Pappy - The Tutor

Pappy found out that Collin was having trouble with reading which also is affecting other subjects. Before he retired early, Pappy was a teacher for 35 years.  He said he wanted to come over and help Collin during the week. 
This week, he stopped by Tuesday and Wednesday to work with Collin.  On Tuesday, Collin was not excited at all and even cried a little knowing he would have to do homework AND work with Pappy.  It's not that he did not like Pappy, I think he was tired and did not want to do homework at all.  They worked on reading and math for 1 1/2 hours straight.  That's a long time but that's how long it took to get through it.  Unlike when he does homework with one of us, Collin was very respectful to Pappy and followed his instructions. Pappy left when we were having dinner.  Later after resting outside in the backyard, Collin went in and did not come back out.  I later found out that he was working on his homework and following the instructions Pappy had left for him...to write out the sentences they discussed after reading the passage.  Not only did Collin do it, he wrote out sentences on an entire page that also included a conclusion.  I was so shocked but said nothing because I did not want to draw too much attention to this.
On Wednesday, it was much of the same.  The surprise was Collin's response to knowing that Pappy was coming over.  He did not throw a fit at all.  When Pappy arrived, Collin sat down at the table and showed him his homework pages for the day.  They worked on reading and math again.  This time, Collin read with more expression than he has before.  He did start to read the "old way" but read with expression again after Pappy reminded him.  They worked for about an hour before we needed to eat dinner and Pappy had to leave.  Before leaving, he said that he would be back next Tuesday and Thursday.  Collin seemed to be fine with that and did not respond negatively.
Later that night, Pappy called me to give me his assessment.  He said that Collin IS smart.  He does lack confidence when he gives his answers...which we have heard before.  He also said that Collin has a lot of trouble processing what he reads and then write responses to questions.  When he has to do that, he has trouble 1) thinking about what he wants to write, 2) write legibly, 3) spell the words correctly, and 4) punctuate the sentence correctly.  However, when Pappy asked what the answer or response was to each of the questions, Collin verbalized the correct response without much hesitation.  Pappy went on to say that he guessed Collin's handwriting had gotten worse of the years which it had.  Collin used to have really nice handwriting so much so that the teacher for each grade he was in would comment that it was so perfect and very legible for someone his age and especially for a boy.  I can read what he writes now, but it's not as nice looking at all and looks like most of the other kid's writing in his class.  It's not that he is not taking his time, because he is purposeful when he writes.  Maybe Pappy solved the mystery of his declining penmanship. Pappy also said he would not be surprised if Collin was getting marks for talking in class...because he is bored.  That's all true too.  He had actually gotten a mark the first three days of this week.  It's usually one or none and has not been three in several weeks.
We are all looking forward to Pappy coming back next week.  We have a meeting with the teacher, counselor and assistant principal next Wednesday.  Including Pappy's observations will be really helpful.