The Foul Smell of Methane.

Boy awoke in a foul mood. He considers that he is not moving fast enough through levels of Burning Crusade. Given that we had written leveling into our home school tasks for technology (Level 40 by end of term 1 at Easter), Boy felt compelled to argue from a home school perspective. “I have to do it. It’s written on the white board.”

Photo of Misty Chimney-Stalks courtsey of superdecor at stock.xchng.

While I felt like yelling at him, I calmly reminded him that he still has six weeks in which to reach level 40 (he’s currently at level 38). Not good enough…he wanted to level IMMEDIATELY. Damn that Asperger’s immediacy and obsession. I so want to pack if off on holidays some days.

Taking an educators stance mixed with the manipulative tactics used by parents world over, I agreed that the exciting science we had for the day could be cancelled but that technology would also have to be cancelled. Instead, we could together go wedding shopping and go back to Spotlight to buy some more craft reserves. It worked. Boy said, “Alright. Let’s just get the school work over with.”

Science/Environment/Geography and Technology: We tackled Greenhouse Gas, emissions and Global Warming. Using some standard definitions from Energy Kids Page we went through the following terms: Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, Greenhouse Emissions and Greenhouse Gases. Best of all, the site has links to Energy Information Administration for us grown ups to learn more than the kids think they already know. I really need this to stay one step ahead of Boy and his appetite for interesting knowledge.

We completed two environmental science worksheets, both from Teaching Treasures, and an online crossword puzzle. Boy particularly enjoyed the cross word puzzle because he got the answers quicker than I did. The worksheets involved a range of skills (writing, thinking, drawing, and research). Boy’s memory and ability to enter quality discussion while working amazed me. He remembered that he had visited a wind farm twice – once with me and once with his Dad. The practical learning that he received on those visits has stayed with him.

In preparation for tomorrow’s lesson on Planets, we had a quick look at some photos from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day. Boy was not keen to do this and suggested that they could take a picture of his bum. Seriously, I looked him in the eye and said, “they already have photos of Uranus.” What a crack up (pun intended)! Boy laughed and stomped and kept repeating it. He got the joke and happily moved to the computer to see Uranus. What made this even funnier was that when we were learning about Methane Gas, farting was nominated as a human contribution to global warming because it is a greenhouse emission.

Boys and their smelly toilet humour! I don’t care – it’s whatever works for my delightfully hilarious child. At least he's going to remember the NASA site and one way that Methane Gas is produced.

Spelling: Not a crash hot effort today (must have been all the methane effecting his brain). Although Boy got family correct, he still can’t fathom funeral, cremation, pioneer and eulogy. Does any body have any memory aids to suggest for these words?