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Little Buddy Spots a Copperhead
This week at golf, there was a copperhead snake on the 17th hole. Thankfully, Little Buddy spotted it. His golf instructor was pretty proud he spotted it as well. They just gathered up their stuff and moved right along to the 18th hole. I think that was a good idea. Glad they did.
We read about snakes in our region the next day. I especially wanted to be sure Little Buddy knew how dangerous they were. We read about their habitats, how to identify, but most importantly learned that regardless if they appear harmful or friendly – leave them alone!
The photo above is courtesy of The University of Georgia and is by J.D. Willson. I admire that he either got close enough or took enough time to take photos of these snakes. Hopefully he just had a great zoom lens!
Scorpions at the Lake
As we were busy reading about snakes, installers were busy replacing our hot tub at the lake house. One of the installers had to crawl under the deck to unbolt a support and got stung by a scorpion. Luckily, he’s fine.
You guessed it, we then started reading about scorpions. According to what we read, scorpion bites occur 10 times more often than snake bites. While the more venomous variety are in Mexico, South America, and Africa, all scorpions are dangerous. Especially to children, older adults and small pets.
We learned to look carefully in dark areas, check shoes and towels that have been left outside, and have sprayed thoroughly around and in the house to keep scorpions away.
Tests
On a not as exciting note, we also started having weekly tests last week. I was a bit apprehensive about this to begin with, but am really glad we started. Each week, we have tests on each subject area. This is a quick round-up of tests that we have:
- Bible – Memorization of scripture.
- Spelling – 10 spelling words of the week along with five bonus words.
- Math – Right now we are working hard on our multiplication. So, each week we are learning a new group 0-12. Test is on that week’s group.
- Grammar – Test of grammar we have learned. I write out sentences. He identifies the adverb, pronoun, noun, verb, preposition, and/ or adjective. This week’s focus was on adjectives. He identified the adjectives in sentences and the noun that they described.
- Latin – Test of words of the week and meaning.
- Social Studies – Test from Story of the World book.
- Science – Test from BJU.
When I write this out, it looks like a lot. It’s not at all. Our tests are Friday mornings and are really low key. The benefit: Little Buddy told me he was really proud of how well he is doing. Isn’t that the goal – to build confidence while learning? It sure is mine.
So, I hope next week is a bit less eventful with venomous things that slither and creep about. Until then, be sure to check out the other Weekly Wrap-up postings at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
Do you have regularly scheduled tests in your homeschool? I sure would love to hear about how you handle.
Last year my son picked up a copperhead while on vacation with his grandparents. I had had many conversations with him in the past about never picking up a snake without an adult telling him it was ok, but . . . Thankfully he was not bitten. He was definitely old enough to know better, but I am so grateful God protected him.
Wow- copperhead! Glad you had the chance to cover the safety points about snakes and other creepy crawlies. I like the testing idea. It is good to help him see he is learning, and to do it without the "make the grade" pressure the school system puts on it. Thanks for sharing your week.