"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..."
I sit here just amazed at how quickly the time has passed this month. School is in full swing. Homework, band, mandarin, lunch boxes, scouting, piano lessons, piano practice, play practice....
So much goes on in this household and yet I often wonder do the kids have enough extra curricular stuff? Then I cringe and think..... these kids are booked up with what they have going already.
Let's just chat for a minute about the sheer volume of homework my 7th Grader has each night. Unbelievable! This is my self driven child. Completely focused. It is still a good 2 hours or more every night. How does he manage this when he is just 12 yrs old? I never had that kind of homework and I realize this is the world that we now live in. But, maybe we should take a step back and really look at how the demands of school are impacting our kids. By High School the kids well know the extremely high grades, high test scores, large volume of required community service plus extra curricular items required to get into that "college of your choice." It's a lot.... a lot of time, investment, energy, focus and stress for a kid.
JUMPING OFF MY SOAP BOX NOW....
The Low Down on the Fam:
- Griff - Busy as a bee and lovin' every minute of it. He began teaching piano lessons this summer and has continued on since school began. His students love him and he's working wonders with Noah. Awesomely awesome! Life for Griff is interesting. It's fun to here him chat about friends, his day and his thoughts. I like laughing with him and just hanging out. He is very kind. He has worked extremely hard over this past year to control his temper. I am blown away by his self control. Super impressed by him and wish I could master my temper in the same manner. He loves being a student body officer - 7th grade rep. They meet monthly, serve in their community and do all that is asked of them by the Principal and VPs as well. Griff's own Piano lessons are going well. He is tackling some baroque pieces currently. Griff and his buddies signed up for Cotillion lessons at the middle school. This is a big deal here and Griff is definitely looking forward to it. Scouting? Yep he's doing that too. This summer was a big Scouting time for Griff. He got all fired up about it. So at the September Court of Honor, Griff advanced to the Rank of Star and earned 11 merit badges from his work over the 3 months of summer. Ummmm...... we had a talk about "balance" in our lives just as school started so, he's slowing down in scouting and balancing it all out. Busy kid!
- Isaac -This child is in such an interested "phase" of boyhood right now. Last year brought some awful school experiences for Isaac. Frankly, he got bullied pretty severely. It was all I could do not to beat up the other 4th grader that was creating misery in Isaac's life. We did the whole.... "What is it in Isaac's behavior that could prompt this reaction?" and the....... "Just ignore him" thing.... and the "try getting completely away from that kid" thing. Nothing worked. It was awful. So this year.... Isaac entered 5th grade super excited about class and 5th grade but very cautious about the social structure that he was walking into. Things have gone pretty well so far. Such a blessing. Isaac is blooming and although he is rough on the edges currently, I have much hope that this will be an amazing year for him. His biggest challenge right now is grasping "self motivation" and "doing his best" at everything in his "life basket"; not just the things that he loves or that interest him. But also the things that are asked by his parents, things that don't grab his interest... boring stuff too. He is very selfishly motivated.. and so 10 years old. But, it's time he matured a bit and stepped out of his selfishly selective enthusiam. Extracurricular......... Isaac got one of the leads in his 5th grade school play. He is Horton in Seussical the Musical, Jr.. He has such a great voice and although he was worried about being picked on for singing "high", he was brave and just gave it his best shot. He got the part and he is happy happy happy. It has done a ton for his self esteem that was so battered down last year. Blessing! He is loving piano and Webelos too. He is on track to get his Arrow of Light by November. Way to go Isaac! Isaac is a HUGE sports fan and is loving the success of the Giants this year. He loves football and this is his first year with his own fantasy football team. He is super into it. I love his enthusiasm for sports. He is looking forward to baseball this spring. He loves waterskiing and knee boarding. Such a fun kid to be around in general. (It is surprising that Isaac is really a pessimist most of the time. We're doing our best to turn that view around as well.) Overall, I think 5th grade will be a blast for Isaac. I can't wait to see how this lovely kid of mine matures and grows.
- Noah - Noah's enjoying school this year too. He's tackling First Grade II. Yep, a repeat and a thousand reasons for it.. We think that the developmental "click" is late for him because he lost 3 years to those terrible seizures. In the meantime, he is just like any other kid in a regular classroom. He is making leaps and bounds in his learning and is a good reader. Noah likes to draw, play games, have playdates, wear silly bands, read books and give hugs. He really is the sweetest kid ever. He is patiently waiting to be moved up and off of the "wait list" for a Taikwando class in Concord. Patiently waiting with his daily question of ...."Mom, did the Taikwando people call yet?" He is getting faster at running, loves jumping on the tramp and mastered swimming this summer. He is also looking forward baseball in the spring and loves cheering on the Giants and A's. He loves the mascots as much as the teams..... LouSeal and Stomper. He is a trooper with his Diet and just keeps plugging along every day doing his best to be kind happy self. He enjoys riding on the tube when we go boating. Big smile on his face every time. The biggest news for Noah is that he began taking piano lessons this month. He is great and his progress is fantastic.
- Cathy & Bry - Bry has been working his tail off to finish our master bedroom. Much of it was gutted and it's about 90% finished now. Our new bedroom furniture came. It's lovely and awesome. Currently we have about 25 different swatches of color painted on the walls because we struggled on color choice. But we've found it now and we are super close. About 2 weeks left. Bry has enjoyed golfing a few times this summer but it definitely wasn't enough. He really needs to get out there this fall for sure! We took up cycling together. It's been a great thing for the two of us. 1 hour ride, eat something small together downtown and ride home again. I love my Bry time! Me??? I began a 10 month Yoga Teacher Training course at Piedmont Yoga. It's harcore and I love it. I love teaching but didn't want to go back to teaching dance. Yoga is awesome for my Rheumatoid Arthritis and I hope to share that love of Yoga with other people to make their lives easier too.
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