Home School Gym

Yesterday we had our very first day of home school gym. Marshall and Shaylen were so excited. They were hoping to be able to go right after breakfast. I think for the first time, they were disappointed that they had to do school! To top it all off, we've been having special meetings this week with Mike Manor. They got to bed a bit late on Sunday and again on Monday so they were dragging their feet a bit during their lessons. (I'll post more about Mike Manor in another post...probably Saturday.) School seemed like an eternity for them.

As soon as lunch was over, the kids threw on their shoes and we trekked over to the gym. It was a good sized group of home schoolers. I would guesstimate that there were probably 30 kids there. There were 4 year olds clear through 9th graders! Fortunately, they didn't play together the whole time. I think that would be intimidating to the younger & much smaller ones and boring for those more coordinated and competitive.

Marshall and Shaylen were a bit overwhelmed when they first walked in and didn't seem too eager to go and bounce the balls or play with the hula hoops. Thankfully we have some very sweet kids from our church who took them under their wing and encouraged them to go play. After a bit of free time, the instructors had them run two laps, do arm circles, push ups & sit ups, touch their toes, and balance on one leg.

The instructors separated the kids into "teams" (Hmmm, conveniently categorized by age. Nice!) and then they did some games. Marshall and Shaylen loved hopping in the hula hoops. It was fun to see how coordinated, or not so coordinated they were.

I'd love to say that the entire experience was perfect, but unfortunately, Marshall started to cry for some reason during the second game, ran to me and even after much prodding, didn't participate for the rest of the time. We dealt with that later at home and I think he's ready to go back tomorrow and have fun. (We'll see tomorrow!)

Shaylen on the other hand was a trooper! She played really well in a game of soccer and stayed right in the thick of things. She kicked the ball several times and even had a good attitude when the ball was kicked right in her face. She did cry and I comforted her, but after a drink and a hug ran right back in. Her teacher gave her a high five for being a trooper.

I couldn't tell who had more fun, the kids or the teachers. Regardless, it is a terrific program and the kids will benefit from it greatly.