Monday, April 9

Since there was no water aerobics this morning, due to the college being closed for Easter break, we slept a little later, until nearly 8 a.m. We had a leisurely breakfast, and afterward, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises.

Spent the rest of the morning preparing for a tutoring session with my student later. Last week, I was unable to clearly explain when to use gerunds and when to use infinitives. In researching online, I discovered that there are lots and lots of rules concerning these, but one site suggested that infinitives answer questions: "I'll learn (what?) to do it." "I'll need (what?) to do it." "I'll wait (what?) to do it." "To do it" is an infinitive.

Gerunds, on the other hand complete a statement: "I'll keep doing it." "I'll quit doing it." "Doing it" is a gerund.

My student likes to apply strict rules to every lesson, but in the case of infinitives and gerunds, there are so many rules that most websites suggest that practice is better than overwhelming the student with rules. Today, I gave the student lists of common verbs that would be followed by infinitives or gerunds.

After lunch, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while I went over the lesson plan for my student. I met the student at the usual time of 2:30 p.m.

Today's lesson was on vocabulary about the outdoors: ("I like to go camping." "I like to be outdoors."); about feelings ("We feel angry when a friend yells at us." "We feel sad when a friend is sick."); about adjective opposites ("The book is open." "The book is shut."); about the inside of a car ("Inside the car there is a steering wheel." "There is a front seat and a back seat."); about the use of "again" "The plate isn't clean. Wash it again."); about irregular verbs, ("I sleep very well at night." "I feel fine."); and about past participles of irregular verbs: sleep, slept, have slept; keep, kept, have kept, etc.

While I was away, Hubbie heated leftovers from yesterday's Easter dinner for supper tonight. After supper, Mother washed a pound of Navy beans to soak overnight, and then I accompanied her to her house, where I helped her take a shower. I threw a load of laundry in the washer before I came back home.

Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including this week's episode of "Dancing With the Stars."