the same questions over and over and tells me the things he understands over and over, just in different ways. He's clearly fascinated by math and numbers, which is great, but it's funny (or not so funny) for me, because that is a weaker subject for me. I am average in math (ranging from below average to above average in subareas). I can teach him all the basics of arithmetic, accounting, algebra, geometry, and more, and then beyond that he'll have to take online classes or go take a class or whatever, if he needs more math, because he's sure not going to get anything beyond the basics of math from me.
He also sometimes talks about states and various places at bedtime, because he has a world map and a U.S. map hanging on his bedroom wall. This is something he did this day.
Tuesday, March 9: Jade started off the day adding numbers and asking and telling Nathan about sums. He counted and counted while I nursed Liv before bible time. He did two writing pages, and we did all the usual other things.
Wednesday, March 10: Jade did two writing pages, we read our normal things, and we left to Arkansas this day to go celebrate my mother's 50th birth anniversary the day afterward. We chased tornadoes while traveling! So, we talked about tornadoes and funnel clouds and such.
Thursday, March 11: We read our proverb (didn't take the bible story book), and we went out to eat for my mother's birthday. The place we went had a carousel and lots of games and things for the boys to play. I'm sure Jaden liked that, since he has all that taken away at home currently. Then we went to a rodeo, which is something I'd never even been to myself. It was at the White County Fairgrounds where my dad is the fair manager. The rodeo participants were college students from ten different states. I feel sorry for those calves that are roped and slammed to the ground to have their legs tied. Jaden seemed to think it was great, and Trusten just kept climbing up and down the two stadium seats between my sister and me.
Friday, March 12: We ate lunch with my mother and aunt, and we traveled back home. We read our proverb.
Saturday, March 13: Ah! The sabbath was so welcome after such a busy week. I was so tired, though, that I didn't even do the boys' lesson today. I did do a little writing myself, and the boys started off the day watching the movie Solomon and Sheba. LOL! Trusten actually picked it out.
I think I have pictures to share, but I can post them next time.
Monday, March 1: Jade did 3 writing pages plus a paragraph on a tablet page, 2 math pages, a reading lesson. I read a proverb, a bible story, an entry in the prayer book, and read the chapter in God's Design for animals on the introduction to invertebrates to both the boys. I've been reading more books to Trusten. I've been reading at least one book nearly daily to just him.
Tuesday, March 2: Jade did 2 writing pages; we did a proverb, a bible story, and an entry in the prayer book. I read a chapter in Swiss Family Robinson, and I reviewed where we were in Prepare & Pray. Then I found a free animated movie online for the boys, and the boys and I watched it together. It was called Meet the Robinsons. It had a nice moral to the story, I thought, and it also gave me the opportunity to briefly explain that a person cannot travel in time to the past and go back and forth from the present or past to the future and back.
Wednesday, March 3: We went to town on this day, and I didn't have Jaden do any book work this day. We just did our usual...proverb, bible story, and book readings.
Thursday, March 4: I am sick of getting too many catalogs in the mail that are only good for recycling. I hate that so many trees are cut down for this nonsense. I canceled seven catalogs, and since then I have remembered two more I need to cancel. If I want to buy something from any of these people, I'll go online and find their stores! I reminded Jaden of how so many trees are cut down for all this excessive advertising. Some of these companies give a catalog once a week or more! At least that is the way it seems. We get some of them a lot.
Anyway, Jaden William did 3 writing pages, a reading lesson, and 2 math pages. We did a proverb and a bible story. I got out the metal detector for Jade to use in the yard while I sat out on the front porch and read and Trust followed him around, and he unearthed some hunk of something. I'm not sure what it is. The boys and I raced out on the road a few times. That was fun and good exercise. Jaden also made a slingshot. He wanted to play Funschool after we came in, and I told him to try out the states games that he hasn't played in well over a year. He did well. This also reminded me that his Clever Island account should be canceled soon. I am going to assign him to work on his time, addition, and maybe a couple other things on there, and then it will have served its purpose. My dad gave him the subscription to that.
