Aikido Kids

The last few years have been a struggle as we tried to find an outside activity that fit Josiah's personality and our family's schedule. I'm very strict about only doing one thing at a time with my kids. I hate running around. That is why I never really liked soccer, but I did it for two summers anyway, even though Josiah didn't seem to be a big fan of it either. He wanted to do football this year, but I told him he had to show us he could have a good attitude in soccer first, so we signed him up this year. 

Since we didn't have any other activities currently happening, I heard about Aikido (a Japanese martial art) at a MOPS meeting. What attracted me was this particular school does not focus on the fighting part, but more the defense part, awareness of your surroundings and how to deal with bullying and such. They teach self responsibility and how to identify and leave potentially dangerous situations BEFORE they get dangerous. There is a lot of agility and balance training. Best of all, they really focus on self-control in a non-competitive environment. It sounded like something my children could really use, so I decided to give it a try for a month. 

It is growing on Hailey, but for Josiah, I knew instantly it was a perfect fit for him. He was smiling from ear to ear the entire time! At the end of the first class, he said he no longer wanted to do soccer or football, just Aikido. I knew he meant it. So, we were able to get our money back from soccer which pretty much paid for their uniforms. Another plus, is that it is the least expensive activity I could find, in addition to the fact that it fits into our schedule perfectly. I'm even able to bring my laptop and do soil database work while watching the kids in their back to back classes. That really took some pressure off!

Hailey looks so cute in her uniform. Aikido has been good for teaching both kids even better listening skills. If they aren't listening, they lose their turn.

There is another little red-head in Hailey's class. They have to separate them a lot because they love to chat with each other. It really helped a lot for Hailey to have a friend in that class (Ren's mom and I are MOPS friends).

Hailey, learning to hop on one foot, a very long way. They do a lot of right/left brain coordination activities, too.

The batteries in my camera were going dead that day, so some of these pictures are a little blurry. I still wanted to post it so you could see JUST how much fun she having :)

Josiah, waiting his turn.

He is learning to sit still on the blue line and not talk. This is a huge accomplishment alone. He knew a couple of kids from Lego club and AWANAS, so he had some instant friends in his class.

Kids from the class above, often help out with lower classes. The kids can test to get different colored belts.

This is Josiah's favorite game called "Color Dodge" . The teacher calls out a color, and the people on the sides quickly toss that colored-ball at you. They can be throwing up to 3 balls at you at one time, so it really teaches you to be quick on your feet. 

So this reluctant soccer mom is thrilled to not be traveling all around our valley to games during dinner time. So glad we found something we can do year round that is affordable and is teaching them things I'm not able to in our homeschool. I just feel so blessed to have found this Aikido school when we did!

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. Don't forget to reflect and ponder on the sacrifices of all the soldiers who died in service of our country throughout the life of this great nation. 

God Bless,

Jackie