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BajaBlanca
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Today was PayDay! The best day of the week for me, and surely for the student teachers as well.
Danna
Jesus
Sannia
Ivanna and Aymara
Pictures of the kids over the week. The teachers have to send me a pic every day so I know that the sts showed up.
So, someone mentioned to me that sometimes the students seem to be too close to the book or paper - The kids told us that they had had their eyes
tested at school and all was OK!
Thanks so much amigos! Our students are way ahead of the game this year. God works in mysterious ways because this is way better than being bullied.
Or being one in a class of over 30!
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BajaBlanca
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Great point! Going to leave cushions tomorrow. The table is too high!
Thanks thanks thanks for bringing my attention to that!
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surabi
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Young children often seem to put their faces quite close to their work. I think it has more to do with them being intent and focused on what they're
doing than there being anything wrong with their vision.
But I once read a book on vision which was fascinating. A regular eye exam doesn't test for many vision problems, only if you are near or far sighted
or have astigmatism. But there are other vision problems which affect learning. One is called tracking- the ability of your eyes to travel across a
page smoothly to read easily (and it's what is also important in sports, to follow the trajectory of the ball, or by animals or hunters in following
the movement of prey). Some kids who are labelled as having learning disabilities have this vision problem. My friend's daughter had a hard time
reading- she said the words jumped around on the page. So when she read, she would just focus on one word at a time, so her reading was very slow and
stilted, although she was quite bright.
If you're playing with a kitten and piece of string, the kitten will keep trying to catch the string as long as you move it back and forth, side to
side. But if you start moving it up and down, the kitten will quickly lose interest. This is because most mammalian carnivores' eyes track
horizontally, because that is how their prey moves. They can't really track vertically. And it's why the advice if you are ever faced with a big cat,
like a cougar, when out in the wild, is to raise your arms up straight and jump up and down- you hopefully cease to look like something they would
consider to be prey.
That book also explained what causes astigmatism, which is a misshaping of the cornea. It can be caused by forcing your eyes to look at something not
straight in front of you for long periods of time, like lying on your stomach with your chin propped in your hands with your book on the bed or couch
and reading like that.
[Edited on 10-13-2020 by surabi]
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BajaBlanca
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Your last paragraph would surely explain my astigmatism.
Really interesting information.
When I was in first grade, we got tested for vision. I got glasses and says my Mom that as soon as we got outside I said "Look at all the leaves on
the tree!" I guess it had been a big blur before that.
That being said, I am a super fast reader. My high school classmates used to watch me read and were incredulous. They would ask comprehension
questions to see if I had really read the passage in such a short time.
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surabi
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Yeah, I was a kid who always had my nose buried in a book and I'm astigmatic as well. They put glasses on me when I was 10.
Too late for us, but if you see your kids reading like that, get them to prop the book up in front of them, so they're looking straight on at the
page.
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CaboMagic
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Ten thumbs up surabi for that input!!
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BajaBlanca
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And so the world turns. I got a call from Ramiro, the architecture student in La Paz, saying that he was getting headaches, went to get his eyes
checked and needed glasses.
I sent him $980 and the arrive in 10 days.
He was diagnosed with astigmatism too!
Here is a photo of us in 2019
He will send a shot wearing his new glasses when he gets them!!
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BajaBlanca
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October 15th update
The students are doing well!
The student teachers are doing well too!
Aymara getting her pay.
A cutie studying away! Notice that all the kids' postures have improved. This one is on 2 pillows and boy, what a difference.
Ivanna getting paid.
The board today - learning how to read!
Teacher Hayzooz getting paid. (Jesus)
Sannia as happy as can be!
and lastly Teacher Danna!
How much you all want to bet these kids go on to be teachers? They are loving the experience.
Thanks all for supporting this project.
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BajaBlanca
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Sharing the kids in class today!
Isaac
Jireth looking so pretty! Jesus has been working on her self esteem and I told Tidiana to make sure the kids were wearing clean clothes without
rips.
Ismael
and Manuel!
Missing is Alejandro, his student teacher's internet has not been working so well.
I am very happy with the boys' postures! Straight backs are the name of the day.
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BajaBlanca
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This week was so busy that I had the student teachers come up to the house and collect their money!
It waited for them under the BOO sign.
Here is Alejandro studying away. His tutor Sannia says he is very bright and she loves teaching him all the 5th grade subjects. Not Tidiana's kid
but Chencha's grandson.
We have our regular weather back, as is the norm, on the cooler side. Parents immediately wrap kids up just like Eskimo's and Tidiana is no
exception LOL
Here is Isaac, is he the CUTEST or what!
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BajaBlanca
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No talk yet of going back to physical classroom. What a year, what a year.
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BajaBlanca
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Payday!!!!
Visited our cat's kitten named TROUBLE between one tutor and the others.
All the students are doing well according to the student teachers. I am going to ask their public school teachers to give us a report on each one.