Friday, March 5: Jade did Explode the Code. I took away his toys and gaming privileges. I want him to have a heart of thankfulness, love, respect, and obedience. I reminded him and Trust how they should treat each other and us. Jaden has become unthankful, and I think it's because he has so much and doesn't realize how good he has it. We also looked at the pictures of me in my school yearbooks, and I discussed and demonstrated how prison schools...uh, I mean U.S. government [public] schools run, and Jaden thought he was being tortured. I told him that we had to actually go through it, including being punished for having to go to the bathroom!
Saturday, March 6: We did a proverb and thankfulness lesson out of the Choosing Thankfulness book. We spent much time outdoors. We all went walking through our woods, including Liv being held by Nathan. I held Trusten's hand. When we got back Jaden and I looked through the spider field guide and the bird field guide. We had seen a spider's empty egg sac on the the ground. The bird field guide was looked through mainly because Jaden decided he wanted to look at that, too. Oh! I've seen a bald eagle flying twice recently while out and about driving, both times in the same area.
Sunday, March 7: Nathan and the boys worked on the playhouse in the afternoon, but then the chainsaw cord broke. That figures. Jade saw and described a butterfly, so I took out the field guide, and we discussed the possibilities of what it could have been. I later taught Trusten about caterpillars, chrysalis, and butterflies, as well as patience when when I dry him off after bathing. He was wet and pretending to be a butterfly wanting to leave, impatiently. I said that butterflies had to be patient while emerging and drying off their wings. And of course I read them a proverb and a bible story.
Monday, March 8: We read Jaden's March issue of Your Big Backyard magazine. Some of the things the boys learned were about the ears of different animals and the different functions ears served for animals (hearing, cooling off, etc.), as well as the different locations and appearances of ears; the difference between hares and rabbits, shapes in nature, and bluebirds.
We looked through and discussed my latest issue of Arbor Day news. The night before Jaden expressed an interest in wanting to learn more about sea stars (sometimes called starfish), and Trusten has been asking about octopuses, so we looked at some pictures in a book we have called All About Animals by Childcraft. I then read the lessons in the God's Design for Science for animals on mollusks and echinoderms.
Jaden has talked a lot about numbers. He often asks the same questions over and over and tells me the things he understands over and over, just in different ways. He's clearly fascinated by math and numbers, which is great, but it's funny (or not so funny) for me, because that is a weaker subject for me. I am average in math (ranging from below average to above average in subareas). I can teach him all the basics of arithmetic, accounting, algebra, geometry, and more, and then beyond that he'll have to take online classes or go take a class or whatever, if he needs more math, because he's sure not going to get anything beyond the basics of math from me.
He also sometimes talks about states and various places at bedtime, because he has a world map and a U.S. map hanging on his bedroom wall. This is something he did this day.
Tuesday, March 9: Jade started off the day adding numbers and asking and telling Nathan about sums. He counted and counted while I nursed Liv before bible time. He did two writing pages, and we did all the usual other things.
Wednesday, March 10: Jade did two writing pages, we read our normal things, and we left to Arkansas this day to go celebrate my mother's 50th birth anniversary the day afterward. We chased tornadoes while traveling! So, we talked about tornadoes and funnel clouds and such.
Thursday, March 11: We read our proverb (didn't take the bible story book), and we went out to eat for my mother's birthday. The place we went had a carousel and lots of games and things for the boys to play. I'm sure Jaden liked that, since he has all that taken away at home currently. Then we went to a rodeo, which is something I'd never even been to myself. It was at the White County Fairgrounds where my dad is the fair manager. The rodeo participants were college students from ten different states. I feel sorry for those calves that are roped and slammed to the ground to have their legs tied. Jaden seemed to think it was great, and Trusten just kept climbing up and down the two stadium seats between my sister and me.
Friday, March 12: We ate lunch with my mother and aunt, and we traveled back home. We read our proverb.
Saturday, March 13: Ah! The sabbath was so welcome after such a busy week. I was so tired, though, that I didn't even do the boys' lesson today. I did do a little writing myself, and the boys started off the day watching the movie Solomon and Sheba. LOL! Trusten actually picked it out.
I think I have pictures to share, but I can post them next time.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Roads and Land, Heathen Tribes, and Vertebrates Quiz
*Tuesday, February 16: I think this was the day we read Trusten's March edition of Wild Animal Baby, but I don't know what else we did or talked about.
