Acquara Independent School

Didn’t do much school today besides Naim going to NWCT for his class. Aaron and I came back early and watched a bit by the doorway while they rehearsed their play. Then we got kicked out and the door was shut because we were distracting Naim and some of the other kids (we weren’t doing anything, it was just the fact that they had an audience.) Se we went down the hall to wait.

When I went to pick him up, the assistant teacher Erin came to talk to me and I struggled my way through that entire conversation–hearing wise–so I only got the gist and still a bit confused. Apparently, (according to Naim) they practiced the play 8 times and he only got to practice 2.) Now what I got from her is that he sat out a lot. I’m still unsure if they pulled him out or if he sat himself out. But there was some issue with concentration. So they decided next week that when he came in, he would dump his stuff and then Erin and he would run around the building. Then, he would come back and have to concentrate.

I know he doesn’t like the play too much and he wanted to be the mermaid, not the cat, and other such complaints. At about two or three weeks in, I asked him if he wanted to quit. Saying that he could quit then and it would be no problem, but if he stayed, then he was committing because then they would be left stranded without a cat for the play. I’m sticking by this. I do not care if he does drama or goes there or not. But he asked to go, I gave him an out long ago that he didn’t take, and now he has to see it through. I do need to help him with his lines more than I do, so we have two weeks left and I need to make sure he goes over them at least once a day. But he used to bring them to me, and now I have to nag. (Or I forget, too). So we will definitely be taking a break from NWCT for the winter term at the very least.

He told Erin and I that the problem was that even though he is six, he is really 8 or 9. I think that in some ways he is quite young, he is one of the younger kids and is one of the few who can’t read their own script. But on the other hand, I think he is saying that he has been a bear, a penguin, a pig and a cat. He kind of wants to move on to more real “acting”. Rochelle at VH had him as a Prince, a Farmer and a “Grumpy Old Man” with a lot more extemporaneous lines and characterization. He ripped those parts up so much that I still have people at VH coming up to me to compliment him on his acting and those were last year.

I have a whole ‘nother post to write about Naim and some of the things he says and where he needs to be and how I feel about him after reading “The Last Child in the Woods” which I am almost finished with, but I will save that for another time.

But he still has to commit to the next two weeks and do what the director (teacher) wants him to. If I’m going to let him out of Chinese, (mostly because I can’t help him) I am not going to let him out of this. He hasn’t asked to be let out, but it is more that he is going to have to pull it together and focus on what he committed to rather than blow it off.

Didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon. I did office work and the kids watched TV. Since my dad came and set up the TV antenna for them, there has been a lot of TV around here lately and a lot of nagging about commercials (I don’t know how other families stand it. We have extremely little nagging when they don’t watch commercial TV, but when they do, it increases dramatically and they don’t shut up.) I don’t mind a bit of TV when people need to chill out or when someone is sick or every once in a while, but when they have constant access to TV like they do now, they don’t play as much, go outside as much, read books as much, eat as much, help around the house as much, etc. When we don’t have it, they NEVER, EVER ask for it. It just gets forgotten in 24 hours or so, and everything is a lot livelier and more fun around here.

I think the antennae is going to have to accidentally get knocked out of position.

Filed under: Drama, Social Skills | Tagged: Grampa Fred, NWCT, Television |