Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Changing the order of tutoring

Saturday, I changed the order of tutoring. Part of this was because I was late getting back and part of this was to see how much progress this young man has made. I had him play dominos with another tutor.  Then when I got here, I had him work in the rocket phonics book on page 274 before using the balance board.
Page 274 is about the vowel and consonant patterns. He cannot tell me the vowels without help. We only did 3 of the 6 sections. I asked him why we only did 3. He said it was because it was too much like school. I laughed and told him, it was because it was boring.  It is boring but still needs to be learned.  We will review the section next time before we go on. He was also not pleased I had something to do before I could tutor. Wonder who he thinks is running this tutoring?  When he was standing on the balance board, several times, he threw two balls at a time back to me instead of doing the correct patterning. I just kept laughing at him and myself when I could not catch them both. Finally he did the patterning correctly. 
He let me know that he comes here because it is fun and not like school.  Thankfully, he does not understand how much school type stuff  I sneak in.
Monday, we reviewed the vowels and he remembered them and did much better. Today, Wednesday, he was complaining about school but is still doing much better than last year. We reviewed the sections 1 to 5 of the vowel and consonant patterning. Then we did section 6. These are small bites but that is how I can get him to do this.
We are working on writing in cursive because the teacher is encouraging him to learn to write in cursive. We only did 4 words and small words at that but it is a start without the pressure.  We also played dominos. I got him to play 4 hands without complaining. We also read in the My Side of the Mountain book. Small successes are adding up.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

The August 25 Class

The class went well. We had 7 come.  We had a good time and hopefully learned more about the importance of a child needing to be in balance to learn better.  Two boys that were at the building
told us that they had a friend who struggled to read as we were leaving the building.  It was a joy to see
their concern for a friend. We gave them a card with my phone number.  We will have to see if anyone
calls.  It is such an embarrassment to those who struggle to learn that it is hard to get them to ask for help.
Often, when they do ask for help the money is a problem.  Most people charge in the range of 45 to 55 dollars an hour.  I am asking 20 am hour.  I am working from my home and do not have the rent overhead.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Free Class on August 25, 2011

On August 25, 2011 at 7 pm, I will have a free class at the Community Center in the library building in the City of Catoosa. Please email me at jrwon90@yahoo.com if you would like to attend.  You may try the balance board and see some of what I do and why.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Child needs help standing on board

This week I had an opportunity to show a mom how the balance board works.  Her child struggles with balance so much that I needed to hold both of her hands so she could stand on the board.  After she was more comfortable I had her hold onto the rocking chair with one hand. She held to one of my hands with the other hand.  Before the session was over she could stand on the board with one of her hands laid on top of  one of my hands.  Her mom could see progress in just the one time.  I showed her where to get a board as she is a wonderful teacher and might do this herself. 
I have students stand and balance and catch balls.  With this child, she needed to toss the ball to me with one hand while she held onto the rocking chair or my other hand.
I also had her walk on the balance beam with rockers.  I put this board in a hallway so she can touch the walls to help with balance when she needs. I walked backwards and held her hands until she could use the walls.
It will be exciting to see how this works for this child.  It will also show me other areas to help different children.