*Wednesday, February 17: It was a sunny day this day, and the boys and I walked up the hill and looked around while Liv was sleeping inside. I don't remember what else we did, except they had the following Youtube videos: how to make lollipops (could not find one on commercially-made ones), magical nature alphabet (for toddlers and preschoolers), fascinating caterpillars animation, exactly how a car engine works (3D animation), and how air conditioners work.
*Thursday, February 18: The boys explored our dry creek bed. We later drove to Fayetteville, and I explained mile markers and exit numbers to Jaden. On the way home I explained Jct./junction meaning where two or more roads meet (or join) and that "junction" and "join" come from the same Latin root word (jungere, meaning "to join").
I explained the land dispute that we're having with our so-called "neighbor" to Jade, including a brief explanation of land plats, deeds, boundaries, etc.
We got a census letter in the mail that informed me that we should soon be receiving a census form, so I talked to Jaden about what a census was and why it they are done.
*Friday, February 19: Jade did an Explode the Code lesson. He spent time with Nathan learning how to use a metal detector as Nathan looked for some of our pins marking our land boundaries. He also went to town with Nathan, while I stayed with Trust and Liv.
I talked to Jaden again (as I have been doing) about the role of a firstborn, while adding details I had not before. I've been teaching him that he should make sure he's doing the right things, that he should set a good example for Trusten and that he should be Trust's teacher. I also lectured to him about time management, obedience, and more. I explained to him that if he does the right things and follows his daddy's rules that Trusten will then obey him (Jaden). He wants to boss Trusten around without leading and teaching him the right things by example.
They watched some fun Youtube videos...things like five monkeys jumping on a bed and a couple of decent cartoons; one was about spring and another about magnets.
*Saturday, February 20: We read two bible story entries instead of the one we read on work days, instead of a sabbath school lesson, because I had not prepared one. It was a fair day (mostly cloudy but not cold), so we spent some time outside walking around on the sabbath.
*Sunday, February 21: Jade did Explode the Code. We did our daily reading of a proverb and a bible story. I talked some on the not striving with a neighbor hastily, or he may bring you to shame in the end, and I explained to the boys (well, mainly to Jade, but Trust sits and listens, too) that our "neighbor" is a prime example of this. He has been brought to major shame, and it's all b/c he wanted to stir up strife. And of course, I read the boys each a book of their choice to them, as I do most days.
I was planning to make chicken fajitas for dinner, but Nathan suggested he take us out to eat. I reminded him that if we ate at a Mexican restaurant, the meat quality might make us ill. He said he'd take us to a nice one. So, we went to one that appeared upscale. Afterward I explained to Jaden how that was a prime example of how looks can be deceiving. The restaurant was nice looking outside and in, but the food was a joke. They didn't even cook my tomatoes or bell peppers, and I must have my tomatoes cooked now, or otherwise I will have an allergic reaction. I specified from the beginning that I must have cooked tomatoes, but it was ignored (although most M. restaurants cook them, anyway, but this one didn't even make fajitas with tomatoes, so I had to request them to be added). I had her take the stuff back to cook, but it ended up not being cooked enough, so later at home, I experienced a mild reaction. I downed some liquid vitamin C and drank a lot of water, and I ended up being okay.
Jaden and I played chess together before they went to bed. Afterward Nathan and I started watching Youtube segments of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which has been something I've wanted to read for a few years now. I do better reading something, but I go the gist of it. It took us two nights to complete it all. It was interesting, but it really brought out the folly of such folks, and I didn't much care for the vulgar pornograpic parts.
Monday, February 22: I'd been getting on to the boys again for going around without their clothes, especially their shirts. They'll often strip to their underwear, though, and then run around. I tell them not to act like heathens. Jade asked to see videos about heathen tribes (which I've shown before), so we watched some. I cannot remember the name of the tribes we watched this day, but one was the last known tribe that still sometimes practices cannibalism. Tobacco smoking was also important in this tribe. They would run or think about killing someone if they saw an outsider approach who was not wearing clothes. The people who lived in the villages who had converted to the Christianity religion (which, at least is better than full-blown heathen) explained this to the fellow who was visiting these tribes. He approached them naked, except a leaf covering his genitals. All the tribes were in Africa.
