As with everything else, not every individual learns the same way or masters a skill the same way. Great teachers present alternatives for students in the hope that one will make sense and stick. Absolutely. My son also had a difficult time in school because of teachers who refused to be flexible to address his needs. He was in middle school when home PCs were not prevalent. That poor kids could simply not put his thoughts down in writing. We know now that has dysgraphia. I went and spoke to his teachers asking that he be allowed to use his computer for assignments. His Science grade shot up to straight A's. His science teacher suggested oral presentations. On the other hand he had an ass for a Social Studies teacher who continued to mark correctly answered answers wrong because the handwriting didn't meet his criteria. DS's problems started with ear and speech problems, leading to spelling problems in elementary school. It took a second grade teacher to recognize the issue. He said DS spelled just fine if you took how he heard and spoke the words into consideration. Previously they wanted to hold him back. By the fifth grade he was put in a special "focus" reading group. Stuff like you would see in kindergarten. This despite the fact he had been reading sci-fi novels at home since 2nd grade and his most requested gift every year was the world almanac. After a huge war with the district I had him moved to a different school. He was immediately place in the high reading group at that school His new teacher wanted to see how he did by starting him at the top, not the bottom. He did just fine. From D and F grades from the previous school to A and B grades with an occasional C. Then in middle school the struggle began again with the writing. By high school he detested school. He purposefully failed his classes so he would have to go to night school. The tech magnet he looked forward was horrendous for him. He knew far more than the teachers who were supposed to be instructing him. One teacher would frequently call DS at home for tech support for the teacher's home computer. Same teacher almost failed DS for not completing lab work. LOL Those were extremely rough years for us. We couldn't afford private school and homeschooling hadn't become secular yet. I became "that mom" who actually blackmailed the district into moving my kid out of the horrid 5th grade he was in. Basically DS turned out to be a kid with a "genius" (we hate that word) IQ, who has a photographic memory of the written word. Unfortunately he fell through the cracks of the public school system. Got passed over for gifted programs in the name of diversity, never had his achievements recognized. He was too "different".

I inhaled the latest Joe Pickett novelwhich was a pretty good installment. The protagonist is a Wyoming game warden who manages to get embroiled in all kinds of murder and mayhem. Since this is the 20th installment the cast of characters is familiar and I have to say these series books are definitely reading comfort food during this stressful time. I also just finished All That You Leave Behind by Erin Lee Carr. This quote from the Amazon reviews expresses exactly how I felt about this one: This is a challenging book to comment on, because I totally didn't like Erin Carr (but "liking" is not a requirement for a memoir, and actually can be a detriment), didn't especially like the affected way of including direct emails because it felt dated already, and was generally put off by a lot of Carr's traits - but I was totally connected to it the whole way through and it never flagged and never struck me as anything less than honest. This book - and basically Erin Lee Carr's career - is 100 percent nepotism-driven. This book's blurbs from her father's professional acquaintances are more evidence that if you're born into connection, you're going to get a break that 99.9 percent of the world will never see. I thought her father David Carr's book The Night of the Gun was remarkable, and I always enjoyed his NYT pieces. So in a way, I am guilty of feeding into what clearly was her life pattern of pretty much riding on dad's coattails. I downloaded The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo which was recommended by my daughter. We both read Daisy Jones and the Six, and since I loved that book (she was meh) she suggested this one by the same author; she says it is a much better read so we shall see.

Wordle 1,016 2/6* 🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #294 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 I saw 3 of the blues right away and had to google the 4th term after I was finished.

Poor Funky. Hope this passes soon. My scale still hasn’t moved, probably because we went to a dinner party Fri., had guests for dinner on Sat., and I went out to lunch at a BBQ place with sons yesterday. Lots of extra calories. I have been consistent with exercise but I know it’s the food that is key for me. I thought losing weight was hard in my 50s, HA, I am thinking 60s are going to be even more challenging. I have a two-night spa weekend with friends this weekend and planning to have zero alcohol and make smart food choices. We’ll see how that goes. Saving my calories for Austin!! 🥳 I have pretty much narrowed down the cause of my reflux as coffee, which makes sense as it was the one thing that I consumed literally every day. Funny how you can have something every day for years, then suddenly it’s a huge issue. The only time my throat has been sore in the last two weeks was when we went out and I had tomato sauce. So I know that’s an issue but that is fairly easy to live without, or have only occasionally. Meanwhile, I am learning to love my morning tea and have been experimenting with different kinds. I have always liked Tazo Awake tea and also am enjoying Harney ”Paris” tea. I add a tiny bit of Manuka honey and a splash of almond milk. I was supposed to take Famotidine (for the reflux) 2x/day but the side effects aren’t great so I went back to once a day and I’m fine. I’ll see gastro dr in March and see if maybe I can just stop taking it if dietary changes are enough? Anyway, blah blah, if this is my only health issue I am very lucky! Just an annoyance. I have been taking weaving classes so at least that keeps my hands busy — can’t weave and eat at the same time!