Fun With School, Ending Studies and New Adventures

I take it as a good sign when you give your kids an oral quiz over the past three lesson in science and the pretty much remember everything they studied.  Especially considering that each lesson takes two weeks to cover.  So that means they were remembering stuff from over a month ago.  That either means that I am a really good teacher or the curriculum presents the material in a way that is fun and easy to assimilate.  I think it's all of the above.

We have had a lot of fun learning about plants.  But alas that is soon to come to an end.  Our study of Botany only has two more lessons in left and they are mostly wrap up stuff.  I am in the process of planning a couple of field trips to end our study with.  One, I want to take the boys to a botanical garden with an indoor conservatory(due to the season) and two, I am wanting to take them on a nature walk with a field guide to look at and study the trees.  I think these two things would be a lot of fun and would tie up nicely all that we have learned.

They are also getting close to finishing their study of U.S. Geography and I will soon be looking for a new curriculum.  Not sure exactly where we will go from here but where every it is I know it will be a journey.

This is the boys last week of there Bible study of Revelation.  They have really enjoyed it and had lots of fun learning about all the seals, the horsemen and the woman and the beast etc...  They probably know more about Revelation than most kids, maybe even adults now.   We have picked out and ordered our next Bible study.  It is the same curriculum study, Discover 4 Yourself but it is titled Amazing Adventures with God.  It is a study on Issac, Jacob and Esau.  It should be very good and we are looking forward to it.

They are continuing on with their language arts and math.  It is a full year curriculum and will be done with it sometime in May.  Then we will probably continue with the curriculum we have been using.  The kids really like it and it is very easy to use and teach with.

Joshua has really been enjoying his Art class and we will definitely continue that for him.  Sean is about to complete his season of basketball.  What started out as me just signing him up even though he was very adamant about the whole idea.  Needless to say he is now in love with the sport and we will be looking for another way for him to play because the Y only offers it during the winter.  Joshua will be starting soccer at the end of March and is not too excited about it.  He would rather play kick ball but I haven't been able to find a kids kickball league.  You can find adult leagues but not kids.  Maybe I should mention starting one at the Y.

The only thing left to talk about is their PE class.  It is two days a week on Monday and Wednesdays stating at 7:30am which gets us all up at 6:00 on those days.  They have really enjoyed their PE class and will not be very happy when it ends the end of May.  It follows the public school schedule so when public school is over, it will be too.  I will have to plan something else for them over the summer because we pretty much continue school through the summer with a little more flexible schedule.

Well, I think that covers all that is going on with the kids school right now.  This next year will bring about many changes as Sean enters 7th grade and I have to start keeping more permanent records of his grades and school work.  Should be interesting for me.  I'm really not looking forward to that part and am not sure were to start.  I am sure I will figure it out.

That's it.  I hope this has not bored you too much.  Just my teacher ramblings.

DIFFERENT DRUG PROBLEM

The other day, someone at a store in our town 

read that a meth lab had been found in an old farm

house and he asked me a rhetorical question,

"Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I

were growing up?"

  I replied, I had a drug problem when I was young:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning.  I was drug

to church for weddings and funerals.  I was drug

to family reunions and community socials no matter

the weather.

   I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful

to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I

disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home

a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke

ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't

put forth my best effort in everything that was

asked of me.

   I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth

washed out with soap if I uttered profanity.  I was

drug out to pull weed in mom's garden and flower

beds and cockleburs out of dad's fields.  I was drug

to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to

help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the

yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood,

and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single

dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug

me back to the woodshed.

    Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect

my behavior in everything I do,say, or think.  They

are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and,

If today's children had this kind of drug problem,

America would be a better place.

   GOD BLESS THE PARENTS WHO DRUGGED US.

This article was sent to me by my Aunt Susie.  It did not have a name attached to it as to who wrote it.   I agree with it.  Just wanted to share.

Weight loss update: Week 56

Last week was not a good week for me.  I'm not sure what the reason was but last week I gained 1.6 lbs.  I was at my lowest of 203 and that put me back up to 204.6.  This weight gain could have occurred for a number of reasons.  Could have been from all the chocolate I ate and the delicious dinner we had for Valentines day.  Or it could have been from my increase in weights at the gym and my body was just slapping on some more muscle.  Whatever the reason I gained weight.

Here's the kicker though.  My last weigh in was Friday and then this morning I weighed and now again I am at my lowest weight of 202.4.  So that means that over the weekend I lost 2.4 lbs which is more than I gained last week.  So there you have it.  I was afraid that I had ruined my chances of reaching my end of the month goal of getting below 200.  Now I have only 2.5 lbs to lose by the end of the month which only gives me 1 week.  Not sure if I will make it but I am going to give my best shot.

I am going to start swimming laps today at the gym for my cardio instead of the bike.  Just to change things up and see if that will help me along the way.  I have always liked to swim so it should be enjoyable.  I always tell everyone to pick an exercise that they enjoy otherwise they will end up quiting.  That is what I have done over the past year and it seems to work for me.  Plus it is nice to change things up a bit from time to time just to make things more interesting and not get bored with it all.

Not to mention that if you keep doing the same thing over and over again your body will get use to it.  That is why walking is really not the best exercise for losing weight because it is something that most people do on a regular basis.  Now if you are at a point where walking is the only exercise you can do and if that is where you are than that is what you need to do to start off plus some weights of course.

You have to do weights.  Building muscle is one of the best ways to get your metabolism started up and keep it going.  I do more weights than I do cardio.  The lbs may come of slower but you will find the inches come off quickly because you will be exchanging fat for muscle.  I have said this before but pound for pound muscle weighs the same as fat but muscle takes up less space.  So you will have a constant loss of inches with bursts of weight loss.

Slow and steady wins the race.