Nathan tried Gigi's math yesterday and liked it, he did it again this morning, and begged to do it this evening before bed. I think he just finished unit 6. It is a little below nathan as it is grade 4 teaching textbooks. But I am okay with him doing it as I think it is good for his confidence.
Today was somewhat productive, good start since we haven't done as much recently. Genevieve worked a lot on her music, but gasp she was in a bad mood! Not sure what's up with her but that is twice this week. I had asked her to write a paragraph, and she was quite upset. Nathan was doing teaching textbooks, so I thought it would be a good time to work with her 1:1 on writting. I didn't push her as she is usually pretty easy going, I figured she must be tired or something.
Nathan finished a few lessons in Teaching textbook. He then practiced piano and I got a paragraph out of him! He did not want to do it and was grumpy of course. We then had a good discussion on the importance of writing. We also talked about his oration skills. We talked about the fact that he is a good storyteller, and when nathan does tell a story people listen. He is not a boring storyteller. We talked a lot about the purpose of writing and that we need to convey something to the reader. We need to think about our reader etc. he said he did not have an audience, that the essay I wanted him to write served no purpose. Oh why mother did you hope I would have a child just like me!!! Thanks for the payback mom! So Rachel, you are our audience and I told nathan it would be interesting to read if he made it interesting, if he made it his own. He thought you would not like reading it rachel and only skim it and read it because you have to. Why does he have to be so intelligent! We discussed that he knows how to judge good reading, we talked about that he enjoys reading and good writing is when he has to call me over to share part of his story with me because he finds it funny or interesting. So after a 45 minute talk, he completed a paragraph! I enjoyed reading it, as I think it is a true reflection of nathan, I can see his humour in the writting, and even his descriptions are pretty good. When nathan speaks he has a great, and complex vocabulary, but when he writes, it is sometimes hard to see that.
So after writing was lunch, and the kids got ready for hockey. I am seeing a lot of maturity in nathan recently, he is wanting to help me out more and more. They both helped me put food away and tidy the kitchen before we left. Nathan also went and got his hockey gear ready and put it into the car. After we got back from hockey he went and hung up his equipment by himself, and then had a shower.
Nathan had a pretty good headache this evening, but he seemed to manage it quite well. Nathan told me the other day that he gets headaches everyday. He says everyday he has a headache at some point but it's not massive ones everyday. Genevieve has never had a headache in her life, and wonders what it feels like. How do you describe a headache to someone who does not experience them. Genevieve is very compassionate and understanding, she is the one when I have a bad headache, to make sure they are quite and leave me alone for a bit to get over it, she even brings me tea sometimes.
So after hockey was cheerleading!
Oh, I read them all right! Every last bit! But there have been very few times when I can "hear" Nathan in his written work. It doesn't match with his personality and creativity without the details. Nathan has the potential to be an amazing author. I love it when students can bring their own twist to a story. I had a good chat with my daughter about audience the other week. I told her to imagine all the boring weekly journal entries a teacher has to read e.g. "I went to my friends and we played and then we had cake and it was so so so much fun!" I told her to have mercy on the teacher and write something interesting, like the fact that her mother gave herself severe frostbite from an ice pack. Now that's something you don't read every day! Think of all the interesting and humorous details one could add!
ReplyDeleteFYI, never put a gel ice pack directly on the skin, and certainly not for more than 15 minutes. Very bad to do. If Nathan would like to e-mail me for details on the badness of it all, I will write him my very best journal entry and describe it in all its gory detail. Then he can critique my writing and give me some pointers :)
Rachel