School Days

When I retired five years ago, friends warned me that I'd be bored, that I wouldn't find enough activities to fill my days. I figured that I could return to work part time if that happened, so I went ahead and retired despite their dire warnings.

As it turns out, there was no need to go back to work. Between blogging, dog walking, swimming,  napping, and tutoring, my days are happily filled. School has begun again, so I am back to tutoring after a lazy summer of goofing off. Over the summer, I had actually forgotten how fulfilling, delightful, and just plain fun it can be.

I tutor second graders in reading. I don't give a lot of time - just half an hour once a week to four different children - but it makes a difference in their lives and it makes a huge difference in mine. I look forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays, my tutoring days. My school is a charter school with a great vibe, very upbeat and happy, despite limited resources.

My motivation for doing this work is that I was a slow reader - reading didn't really connect with me until fourth grade. I was able to read before then, but it wasn't fun, it was hard work. Then, with a single book, "Skippy's Family," it lit a fire in me that has never burned out. Ever since, I have always had a book that I am reading. So, I have sympathy for kids whose reading is behind the rest of the class, the ones like me.

Not having children of my own, I was initially uncertain about whether or not I could relate to little kids. I needn't have worried - they are a delight at this age. They are bright and articulate, full of fun and full of energy, but also still very naive and sweet. Very little sass in second grade.

Yesterday, as I was chatting with one of the new teachers on the playground before tutoring, a teacher I had worked with last year came up and greeted us, telling the new teacher that I was a great tutor and that I had worked miracles with her lowest students last year. Now, I can assure you, I'm not a great tutor, but the children respond to any attention from a grownup, and they flower under that benign interest. 

They read with me but they also tell me about their lives and their hopes. At my school, their lives are very different from the privileged world I grew up in, and that helps me, too, to be more understanding and compassionate. When I hear about a seven year old whose mother has been deported, or who lives where they are doing donuts in the street outside her house, I realize just how lucky I was to be raised by both parents in a safe neighborhood. I am learning and growing, too, right along with my students.

If you have some extra time to spare, you might inquire about tutoring at your local school.  It won't take much time (you can set your own hours), but it will add so much to your enjoyment of life. And you get summers off.