Monday, October 10, 2022

  Monday, October 10, 2022

 

   No one signed up for Saturday or Monday office hours this week. That was odd. When I checked the Step Up Tutoring announcements, I didn't see one with a sign-up for anyone's office hours. What is going on? If they have canceled these hours, it would be nice if they let those of us who volunteered to support know what's going on.

  While my ankle still bothered me on my morning walk, I still completed 3,000 steps. It felt better as I walked. I discovered I had the same problem when I read last year's post. That was the first time I had it. I saw a podiatrist. He took X-rays and told me my ankle was not severely arthritic. He had no idea why I had this problem. I thought it might be because of a sprained ankle when my dog knocked me over. It cleared up last year; I would remain optimistic until proven otherwise. I used the acupuncture pen on my left calf, which helped.

   I also found notes on my work with second-grade M in my blog entry for last year. She used to have a severe problem with her associative memory, pairing two abstract facts, a letter with the sound it made, and episodic memory, a story. Her mother said that was why she was left back. The problem cleared up after I did a healing protocol on the mom's fear for the girl. It all disappeared. Holy Cow!

   Today was Yvette's birthday. I ordered Zabar's bagels for her and for me, six each. A surprisingly large package arrived yesterday. When I opened it, I discovered seventy-two bagels. No wonder they were expensive. I looked at the order form; I ordered six of something. I thought it was just twelve bagels. Instead, I had ordered twelve packages of half a dozen bagels. When I showed Yvette, we had a good laugh. I had room in my freezer for four packages. Yvette took the rest downstairs, including two of mine. We both eat half a bagel at a time. We each have seventy-two servings. 

    I meditated for an hour. Being alone makes it so much easier for the chatter to take over my mind. This isn't something that only happens to me. It's the default mode network part of the brain. Yes, neuroscientists have a name for it. They can observe it. When someone isn't involved in a mind-commanding task, this part of the brain is let loose and does its own thing. That thing is usually thinking about social relations.

   The father of the M & W sisters called to ask me to change second-grade M's appointment. She didn't have school this week. Sixth-grade W started in a private school this year while M remained in the public school, which had off this week. Instead of meeting with the girls one after another, I met with M in the morning and W in the afternoon. 

   The first thing I did with both girls was show the newsreel of the interview with Damon and Cylin. They found a mountain lion in their driveway when they got home the other evening from seeing a horror movie. They saw it cross the road and enter their driveway. It settled down a few feet from the driver's side door. Damon took pictures of it. This was one famous anima, P22. It lives in Griffith Park. Mountain lions are living further east. P22 had to cross two freeways and survive to get to the park. 

   The mountain lion had Damon and Cylin trapped in their car. Uncertain about how to deal with the situation, they contemplated going to a hotel. Getting out and petting the animal was not considered. Good thing. The lion rested in their driveway for three or four minutes and walked away.

  I played 'games' with both girls. With sixth-grade W had school this week, but academic classes were canceled. It was theme week. She went on a two-hour hike today. Her legs were killing her. We continued with the Gating Game, using the text from a book she is reading for class. It provides an opportunity to consider the information in depth.

   With second-grade M, we continued with the questioning exercise after I addressed her before/after problem. The other day, she said the word day came before the word other in the phrase 'the other day.' It took me a while to understand her view. She saw a line of words marching to the right from the left. That would make the word on the right, the first word, coming before the word to its left. I explained the word other comes before the word day because we read or write it first. It sounded like she got it. I had to wonder how many other students had that confusion. 

   M was upset today. She recently lost her grandfather. Her grief was present. She spoke about not enjoying things a lot. That's a concern. It could be a sign of depression. However, at the end of the class, I asked her how she would rate our sessions on a rate from one to ten. She gave an enthusiastic ten. Wow! I wasn't expecting that. 

    M's dad recently told me she's a changed child. She is much more confident with schoolwork and in all areas of her life. That's my goal for each child. Both girls report enjoying school. When they come home, they sit down independently and do their homework.

  I had Adolescent D in the afternoon. I also shared Damon's video with him. He wasn't that impressed. Oh, well. We have resolved the only way for him to learn is if someone, not him, pushes constant drilling to get the information into his memory. I started with the vowel chart. I had him say the keyword and the accompanying sound. He had to identify if it was long or short. We did the short and long a. Then I covered it up and had him repeat it from memory. When he couldn't, I exposed the frame. Then, we worked on identifying the syllable structure by applying the six syllable patterns: V, VC, VCe, VV, VR, and Final Stable Syllable.

   Later in the afternoon, I went to get Kangen water from Paulette. Judy was sitting out on the lanai, massaging a pillow. She had washed their feather pillow. She was working out the clumps of wet feathers. I took over the task because I love doing things like that. I spent a whole weekend untangling a ball of homemade yarn one weekend. I was so happy. Judy put the pillow into the drier to see what it could do. Paulette and I had a delightful time sitting together and talking before I had to leave.