Sunday, September 28, 2014

TKD The Govenor's Cup

 Govenor's cup was an interesting experience we had this last weekend.  G man took home a gold metal for his poomse (forms) and a bronze medal for his sparring division.  He fought really really well and had better technique than the other child, I thought.  It was a great fight to see who ever you were rooting for.


That's the thing.  I feel guilty for rooting so loudly for our home town kids. All the kids need the support and encouragement of all the adults. One poor boy there fought without any coaching support and he lost badly. No body did anything wrong, just that we all pay to have coaches, and coaches protect you in the fight. They are there when you injure yourself, they fight for your points and safety and coach your fighting technique. This boy had no coach. I only saw the very end of his fight, and the way he held his injured hand.  My heart broke a little. These are just kids. His father sat next to him on the sidelines the rest of that division match set. Arms and legs around his son.

That just shouldn't have happened. Skill levels are all over the place and some of the scoring was too.  I think we all want to "help" and "protect" our kids. Especially when one takes a groin shot and picks himself back up and keeps fighting. It's hard to see scoring irregularities and keep your heart open. It might be that in the end I might be learning more than my son. The first lesson has to be that the score doesn't count. All these kids were gloriously brave for showing up!

My son handled him self beautifully and his poor bored sister struggled to keep her sanity. If she gets into sparring I'll be there to see her excellent training, techniques and roundhouse kicks too.  I never thought this would be my parenting road.

Thursday, September 04, 2014

A Traveling We Will Go...

G and C are play Rory and Amy from Dr Who while G eats a sandwich with Tapenade on it. Who are these kids? too Much Dr. Who and the Robots in a hotel room for G to get much sleep, that is for sure...

These two are really enjoying our Newused IPAD and playing with a marble run game.

We've traveled a lot in the last three weeks, seeing both Cincinnati and Atlanta.  The Georgia Aquarium was a huge hit.  Seeing real Manta Rays and Whale Sharks won't soon be forgotten.  I only wish we hadn't seen the dolphin show (see "Blackfish").

We also saw the Cyclorama, which was a real treat.  It is a 360 degree oil painting of the battle of Atlanta, complete with diorama foreground and rotating viewing stands.

EnterTrainment was also good in Cinci, with a chance for C bird and G to see the time period we are reading in the book On the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

We have begun Delving into Roman history and our first use of Singapore Math.  I am loving the math.  After much looking into thing I decided to go with the Common Core addition.  Very happy so far.