Wednesday, October 16, 2024

 Wednesday, October 16, 2024

    Last night, I picked Elsa up from under the dining room table and brought her to bed. She spent the night at my feet.  I have no idea what is going on with her.

    Every morning, I check Elsa's skin.  It has improved dramatically since I followed the Petco groomer's recommended procedure.  I returned to using the vet's prescribed shampoo but stopped bathing her every other day.  The groomer said not to bathe her more than once a week. The other significant change was what I did with the conditioner. She said to make sure I didn't rinse it all off.  It protected her skin.  Most of her belly is white again. I am thrilled. However, there are a few angry lesions still left in her groin area.    

    I was calm today. I spent the day working on updates and entries to my Teaching Blog, which I still have to set up. Hopefully, Sandor can help me when he returns to the island. I can even go to his house. He will be bringing his dad home with him. His dad has pretty bad dementia, and Sandor wants to give his mom a break.

    I also worked on trimming the shrubs that line the driveway.  I took a trash barrel of green waste over the Darby's today.  I do scattered work in the garden. Not nearly as much as I should. 

    I got a text from Eli saying he would be over tomorrow to spend the day beating back the ooze that had taken over the yard by 7:30 a.m.

    I had a session with fourth-grade LG today. I hadn't worked with him for over a week. Because his family learned his paternal grandfather was dying, the family flew to California for the week.  I didn't even work with him on Monday.

     LG's mom texted me to say she is seeing a dramatic improvement in his reading. He brought a book home and read it perfectly, not a single mistake. When I asked him what was making the difference, was he following my procedures, or was it just happening? He chose the latter.  

    His mother said he needs help with math.  Both he and his mom have trouble answering questions appropriately.  They go off on a tangent.  His mom said he had difficulty with the addition problem last night but couldn't do his multiplication homework tonight and to work on that. I drew an array of two groups, with three in each group.  I asked him to write the addition problem. He had no idea what I was talking about.  It wound up he didn't know what the word addition meant. He just knew the words add and adding. Really?  LG is easily confused. I think he's a bright child and a good learner. However, I think he makes things much more complicated than they have to be.  He needs to be forced to see the obvious. 

   I drew an array of two groups, with three in each group. I asked him to create an additional problem. He drew a blank. Later, he said he didn't know the word addition. I also wrote  ______+______= .  He didn't know what to do with that either.  Something is wrong with the way this child processes information. His mother is the same way. When I ask her a question, she doesn't answer it. she can be completely off-topic.  I don't know if the problem is neurological or psychological.  He had no idea that multiplication was a shortcut for addition or differed from addition.  It will take a fair amount of drill before he is sufficiently anchored in the mathematical process.