Watching the two girls over the past week made me think a lot about parenting. Not that I ever really thought parenting to be an easy task, but wow—I was exhausted yesterday after giving all of my energies to entertaining a 5th and 7th grader for an entire week! I think the girls started the week a little more hesitant of Ellen: she’s usually stricter with her rules. About half way through the week, though, the girls realized that they weren’t going to get away with much from me either. At one point, the girls admitted they were no longer afraid of Aunt Ellen. Then the youngest piped up and said, “But Miss Rachelle is scary now.” (This was said while I was telling her to finish all of her dinner, saying if she didn’t, then she would eat it for breakfast cold.) I told her simply that she was experiencing me in a different setting from school. I don’t actually interact with the youngest at school. Her mom teaches her and takes care of her lesson plans, so she hasn’t experienced me much as an authority.
This week, I started giving Emily piano lessons. She’s gifted in music, but she hasn’t been pushed in piano lately like she should be. So, Rachel asked me if I could start teaching Emily, mainly to keep her accountable. Africa is bringing me all kinds of “firsts.” Teaching piano is another one of those firsts. I assigned Emily about 5 pieces (including scales) to practice over the week, but I’m fairly certain she’ll be bored after just a day or two of practicing. She sight read several songs nearly perfectly. But, I figured I’ll give her a break since this is just her first week of lessons. J
I’m also moving forward with Kelsey’s violin lessons. We finally have a violin her size!! She’s having a very hard time holding her bow, so I’m not being too picky about her hold. After all, she is only 4. I’m also having trouble knowing how to teach her note values. She can do various rhythms fine (like “Mississippi Hotdog”); I just don’t know how to get her to understand the difference between half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes. Any thoughts or suggestions on that? I also need to build her a contraption to put on her violin to help guide her bow. She’s going all over the place with her bow. But I think I saw some pipe cleaners the other day here at home that I’ll use to make something.
It’s 8:30 Saturday morning. I think I’ve procrastinated enough getting out of bed. It’s time to face another busy day!
