O'Neill TS # 5

I just came back from my tutoring session with my child tutee, Rina. After sitting through Joan's tutoring session, I realized that I should make mine a little more fun and spontaneous rather than serious and straight to the point. We started our lesson with a map of the United States. Between the two of us we filled in the states with their appropriate names. This part was really fun and stimulating. We couldn't fill in all the states from memory so every now and then she would run to her living room to look at the big map. Once she started loosing interest, she showed me the rest of her homework, but did not want to do it, she wanted to color instead. This had occurred last time I saw her, and last time I was serious and told her no, we had to do the homework. This strategy did not work very well. She shut down and would not participate any longer. So this time I figured it would be okay to have a little break and talk about art and culture. In her house, there are pictures of famous paintings hanging on the walls; since I have a background in art and art history I asked her about the different artists and we talked about them. She was really excited to show me her violin, so she even played a song for me. At this point I started getting a little nervous, feeling the lesson getting off of track, I tried once again to pull the homework back in. It was difficult to get her involved, but at least this time around, she was a little more open to it and responsive as opposed to last time. I reminded her that I too have homework, and going to her house and teaching her is my homework.
At the end of the session, her father came in and asked us what we had reviewed. We showed him the worksheets we had done, but I also let him know that she gets out of focus easily. I am not sure if he understood me, so when I see her mom I will let her know and ask her what I should do and what are her expectations. These are my first times dealing with parents. I can already tell both have different expectations. Her mother is more flexible, whereas her father is more strategic wanting to see results. Next time I will bring some material of my own to review with her and try to create a better balance between fun and I truly enjoy being with her, it's nice to be with another creative person.