With various summer accomplishments under our belt, Yuki began her second year at Green Lake Elementary. Boy, how much easier was this than last year? As we dropped her off with her new teacher, Ms. Kincaid, and walked passed the kindergarten parents, I felt a bit like Richard Gere in Officer and A Gentlemen--when he is leaving the military base and hears Louis Gossett Jr.'s character verbally abusing the incoming cadets (anyone with me?). It's that "I've been there, man. But now, I know more" kind of feeling.
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Side note: I have always picture that scene every time I encounter a similar situation. Since I saw the film in 1982. I was 14. That is a long time to work with one image.
Anyway, gearing up for this school year felt like I was now in the elementary school age scheduling zone for real and it took practically the whole summer to figure it out. Here are the pieces of puzzles:
1. Continue with dance
This is an easy one because it's on Saturdays and it's super close to our house and Yuki loves it and it's a good studio. Nothing new. Check.
2. Continue with Japanese
Also easy. Same day as last year, also close. No change in routine.
3. Embark on violin.
I felt that 6 was a good age to start some sort of music lesson. I was 6 when I started piano. So I asked her some time ago if she was interested. She replied with "I would like to play the violin." No idea why. So I said sure. But then every now and then I asked to make sure that was still the case and every time I asked, she was sure. I battled a bit about having to force her to practice, but something told me this would be a good thing so I contacted a local Suzuki School of Music (hi, can I be more Japanese?) and enrolled her for a Wednesday class.
4. After School program. GLSA. Same place as last year. Across the street from the school and they get the kids, run them around in the school play ground, feed them snacks, and--wait for it--get their homework done. Monday, Tuesday, Friday. BAM.
No, not so. Here is what happened.
First, you have to submit your desired GLSA days in March because it's super popular. So as you are figuring out the summer (which they also do as it was mentioned in the previous post), you sign up for tentative days for the next school year to be confirmed at the end of August. So we submitted the same days as last year, which as Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri. Then at the end of July, the Japanese school that was working out so well emailed us rather of a sudden and announced that they were closing. And with very little explanation. I went through all 5 stages of grief in about a week over that one. By this point, the violin was starting to firm up to be Wednesdays so we contacted GLSA and asked them to drop Wednesdays and put Yuki on the wait list for Thursdays.
BUT WHAT ABOUT HER JAPANESE? WILL I HAVE TO HOME SCHOOL HER ON THIS? WILL WE SURVIVE? AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
After I was done being pissed, I got online and started researching. There are quite a number of places that offer classes for Yuki's age and level in Seattle, but most of them are on Saturday (See 1). We had already paid for her dance class for Saturdays. GRRRRRR. Eventually though I find a school about 20 min north of where we live--a potential pain in the ass with traffic but they have weekday late afternoon classes so I shot the teacher an email. She got back to me via a phone call, and was so personable and great that I was actually glad the other school closed by the time we got done talking.
So now it was looking like:
Monday-GLSA
Tuesday-GLSA then Japanese class
Wednesday-violin
Thursday-who knows
Friday-GLSA
I was starting to strategize my Thursdays to try to log on to work from home if she didn't end up in GLSA. I thought, that ain't the end of the world. We will spend time together and she can take the bus home, which she is dying to do (she takes the bus there, but not back). Besides, one of her best friends' mom said she can always take Yuki if I was in a jam so we had a back up plan.
But then the GLSA came through and our plan was firm. Ahhhhh.
Listing things like this makes me look like a total activity freak mom, but the thing is, I was this busy when I was her age (I took piano, ballet, figure skating, and English all through elementary school) and I actually loved it. Being productively busy and also socializing with her peers is a lot more fun than sitting around at home, especially for an only child.
Then here is something else that came with the schedule.
Both Suzuki School and her new Japanese school require that a parent take the class with the child. Suzuki has a 20 min private instruction followed by a 45 min group instruction once a week. You stay and take notes because you then become the tutor to help your kid practice. The Japanese school is one hour class once a week and this teacher's philosophy is also to have the parents play with the kid so that they can practice together. This seems like a pain. In fact, some parents won't do this methods because it's a drag. But it's quality time. You learn something with your kid and spend that time together as opposed to just dropping them off and trust that good things are happening and go on our separate ways. There is enough of that in our current set up. And both places strongly stress that the practice at home should feel like playing and fun as opposed to something that they feel forced to do. And they both give some tips on how best to create that environment, which is music (no pun intended--or intended) to my ears. I know that there is limited window in which Yuki would enjoy having one of us in a class with her so I decided to embrace it.
