Lydia Home: Week 2

This week was my second week volunteering at Lydia Home. Just like last week, I volunteered on Tuesday and Thursday. This week was very similar to last week. 

I arrived at Lydia Home on Tuesday around 3:30 in the afternoon with my classmate Julie. When we arrived, a few of the children were already there, playing pool, carpet ball, and hide-and-go-seek. After playing for about twenty minutes or so, Joyce, one of the ladies in charge of Lydia Home, instructed all the kids to wash their hands for snack time. The kids had a small snack of fruit snacks, trail mix, and fruit punch. 
After the kids all finished their snacks, it was time to get started on their homework. I helped a girl named Zay with her English homework. She was learning how to turn singular nouns to plural nouns and vice versa. She was also learning how to find antonyms in a sentence. She did great with singular and plural nouns but had a harder time understanding the concept of antonyms. After some practice, though, she seemed to get the hang of it. Zay finished her homework around the same time all the other kids did. Since all their work was done, it was time for them to play again! 

All of the kids went outside to play on the swings, play tag, and throw around a football. I spent most of my time throwing a football with a boy named Marquis and a boy named William. Both seemed to really enjoy themselves and were having a great time playing with the football.  

Before I knew it, it was time for all the kids to go home! I said goodbye to them all and told them I would see them on Thursday.

On Thursday I returned to Lydia Home around 3:30 in the afternoon. When I got there, two kids were playing pool and a few others were lying on a couch. I went over to one of the girls, Timeka. She seemed really upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she simply said she just wanted to go home. I told her that she could go home soon, but for now she had to do her best to put on a brave face and try to have fun while she was there. I helped her get up, wash her hands, and get ready for snack time. After she ate her snack, she seemed to be doing a little better so I assumed she was upset because she was hungry. Later on, when I asked her why she was sad, she told me she was just really hungry and did not get the chance to eat anything at home before coming to Lydia Home that day. She also said she felt much better after getting some food in her tummy.

After snack time I helped Timeka with her homework. First, she read two chapters out of her book to me. Then, she did a math worksheet, two worksheets in reading comprehension, and one worksheet in English. She finished her homework pretty quickly and seemed to almost completely understand everything she was doing.

After she finished her homework, we went outside to play for a little while. I pushed her and her friends Timeah and Toni on the swings for a little while. After playing on the swings for a while, it was time to go! I walked Timeka back inside because her babysitter had come to pick her up. I said goodbye and left.

My second week at Lydia Home was now complete!

My second week at Lydia Home taught me a lot. It taught me how important communication, language, and self-disclosure are.

Communication is one of the most important. It is so important to be able to communicate with these kids properly! Without effective communication, it is hard to understand what the children want and need. For example, one of the kids, Marquis, does not have good communication skills. He is very quiet and has troubles telling others what he wants and needs. Marquis's lack of communication skills makes it difficult for both me and others working at Lydia Home to help him when he needs it. In order to help Marquis communicate better, someone works with him every day, helping him communicate better with others. He has gotten better in the two weeks I have been there, but I can see how important communication is! Seeing Marquis struggle with communication has really opened my eyes to the importance of communication in our lives. I will use what I have learned this week to try to better communicate with these kids to make sure all their needs and wants are addressed. I will also use what I have learned to help others communicate better. By communicating better myself, and by helping others communicate better, it will help everyone address each other's wants and needs.

Language is also very important. It is crucial to use proper language when dealing with younger kids. For example, I need to realize that I have to use simple analogies when explaining things and I need to relate it to their lives. If I do not, it makes it much more difficult for the children to understand. For instance, when explaining subtraction, it is easier for the kids to understand subtraction in terms of having eight pieces of candy and finding how many are left after eating three as opposed to just saying eight minus five. When the kids are given something they can picture, it makes it much easier for them to grasp the concept. In order to give them better analogies to relate to, I have to use the proper language. I will use what I have learned this week to make sure I use proper language when explaining things to the children. I will be more aware of how I explain things to make sure the kids can relate to what I say as much as possible. By doing this, I feel the kids will be much more successful in understanding the material taught to them.

Finally, I have realized the role that self-disclosure has played. Last week, when I first came to Lydia Home, I did not know much about any of the children there. By this week, however, I have learned a lot about many of the kids. I know most of their names, ages, and some of their favorite things to do. They have disclosed personal information about themselves to me because they want me to know them. I have also disclosed information about myself to them. By communicating with them on a more personal level, it shows how I am connecting with the kids. This can show them how I am truly there to help them, and not just a student passing through for a service project. By forming relationships with the children, it makes the service much more meaningful. It also makes it easier to work with the kids. The closer I am to them, the more likely it is for them to listen to me and understand what I am saying. By realizing the role of self-disclosure, I can work harder to make sure to build healthy, meaningful relationships with the kids. The better the relationships are, the easier working with them will be! I will use what I have learned to slowly tell them more about me and to slowly learn more about them to better the quality of my time with the children and at Lydia Home as a whole.

I have learned a lot my second week at Lydia Home.  I have learned how important communication, self-disclosure, and language.  Each week I am learning more about myself, these kids, and how each communicative concept plays a major role in communication.  I look forward to what else I can learn about myself and others in my upcoming weeks at Lydia Home.