From the Mind of MandoRon

Since he was very small, Jett has shown some natural rhythm and is constantly building drum kits out of pots and pans.  He even makes his own kick drums by using a book and a plastic lego tub laying on it’s side.  When he steps on the book, it hits the plastic tub with a thump.  What has really impressed me, though, is the complex, syncopated rhythms that he comes up with.

We finally broken down and bought a junior-sized drum kit for his 6th birthday last month.  It’s got a snare, kick, 2 toms, hi-hat, and a crash/ride cymbal.  He’s been banging around on the kit trying different rhythms on different combinations of drums/cymbals.

The last few days, he’s been trying to incorporate 3 or 4 or more drums/cymbals into his rhythyms.

He’s very shy about it and stops playing when you walk in the room.  I covertly took this video last night.  You’ll notice that about 20 seconds in, he notices my phone and hides.

He starts lessons next week, and I keep reminding him that he will have to play in front of the teacher.

Like most young boys, my six-year old has developed a fascination with guns.  It occurred to me that it might be best if he understood how to safely handle a gun rather than guns being a complete mystery to him.  A while back, I told him that I would bring my .22 rifle when we went to my in-law’s farm at Christmas. 

I showed it to him for the first time a few days ago, and all he has talked about since then is guns.  He has told everyone he’s seen that he was going to shoot daddy’s gun at the farm.  It’s been pretty comical actually…  He’s been asking all kinds of questions about rifles, handguns, machine guns - even cannons!

So today we went out to the farm and shot up some cans and water bottles.  We went through about 25o rounds between my .22 semi-auto rifle, my brother-in-law’s .22 semi-auto pistol that he loaned me, my father-in-law’s .22 revolver, and his  .357 revolver.

I taught Jett to shoot the .22  rifle and pistol.  He had a blast and we had a great time bonding.  (I had fun too…)  At the end, he actually hit  some cans at about 40~50 feet!

Interestingly, I think Jett is the fifth-generation to shoot the .22 rifle.  My grandfather originally bought it for my  great-grandmother so she could shoot squirrels from her porch.  Apparently, she like to eat squirrel…  Now I’m not actually certain the my dad has shot it but I’m pretty sure that he had the opportunity when I was a kid.

I offered to teach Jada too, but she didn’t  want anything to do with the guns.  Maybe another day…

… a God of mercy, grace, and love.

… a beautiful, loving wife.

… two spunky kids.

… a loving family.

… my job.

… music.

… a new car with a working rear defroster.

… good friends.

… this Internet thingy…

Happy Thanksgiving all!

I thought I would share this afternoon’s handywork…

The cat was designed by Jada.  She even drew the outline on the pumpkin herself.

Yesterday was Parent-Teacher Conference day.  I don’t know why, but I always feel compelled to go buy an anti-school t-shirt to wear.  Like a Pink Floyd shirt that says “We Don’t Need No Education!” or “Hey! Teacher! Leave Those Kids Alone!”  Or maybe something like “My Kid Can Beat Up Your Honors Student”.  Next time, I think I’ll stand out front of the school and sell shirts that read “Give Your Kids a Real Education… Homeschool”.  Andrea thought it would be cool to show off lots of tattoos.  Unfortunately, we only have one between both of us…

And I never know how to react either.  The teacher usually says something like, ”Your child is the most brilliant, most well-behaved student that I’ve ever had the pleasure to instruct.”  How am I supposed to respond?  Smile, and nod?  “Surely, you must have my child confused with someone else… you do realize we’re talking about Jett”?  “I know, she gets it all from me?”  Feign embarassment?  I just don’t know!

Seriously though, we were looking forward to the conferences for two reasons: one, Jett is in kindergarten and we were curious what his teacher would have to say; and two, Jada skipped second grade so we wanted to know how she was acclimating to the challenge of third grade.

Jett is doing very well in kindergarten, as we thought he would.  He’s even starting to read a little.  His teacher had nothing but wonderful things to say about him.

Jada is also doing very well.  Apparently she is having no trouble with skipping a grade, although it’s taking a while to adjust to being challenged.  She’s never really been challenged before.  But Jada is stepping up to the plate, and knocking the ball out of the park.  She’s been making 100’s on most of her work, including their first unit test in math.  And she received mostly 4’s on her report card, except for 3’s in writing and PE.  (Scale of 1 to 4… no letter grades for some reason…)  We figured she might struggle for a few months, but would catch up with everone else by the end of the year.  Apparently, it didn’t take long at all.