Ben and I had a great class today. At first he was slow to start, but we had a good convo about music and computer programming, and he was ready to work after that. I told him we haven't been very productive lately, he agreed and said that his mom had mentioned it also and that he needs to work in math class. I wrote some review problems on the board and Ben willingly attempted them. He did a great job recalling exponent properties. He remembered anything to the power of 0 equals 1. He recalled how to multiply like bases (by adding their powers). He needed a reminder about the negative exponents and then was able to complete the problem correctly. Ben mentioned that to get to the courses he needs in college he needs to start doing better in math. I told him he can do it, it's not a matter of ability but just putting one foot in front of the other.