Honeyville Class

I spent Saturday with the Honeyville class. It's always fun to do that. They really are fun to watch. We spent the morning working on empty hand techniques for the first three belts and the first three black belts. I am going to return the first part of January for the next three belts. That will give them 3 or 4 weeks to prepare for the test.

First After School Class

It went well. There were only five students instead of ten but I think that's to be expected. People *say* they will do things but that's not the same thing as doing them.

I have talked to hundreds of people over the years that would *like* to take martial arts and who promise to show up but never do make it to class. It is so common that when people tell me that they will be there, I don't even blink when they don't show up. I don't even think about it. Who ever shows up, shows up.

I don't teach the class next week because they have some other activity going on at the school. I go back in two weeks. I will probably be going over the same things as I did yesterday because after two weeks, the kids probably won't remember much of what I taught. That's okay. As long as they have fun, it will be a success.

After School Program

Today I start teaching martial arts in an after school program at the elementary school on this side of the state line. I will be teaching there about once a week for the rest of the year.

The school started up programs for children after school and has had very little participation from instructors so there isn't much to offer for the children.

I'm not sure what interest there will be for martial arts but it's worth a try. If it doesn't work out, I'm not out much. I'm taking my white belt curriculum as the course of study so it's just a matter of my time.

It's good to see them add a physical skill for kids. No matter how many times I see it, I still find it shocking to see how many obese kids there are. When I was a kid, we didn't need an after school program to encourage us to move. We never stopped moving. We had to be called in for dinner. Now parents have to turn off the video game to get kids to dinner or rather, to get them to eat while sitting in front of the TV.

I better stop not before I really get going. =)