A World of Learning

 Okay, so this boy isn't one that I actually tutor. He's autistic, and I just make sure he gets up in time for school and make him breakfast, then take him to school. Today is his first day of high school!  I asked him if he was excited about starting high school, and he said no. I asked him if he was nervous, but the thing he was worried about was that he wouldn't see any of his middle school teachers anymore. And he had a new class schedule to learn, and wasn't sure he would know where each class was, and how to get there on time.  I told him to just check in the office if he didn't know where to go next. I remember starting high school, even though it was so long ago. It took me about a week to feel confident about knowing my schedule and where my classrooms were.  I'm sure he'll do fine once he adjusts to a new school. He did fine remembering his schedule at the middle school, and this will be the same way. I was surprised this morning that he got up bef...

 One of the boys that I have had the pleasure of tutoring over the past four years as a homeschool student has now decided that, as a fifth grader, he wants to attend public school. He is advanced in his learning skills, so he should have no trouble there. The only thing that could pose a problem, something he would need to get used to, is the structure of class subjects and the length of the school day. His studies at home have so far been done at a much more relaxed schedule, since he is so smart and can finish lessons quickly.  I will really miss tutoring him! He has been one of my favorite students (well, they're all my favorite) but I love his spunk and personality. This also means I'm down one student. So I'll need to do a little advertising to see if I can get any more clients.  Here he is with the textbooks he's been using for homeschooling - I wish him well in this new venture he is embarking on! (Though I do secretly want him back lol) 

 Well, I found a new book at Walgreen's that I really think will help out my youngest client! Since she is only three years old, I've been holding her hand, making sure she's holding the pencil the correct way, and desribing what we're doing as I help her write her name.  But when I saw this dry-erase book, I realized I was moving too quickly for her. It's made for preschoolers, and the first page has different types of lines on it - curvy, zig zag, bouncy, and so on. The child is supposed to try and trace the lines to help with hand-eye coordination. I watched her as she traced the lines, and saw which ones were easy for her and which ones were more difficult. The lines with curves were easier for her to trace than the ones with 90 degree corners. She only seemed able to draw in curved lines. I realized that going straight to writing letters was way too much to expect from her. She needs to start at step one, which for us, is tracing the different lines. I'm go...

 Hello again, folks! I hope you are enjoying your summer! It's been pretty nice here, all in all. I love warm weather! I love to sit out in the sun and read!  But, enough about me.  I tutor a little girl named Ruby, who is only three years old. She is still learning to identify the letters of the alphabet, and while we do play a matching game with all the letters, I'm really focusing on the letters in her name. R-U-B-Y.  I show her a letter and ask her what it is. I show her an R and she says A. So I show her what an A looks like and then show her the R again. I tell her it's the first letter of her name (which I have done many times, telling her it's an R.) I ask her what letter it is, and she says B. So I show her the B. I tell her it's a B. Then I show her an R again. I say, "It's the first letter in your name. R for Ruby." Then I ask her what comes next, and she says "woo" (U.) I show her the U and put it next to the R. Then I point to th...

I like to keep changing up the games that the kids play, so they don't get bored with any one particular game. Using tongue depressors with letters on them gives the kids a challenge to spell some of the words on their "word list," words they are learning how to say correctly. Sometimes I set my timer on my phone for 5 minutes to see how many words they can spell in that amount of time, or I'll set the stopwatch to see how long it takes them to spell a predetermined number of words that I've picked out.  For example, Elliot is learning to spell "no," "it," "big," and "at." Elsie's words are "there," "who," clip," "end," "saw," etc.  And then there's Robert. He is ten years old and I need to give him 9th grade words for his lists.  Right now he's learning how to spell "inhibit," "nemesis," and "rhapsody." I also treat them as vocabulary wor...

 One of the boys that I tutor, along with several girls that I help teach in Kids' Church, were part of the Fourth of July parade this year! One of our church members was so kind as to let us use (he drove) his antique truck pulling a trailer that the kids could decorate and stand in to throw candy. We were in the annual town photo, then headed a few blocks away to where the truck was waiting. We had decorated it the day before, so I'm thankful to God that we didn't have any moisture during the night to mess things up!  The kids had so much fun throwing candy (and eating it!) after we had to wait in the trailer for 45 minutes for our part of the parade to start moving! We ran out of candy, generously donated by our church members, two-thirds of the way through the parade. I don't know if it's because the kids were throwing too much at a time, or if we just didn't have enough candy. I think we didn't have enough candy, because we separated it all into separat...