We ventured out to the Japanese class last Tuesday. Teruko Sensei teaches out of her cute little class room in her basement. As you enter the garage, there is a table full of used toys, books and clothes from other parents. You can bring something and/or take something. Then you go into a class and there are about 9 other kids and parents, some with siblings and Teruko Sensei runs a super joyful class with many home made material. It is evident this is her pride and joy and she puts a ton of her personal time into creating her curriculum. It's intuitive learning as opposed to academic. She tricks the kids into learning by making every lesson into a game. This woman's energy and approach reminded me of my late mother (she taught English for decades in our house to people of all ages) and I was instantly sold. Yuki had a great time and came home motivated to do the reading project that will result in a prize (what kid won't respond to that, I tell you). I don't mind the traffic and the commute if it's worth it.
Then we went to our first violin lesson on Wednesday. I have heard of this "note taking" situation for Suzuki so I purchased a shiny new note book for the occasion (our friend Heather who has a PHD in music told me of a story of her mom who got her into Suzuki but then was clueless as to what to write down in her note book so she made a grocery list. I manged to write things that pertained to the lesson). Ms. Linda, a long time veteran Suzuki instructor who speaks like a children's librarian gently invited Yuki to pick out her mock up violin and a bow and also gave her a carpet square to stand on.
.JPG)
She moved Yuki through basic body positions and training on how to hold the violin under the chin and the bow in her hand.
.JPG)
Then she taught her the famous "taka taka ti ti" rhythm to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (aka "Easter Bunny Hop Hop," "Charlie Brown and Snoopy," and "Mississippi Stop Stop.")
I am now officially a Suzuki mom. Ms. Linda kindly commented that Yuki was "a natural" and when I told her that she chose the instrument, she said, "sometimes, children just know." We shall see if she becomes the next Midori (although I kind of want her to be the next Stephan Grapelli). Time will tell. Yuki tells me that she intends to learn all of the instruments ending with Tuba (she is very specific about this). I told her she should then consider becoming a conductor to which she said, "Ooh!! They get to have a magic wand!"
So far, she has kept up with her practice everyday since (it has been almost a week for both classes) and seems to enjoy doing it so I feel I have to keep encouraging and make it fun. I hope that we can sustain this level of joy until at least June. But hopefully for longer.
More stuff to do, but also more time together. That is OK by me.
.JPG)
Yuki with two of her besties
Anyway, gearing up for this school year felt like I was now in the elementary school age scheduling zone for real and it took practically the whole summer to figure it out. Here are the pieces of puzzles:
1. Continue with dance
This is an easy one because it's on Saturdays and it's super close to our house and Yuki loves it and it's a good studio. Nothing new. Check.
2. Continue with Japanese
Also easy. Same day as last year, also close. No change in routine.
3. Embark on violin.
I felt that 6 was a good age to start some sort of music lesson. I was 6 when I started piano. So I asked her some time ago if she was interested. She replied with "I would like to play the violin." No idea why. So I said sure. But then every now and then I asked to make sure that was still the case and every time I asked, she was sure. I battled a bit about having to force her to practice, but something told me this would be a good thing so I contacted a local Suzuki School of Music (hi, can I be more Japanese?) and enrolled her for a Wednesday class.
4. After School program. GLSA. Same place as last year. Across the street from the school and they get the kids, run them around in the school play ground, feed them snacks, and--wait for it--get their homework done. Monday, Tuesday, Friday. BAM.
No, not so. Here is what happened.
First, you have to submit your desired GLSA days in March because it's super popular. So as you are figuring out the summer (which they also do as it was mentioned in the previous post), you sign up for tentative days for the next school year to be confirmed at the end of August. So we submitted the same days as last year, which as Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri. Then at the end of July, the Japanese school that was working out so well emailed us rather of a sudden and announced that they were closing. And with very little explanation. I went through all 5 stages of grief in about a week over that one. By this point, the violin was starting to firm up to be Wednesdays so we contacted GLSA and asked them to drop Wednesdays and put Yuki on the wait list for Thursdays.
