This year, I feel more content about it all. I have given my kids a choice as to where they want to be. W will get to enjoy the mornings with me and J, doing fun projects and going to interesting places before the school crowds get there. K should have a better school year since NLBG isn't in her class anymore. I will do my best to make sure her self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence remains fully intact. Middle school is difficult emotionally. She's such a good-hearted kid. I pray that she can take all that social bullshit in stride. And I know J will have an excellent year, reveling in all the incredible freedoms that unschooling bestows.
J will continue with dance classes, her first dance solo, and competitions. K wants guitar lessons and yoga classes - maybe basketball or softball. W will start Little League baseball in the spring and either soccer or dance (only if it's the cool hip-hop kind, he says, lol). He's very well coordinated and already has some good moves - including the jumping toe-touch. We'll see how it all goes.
Other than that, the show is going well. The girls are having a great time with it. Both are very comfortable on the stage. I guess it runs in the family since I did lots of theater years ago (brag alert: I was Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, Louise in Gypsy, and Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof to name a few)
and B is lead singer in a rock band
. So, the apples really don't fall far from the trees. J wants to do a lot more theater. K likes it but can take it or leave it. A couple of moms I was talking to yeaterday have their kids in voice lessons, take them to tons of auditions (including Broadway), and one has her dd going to the Lee Strasberg School every Saturday. They want them in one of the performing arts high-schools around the city (like in the movie "Fame") and just all seem so "stage-motherish" to me. It's a bit sad. But they swear their kids insist on all of these things and who cares if it's costing thousands of dollars and lost childhoods. Whatever.
3 comments:
It is very sad to see it happening. I can't stand it, but we'll deal with it as it comes. I told K that if things get as bad as they did this past year, she would be better off at home. That didn't go over well but there may come a time where I'll have to insist. Sigh.
I feel for you! I am bringing my soon-to-be 7th grader home this year along with her younger sibling. She has her doubts about it, but I think once she sees how she'll be able to pursue her own interests more she'll love it. Last year, she went to a magnet school about 45 minutes from home. She left at 6:45 am and didn't return til after 3pm! We've been doing a trial run, and she seems to be getting her "schoolwork" for HS done in about 1 1/2 hours. So she's been knitting, crocheting, playing piano, cooking, so many things! Plus her classmates went back to school last week and she's still sleeping in til about 9 am. She did notice that!
Anyway, good luck if you do bring your oldest home. I think she would learn to love it, if she gives it a chance.
J
Wow, Strassberg?? I had no idea they had sessions for kids. When I was persuing acting, I never wanted to go to those schools, I found them too stringent and intimidating--based on what I heard from my friends. So I got into background stuff instead--I was an Equity Stage manager and a techie (LOVED running lights) in my former life. ROFL! I could never see pushing my kids like that, even if they say they are interested. IMO, that's just too young. Now classes--regular classes, are cool to me, but prestige stuff is a bit much.
And ick, they call them middle schools in NYC now? Blah. But I HATED JHS. We didn't have alot of money, so my hair wasn't just so, and my clothes were repeated more than other kids, and it was always pointed out esp since I was the shortest kid in class. Maybe she'll come around...
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