My first and second sessions with Rosa.

Boy, did I ever get off to a late start. Where to begin... well, I called Rosa on the 4th of March, if I'm not mistaken, to set up an appointment. We made plans to meet on Friday the 6th, but that didn't pan out. So we first met on Monday, the 9th.

First things first: Buying materials. I was late buying my materials! I meant to go get them on Sunday, but the Barnes and Noble bookstore unfortunately closes at 6:00 PM. So... I had to set my alarm a teensy bit early and go in the morning to buy my really big GED book: McGraw-Hill's GED (The Most Complete and Reliable Study Program for the GED Tests!) It must be pretty complete; it's really thick! On to the sessions, then.

At 11:00 on Monday the 9th, I had my first session with Rosa. Adam was my wingman (hi Adam!) for the affair. Since I got a late start, I think Adam has been teaching both Rosa and her sister Beatriz. Sorry, Adam! But he was a good partner. Anyway! Rosa wants help in math, mainly. Which is funny, because I am not, nor do I think I will ever be, a "math guy".

For our first session, we went over Powers, some Square Roots, and Order of Operations. Rosa has some problems mixing up her addition and multiplication symbols; I'm not sure how I can break her of the bad habit of mixing the X's with the +'s. Maybe I'll start her using dots for multiplication? Teaching is difficult. Especially math. Did I mention I'm not a math guy? Well, by the end of it I think that Rosa had the concept of powers and order of operations down. Next session!

Session two, Thursday, 11:00 to 12:00. This one, I did by myself. I refreshed her on powers and order of operations again. Blessedly, we decided to move on to some English work. Yes! We worked on irregular verbs, something I know baffles some people that learn English as a second language. It went well, but... argh. I forgot what Past Participle is. I thought I was supposed to know this stuff? Ugh. In any case, I think we did some good work.

I like Rosa. I can tell she wants to learn this stuff, I can tell she has the drive for it. She wanted to study the GED book in her free time! I'm far too lazy for that. I can't imagine what it's like to be uneducated, because it is so easy to take it for granted. I do take it for granted, I think most people do.

For our third session, I think I am going to brush up on my grammar, and take a shot at Past Participles. I think we might have to go a little closer to the basics, mathwise. We might go over multiplication tables, or just do some drills. Rosa's biggest problem at the moment is her tendency to try and work math problems out in her head. A baaaad habit! Wires get crossed, numbers are forgotten, decimal points misplaced... I'm going to try and break her of the habit and get her to record stuff.