Chapter 140: Day 139

Day 139,

At the end of school time today I announced that when they come back three days from now we’ll be pairing up older students with younger ones for part of each day for tutoring.  I went on for a bit about how the best way to really learn something you sort of know and reinforce it so that you never forget is to teach it to someone else.  And for the younger ones they’d get to look forward to more individual attention that I can’t always provide.  What’s more, it would be like practice for apprenticeship one day, both as the apprentice and as the master.

Of course, I also had to preemptively assuage certain concerns by reassuring them that Cass and I would still be doing our part for teaching, going around checking on everyone and providing assistance wherever and however needed.

I ended the announcement by saying that Cass and I would be discussing the pairings and announcing the final partnerships when they all got back.  In truth we’d been talking about it all week and by that point the list was pretty much final, but listening to the kids chatter about it while cleaning up for the day was informative.  Who wanted (or didn’t want) to be paired with whom, who was excited, who seemed to dread it, etc.  Those observations Cass and I did discuss once they all went home.  There were a couple minor adjustments to be had, but nothing major.

I considered going and visiting Pat afterward, but as I was vacillating on whether to do so the rain let up and I seized the opportunity for a dry walk home while I had it.  Of course, it started raining again halfway back, but it was a drier walk than I might have had.  And besides, by now I feel like I’ve committed myself to helping Maiko with her literacy and I don’t want to neglect that.

Or am I using her as an excuse to avoid more uncomfortably surprise revelations from Pat?

Speaking of Maiko, she was home when I arrived, pouring over one of Priscilla’s maps.  I almost said something about being careful or even putting it back out of reflex but I held my tongue.  If she hadn’t broken anything by now it was unlikely she’d be so careless as to be likely to do so in the future.

No fresh stovetop fish tonight, just what I brought back with me from the library, kept mostly dry by layers of laundry.  Not hot, but satisfying nonetheless.

Getting ready for bed now.  I’ll stop by and visit Pat when I go back to town the day after tomorrow.  Don’t even need to bring up the birth and death rates.  Just keep it sociable.

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