L. the Lion

Little Man L. is now on Level 3.  He needs a Level 4 by August to be 1st grade ready. It's been five months but the six day a week, on call tutoring which includes Saturday and Sunday morning is finally paying off.  I don't know if I've ever worked so hard putting together handmade flashcards complete with custom  sentences and illustrations, printing enough level appropriate books to take out a whole forest, making games (that he cheats on every time), and even coloring pictures like I'm 6 years old again,  in my life.  He's even reading my word pattern posters when he takes a bath or uses the bathroom as his mother is crazy enough to wallpaper that particular room with them. (I used to worry that she was going  to go over the edge from his teacher calling her twice a week but I think that's not going to be issue now either.)

 I've tutored young kids in reading before but I did more to calm their ADD, give them something to eat during the day, or notify school personnel when their older siblings encouraged them to smoke pot for their own amusement, then dramatically raise their reading scores.  Now I feel like I can  say I had a real part in helping a child who knew only half of the alphabet when I met them surprise themselves when they could read every word in a small book.  I wanted to believe he could do it yet I wasn't so sure that my positive attitude was enough.  It's another double rainbow kind of day.

I'm feelin a little old school, remembering how kids in the late 70's learned their ABC's...