BUT WHAT ABOUT HER JAPANESE? WILL I HAVE TO HOME SCHOOL HER ON THIS? WILL WE SURVIVE? AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
After I was done being pissed, I got online and started researching. There are quite a number of places that offer classes for Yuki's age and level in Seattle, but most of them are on Saturday (See 1). We had already paid for her dance class for Saturdays. GRRRRRR. Eventually though I find a school about 20 min north of where we live--a potential pain in the ass with traffic but they have weekday late afternoon classes so I shot the teacher an email. She got back to me via a phone call, and was so personable and great that I was actually glad the other school closed by the time we got done talking.
So now it was looking like:
Monday-GLSA
Tuesday-GLSA then Japanese class
Wednesday-violin
Thursday-who knows
Friday-GLSA
I was starting to strategize my Thursdays to try to log on to work from home if she didn't end up in GLSA. I thought, that ain't the end of the world. We will spend time together and she can take the bus home, which she is dying to do (she takes the bus there, but not back). Besides, one of her best friends' mom said she can always take Yuki if I was in a jam so we had a back up plan.
But then the GLSA came through and our plan was firm. Ahhhhh.
Listing things like this makes me look like a total activity freak mom, but the thing is, I was this busy when I was her age (I took piano, ballet, figure skating, and English all through elementary school) and I actually loved it. Being productively busy and also socializing with her peers is a lot more fun than sitting around at home, especially for an only child.
Then here is something else that came with the schedule.
Both Suzuki School and her new Japanese school require that a parent take the class with the child. Suzuki has a 20 min private instruction followed by a 45 min group instruction once a week. You stay and take notes because you then become the tutor to help your kid practice. The Japanese school is one hour class once a week and this teacher's philosophy is also to have the parents play with the kid so that they can practice together. This seems like a pain. In fact, some parents won't do this methods because it's a drag. But it's quality time. You learn something with your kid and spend that time together as opposed to just dropping them off and trust that good things are happening and go on our separate ways. There is enough of that in our current set up. And both places strongly stress that the practice at home should feel like playing and fun as opposed to something that they feel forced to do. And they both give some tips on how best to create that environment, which is music (no pun intended--or intended) to my ears. I know that there is limited window in which Yuki would enjoy having one of us in a class with her so I decided to embrace it.
We ventured out to the Japanese class last Tuesday. Teruko Sensei teaches out of her cute little class room in her basement. As you enter the garage, there is a table full of used toys, books and clothes from other parents. You can bring something and/or take something. Then you go into a class and there are about 9 other kids and parents, some with siblings and Teruko Sensei runs a super joyful class with many home made material. It is evident this is her pride and joy and she puts a ton of her personal time into creating her curriculum. It's intuitive learning as opposed to academic. She tricks the kids into learning by making every lesson into a game. This woman's energy and approach reminded me of my late mother (she taught English for decades in our house to people of all ages) and I was instantly sold. Yuki had a great time and came home motivated to do the reading project that will result in a prize (what kid won't respond to that, I tell you). I don't mind the traffic and the commute if it's worth it.
Then we went to our first violin lesson on Wednesday. I have heard of this "note taking" situation for Suzuki so I purchased a shiny new note book for the occasion (our friend Heather who has a PHD in music told me of a story of her mom who got her into Suzuki but then was clueless as to what to write down in her note book so she made a grocery list. I manged to write things that pertained to the lesson). Ms. Linda, a long time veteran Suzuki instructor who speaks like a children's librarian gently invited Yuki to pick out her mock up violin and a bow and also gave her a carpet square to stand on.
.JPG)
She moved Yuki through basic body positions and training on how to hold the violin under the chin and the bow in her hand.
.JPG)
Then she taught her the famous "taka taka ti ti" rhythm to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (aka "Easter Bunny Hop Hop," "Charlie Brown and Snoopy," and "Mississippi Stop Stop.")
I am now officially a Suzuki mom. Ms. Linda kindly commented that Yuki was "a natural" and when I told her that she chose the instrument, she said, "sometimes, children just know." We shall see if she becomes the next Midori (although I kind of want her to be the next Stephan Grapelli). Time will tell. Yuki tells me that she intends to learn all of the instruments ending with Tuba (she is very specific about this). I told her she should then consider becoming a conductor to which she said, "Ooh!! They get to have a magic wand!"
So far, she has kept up with her practice everyday since (it has been almost a week for both classes) and seems to enjoy doing it so I feel I have to keep encouraging and make it fun. I hope that we can sustain this level of joy until at least June. But hopefully for longer.
More stuff to do, but also more time together. That is OK by me.
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