Tutoring and Teaching

I am lucky to have some wonderful opportunities to stay connected to teaching a little, even as a stay-at-home  mom.  This summer I got to tutor a sweet little girl named Jenna.  We worked together twice a week.  When I first tested her, she was reading at 68 WPM.  By the end of the summer, she was consistently reading in the 120s (WPM) and one time she posted 151 WPM!  She was so cute, every once in a while she would bring little surprises for me, like raspberries or blackberries from her family's garden or bread that she had baked, etc.  It was a pleasure for me to work with her.  At our last tutoring session I wanted a picture with her even though I had come straight from working out and was in no condition to be photographed.  Oh well!  Here she is:

This year I will continue to tutor.  I'm working with the son of a good friend in my ward.  I really enjoy tutoring reading and am excited to see what progress we can make with him.  I also get to teach a writing class again to a home school co-op.  It is a sweet deal: the co-op meets at a house at the end of my street and the moms watch Gabe while I teach their older kids.  Gabe LOVES the chance to get out and play with new kids and I enjoy doing a little teaching.

These little jobs, in addition to learning to coupon (thanks cousin Bethany!) have been a real financial blessing for our family.  (Dave's job, obviously, is the REAL financial blessing!) It confirms to me that Heavenly Father is happy with our decision to have me at home with Gabe and I also feel that we have been very blessed for paying tithing.  I'm so grateful that we are able to be self-sufficient while at the same time being able to spend lots of quality time with our son.