Re: I Tutor Satan

I dreaded going to Collin's house yesterday. It takes me two minutes to drive to his house. But I usually leave at like 3:50, because the sooner we start, the sooner we get finished. {One of the simple, grown-up logics that does not translate to seven-year-olds.}

However, yesterday I left the house at 3:59, and the childlike logic of Oh-How-About-I-Actually-Just-Put-It-Off suddenly made sense.

I walked into his house...he wouldn't tell me where his backpack was, insisting that I already knew. {Turns out it was on the floor in front of me.} Once he got the backpack, he wouldn't sit down for a little while. But eventually he did.

He'd forgotten to bring home a book from school to read, so we got one of his old favorites, "No, David!" that he can read in about five minutes.

We set the timer.

2 minutes and 24 seconds. Bam.

Then it was time for spelling. I braced myself, but refused to let him see that I was just as reluctant as he was.

In Collin's class, the kids are given a spelling test every Monday with about twenty words on it. The teacher highlights the words that he misses and sends the list home with him so he can practice the missed words. He tests again on Thursdays and Fridays, only having to write the words he missed.

This week, his missed words were what, back, snack, prism, and pyramid. In past weeks, Collin has never improved. The words he misses on Monday, he continues to miss all week, mostly--if not entirely--because he's a stubborn brat. Yesterday, I was expecting no different.

But he pulled out his list...AND ONLY PRISM AND PYRAMID WERE STILL HIGHLIGHTED.

:O O.O WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!

He got three more words! Our practice and my refusal to let him cop out even when he hated me paid off! I was through the roof with excitement!

"Collin! Great job! Look at that! You got THREE MORE WORDS! That's awesome! Don't you feel great? You should be so proud of yourself. I'm so proud of you!"

But I knew we still had to practice prism and pyramid. Things were sure to go down hill then.

He resisted the practice, as usual. Refusing to sit up, moaning, not holding the pencil.

But then.

He stopped. He sat up and sounded out pyramid.

He got it.

"Great job!" I said, high-fiving him. "Alright, now let's try for prism. Sound it out; say it slow for me." He did. "This word is kind of tricky, because it sounds like it has a Z in it, doesn't it? But it--"

"I know," he said, looking me straight in the eye. "It's an S, like in was."

*blink*

"Ah, yes. Yes, it is EXACTLY like that. Good job."

And he wrote the word.

:DDDDDDDDDDDD

*victory dance including screaming, beaming, jumping, etc.*

What do you freaking know? Tuesday's afternoon of holy flaming Hell paid off! He gets the words! He listens to me! He doesn't hate me! This is GREAT. I feel like a rockstar, and he does too, which is even more important. Yay :D

Wonder how long this'll last...

~Stephanie