Gymnastics and Geekiness

I have hit the pinnacle of my geekdom! I am sitting in a coffee shop downloading something on my girls’ gymnastics coach’s computer and posting on my blog from my blackberry. I have to admit. I love being a geek. My wife even got into the act by homeschooling our son during breaks in the meet
Enough about me, my girls had a meet today in Millersville, MD. It was a smaller meet and the girls compete at next year’s level. Mine are staying level 4. Although the scores were not as high as states, they both collected more hardware than in any other meet this season! I think the judges kept the scores lower to allow the girls room for improvement. I could be totally wrong as it is nearly impossible for me to tell the difference between good and great in this sport. Bad is detectable in any sport.
Back to my girls, My youngest daughter scored a first, third, fourth, and third all around. My oldest scored a second, third, fourth and third all around. The big victory is that my oldest made the podium more today than any other meet, possibly more than she did all season. she couldn’t stop smiling! There are so many things I love about this sport but one of the biggest is that everyone gets their playing time. No matter if your are pulling 9.9s or 5.0s, you get the same amount of time. Don’t get me wrong, you have to have skills to even make it to the team, but once you’re there, you don’t have to ride the bench. All season, my girls have been in the middle or back of the pack and have progressed nicely as the year moved along. This have them a taste of what they might experience next year. They are building crazy strength, strong charictar, and good work habits. It’s nice to collect some hardware every once in a while, too.

Homeschooling Is Hard

Today I homeschooled the kids

We homeschool our children.  When I say “we” I mean my wife.  She needed a day to take care of some things and a little mental sanity so I took a day of vacation to be with the kids while she got things done. 

I can deal with playing with the kids.  That is easy for almost any dad to do.  We play very well.  Just look in any dad’s garage and you will find evidence of our ability to play.  Teaching is another story.  I am not a patient person.  Homeschooling takes patience.  My wife has patience and understanding and kindness.  Dads are good at playing.  I have taken the homeschool reins before and failed horribly.  Today went pretty well.  We almost started before I made the first one cry.  Things did settle down after that and it actually went pretty smooth.  I made progress. 

I have the intelligence needed to teach but not the patience or the understanding or the kindness (and by the way, my third grader has the intelligence to teach my first grader).  These other things don’t come easy to me but I keep trying.  My next goal is to make it into the homeschool lessons before the crying starts. 

I appreciate my wife and all that she does.  I also appreciate it more after doing a part of her job for a day.  I would need at least two days to get done what she does in one.