Ice Skating and other Lesson Stuff
Friday, March 5, 2010 by Amy
Riley had her first skating lesson at school last Tuesday. Oh man, she had a blast!! I didn't realize that it was going to be actual USFS lessons. I thought they'd be more informal. One of the women teaching it had a kid at Riley's school until last year. She just had a baby two weeks before the lessons. And she's picking up each kid in turn and spinning with them! What? Her baby is 4lb 3 oz at two weeks, which is probably like not birthing at all LOL. She said she was skating the day before he was born and was teaching again two days later. Craziness.
It's amazing how much a kid can learn in a lesson, with the entire rink to just them. I had taken Riley skating a couple days before for the first time since December and it was like starting over again. In the class, they first learned how to fall and how to get up. Apparently being afraid of falling makes you fall. So she wasn't afraid of falling anymore and was fine. Being the "pro" Riley tried to help Caoimhe too much, holding her hand and so forth and more often than not they both ended up in a pile on the ice.
Riley wants to continue skating lessons after these are over. But they're only like ten 30-minute lessons for $100. That seems crazy to me. There is another rink that is quite far for us that offers seven classes for $100 but they include six free public skating passes, which are probably worth about $40. But, the thing is, it's World Arena, the home of tons of skating champions (recently, Rachel Flatt). I hear it's really competitive at that rink, and I'm not all for that. At all. In fact, I think competition is stupid in all it's forms. Hmmmmmm.
They definitely need to take swimming lessons, seeing as how Portland is over 60% water, so we're going to do that (after I call the pool and make sure that Avery's class is taught by a girl teacher. Seriously.) There's something strange about taking swimming lessons in the winter, so we'll pick them up for the springs session. I wanted Riley to take rock climbing classes, but I have a beef with the climbing gym. They only offer the class for ages 6-7 at 11am on a weekday. What's up with that? Sure, there are a lot of homeschooled kids in the Springs, but the vast majority of K and 1st grade students aren't homeschooled. Plus, they already have a homeschool group there, so I don't get it at all.
I thought that Avery would enjoy ballet class, seeing how much she enjoys dancing, but she said that she is too shy around other children and doesn't want to take classes. I convinced her to observe a class before signing up, so I'll get on scheduling that. Someday. While I'm at it, I'll have Riley observe a capoeira class to see if she likes it. I don't think she can really comprehend what it is. I think she would be good at it and enjoy it, so I'll schedule that too. Someday. I just love the history of capoeira and how they incorporate music, language, dance, and martial arts. I think they offer family capoeira too, and I could use some exercise. Perhaps I'll look into that.
I surprise myself! I just called the dance place and arranged to go there tomorrow to pick up information and schedule an observation and/or a trial class. Go, me!
It's amazing how much a kid can learn in a lesson, with the entire rink to just them. I had taken Riley skating a couple days before for the first time since December and it was like starting over again. In the class, they first learned how to fall and how to get up. Apparently being afraid of falling makes you fall. So she wasn't afraid of falling anymore and was fine. Being the "pro" Riley tried to help Caoimhe too much, holding her hand and so forth and more often than not they both ended up in a pile on the ice.
Riley wants to continue skating lessons after these are over. But they're only like ten 30-minute lessons for $100. That seems crazy to me. There is another rink that is quite far for us that offers seven classes for $100 but they include six free public skating passes, which are probably worth about $40. But, the thing is, it's World Arena, the home of tons of skating champions (recently, Rachel Flatt). I hear it's really competitive at that rink, and I'm not all for that. At all. In fact, I think competition is stupid in all it's forms. Hmmmmmm.
They definitely need to take swimming lessons, seeing as how Portland is over 60% water, so we're going to do that (after I call the pool and make sure that Avery's class is taught by a girl teacher. Seriously.) There's something strange about taking swimming lessons in the winter, so we'll pick them up for the springs session. I wanted Riley to take rock climbing classes, but I have a beef with the climbing gym. They only offer the class for ages 6-7 at 11am on a weekday. What's up with that? Sure, there are a lot of homeschooled kids in the Springs, but the vast majority of K and 1st grade students aren't homeschooled. Plus, they already have a homeschool group there, so I don't get it at all.
I thought that Avery would enjoy ballet class, seeing how much she enjoys dancing, but she said that she is too shy around other children and doesn't want to take classes. I convinced her to observe a class before signing up, so I'll get on scheduling that. Someday. While I'm at it, I'll have Riley observe a capoeira class to see if she likes it. I don't think she can really comprehend what it is. I think she would be good at it and enjoy it, so I'll schedule that too. Someday. I just love the history of capoeira and how they incorporate music, language, dance, and martial arts. I think they offer family capoeira too, and I could use some exercise. Perhaps I'll look into that.
I surprise myself! I just called the dance place and arranged to go there tomorrow to pick up information and schedule an observation and/or a trial class. Go, me!
