Over and Over Again

Question: Have you ever had to practice doing something over and over again?

I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, for everyone.  Personally, I've practiced all sorts of things in my lifetime.  Walking, talking (still working on this one), gymnastics, playing piano, spelling, playing the flute, dancing.  Even now I find that I practice things quite often.

Question: Do you remember what it was like to have to practice things when you were younger?

I had a love/hate relationship with practicing things in the past.  Take the piano.  I love playing the piano.  But when I was younger, I sometimes hated having to practice.  Okay, maybe hated is too strong a word.  Seriously disliked.  That's better.  I don't know exactly why I would moan and groan about it.  Possibly because I'm a complainer.  Possibly because all I really wanted to do was listen to my New Kids on the Block cassette tapes over and over again...

Question: Is it time that I started getting my kids involved in things that take diligent practice to do?

The answer is yes.  Yes, it is.

About 6 weeks ago we signed the boys up for choir practice.  They are both in the Cherub's choir.  We don't stick around to see what songs they sing because we adults have our own class to attend while the little ones sing.  We've seen a little bit of what goes on.  There's guitar playing and dancing, both fun things that make kids really love going to choir practice.  It turns out that they were working on How Great Thou Art.  A great song, if you ask me.  They performed it this past Sunday.  Here's a clip.  Orry is top row, middle.  Isaac is standing right below him.  They are a little hard to spot.  Turns out the usual spot we sit in is not so good for viewing them singing.

The kids really like going to choir practice.  They haven't complained about going one single time!  Of course, their friends are there, there is guitar and dancing, they get to play in the nursery when it's done, and they get to climb trees when we leave.  

Orry has been practicing some math lately.  He's been working on addition and multiplication tables.  He's been having a fun time filling in the boxes and finding the patterns.  Turns out that we have a set of multiplication flash cards.  Good ole' multiplication flash cards.  I remember those fondly.  My own mother would quiz me and even pay me a penny for the ones I got right.  I remember feeling really proud of myself for memorizing so many and for being able to answer so quickly.  Orry is no different.  He really beams when he gets them right.  We're not dishing out pennies yet, though.  It's funny how much practice we need to learn or memorize these things.  I don't multiply numbers in my day to day life.  When Orry quizzed me with the flash cards I was surprised at how rusty I was with some of them.  Mainly the upper 9's.  9 x 6.  9 x 7.  9 x 8.  I'm happy to say that I got them right, but it took me a while to get the answer out.  A couple of times Orry gave me the buzzer sound suggesting that I was out of time and therefore wrong.  I guess I should start practicing those again...

Today Isaac has show and tell in his class.  They were supposed to bring in a picture of their pet.  If they don't have a pet, they could bring in a stuffed animal to talk about.  The idea is they need to practice talking in front of their peers.  I agree.  I hadn't thought about it until last night, but I don't really know what Isaac's level of socialization is with kids his own age.  I drop him off at school, but I don't see the actual interactions take place.  I know he plays with other kids.  I hear about all that when he gets home.  But does he talk to them?  So today he took his stuffed T. Rex with him.  I'm not really sure what he is going to say about it.  I tried to coach him last night, but all he would say was Tyrannosaurus Rex.  I was feeding him sentence after sentence, encouraging him to repeat after me.  And all I got was Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Looks like we'll be practicing this new skill from here on out.  

So what are your kids practicing these days?  And how is it going?  Are they having a good time?  Are they feeling a good sense of accomplishment?