Fran has completed her study of algebra, is in the middle of chemistry, and is about to start mathematical functions and into calculus. Meanwhile she is methodically reading 20 - 24 pages per day of a history book that she checked out from the Oaxaca Learning Center. After her wisdom teeth are pulled (happening today!) for free by a kindly dentist who befriended her like I did, she will go join the city library and check out some books on biology, and more on history.
I let her use my computer for a few hours each evening when things quiet down and she can concentrate. She found high quality teaching videos on the internet in Spanish that really helped her as she studied algebra. Last night, we found a few good ones that addressed the subject of functions.
It is awesome to watch her, hour after hour, as she methodically goes through her study regime! I have to pinch myself sometimes that I have encountered such a remarkable person -- even more so when she tells me stories about her life in the remote village where she was raised!
Yesterday she told me she had never heard of the Beatles! I am thinking of getting her a scrap book to start collecting cultural items that she is exposed to and decides she likes. But when I think about it I don't think she would take the time -- she is too focused on her goal of passing the exam, and that is good!
She is now sleeping in my storeroom which we cleared out as much as possible for her, but spends her time in the living room. I now have 2 twenty-somethings living with me (Marisol is 27, Fran is 22) and it is working out beautifully. The two young women chat with each other in Spanish a bit every evening, but they are both busy with their own lives.
I told Fran yesterday that I really do want her to stay here with us until after she passes the exams and to stop looking for another place to live. We will cross the next bridge when we come to it! Meanwhile she is secure and able to focus on her studies.
Next week Fran is taking exams at the Oaxaca Learning Center in all of her subjects. They say that students who do not pass them will be dropped from the program. I am sure she will pass, and I am glad that there is some rigor to this program.
Fran will be paying her fees sometime in June and I will give you the exact date when it is posted on the school's website.
Here are a couple of recent photos!
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| Fran with the needle-felted jesters and dolls I am making to sell. |
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| Fran's beautiful smile (she had just French-braided my hair) |
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