Too Busy?

I have a student to tutor but  keep going out of town.  This time we left for Denver.  Here we helped clean Marion and Dave's apartment.  Marion is recovering from a broken pelvis.  She spent one month in rehap center.  She is doing well but uses a walker for additional support.  We cleaned their carpets, found there were leaks in the apt. so we hired a plumber and left for skiing. 

We spent Friday - Monday skiing at Beaver Creek.  There was fresh snow every day.  Sunday was a bit like a white out but I skied anyway.  Monday was the best and more families were out on the sloops.  We left early around 2 pm to head back to Denver.  We had pizza with the entire Smith clan.  Bill and Rebecca's family keep Kosher so they ordered a specialty pizza without the bacon.  Their daughter is engaged.  Her finance is going to basic training next month.  They hope to marry when he finishes then go to his first assignment together.  She is 17. but will turn 18 in a few months.   She has no plans to go to college.  She was home-schooled all her life.  It will be interesting to see if she never pursues higher education.

I met with the principal of Cabrillo Elementary School.  I was shown four projects the Day of Service might complete for him.  He would like us to deep clean 5 classrooms, clean the carpet in the auditorium, clean up two garden areas, and remove staples left up on the wall, (floor to ceiling). We are hoping to have sign ups from the community after Easter.

I picked up my daughter and her family in the afternoon.  I have been playing with Connor who is almost four.  I love holding the baby who is four months old.  He cries.  So far Connors, favorite toy is the pirate boat by Playmobile.  He also likes the Fisher Price house.  These are all toys I saved from my children.  We are down in the grandma room.  Josie has decided she does not like the airplane.  (also by Fisher Price)  I knew there was a reason I kept some of my children's toys.

Web Site questions

So why am I having trouble finding clients?  I need to get my cards out in the community.  I need to finish my web site.

Here is my old one: https://sites.google.com/site/pointlomatutor/

Below is the design for my new site.  I realize I need a much better picture for the home page.  Please offer advice!!  It should be on the site Pointlomatutor.com  soon. :)

Article from New York Times Dec 16, 2012

Some Tutors are Sholdering a Wider Load
By Abby Ellin

Large tutoring centers are helping student in college who start to feel overwhelmed.  The example was about a Austin Learning Center where a tutor spent 30 hours helping the client become more comfortable in her new life.  Tutors are being hired to just be "general life support".  Now this only happens in households where money is not an issue.

Now tutors are become more that helpers for academics.  They are becoming:

• counselors
• mentors and personal cheerleaders
• and a liaison between student, the college and parents.

Another client spook about his tutor as a therapist and a personal assistant.

"The tutor is not just a tutor anymore" said Dr. Sanki Ayaz from the National Tutoring Association in Lakeland, FL."  They find themselves certifying tutors as academic coaches.  The tutoring industry is now a $50 billion industry.

Math Ideas

Somehow it is 6:30 pm when I am finally writing.  Today I worked on the Day of Service Project and did some Easter Shopping.

Math  - I ran across the article from the Teacher Network and thought about how to make teaching math exciting and relevant.

This less was titled: "My best lesson:turning maths pupils into second world war codebreakers by Charlotte King.  Wow, how exciting.  Of course I would tie this in to a book written during the second world war.  I feel combining math with language arts helps make math come alive.

In this article, the teacher states as the students walk into her classroom, "It is no longer 2013 it is 1940 and the class just entered Hut 8 : Station X.  The supply ships needed mathematical skills from the class to protect the ships.  Wow, the class was engaged.

She stated with the most basic code, the ceasar shift code.  Then she switch to the pigpen cipher.  Then an urgent message from headquarters, "The German army is using a new codebreaking technique.  All personnel must be retrained."

Now math seems relevant and can connect to social studies or language arts.  "The Art of Keeping Cool" and the Diary of Ann Frank are novels which connect to this math assignment.

I also made up lessons for percent and decimals using "date night".  Students had to go on a date and buy an outfit online, include tax and shipping.  Use transportation to get to their destination, and pay tip.  Buy a meal for two and calculate tax and tip.

Hands on manipulatives also help with understanding fractions, percents and decimals.  I think when math is more relevant to the student there is more engagement and of course that helps the student, "Learn MATH!"

