Today was a big day for Joe as he completed the entire addition/subtraction section of the math drills. He was really excited when he finally earned the 16th skill and kept saying how much fun it was to learn and do well. I'm very pleased with his progress.

Joe had another really good day today. He was reluctant when we started working with the state maps, but really got into it when he was learning all the state nicknames. He's a very strong auditory learner and I'm really impressed by how much he retains.

I think we finally got past Joe's go to "I can't" move. On multiple occassions, I asked him a question and got an immediate cry of "I can't" or "I don't know". In each case, Joe answered without thinking, and when I got him to slow down, take his time, and think, he could. He committed to not saying that anymore.

Joe was in much better spirits today and it was reflected by the amount of work he got done. Despite having trouble writing, we got through a lot of math work today. We also had a great discussion about winning and losing today as we were playing chess. Joe wanted me to let him win and when things weren't going his way, he wanted to quit. But we had a great talk about why we're playing and the importance of learning as opposed to winning. (I also let him take a bunch of my pieces.) The whining and pouting was a little less today, but still very present. Joe definitely needs help staying focused on getting work done.

Joe was definitely not as enthused to be here as he was last week. I got a lot more pouting and whining than before, and he was very stubborn about working on math. Joe's academic performance is very much based on how he is feeling and if he wants to do the work. When he's energetic and postitive, he does some very fine work. But, when he's not, he basically shuts down and becomes very difficult to work with.

Joe had a big week last and was understandably tired by the end on Friday. For the first time this week, I could see traces of the student he normally is in school. When he's tired, he complains more, has a tougher time focusing and generally doesn't want to do the work. (shocking, I know.) But to his credit, he kept working with me.

Joe was worn out when he got to school today. But to his credit, he was still very attentive and active (especially after his hot coco kicked in). The highlight of the day was definitely the invention of the math dice game (MICE game), which utilizes his math skills in a real life situation. Joe really got into the game and had a lot of fun with it.

Joe had a great day today. He's doing a great job of staying focused and not complaining. He's writing out more of his math problems and seems to be getting a lot out of our work together.

I got Laila signed up with the Khan academy so she can continue to work on her math skills over the next two weeks. We spent the day on math and she really impressed me. She quickly moved through the lessons and almost completed the entire first section. She was attentive and enthusiastic the entire class. Great job!

Joe had another great day. He really is a pleasure to work with and seemed excited to get to work today. We started off with a game of chess and I was really impressed by how well he remembered the rules and the moves of each piece. We then did a geography exercise, learning where the states are located and getting information about each state as we found it. He was a bit more focused on the math today and really made some good progress. He needs to learn to write the problems out and take his time.