Jaden ate buckwheat cereal for breakfast this day. I usually make muffins, cereal bars, oatmeal, or something for breakfast, except on the sabbath. This day I didn't feel like making anything. Anyway, later in the day I was doing clothing bin inventory and putting away clothes and taking out clothes, and I had a couple small buckwheat pillows in a bin. I gave them to the boys, and I told Jaden they had buckwheat in them. He wanted to know what that was, and I told him he'd had buckwheat cereal that morning. I then showed the boys pictures of buckwheat and the plant. They even got to see the real deal, because Trusten got into one of the homeschool drawers, stole Jaden's scissors and made a cut into one of the pillows! I made him sit beside me while I stitched it closed.
Jaden did three writing pages, two math pages, and of course we did our proverb of the day and a bible story.
Tuesday, February 23: Jade did three writing pages, two math pages, and a reading lesson. We did our proverb and bible story. Jade did his school work on the front porch. The boys and I walked up our hill and to the deer blind. Jaden then practiced his archery skills with his bow. I got some puzzles down for Trusten. Trust loves to pretend to cook. Of course, both the boys do this outside. Trusten does this everywhere, though, including bath time.
Wednesday, February 24: Jade did a reading lesson, three writing pages, two math pages, a vertebrates quiz, and we read our proverb and bible story. I elaborated on covering up sins versus forsaking them and receiving mercy. We walked up the hill. Nathan and I started on our dvd lectures on relativity and the quantum revolution.
Thursday, February 25: Jade did a reading lesson, three writing pages, and two math pages. Proverb and bible story. Jaden and Trusten spent a lot of time outside playing in the sandbox while I read outside. Jaden made a house with a steep embankment near it, where he had a horse. Trusten pretended a stick was a person.
Friday, February 26: Jaden did Explode the Code. We then cleaned the house, and I cooked, to prepare for the sabbath.
Saturday, February 27: Jaden went somewhere with Nathan and stayed gone a long time, so we didn't get to do our sabbath school lesson. I took Trust outside to play in the sandbox while I read the bible.
*Wednesday, February 17: It was a sunny day this day, and the boys and I walked up the hill and looked around while Liv was sleeping inside. I don't remember what else we did, except they had the following Youtube videos: how to make lollipops (could not find one on commercially-made ones), magical nature alphabet (for toddlers and preschoolers), fascinating caterpillars animation, exactly how a car engine works (3D animation), and how air conditioners work.
*Thursday, February 18: The boys explored our dry creek bed. We later drove to Fayetteville, and I explained mile markers and exit numbers to Jaden. On the way home I explained Jct./junction meaning where two or more roads meet (or join) and that "junction" and "join" come from the same Latin root word (jungere, meaning "to join").
I explained the land dispute that we're having with our so-called "neighbor" to Jade, including a brief explanation of land plats, deeds, boundaries, etc.
We got a census letter in the mail that informed me that we should soon be receiving a census form, so I talked to Jaden about what a census was and why it they are done.
*Friday, February 19: Jade did an Explode the Code lesson. He spent time with Nathan learning how to use a metal detector as Nathan looked for some of our pins marking our land boundaries. He also went to town with Nathan, while I stayed with Trust and Liv.
I talked to Jaden again (as I have been doing) about the role of a firstborn, while adding details I had not before. I've been teaching him that he should make sure he's doing the right things, that he should set a good example for Trusten and that he should be Trust's teacher. I also lectured to him about time management, obedience, and more. I explained to him that if he does the right things and follows his daddy's rules that Trusten will then obey him (Jaden). He wants to boss Trusten around without leading and teaching him the right things by example.
They watched some fun Youtube videos...things like five monkeys jumping on a bed and a couple of decent cartoons; one was about spring and another about magnets.
*Saturday, February 20: We read two bible story entries instead of the one we read on work days, instead of a sabbath school lesson, because I had not prepared one. It was a fair day (mostly cloudy but not cold), so we spent some time outside walking around on the sabbath.