Busy

It is Tuesday and I missed blogging on Monday.  Where does my time go?

8:00 am picked up house so housekeeper can clean house

• put away laundry
• did breakfast dishes
• piled up papers to file 

8:30 worked on technology

•  updated iphone with latest software
• downloaded a book, TV show, and a song (all free)

9:00 bible study book of Romans at church

10:30 worked on Day of Service

• met with Karla 
• scheduled room for Sunday's meeting
• met with Ed
• added people as leaders for projects

 11:30 worked on church database

•  met with Don to learn what he wanted
• met with Kris whom I will work with
• updated records
• updated master directory

12:30 worked more on Day of Service

• overwhelmed so pack up 
• print out updates
• bring work home to do

 1:00 eat lunch


1:30 phone rings become travel agent

• book trip to Denver
• find rental car and order
• check out hotels in Denver
• check out hotels in Avon
• Rush out of house

2:30 Dogs to Vet

• Hershey needs shots
• Hershey receives estimate for $1000 for procedures needed
• Hershey gets nails trimmed
• Hershey gets ears cleaned and medicine
• Josie gets checked for bladder infection. (She has been peeing in my house :( Bad Dog!)
• Pay $350

 3:45 Dogs to Dog Park

• Cleaned up after Hershey three times :(
• Threw ball for Josie (too many times to count)

4:30 Home ready to rest check emails

4:45 off to library

• Books due
• Book on hold ready for pick up

5:15 Ready to start working on business

• Too tired
• Missed exercising today :(

Things I need to do this week:

1. Plan for dinner party on Sunday
2. Buy food for dinner party
3. Buy decorations for dinner party
4. Plan for meeting for Day of Service on Sunday
5. Update excel list of projects for Sunday
6. Create leader responsibility form
7. Create agenda
8. Plan homeless project for Day of Service
9. Follow up for high school room remodel project to start in July
10. Make hotel room reservations for Denver
11. Confirm pet sitter for trip
12. Blog three more times this week and it should be about my business!!
13. Plan for for dinner
14. Buy food for week
15. Deposit check from tutoring job
16. Follow up with next tutoring appointment.
17. Work on web page for new business
18. Write my mother-in-law who has a broken pelvis

I am sure there is more but I am getting too tired to think.  Maybe I can get more done tomorrow.

Wonderful Friday

Wow, what a wonderful day in San Diego.  I did not work on anything for my business today.  I enjoyed the weather.  I did yoga for the first time in a long time.  I will find out tomorrow if I am sore.  I took the dogs to the bay and let them swim.  I threw balls for about one hour.  Great day!

So I guess this means on Saturday I need to work on my business.  I did work on my pile and made it smaller yesterday.

I spoke with my son who is leaving for a tour in Afghanistan in June.  He would like us to visit him in June to help him prepare for being away from his car and sublet room in San Francisco for one year.  We should make plans to visit him in August in El Paso when he will leave the country.  We talked about him visiting his grandparents one time before he leaves.  He may join us in March in Colorado.  He might also go to Indiana to see grandparents and attend his cousin's Eagle Court of Honor.

I don't know if my husband can go because they want him to work all the time.  It seems like they are to work every weekend.  He felt like he left work early yesterday when he came home at 8:15 pm.  What a life?

I guess I should feel guilty as I am not working.

A Regular Thursday

I wonder what a regular Thursday is actually.  Today I am trying to not do too much so I can recover from my cold.  Did I get this cold from being on the airplane where my seatmate coughed the whole way from Dallas to Ft. Meyers?

I tried to connect my blog to the Facebook page of for Point Loma Tutor.  I would like people to read this if they are interested in autism, starting a new business, or just tutoring.

I found I need a better whole punch.  The one I had is not adequate when you have many papers to put in a binder.  I updated the excel spreadsheet for Day of Service.  I tried to use google docs but found people could not open them.  They said that cox wouldn't let them.  I think they forgot to make a google password.  So now every time I update it, I get the file the date on the end.  Hopefully this will help everyone have the same information.

I still have a overwhelming pile of papers to file.  Why do I keep putting those off? My in basket is two inches over the top.  So I guess at this point you could call it a pile.