Dreary Thursday

Today really looks like March. Grey, drizzle, and cool. I just can't wait for nice weather! Dad has surgery tomorrow; he has an umbilical hernia. Hopefully it goes quickly and well. A friend is taking him as it's scheduled right while I'm teaching. Harrison and I worked on math yesterday; he is homeschooled in math and we've gotten behind! Spending a week in Ecuador, a week in Arizona, and then hockey finals (hockey every night until after 10) really put us off schedule (plus me being gone several times to Florida and New York for my dissertation research). At any rate, we're working on catching up now. We use the Michigan Virtual High School program through Michigan State University. He does well with the format. I also think having me explain to just him is helpful for him. He's doing great this semester - has an "A" so far (we'll see how it goes doing it double-speed to catch up!). There is also a certified teacher from MSU that does the tests and other homework assignments: she creates them and grades them, while I'm responsible for helping Harrison learn the material so that he is able to do the assignments. It's quite a nice program. The only strange thing is that I don't like being his teacher! I have so many students and I enjoy both them and teaching a great deal; however I don't like the lack of "distance" from Harrison! I keep wondering how it will be when he goes off to university and (maybe) has me for an instructor! My favorite teacher when I was in college had a daughter named Laura who was also exactly the same age as me. Laura and I got along well and it seemed having her mom as a professor was fine. The other profs didn't appear to see her any differently than the other students, either. Hopefully, it will be the same for us!