Thursday, June 13, 2024

 Thursday, June 13, 2024

  Today was my sister’s 79th birthday. She had a lovely day in her neighborhood in New Jersey; not too hot and muggy and with no thunderstorms. I remember Central Jersey in the summers, particularly Princeton, which was built on swamp land. It is compared to Mumbai.  

   I woke up too early and did some agitating, but not too bad.  I dozed on and off until it was time to get up. I also thought about the new client I will meet for the first time this afternoon. His mom hired me, not realizing she knew me from church. We greet each other every Sunday.  When I realized who she was, I texted her to identify myself. With church people, I always say I’m Deacon Mike’s wife. I suspect she didn’t know who he was from how she responded. That would be possible. She attended Holy Rosary Church before the pandemic. It hadn’t been used for masses since.  She may never have met Mike or only seen him once or twice. Also, I did say I was his wife rather than his widow. That may have confused her, making her think of a current Deacon Mike. As far as I know, there isn’t one.

   Darby came over to return the trash barrel. She told me she was burnt out from all the activity at her home.  Five workmen were installing a fence. Patrick and Darby were very involved.  I tried to share CDK’s dance to Someone I Used to Know. She watched it briefly and then averted her eyes. I was a little disappointed.  I walked her out to get myself out and active.  I walked her part way home and told her about my experience with a student with the 0-6=0 concept. She couldn’t take that in. Ah, I remembered: she was on overload. No more room in the inn.  Her brain needed total rest after her day’s activity. I needed to apologize for my insensitivity.

  Darby did get me out of the house. I turned on the hose and rinsed down and squeegeed the windows facing the driveway.  It might not be enough to keep those windows from going to ruin as the ones in my closet area had, but it was the best I could do.

   Today was my last update from 2023 until July.  It was the day I fell and shattered my shoulder and my elbow.   The regular updates will start again on July 1, 2003

  I don’t have enough to do.  like my mother, i  love  high energy output. when isaac and I worked hard and fast on Monday to get the side room windows and floor cleaned after moving the table before he had to leave for his flight back to the mainland, my down mood lifted.

  It was a Ulu Wini day. I started with going-into-six-grade KS. I worked with him yesterday on his sight vocabulary but forgot to work with him on his handwriting.  I wanted to see if he had made any progress.  He had. his grip was better, but he still flicked the pencil, making poorly formed lines.  I had him ride my hand while I formed the letters in his name and then reverse it., with me riding, and guiding, his hand.  I could feel the stiffness in his hand and arm. I asked him if his hand hurt when he wrote. Yes. Did his arm hurt too? Yes. I didn’t know how to help him immediately.  I asked him if I could pray. He was good with it. I asked what I could do to help KS. I often get good answers; I have no idea the actual source.  Then I asked him if he was angry. He nodded.

   I had a surprising experience in the 1980s. I did a month long class in Dallas, Texas, where I learned an Orton Gillingham method for teaching phonics from Aylett Cox. I lived in a dorm room by myself attending classes Monday through Friday and flying to San Antonio on the weekends to spend time with Yvette and her family.  When I got ready to go home, I had this strange tension come into my arms.  The muscles tightened up uncomfortably.  I recognized it as familiar. I assumed it was anger. I was restraining my arms so I didn’t hurt anyone. It was upsetting to experience, as I was heading home to Mike and my mom, who lived with us the last eighteen years of her life.  I didn’t understand the significance of it. I still don’t. Why did my anger, or was it just my restraint, return when I was going home to a loving home? Did I have anger at these two people I loved? I’m sure. Human relations are tough, but I didn’t experience anger that required continual restraint.  Because of that experience, I thought that might be KS’s problem.

   I don’t remember all of our discussion. I did ask him if he had ever hurt someone. Yes, he had hit another boy. I asked him if he hurt him?  Did he kill him? No. Did he put him in the hospital?  No. Did he need medical attention? No.  He cried. I almost laughed. Maybe I did laugh.  He didn’t do much damage despite his rage.

  I explained the human condition to the boy. We all contain anger. We all experience anger at others. We all feel that impulse to kill occasionally.  It’s just part of the human condition. Did that make him feel better? Yes. “If you didn’t do much damage when you were your angriest, you have nothing to worry about.”  I laughed and told him it would be almost impossible for  a boy to make it through to adulthood without having hit someone. He told me all the discussion made him feel better. I observed KS as he interacted with the other children. His face looked more relaxed, happier.

    Going-into-first-grade AN came to me next.  These kids ask for help.  It’s a wonderful experience for me.  She wanted to work on math.  She could count up to 100 without difficulty. I gave her one digit addition problems. She did well.  I taught her counting on using a number line.

   Next going-into-second-grade KJ came to me. She wanted to work on reading.  She is one of the students that had a huge breakthrough from her work with me.  I gave her a low third grade passage. She read it flawlessly.  Next we have to work on comprehension.

   Going-into-sixth grade-ML and RM came to continue the work on subtraction with regrouping, It looked like they conquered it- for now. Let’s see if they remember it.  We’ll find out when we go back to division using repeated subtraction. So far I’ve only given the kids problems like 600 divided by 4.  Nothing requiring subtraction with regrouping.  I will up the ante soon. 

Going into sixth grade CL joined the group. It became clear she had trouble with all forms of math. She couldn’t do basic first grade addition. At first, I thought no teachers had tried to help her. She told me her teacher had worked hard with her, but she could never remember what she had been taught.  I had to think about her. Why was she having problems with the  most basic math?