Billy was clearly tired and not enthused about being here today. He had not done anything I'd asked him to do on Monday, had forgotten to get the study guide for his quiz on Thursday and had done nothing to study. Much of our time was spent talking about the importance of following through on a day to day basis. Billy claims that he never studies, which then opened up a whole new discussion. We went over the biology material and I showed him an effective way to study the vocabulary, but if he doesn't do the work at home, he's not going to do well.

Billy just got is edline registration info today, which means he's been without books for the last two weeks. So I got him registered and all set up with that, and we worked through a Biology study guide on cells that he needs to know for a quiz on thursday. We talked about what he needs to do in each class to get caught up, teachers he needs to talk to, and a general strategy of how he needs to go about the semester. My goal is to get him working and studying (which he claims he's never done) on a regular basis so he never gets behind in any class.

Laila didn't have any school work to focus on so we worked on typing and internet research. Now that she has her computer, she needs to practice the lessons we go over together. She keeps wanting to go back to the "two-finger" method, but we had a good talk about why it's to her benefit to practice proper typing now. She definitely improved as the lesson went on, I think the basic fingering drills really helped.

Rowan seemed to think it went fine - I did not have a chance to talk to Stephanie about things but will write to her this week.

Laila has a great attitude about school and is very receptive to help and guidance. We spent the first part going over her vocab quiz and I stressed the importance of going over the questions she misses on both homework and tests. We talked about the best way to approach her teacher about a possible mistake and I think she took it to heart. We then focused on searching for materials on the internet. She's committed to working on her typing each week, and now has a good start on her Wyoming research project.

Cameron did not do any reading for class, which made it a bit difficult to discuss the questions on the last three chapters. But he does understand the major themes well enough that we were able to get through them. I told him it is absolutely essential that he finish the book, which will improve the quality of his answers. I gave him a list of suggestions for his photo project and he had come up with some pretty good ideas of his own. The key for Cameron is his day to day commitment to getting his work done.

Cameron got a lot of reading done and seems to understand the major themes of the book much better. I still contend this book is over his level, but in the end, he should be ok. We talked about the project and he's decided to do the photography option. I'm going to prepare a list of ideas for him, which should be helpful.

I had prepared to go over Treasure Island with Laila, but apparently, that wasn't the book she was supposed to read over the summer. So we discussed the 7 Habits of Successful Teens (the book she was supposed to read but has only gotten through 20 pages or so), and had a discussion about the 7 habits. Laila was very talkative and animated during the session and I think she got a lot out of it.

Unfortunately, Cameron has only read about a third of the book, so we couldn't get through all of the questions. I emphasized that he doesn't want to start at Oxbridge with my words, and that he MUST finish the book. We had a great discussion about the basic themes of Buddhism and were able to get through the first two chapters. Hopefully he'll get a lot of reading done tonight. As for the project, I reccommended that he do either the photo or music project. They both are open to interpretation and give him a lot more leeway.

Joe had a tough day today. He was very distracted by his stuffed turtle and really didn't want to do any work. I think most of it was connected to the fact it was the last day. Joe has some immaturity issues to work through, but I think he is a very capable student, and will greatly improve once he addresses his writing issues.