First Cubs graduation!

Well, today was the first time I graduated any kids to promote them. Now granted they were the preschoolers in my Cubs class, and they got their first promotion to a junior orange belt, but hey, it's a start!

Here they are, after getting their belt.


At least they are chambering their kicks before they did them. The quality of the photo isn't great as it was done with my camera phone. Oh well. The one on the left is Miss Carly, who between them is the better student. I see a lot of potential in her. She's got a great Black Belt attitude. Jacob, well, he's my problem kid. He just would not shut up today, even when I kindly but sternly asked him to stop, even getting literally nose to nose with him to be quiet. Jacob's problem, which has been acknowledged through multiple sources, is that neither of his parents discipline him or his older brothers at all, and so he's a problem for everyone, and pretty much bucks all authority. Sometimes he's not so bad, and sometimes he's impossible. I try to do the best I can without yelling as if it was my own kid, and use "Supernanny" tactics as often as I can, hopefully showing his dad how to do it while he's watching.

The kids had an obstacle course that I made up off the top of my head to go through whereby they had to show me the moves they learned, and do some running, jumping, and tumbling along the way too. They had fun, and they followed directions for the most part, so they graduated. They still have until this time next year to get their act together to promote into Tiny Tigers. I think Jacob will continue to be a discipline problem, but I'm hoping that me standing my ground in class that he'll finally get the hint that he's not the star of the show. Of course, with only 2 kids in the class, there's a possibility that SW might eliminate the class. To a certain degree, I don't mind. It's good practice, but it's a little bit of a hassle to only be teaching two kids. I don't get paid extra for teaching the class. I think I'm ready to start learning how to teach the Tiny Tigers and the Karate for Kids program kids. Or anybody for that matter. I mean, I've taken the Instructor class on how to teach people that are higher belts than you, so I'm sure I could manage if I just had a clue to the forms themselves. But, I think I can do a decent warm up or practice drills at this point. Well, time will tell.

Looks like SW might be doing a preschool class onsite for the Jewish Center preschool anyway, which Carly and Jacob attend. (Oh, Carly and Jacob are getting married, they told me. Yes, they are only 4.) Carly's mom and Jacob's dad were asking if I was teaching, and I responded that if I was, I didn't know about it yet. Ryan told me later that as far as he knew, SW was going to do it, which is fine too. Whatever! Makes no difference to me.

My graduation has been moved to Saturday with the Tiny Tigers (aka Drew's class) of White/Orange/Yellow since we are hoping to sign the contract for my house tomorrow night. SW totally understood and agreed that the contract was more of a priority, and she didn't care when I did my graduation. (She knows I'm good for it. Besides, it's not like I'm getting a belt this time, just a stripe on my belt which makes me go from recommended brown to decided brown. No big whoop.) Drew isn't really into it. He says he's getting bored, but I'm pretty sure it's the material. He's done it SO many times, I don't blame him. That's how I feel about my current form because it's so easy compared to what I've done already. He just has to hold out one more cycle, and then he can finally promote to camo recommended (aka half yellow, half camo) and then he can start doing the higher level stuff and get a new challenge instead of the same old stuff. He's ready, but if I take him out now, he'll still have one more cycle of white/orange/yellow material to cover, so better to get it over with now rather than stall. The sooner he gets through it, the sooner he can move on! Compared to some other kids who started after him but didn't take a break and went to class twice a week, they are ahead of him. Now, SW's philosophy is that it's not a race, and he should go at the pace that HE needs to, which is fine. But right now, I do need to push him, so that he can get to more challenging and new things for him, or else he'll surely lose interest. I know, from talking to him, he wants to be like the 3rd degree teenagers (especially the guys) at our school, but I remind him that they went to class and worked on it all the time, and didn't give up, so he just has to be patient, and he WILL get there with lots of hard work.

So, that's the latest. Lots going on at work, just getting ready for the holidays and graduation, and that's keeping me busy enough. The copier at work is getting bad and needs maintenance, bleeh. I finally learned how to fix the quickbooks problem I had from Saturday. Once I could see more clearly what SW was talking about (she went through it more slowly today over the phone), it was one of those, "OhhhhhhhhHHHHHHhhhh" things. I learn a little all the time, and fortunately less damage had been done than thought.

Now, with a cold coming on (bought the Zicam, hoping it will work!) and going to bed earlier, I'm hoping I can fight it off for class tomorrow and graduation!