I should catch you up to date on the tutoring, since it's been a while since I gave you any news, and Lizzie asked how the birthday party went. That was last Thursday, a combo for the boy and girl, whose birthdays are only a few days apart.
I got chocolate cupcakes for the boys, a small carrot cake serving for the girl, and fruit tarts for Grandma and me. I love those fruit tarts Wegmans makes! In fact, I've gotten them for
dessert for various dinners, and no one has complained. So, though Grandma said she didn't want anything, I got her one, too, figuring I could eat 2 if it came to that.
The little boy was all bent out of shape when I picked the kids up at the restaurant. Their dad had taken them out shopping so the older boy could choose a birthday gift, and the little one set up such a wail that the dad got him a smaller gift, too. These were Ninjago Lego sets. The older boy is into that particular kind of Legos at the moment.
Anyway, the little boy was crying and wouldn't stop. I had already confronted the problem of him not getting a gift when his brother and sister did. I gave him the choice of having his birthday now, with his siblings, or else in May when his birthday actually is, and he chose May, so he was prepared not to get a gift from me. My one concession was that he could get a candle on his cupcake, too, make a wish, and blow out the candle. But he was still crying when we got to the study room, where we'd have the party, and I told him he couldn't have his cupcake till he stopped crying. Soon enough, he did stop.
The older boy was amazed that I knew he wanted Ninjago Legos, and I told him he could thank his sister for that, since she was the one who told me. The girl liked the cup decorating stuff, though "waking up" those Sharpies was a task she found annoying. You have to shake them quite a while, then scribble on paper till they get flowing. I knew you had to do this, but never thought it would be such a big operation.
I told her as she finished the mugs -- I found cheap ones at Walmart for 88¢ a piece, in case anyone is looking for cheap, plain white coffee mugs -- that I'd bake them for her, and next time I came, she had done 2, which I took home to bake. That evening I baked them, and the smell was pretty bad. Also, the red turned sort of purplish.
BTW, Grandma did eat some of the fruit tart, and she also gave the kids a taste, and they all said next birthday party, they wanted fruit tarts. Then the girl revised that and said she still wanted her carrot cake.
Yesterday evening, I took the 2 girls to their school. The 3rd grade classes were doing storytelling night, where each kid got up in front of their classmates and parents and siblings to recite a story they had practiced. The school brings in a couple who teach the kids to tell the stories --
Beauty and the Beast Storytellers -- and before the kids told their stories, this couple told a story that I found interesting: The Cardiff Giant, a true story about a famous hoax in the 1800s.
The girls both did a fantastic job telling their stories. I stood at the back of the classrooms of each so I could go from one room to the other and hear both girls, since they aren't in the same classroom, even though both are in the 3rd grade. Luckily, after the first girl finished and I went to the other room, I was just in time to hear the 2nd girl.
The new girl is progressing at her usual whirlwind pace, and now she's reading beginning 3rd grade stuff. That's fantastic, considering when I started with her in Sept., she was reading middle 1st grade stories. Soon, she'll have caught up with her classmates. But her writing is still far behind, as is the case with all the kids. They still make grammatical mistakes that they do perfectly on a worksheet, but when it comes to creating their own words, they seem to forget. And the new girl is still having trouble with spelling. We continue to work on sounding out words, which really helps a person spell what they don't know, but there's a ways to go there yet.
The older boy of the 3 kids, the original boy, is doing fairly well lately. We're reading Chinese history of the time after the last emperor and up till the Communist victory. At the moment, we're reading about the Long March. I had photos in the reading material, and he wondered who would be taking pictures, so yesterday, I decided to print out something about war correspondents for him.
The oldest boy, also the newest pupil, who I only see once a week, is doing OK. He is reading aloud a bit better, and he writes coherently. I still nitpick over spelling and grammar in his writing, but he is by far the best of the group at writing. He asked to read about all the people hoping to run for president, so I was giving him one at a time, but last week, his mom said she wanted to add 1/2 hour to his tutoring session and that he should get more homework, so now his homework will be to read about 2, a Democrat and a Republican, and compare them with each other and with the candidates he has already read about. At the end, I'll have him select the one he thinks would make the best president.
He says he wants to read history, and I want him to read some classics, so I'll see if the Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper look doable. They are classics, encompass history in their stories, and take place near here. I also may look into Mark Twain. Any other suggestions about what a 12-year-old could read with help that would be classic historical fiction? I was wondering about Longfellow's poetry, too.
The 2 girls have accumulated enough stones for a field trip, though I told them I want to wait till spring when the weather is better. The girls can't agree on what they want to do together, so they may each go their own way. The new girl has said repeatedly over the course of time that she wants to ride a horse, and my friend has agreed to let the kids ride hers. The original girl wanted to see the Jungle Book movie, but now she wants to go on an Easter egg hunt. She has wanted to do this for years, but for some reason, it has never come to pass, so maybe this year. Her older brother said he'd like to go, too. I haven't counted his stones to see if he has enough, but if not, maybe by the time the egg hunt comes up, he may be ready. The little boy would probably like it, too, and he should have enough stones, though his sister thinks he lost some because he didn't put them right into his container when he got them. He will be outraged if he gets left behind!
I wonder, too, if his older siblings have been confiscating his stones. Recently, his sister was found stealing some and had to put them back. I gave her a lecture about honesty.
Now you are caught up on the latest tutoring doings.
