Saturday, February 27, 2021
Yoga goes so much faster these days. I am always surprised when Yvette announces it's time to get ready for the final savasana. I find the classes soothing.
I got up late this morning and didn't get many steps in before yoga. This was going to take effort. I posted an entry on the blog for February 27, 2020. The blog is always exactly one year behind. Then I went for another brief walk. I try to get one in every hour or so. That way, I keep moving throughout the day and never sit too long.
I was supposed to have S this morning at 9:30. I planned to call her mom to ask if we could do it later because I wanted to be at Costco when it opened at 10 am. There had been no vinegar when I had been there the other day. The shipments come in on Tuesday and Friday afternoon. This means the best chance you have of getting something is Wednesday and Saturday. I wanted to get white vinegar for the weeding. I got a text from mom, saying S had a friend's birthday party today and wanted to cancel. Good! I hopped in the car to be at Costco by 10 am.
When I arrived, there were still plenty of parking spots. When I got to the entrance, the flats were stacked in anticipation of a large number of people, with the line snaking back on itself. While it was just 10 am, people were leaving already with full carts. I've been here early before. Costco officially opens at 10, but in fact, it will open whenever it's ready, any time after 9:30.
I headed straight for the vinegar aisle. No white vinegar. Damn! I went over to the produce aisle and picked up a sweet kale salad package and another bag of lemons. When I checked out, I asked about the vinegar. It was difficult to believe that all the vinegar that came in last night was already gone. No. It hadn't been included in the last shipment. They were expecting one on Monday or Tuesday.
When I checked my email this morning, there was a note from Mary A., Dorothy's friend, who volunteered to see the PowerPoint Presentation. Mary had been a first-grade teacher. She told me the presentation had been a fun experience. This morning I got this incredible note from her, evaluating the method.
Hi Betty, I wanted to get back to you about the delightful time we shared yesterday. The thing that impressed me, first and foremost, was that your method recognizes the uniqueness of the individual. It seems to be based on the principle that the learner is respected for what they think and know. For instance, when you reply with "If that's the way you say it, it's right," the student feels that he's recognized for what he knows, not for what he doesn't know. I also like that the program is low-budget and game-like. I can see kids analyzing the word they provide and thinking that they are playing a game. Counting syllables is easily accomplished with your "Mom Yell." You probably have already thought of this, but my only suggestion would be that you create a Teacher's Manual with all of your lovely ideas in it.
I spent most of the day working on the blog and napping. I had a scheduled session with A. I sent the link in a timely way; there was no response. I called mom, "Oh, you're on? I'll get A ready." I'll send her a warning next time. While I am not too troubled by lack of punctuality, it's disrespectful.
I asked her mom if she had been playing the audio file. She said she had but not regularly. I impressed upon her the need to do that. I can't promise it will help, but I have had some surprising successes. It's certainly worth trying, and it's free. Being free may go against it; how can something free be any good? I have to push my parents.
While I had prepared the Carpenter stories for A, he chose to write another story. Today he wrote a more coherent story. I am sticking to transcribing precisely what he says instead of helping him expand his verbal skills except for a word here and there. He read this story to me with relative ease. I modeled decoding procedures with some words he was stuck on. He is paying attention to the spelling and the sounds they represent. This is a vast improvement. I also had several opportunities to get him to infer the meaning of words using his 'close' pronunciation of the word read in the sentence. He is doing somewhat better with that too. There were a few moments when he got lost. He started grabbing for anything. I have to tell him to stop and follow my directions. He is still having problems distinguishing b from d.
I taught him this trick of making a vertical line on his body from his left collar bone to his armpit. If the vertical line comes first, it is a b. He can't remember that. It takes a lot of repetition for him to remember something, but he does remember it eventually.
After I was through with A, I finally bathed Elsa. I have been putting it off forever. While bathing her, I remembered why we both hated the process. I have to wash her with a medicinal soap because of her skin condition. The soap has to stay on for at least 10 minutes. She sits in the sink lathered and hates every minute of it. I keep massaging her and talking to her, wishing it was over already. Besides that, today was the first day I was comfortable without a sweatshirt. Subjecting poor Elsa to that treatment when I thought it was too cold to go without a sweatshirt is more than I could bear.
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