What a beautiful day

        Yesterday a young man I tutor came complaining of a headache.  This is usually an indication that we are going to struggle with tutoring.  I do not know if he really had a headache and cannot decide this.  I do know he was struggling to learn.  He began by telling me he could not stay long.  What was he really telling me?  I think sometimes we as adults miss what is being said.  How often do we try to do something that just needs to wait till another day or after a nap so we can function better?  I really think that children that struggle to learn need to be given that same consideration we need to often give ourselves.
     We are supposed to tutor an hour.  At 20 minutes, he told me he needed to go home.  For him this had been a long 20 minutes. I asked him if he wanted to listen to the book on tape we are working on and he told me he could not do that.  I asked him to play a game with him before he left.  He agreed to this. He appeared to be struggling to focus.  I chose the game Sequence. We played and it took about 15 minutes and he left confident that he had succeeded at something. The rules say a player needs to make 2 sequences to win.  I only had him make one as he was already struggling.
     When another child came later in the day, he told me it was too beautiful a day to be inside. What as a tutor had I missed?  I too wanted to be outside but the equipment to tutor was inside. The balance board is easy to take outside but the cards and other things blow away.  Also the ball hanging from the ceiling is not easy to move.I told him we would work inside and then go outside.  We did not work as long and he did well.
     Today, when the first young man came he seemed to be feeling better. I asked him if he wanted to be outside.His face lit up. We took the balance board outside and I hung another ball up outside. We also worked with the number board outside.  We came inside to work out of the rocket phonics and play a card  go fish game with words.   Then we went outside to listen to the book on tape.  Today we worked a little longer than planned and he did not want to leave. We listened to the book on tape for 30 minutes. It is amazing how well learning can work when it is on the timetable and of the learner and not the adult.
     My daughter telling me that she had recently read some research on how some learners needed to be outside to learn helped me meet the learning needs of these two learners for these days.

Grades

In our culture we need a way to measure success.  In the school system it is with grades and testing.  Many children resist reading because reading represents failure.  When the only reason a child reads is to take a test, reading becomes a miserable experience.  One of the children I have tutored made 4 A's, 4 B's and 1 C.  She is flying high.  Now she is ready to quit tutoring because she does not need it.  When I ask mom what she wanted to do, Mom was wise enough to say the child is doing too well to change things. This is the child that did not want me to teach her anything.  Hopefully I can get her to the library this summer for the summer reading program.  It will be such a joy to see her read for fun. 
Another student's grades have come up, but reading was an F.  I have been working with her but she has felt her grade at 72 in reading was good enough.  I tried to warn her that this was not a good enough grade. She was pleased because it was better than the F from before.  Pushing her is like pushing a rope so I gently do what she will allow.  We will use more balance board activities to help her.  She wants tutoring to be just help me with my homework.  She does not understand that reading affects all her grades. Now she is interested in working on reading more.  She will also go to summer school in reading. 
Another child is not improving as much.  When a family member told me she needed help, I told them that often I do not get her as she is somewhere else.  Often children who struggle in school are more interested in other things and do not understand the importance of reading.  How much do you like to do difficult things in your life?  A good example of this is someone who struggles to manage their money. How often do they read blogs like The Simple Dollar?
Another child that was told he could not pass third grade in October is going to pass.  He is also going to take summer school reading.  How much longer I will work with him is unknown.