Happy Friday the 13th! It's a day off for me today, so I'm whooping it up by cleaning house, ironing, and defrosting the chest freezer.
I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks. There's this family that I tutor for. They have two kids - one son, one daughter. The kids have some learning disabilities, but not profound. Anyway, I've been tutoring them for several months, and it's starting to weigh on me. I won't go into the boring details, but I've been contemplating wrapping up this assignment for a few weeks.
I mainly stay on for the mom. She's got a lot of weight on her shoulders with the two kids and a husband who is legally blind. He does work out of the home, though, and provides for them financially.
Anyway, Meego's got summer band starting next week for two weeks, so I just decided to take them off from "The Family". My other students' schedules aren't affected. But I think the family might be sensing my desire to wrap up. I was working with the son, who is 13, and I was asking him about a test he'd recently done. I suspected some cheating, but have no proof, and I told him that if there's cheating going on, I would not continue tutoring with him.
Dad was in another room, but I think he may have overheard. The next day, some of the "dysfunction" I've observed with this family seemed decreased. It's like they were putting on a bit of a show for me.
So I'm going back and forth on whether to wrap up or stay and just continue to keep an eye on things for now. In a couple of weeks, I'm going to start tutoring at the library for adult ESL. It's volunteer work, but the library provides all of the materials and training. That is also making me think that it's a good time to finish up with the family and move on.
But for now, I'm looking forward to the weekend and then a couple of weeks of lighter schedule. Kat still doesn't have an official name. We did however get a snail today.
His name is Patrick.
.
11 comments:
What? No pictures or sketches of Patrick?
I hope the weekend is a bit calmer/lighter for you guys. You deserve a break from all the drama/turmoil you've had for the past few weeks.
And I understand the freezer defrost. I have an annual "freezer dump" where we cook up everything that has been hanging around for a while. Just like airing out the house, it is good to clear out some of the backlog and reboot the system.
Kat and Pat... sounds good to me.
Teaching ESL would be pretty rewarding. In fact, I wish I could speak a different language, because I think I could really like a job like that. I hope you decide to do it! :)
Is Meego's summer band all day every day like ours is around here? It can be pretty grueling, but my kids love it.
Have a great week!
This is terrible--but have you ever tried escargot?
Just kidding!
Sounds like a tough decision about the family. Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll do what feels right to you.
Patrick the snail! Made me think of Sponge Bob. And then I remembered that the snail's name on the show was Gary!
Every time I defrost the thing, I remind myself that I need to do it more often. Then I don't. Hmmm, I may have to do a Patrick portrait. He's pretty good at holding still.
One reason I volunteer is that, even though I'm not paid, it's a good way to get training and meet people on the cheap! Meego's summer band is every day, but just for a couple of hours.
We could say we enjoy fish keeping, or maybe we're stocking up for the zombie apocalypse.
You get the prize for Nickelodeon trivia of the day!
Patrick got his name because he's green and he looks like he enjoys the drink. We thought he should have a good Irish name.
The good thing about being an independent contractor is the ability to pick and choose clients. Not based on the emotional needs of any of the family members but on your ability to see your work is worthwhile with each student. Wise of you to know when it is time to let go.
I look forward to seeing a sketch or photo of Patrick.
I immediately thought of Spongebob too. Patrick is such a classy name for a snail. I'm not sure I'd want one as a pet though. I think the slime trails on the kitchen units could put me off my morning coffee. :D
Post a Comment