Stay tuned.
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BajaBlanca
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I talked to the director and asked her to get me the kids; GPAs.
Had a shock, not a good one either.
First the good news: Four of the five students, 2nd 3rd 4th 5th graders all have a B average. This is so great
The bad news is that Aymara's student, the 1st grader had not turned in any work for 2 weeks. I am floored and he is flunking this moment.
I fired Aymara and paid her for last week today...I think there is something wrong with her. She never said anything, but this is the oddest
behaviour ever. She could not give me a good reason for Ismael's not turning in his work. Her sister Ivanna's student has a B average. Both teach
(taught) behind the hotel. She sent me a photo of her student studying every day.
Good news is that I found 2 other student teachers to take over - one is in her last semester and is in the college scholarship project - they have
taken over as of today. They already met with the kid's real teacher and are getting a jump on his work. They agree that Ismael is really smart.
They will teach this weekend to make up time/work.
Boy, thank goodness I asked the principal to get me the average.
Ismael is one of the happiest student's, I made sure the new student teachers understood that his low GPA was surely NOT his fault. After I have
digested Aymara's actions, I might sit down and have a talk with her. She was my student in high school eons ago...like I say, something in her
behaviour is really off.
I feel sad but mostly, I feel duped and frustrated and angry and sure wish I had known sooner.
Today was payday and I have some nice photos. A friend made me champurrado and I shared with the kids.
Pics when our internet gets better, it is very slow today.
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BajaBlanca
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Update soon! Everything is looking great and real progress being made.
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BajaBlanca
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Life happened and we got soooooooo busy! The kids have been studying so much, the student teachers are happy and at the end of the month we should be
getting their report cards.
I get updates and photos every day, these are the most recent photos of Tidiana's kids.
And this is Alejandro
Today was payday.
Here is Sannia
Here is Danna! As you can see, Tidiana did the rounds to pay everyone today!!
Here is Elizabeth. Missing is Jesus who came to the house to get his cash and I forgot to take his photo. He comes again tomorrow, lets hope I
remember. Alondra is traveling, Elizabeth's brother helped Ismael this past week since he is in the same class. I like this idea a lot and will
see if we can get them involved in other activities as friends.
And that is the report for the week! Les's daughter and husband were here for 10 days and we were so busy having fun with them. Cooked and went to
Loreto, Santa Rosalia, San Ignacio, Campo Rene (closed but we went anyways) and Punta Abreojos. Whew!!!
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BajaBlanca
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Tahdahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh REPORT CARDS!
I do not have the old report cards to compare but I am so happy that these kiddoes really did well!
Add a zero to the number to get our equivalent % in the U.S.
Here are Alejandro's grades
Emanuel's grades
Isaac's grades
and Jireth's. At 9, she is just learning how to recognize letters. She has a learning disability, so I am pretty impressed!
Ismael's teacher gave him horrible grades because his work was handed in so late due to the lack of help from Aymara. Hector, his very first teacher
and Elizabeth, this current one, both say he is super smart and the hardest worker they have seen. I take their word for it and told him I am very,
very proud of all his effort.
And I am.
The principal told me that next trimester his grades will reflect his new reality. He is 6 years old, I think we can move on! I think we can safely
say that he loves the arts.
I never got the report card per se, but here is the message the school principal sent with his grades:
All that being said, I told the students and tutors that we will have a safe gathering behind the hotel next Friday at noon.
I have commissioned 3 pinatas, one for the kids, one for Tidiana and one for Abraham. Both told me they NEVER had a birthday party in their lives.
Each child will get $100 pesos for themselves.
Bajanomad L. will donate bonus cash for the tutors!
I have asked the tutors to get their friends and neighbors and family to donate children's clothes and shoes, the elementary school principal will
also ask for donations.
I will make a cake and will see what else I can cook up.
Just want to add this photo of Tidiana, it is one of my favorites.
Here are some of the student photos - every day the tutors send one of their kiddo studying.
Alejandro
On this day, Ismael came over to show me what he had learned the past week. In the first photo, he had drawn a map of Mexico, mainland and Baja. I
asked him to show me where we lived and he went right to the spot!
In this second picture he had drawn, he had two menu's with junk food on one side and healthy food on the other. I asked him to explain and he
clearly said: If you eat junk food, you get no vitamins and gain weight. Smart cookie!
The main objective is for the kids to enjoy learning, and that they are! I also find it interesting that all of them love the arts.
Are they too young for me to ask about future jobs they might want HAHAHAHA
[Edited on 12-6-2020 by BajaBlanca]
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Whale-ista
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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This is so inspiring- thank you for doing this and sharing the results!
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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TMW
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X2
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windgrrl
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Thanks for the wonderful update, Blanca and congratulations to all for the hard work and great results!
When the way comes to an end, then change. Having changed, you pass through.
~ I-Ching
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BajaBlanca
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