Instead of books, I will tell you about the end of my tutoring year. I worked one-on-one with an 8th grade boy this year. We were working on literacy and had specific tasks to do, aimed at improving his reading skills. He was a very polite boy, and I enjoyed working with him. In the last month he started getting squirrely. He was either comfortable enough with me, finally, to let his sillies out, or he was getting the end-of-the-year antsy pants. When it was to be my last day there, I thought he'd be a puddle of silliness, but I was wrong. He was back to being focused and working hard. We had a lot of work to do on the last day, but I took some time to talk with him about his progress. I was SO excited when he did a great job reading, and I think he was, too. He went up 3 grade levels in reading this year! Hooray! I gave him some bookmarks and lists of Books for Boys. It was a very fun day, and a great way to end my year of tutoring. I hope some day he will love reading.
Next fall I don't think I'll go back to tutor... maybe... but I have so many places I want to volunteer, and I might want to try a new gig. That's the joy of being retired. I can volunteer here, volunteer there, and see how I feel about the different experiences. My heart is in the tutoring/literacy vein, but I am keeping my options open for now.
Meanwhile, I bought us a new/used adirondack chair which makes a great quilt holder-upper. I finished two quilts and got another top made. Feast your eyes:
This one might be done, or might not be.. I am contemplating this one before I declare it fully done.
I just realized something funny: all three of the above quilts were made from blocks mostly made by other people. I only had to make a couple more to round it out, or just add borders, as in the last one. I can't even tell you where I got some of these blocks. They just find their way to my house! They will all end up snuggling with a child somewhere and will be full of love.
1 comment:
I like the setting for the four Missouri Puzzle blocks -- much more interesting than setting them side-by-side in two rows of two.
I'm about 1/3 through The Golem and the Jinni, an advance reader copy I brought back from ALA Midwinter. I thought I ought to finish it before ALA Annual at the end of June where I'll load up with more ARCs!
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