Does he fail just because he does not pass the test

Yesterday, the young man, who is sure he will fail and has no time, came to tutoring.  He was more relaxed.  We do not know how he will do on the test.  We will work with him and see. Hopefully we will have a couple of extra tutoring sessions before the test.

One of the reasons the balametrics tutoring works so well is the balance it brings to lives.  We put the young man on a balance board.  The ball hanging from the ceiling is batted around with control.  One of the things I say is "I like tests." or " I am good at tests." or " I am good at math.".  When the person on the balance board does not believe the statement the board does not stay level.  Belief in oneself is often the beginning of learning.

He did better counting by 2's and 3's.  When he said, "I can do this," my heart smiled.  We used the ceiling ball and traded hitting the ball with right and then left hand.  We also did the number board 1 to 9 and 9 to 1. First we do this with one hand and then we switch and use the other hand so we keep in balance.  Usually, the student is better with one hand or the other.

 We worked on the long balance board.  Doing this you put your left foot in front and with the ball in the right hand bounce the ball on the left side of the body and balance board.  Then you trade and put the right foot in front and bounce the ball from the left hand on the right side of the body and balance board.  I walk beside the child or student and put my foot in position to help them remember which side to move and toss the ball from and to.  This can be really difficult and challenging.  It works.

I have a new toy and it is a number board with 1 to 100 tiles.  I have blue and red clear tiles and the student usually likes one color or the other.  The chosen tile color is placed on the twos when working on counting by 2's.  Then, we count when we are multiplying.  How many are two two's or three two's and so on. Then we mix them up and do not go in order.  I count them for him until he can count them himself or remember the answer.

When he gets tired or seems confused we work on the balance board again.  When he has more confidence or I think it will work, he again gets on the balance board. We toss high bounce balls with control in a pattern as we count by 2's or 3's..

There are some words he needs to know.  I hope to make a game with them to use when we tutor on Monday.