*Sunday, February 21: Jade did Explode the Code. We did our daily reading of a proverb and a bible story. I talked some on the not striving with a neighbor hastily, or he may bring you to shame in the end, and I explained to the boys (well, mainly to Jade, but Trust sits and listens, too) that our "neighbor" is a prime example of this. He has been brought to major shame, and it's all b/c he wanted to stir up strife. And of course, I read the boys each a book of their choice to them, as I do most days.
I was planning to make chicken fajitas for dinner, but Nathan suggested he take us out to eat. I reminded him that if we ate at a Mexican restaurant, the meat quality might make us ill. He said he'd take us to a nice one. So, we went to one that appeared upscale. Afterward I explained to Jaden how that was a prime example of how looks can be deceiving. The restaurant was nice looking outside and in, but the food was a joke. They didn't even cook my tomatoes or bell peppers, and I must have my tomatoes cooked now, or otherwise I will have an allergic reaction. I specified from the beginning that I must have cooked tomatoes, but it was ignored (although most M. restaurants cook them, anyway, but this one didn't even make fajitas with tomatoes, so I had to request them to be added). I had her take the stuff back to cook, but it ended up not being cooked enough, so later at home, I experienced a mild reaction. I downed some liquid vitamin C and drank a lot of water, and I ended up being okay.
Jaden and I played chess together before they went to bed. Afterward Nathan and I started watching Youtube segments of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which has been something I've wanted to read for a few years now. I do better reading something, but I go the gist of it. It took us two nights to complete it all. It was interesting, but it really brought out the folly of such folks, and I didn't much care for the vulgar pornograpic parts.
Monday, February 22: I'd been getting on to the boys again for going around without their clothes, especially their shirts. They'll often strip to their underwear, though, and then run around. I tell them not to act like heathens. Jade asked to see videos about heathen tribes (which I've shown before), so we watched some. I cannot remember the name of the tribes we watched this day, but one was the last known tribe that still sometimes practices cannibalism. Tobacco smoking was also important in this tribe. They would run or think about killing someone if they saw an outsider approach who was not wearing clothes. The people who lived in the villages who had converted to the Christianity religion (which, at least is better than full-blown heathen) explained this to the fellow who was visiting these tribes. He approached them naked, except a leaf covering his genitals. All the tribes were in Africa.
Jaden ate buckwheat cereal for breakfast this day. I usually make muffins, cereal bars, oatmeal, or something for breakfast, except on the sabbath. This day I didn't feel like making anything. Anyway, later in the day I was doing clothing bin inventory and putting away clothes and taking out clothes, and I had a couple small buckwheat pillows in a bin. I gave them to the boys, and I told Jaden they had buckwheat in them. He wanted to know what that was, and I told him he'd had buckwheat cereal that morning. I then showed the boys pictures of buckwheat and the plant. They even got to see the real deal, because Trusten got into one of the homeschool drawers, stole Jaden's scissors and made a cut into one of the pillows! I made him sit beside me while I stitched it closed.
Jaden did three writing pages, two math pages, and of course we did our proverb of the day and a bible story.
Tuesday, February 23: Jade did three writing pages, two math pages, and a reading lesson. We did our proverb and bible story. Jade did his school work on the front porch. The boys and I walked up our hill and to the deer blind. Jaden then practiced his archery skills with his bow. I got some puzzles down for Trusten. Trust loves to pretend to cook. Of course, both the boys do this outside. Trusten does this everywhere, though, including bath time.
Wednesday, February 24: Jade did a reading lesson, three writing pages, two math pages, a vertebrates quiz, and we read our proverb and bible story. I elaborated on covering up sins versus forsaking them and receiving mercy. We walked up the hill. Nathan and I started on our dvd lectures on relativity and the quantum revolution.
Thursday, February 25: Jade did a reading lesson, three writing pages, and two math pages. Proverb and bible story. Jaden and Trusten spent a lot of time outside playing in the sandbox while I read outside. Jaden made a house with a steep embankment near it, where he had a horse. Trusten pretended a stick was a person.
Friday, February 26: Jaden did Explode the Code. We then cleaned the house, and I cooked, to prepare for the sabbath.
Saturday, February 27: Jaden went somewhere with Nathan and stayed gone a long time, so we didn't get to do our sabbath school lesson. I took Trust outside to play in the sandbox while I read the bible.
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