The next decade....what's in store?

Summer School: Session 3

I'm at work, and really should be working.....but I'd rather blog about my kids.

This morning, we had to start early because I invited a Nutrition person to rap with the boys. I had told all of them 10:30, then I saw two of them Friday and told them 8:15am and warned them not to be late. I called the parents of the other 3 over the weekend. Four arrived on time. Mr Prime Minister was the first ...before me...so NPH entertained him until I got there. He told her that he ran to get here on time. I think that one of the things which made him run too, is that on Friday I told him and Mr KF that we wouldn't be having lunch.

"Miss, what you going to give us?" Snacks. "What type of snacks?" Some sandwiches. "Make sure there is cheese." Then the other added "and bacon, and egg and ham, and lettuce....remember we have a deal Miss, I will eat the lettuce."

So my guest started chatting with the four early ones and I left them to do their thing. Guess which one was late? Yup.....the one who has been late every session, and who is often late for school. That is the parent's fault. I will have to again impress upon her, the need to instill good habits from early.

After he was finished and he told me what they had spoken about, I went in and asked them to spell carbohydrates, protein etc. Then I told them what we were going to have and Mr D could tell me what food group the eggs belong to. They had definitely learnt. My guest found out that the 5th Kid has Diabetes. So I will do a little counselling with him separately, to let him know that if he eats properly, he can control it.

Next, we did fractions. They don't fully understand the concept of fractions. They are going into Grade 5! Crickey!First I drew 5 squares, then asked each of them to come up to the board and divide one into two halves a different way. Good. Then we discused whole, halves, and for quarters, I divided up each half into two. Then we did eights. Then we did some additions of fractions. Then some of them wanted to play teacher so they came up and wrote a sum on the board and we solved it. Have to do some more of that.

I found out in that space of 30 minutes that Mr D is quite good in Math. He bagged the front (but he said it so softly, that Mr T had to tell me he had said it), so I dropped him off last and talked about his good ability in Math, and he said his teacher told him that he is good at it.

We spent more time than I had anticipated doing the lesson. So it was now a mad rush. We reached the canteen and it was locked. Could I trust them to stay there and don't move? "Yes Miss." So while I dashed up to the kitchen to get the food, they were happily engaged in a conversation wtih one of the ladies in the Laundry. When I came back down I commented that they had met her. Then she says to me "Mr T says he is your son." I said "yes....I tell people that you don't actually have to have children to have children."

In the canteen, I told them to put five chairs around a table. Mr T pipes up "no, 6.....you not eating too?" Oh yes...I AM hungry. They made sandwiches with the eggs, bacon, cheese and lettuce. (I see Pops shaking his head...."don't make sandwiches at the table" he always said). There were several gems while we were interacting. I should have written them down because now I don't remember. But they repeated things which I have been teaching them. Made me smile.

Afterwards, as usual, Mr T was the last to leave. He carried the plates on which the food had been, to the wash up area. I told him he's going to work in a Restaurant one day. As I put my arm around his shoulders, he asked why I said that. I told him it's because he's always fixing the napkins, and always the last one to leave the table. He merrily continued eating his ice.

Ok, kids, I am late for my morning meeting at 10:45, so I'm not dropping you all the way. They were not pleased. We had to rearrange the seating in the back seat so that who was getting off first, was at the end.

Mr D wanted to turn up the radio. He did it only once. I turn around to see Mr T with the window down, even while the AC was on. I asked him why he had turned down the window. He prefers fresh air. So I told him that if he wants something, all he has to do is ask. "Miss, can i have fresh air please?" That's better.

I wrote up their homework sheet, on neon green paper. They have to learn 10 words for spelling (including the carbs, protein etc), they have to explain protein, carbs and fats, they have to do calculations with pounds and ounces, and inches and feet (they did not know that 12 inches = 1 foot), and they have to write in their Journal at least three times before next session.

Which will be a problem for Mr T. He came this morning without books and said his mother wanted me to call her. The story is that is older sister was cleaning out her school books. She's starting high school in September. She must have thrown out Mr T's three NEW books I bought. Now when you were a kid, didn't your parents supervise such activities? *sigh* Anyway, I told him I would get him replacements.

I think I will give them another written test next week. Then we'll do some reading too. They continue to be such a delight to interact with.

Posted by yamfoot at August 2, 2011 04:49 PM