Gymnastics

Alexa decided she didn't want to take ballet lessons anymore, which is fine by me because it's pretty expensive, and I don't want to put out that much money if she's not really excited to go. I still thought they'd like to do some sort of sport program, so I mentioned gymnastics. They both perked up when I brought up the idea, especially since they are into doing somersaults lately, and this would be a class they could both take together.

The first class, which started three days after the New Year, went as I expected. They both wanted me to stay next to them the entire class. The next week they were fine to run up to the group on their own without me. I think it's very important to respect children's desires to have a parent with them when entering new experiences. I hate when people leave thier children screaming at things. I guess most people might say I'm not being tough enough or preparing them for the "real world" (huh? where are we right now?).  Not only will a child's trust in their parent stay strong if the parent doesn't leave him/her before he is ready, but I think in the long run they are actually more self-reliant and assurred.

Anyways, I was pretty impressed with the YMCA program. It's only $30 a child for 7 weeks, since we have a membership. They started out on the mat as a group stretching. Then they split into smaller groups and made the rounds of the equipment. First, they practiced handstands against the wall.

Then they walked on an actual balance beam, which was awesome. Alexa really enjoyed that.

They did some work on somersaults, and then they ended up jumping up onto a vault and over it.

As of this date, they have two sessions left. I think their interest is waning, so we probably won't sign up for another session. We'll see. I'll have to ask them what they'd like to do. I really appreciate that the women in charge do not get on Jared's case when he runs around the room. Even though there are usually only four kids in each group, they still have to wait thier turn for each piece of equipment. Jared has a hard time with that. Since the class is held in an indoor soccer field, Jared just runs around the room, and they call him over when it's his turn. Somehow I think if this was a school environment he wouldn't be allowed to do this. I'd probably be getting calls about how he's too "hyper," and we'd have the medication discussion. Once again, a huge reason I love unschooling.