Ok, just one more....

Just one more and I will lay off Mr. K for awhile. Discussion between me and Aidan this morning.
Aidan: Going to school is very important.

Me: You're right, it is.

Aidan: If I don't go to school, will I have to live on the street?

Me: What?!

Aidan: Well, people that don't go to school live on the street.

Me: Who told you that? (as if I didn't already know)

Aidan: Mr. K

The next few minutes were spent trying to explain that no, I don't think he will ever have to live on the street. I understand instilling a value in education but come on...

Sad

Don't you hate when your kids are sad and there is nothing you can do about it?

I worked at the school book fair today and bought Aidan's teacher a few books off his wish list. I ran them down to his classroom and just as I was walking in the door, Mr. K was speaking to Aidan about something he was doing wrong on his paper (rather harshly I might add). I saw Aidan's face and knew he could burst into tears at any second. He was trying so hard to hold it together. He didn't see me come in the room and as I was leaving I tapped him on the shoulder and smiled at him and he just looked up at me with the saddest face. Didn't even smile at me. I wanted to give him a huge hug but I didn't.

Before I left the book fair, I went down to the lunchroom to see the boys. I found Aidan first and went over and asked how he was. I asked what he was so upset about in class and he just told me "Nothing". He just did not want to talk about it. Aidan can get overwhelmed when a task is hard for him. He would much rather just give up but that is not an option in Mr. K's class. He will make the student try and try and try until they get it. I suppose that is a great way to encourage children to take risks in their learning. But for goodness sake I think he can do it in a gentler way. He just has a harshness about him when speaking to the children.

Last night at dinner, I asked the kids to name one good thing and one bad thing that happened that day. Aidan's good thing was "I wanted to cry when we were doing math because it was too hard but I didn't". How is that for heartbreaking? Turns out they were working with coins and Mr. K had to have them figure out how much of something they could buy with the coins they had. Honestly (and I was a Kindergarten teacher), I think that is a challenging thing for kindergarteners. But Aidan got through it. And he didn't cry.

Moving on...

I am still sad about Finn. I keep looking up to the second floor landing when I come home, expecting to see him there wagging his tail. But I am trying to think about good things so let's post a good thing...

I had Aidan's kindergarten conference last week. Regardless of what Mr. K had to tell me, I knew that I was so proud and happy of where Aidan is right now. He is so far beyond where I thought he would be. Not that I didn't have confidence in my son, but in September he was just not that into letters and numbers. He was all about playtime and I just thought he'd have a tough time getting used to the structure of school. Well, I am proud to say that he is READING!! Never in a million years did I think he would be reading in January. Of course, Mr. K said "What did you expect? He is in my class!". I swear he started off at least three sentences with "I don't want to brag but....". He opened Aidan's journal and pointed to his story. Aidan has begun writing the words himself instead of telling them to his teacher and having them written for him. Mr. K said "I bet your other son is not doing this". To which I replied "Actually, he is." Gavin always was slightly ahead of Aidan in the academic department. He was interested in letters and sounds and putting them together before Aidan was. If Gavin could have withstood Mr. K's intensity and stayed in his class, he would have excelled beyond where he is now. Gavin's teacher is great for him but I feel she doesn't push the kids and take them further. Gavin is writing/reading mostly in part because it interests him and he has taken it upon himself to do it.

So, I may have complained and grumbled about Mr. K's method of teaching. But Aidan is reading and for that I am grateful. I still don't think the ends justifies the means. He could definitely add some fun to his teaching style.

Yellow belt!!

Aidan had his belt test on Saturday and is now, I am proud to say, a yellow belt.

He is just so excited and proud of himself that it makes my heart happy. He loves karate. Initially I was scared I would plunk down the rather large tuition fee and he would decide after a month he didn't want to do it anymore. But, it has kept his interest and he truly loves anything to do with martial arts. Plus, he loves his instructor, Renshi. I really like him too. He is so good with the kids--very firm when he needs to be but also very funny and kind to the kids.

So here is Aidan getting his belt!

Bowing to his teacher.Meditating before he begins.

During his test, doing Pinyan 1.

Getting a high 5 from Renshi.Yellow Belt!

I wonder what he's thinking about?

Kara-TAY

Aidan started Karate on Tuesday and is loving it. Back in October we went for a trial week but then decided not to join until after the holidays. Every week or so, Aidan would ask when he could go back to karate so I knew he really liked it--it wasn't just something he tried and forgot about.

He was so excited when he got his gi on the first day and the instructor--excuse me Renshi--put his belt on him. Then he went off into the dojo with the other kids. He paired up with an older boy who was a brown belt and that boy showed him what to do and how to do it when Renshi gave instructions. I was amazed how quickly he picked up on things just by watching what the other kids were doing.

Yesterday, I was so proud of him when Renshi did a block and asked what the name of that particular one was. Aidan raised his hand and said "Circle block!" which was really a circular block but close enough. This was day two of karate. I am amazed how much he remembered!

There is a lot of excercise and stretching in the beginning of class and I was afraid that Aidan would get bored with it. And with the karate instruction--yesterday they spent 20 minutes working on the circular block and I was thinking he was going to be bored but he wasn't. It is good for him to realize that karate is not all rock 'em sock 'em like on tv with Spongebob and Sandy.

I also think this is going to be good for him because it is something that is just his. All his life it has been "Aidan and Gavin" when doing activities, etc. So far, Gavin has absolutely no interest in doing karate. Which is kind of OK by me since I honestly don't know if we could afford to have both boys do it! (Sad but true.) Sean is signing both boys up for soccer this spring so maybe Gavin will find an interest there. I know Sean is hoping that at least one of the boys will follow in his footsteps.

So, I hope that Aidan will stick with Karate. I think it will be great for building his focusing skills and self-confidence.

No pictures, please

Wordless Wednesday

The boy can dance...

Yesterday we went to a Halloween parade. I didn't know such a thing existed but Sean's friend invited us to his mom's house where the town has been having this parade for 53 years. This was the first parade for the kids and they *loved* it! They sat and watched the whole thing for about 90 minutes. Of course it didn't hurt that they threw candy into the crowd and the kids all scrambled to get it. They had a blast. Aidan in particular loved the marching bands as evidenced by my short little clip here. That boy has got some rhythm!
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