Pal Alayne has been having fun teaching science and math…..
All posts by Peter
Reading Update
A moment to announce another milestone: Jon, currently in Grade 5 starts into the 480-page Grade 4 reader, having zoomed through his last 200+ page reader in under three months.
With each reader the text size grows smaller and denser, and Jon is still keeping up. His first-time sight reading is actually improving. He reads every day with his teacher, and has another session with me after school. I will admit I have photocopied the book up to 120%, simply because Jon’s eyes (read “visual cortex”) are tired by the end of the day.
We keep expecting that at some point he will have to start to use his CCTV—a high tech magnifier—to read. But somehow, this kid who has issues with processing visual edges continues to amaze us. I no longer bother to wonder how he can see the letters, and now the word chunks.
This evening while brushing his teeth he read the tiny 8pt type on the fan timer switch.
Go, Jon, go.
Thanks again to Tami, who believed us when we said we had started him on reading, and she got him on the program that has taken him to this point. And thanks also to Mrs. Gallo, who is keeping the ball rolling, maybe even accelerating now.
A Boy and his Dog
So how are Jon and Photon geting along? Well, the two are starting to figure each other out. Photon can see that he’s not the same as the other kids she comes into contact with. Jon really appreciates her welcomes after school, and let me tell you, life has become so much easier since we’ve had Photon waking him up. Pre-puppy, generally 6:50 AM wakeups were grumpfests, but now, who could get snarky at puppy kisses? Not Jon.
We don’t leave them together alone of course, but I did observe them interacting from just outside the living room, to watch how their relationship is going. Occasionally she would get into little biting sessions, especially on his left hand, which is far more spastic from the CP. As I moved in to correct her, I realized that Jon was giggling, and his hand was twitching with the little bites. She was stimulating his hand as no one else could, and he was enjoying it. She does occasionally go overboard with him—as she does with us—but she does take a lot more care with Jon. She loves the brief sleeps she gets with him on his bed at reading time before lights out. The hardest part for her to understand is the rough love; Jon tend to be a little brusque when he wants her closer (for a cuddle) or the back off (after lots of kisses). Such pushy movements can only be interpreted one way by a puppy: time to play! So we’re still working on that…
Helm’s Deep…in Candy
This one goes out to regulars Richard, Debbie, Luisa and Andy: What I Did Over Christmas Vacation.
One quarter in…
Well, the first quarter of Born Smart? is up on the web now.
We’ve been adding two “digitally-remastered” pages a week since October. Aside from the tone-removal and colouring process, part of the task is updating where we can, but leaving it be—warts and all—in most other cases. There are too many places where we say “but we could draw/design that better now!” Must resist the urge. Still, there is one particularly irksome page that is going under the knife in a few weeks…
The worst of it was updating a chart on page 23, which took five days of researching that no one has tried to create in a number of years, and there are a number of recent scientific battles going on that make it a minefield. I was very grateful for the help (during the pre-Christmas rush, no less) of T. Michael Keesey, who does an interesting blog called Parry and Carney: each week there’s a dinosaur cartoon, and an essay about recent news about reptile in history or goings on in the Cretaceous and thereabouts. He’s a good man—and thorough.
And we could get nowhere in French without the proof-reading and supplementary translation work of Mireille Messier too.
We’re not promoting this yet, because bigger things are afoot for Doodle of the Week soon—but first we have to get back to a regular work schedule, don’t we Photon?
Introducing…
Photon.
Also known as Stoverly’s Speed of Light (that’s her purebred name), daughter of Dreamhavens Mighty Max (Max) and Shadylanes Sweet Nothins (Hershey).
A cute little pup, very affectionate but slightly reserved too. And she’s all ours.
More info to come.
Oh…by the way, for those of you wagering, the poll was not binding…and it was #2.
Children of Men
Thanks to Grandma, who is really enjoying spending time with Jon, we’ve been able to get out to a couple of movies. Moreover, we’re going to real grown-up movies, not lighter fare. It’s been a long while (probably not since Jon’s diagnosis and shortly thereafter we went to see The English Patient, which was quite a fluid-leaking little catharsis, may I say).
Thursday evening we saw Pan’s Labyrinth, which has been getting lots of buzz but it didn’t quite click with us. Not that it was bad, but afterward we kept visiting what we think were missed opportunities. It wasn’t especially subtle, and it just didn’t get under our skin.
However, this may be because the week before we saw one of the best pieces of celluloid that’s been produced this decade. Children of Men is a powerful, powerful piece of cinema by Alfonso Cuarà³n, and both of us recommend it very highly. That night, both Laura and I had trouble sleeping, and each woke up for an hour independantly as our brains percolated through the thoughts and feelings the film had generated. It wasn’t even specific scenes, though there are several memorable long moments that are unforgettable.
Don’t go watch the trailer; the less you know about it the better. And we highly recommend seeing it in a theatre where, frankly, you’re trapped. It is a visceral piece that is truly for adults.