What Doug is Learning
Thursday, March 11, 2004
This has been an interesting week because Steve is out of town, and I have to work. Nonetheless, Doug is still learning a lot. Tomorrow, he starts learning more about Rome. I am also having him work a bit on his grandma's website about dolls. Gloria's Dolls.
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Doug helped Steve today with getting the measurements ready for the new castle extension. Practical math at its finest. On Monday and Tuesday, Doug took the 6th grade TAKS test that was released last year. He passed both exams. On math, the ones that he seemed to miss the most was dealing with Ratios. We'll deal with those a bit more before the end of the school year. On reading, he was only 2 off from being Exemplary, so I don't have much of a beef with that. I had him watch movies in the afternoons of both of those days. One was a forgettable movie called "Exploring our Universe." It was so outdated, it was laughable. On Tuesday, he watched Imax: Cosmic Voyage. This movie was a lot better. It discussed the outer cosmos: Galileo's invention of the telescope, discussed the concept of a light year, stars, supernovas, and black holes. This movie also discussed the inner cosmos: the perfection of the microscope, DNA, subatomic particles, and a host of other concepts.
Today, Doug is watching the Standard Deviants Nutrition, in addition to doing his math, spelling, vocabulary, and spelling. We are making a complete study out of it, although he has already done an 8th-grade science unit on health last semester (using one of the LifePacs). So a lot of this is review, but I do think that it is important. Also, after Corey gets done with his health chapter for Thompson High, we will reuse it for Doug. The concepts covered today are: Nutrients, calories, nonnutrients (macronutrients and micronutrients), Nutrition Standards and Guidelines, RDA, Food Pyramid, and Food-Borne illness, the digestive system - parts and processing, carbohydrates, fats and proteins. There is a section about energy balance and weight control, too, and I hope that Doug will take this to heart. Finally, the unit wraps up with a section on how good nutrition can be helpful in disease prevention. There is a quick blurb on eating disorders, although I don't think we have that issue with Doug. You never know, though, so I'm glad he'll be learning a little bit about that, too.
