This Is How We Roll

During this time of social distancing, I'm trying to make sure the kids don't lose any ground in their jiu-jitsu class.  Not to mention, I want their skills sharp, because these are uncertain times.  Thankfully they can still roll, which means using their skills in a competitive way and working on their form and technique.  To the untrained eye, it appears to be an all out brawl, but that's not the case.    I thought I'd show you a little of their training session from this week.

Please disregard the clutter in the background of these photos.  This is our basement and is in a constant state of disarray, especially since Lindsey uses that area as her child care headquarters.   Several of her regular kids set up their own "houses" and "offices" and she leaves it for them for their next visit.

The girls do have fun, as you can tell by the smiles.  However, a disclaimer that due to the fact they are on a concrete floor with only yoga mats under them, they were not allowed to fully execute any throws.  They were also cautioned to not be too aggressive (ok, ONE in specific) as we're not in a position to seek medical care for a careless injury during the current pandemic.

In the photo below, Lindsey is in the process of executing a triangle choke on her sister.  This is a submission/choke hold and when executed quickly and correctly you can render your opponent unconscious within seconds.

In the photo below, Olivia has locked in a rear naked choke and Lindsey has seconds to escape or tap before losing consciousness.

One of the most fun things to do is a hip toss, unless you're the one being tossed.  Olivia has incredible upper body strength, and is quite good at driving the opponent through the ground, so again I had to reiterate "DON'T BREAK YOUR SISTER!"

Lindsey is also good at hip tosses, and can confidently handle grown men who weigh between 225-250 pounds.  Not bad for young lady of 110 pounds.  She doesn't have the force and power of her sister, but the average man would not expect her to be able to manhandle them.

One thing that serves Olivia well is her flexibility.  She's often able to withstand and escape submission holds simply because her body can contort and her joints are so limber.

 So, there's just a little peek into some of the ways we've been passing our time.

Extra Curricular Activities 2018-2019

For those of you who still worry about socialization, this post will show that it's not really a problem in our family.   In actuality, one of our biggest issues is having too many opportunities!

Sports: 
Olivia will be playing varsity volleyball and varsity basketball at a different private school this year.   The coaching staff is paid, and trained and there are no family ties between players and coaches.   This should be a refreshing change from what we've experienced in the past.  Practices and games are a 5 day a week commitment.

Lindsey will be playing recreation league volleyball in fall and spring.   This will be her last year in this program (she's aging out), so we'll have to decide if she's moving to a private school program next year.   This is a 3 day a week commitment.

Both girls will be participating in archery again in the winter months.   Hopefully there will be no broken bones to hamper us like last year.    This is a one day a week commitment in the evenings.

4-H
Lindsey did sewing through 4-H last year, we're still not 100% sure if they are offering this again for the fall.   However, we've been asked to help start and run a community club in our area.   Lindsey will continue to work through the 4-H sewing curriculum and/or the cooking project books.    Olivia will be working through some of the 4-H animal science books, specifically she'll be working on their equine program.

Church:
Olivia is a youth intern.   This means she is a leader in the youth group with weekly responsibilities as well as helping to plan and facilitate events for the group.    She also works in our church nursery once a month.

Lindsey runs the soundboard for our early service three Sundays out of the month.  She's also on call to help with special events and classes that need the equipment to be operated.   She serves once a month as a teacher in the 2-4 year old children's church class, and fills in as needed throughout the children's department.  She participates in the youth group, but is not an intern.

Museum Work
Lindsey will continue to work with the John Lewis Society one full day during the week at the museum through December.   She'll also be helping with special events like homeschool day, Oktoberfest and the lantern tours.   JLS takes a break from December - March, then she'll be back at it again starting in April.

Olivia will be applying for a Student Leadership Program at another museum in our area in September.   She's had her eye on this for a quite a while and very excited about the possibilities it offers.

Extra Curricular Activities 2017-2018

The girls' interests have changed drastically over the last two years.   Truthfully, it's not necessarily that the interest has changed, but giving up the all consuming dance schedule has opened both girls up to more opportunities.   Here's what it looks like we'll be doing this coming academic year.

Olivia, while still being homeschooled full time, will be playing high school sports with a local private school.   She will spend the summer getting acclimated with both the volleyball and basketball teams, including at least one trip to Liberty University for a volleyball clinic.

Lindsey will continue to play both volleyball and basketball in the recreational league we were in this past year.   I gave her the option to move over to the private school to play on their middle school teams, but she opted to stay put for now.

Lindsey will also be participating in a new 4-H sewing club twice a month.  This will run August - January (I believe) and should give her a nice understanding of how to use her machine, and basic sewing.   She's very excited about this!

Also, at the end of the year, Lindsey will be applying to the John Lewis Society in hopes of following in her sisters footsteps.   If accepted, this will be a two year commitment for her.

Both girls will be participating in archery again in the latter part of the school year.   Truthfully, I'm hoping to be able to get a bow for them so we can join the local archery club, but other things are more pressing as far as finances, so the bow has to take a back seat for now.

That's all that I'm aware of.  Olivia will have a much more challenging academic year this year, so she's going a little lighter on the extras, and too we're not sure what the team practice schedules will look like once the volleyball and basketball seasons start.

What extra curricular activities will you kids be involved in during the upcoming academic year?

2016-2017 Extra Curricular Activities

This is one of the BIGGEST changes for us.   For the last eight years, ballet has been our steady extra-curricular activity.   I never imagined that Olivia would say she wanted to quit dancing.   Truthfully, I don't think she wants to quit dancing, but she doesn't want to be there every single day.  This past year she danced four days a week.  This year, the schedule is still 4 days, with three of those days being 90 minutes, but the Saturday class is THREE HOURS LONG.   Committing to a three hour Saturday would knock her out of so many other opportunities, so she just had to say "I'm done."

The studio did offer a new, 45 minute, contemporary class this year that meets one day per week.   This class will focus on modern, jazz, hip-hop and Broadway styles of dance.   Both girls will be giving this class a whirl as they are very interested in different forms of dance.

So, where does that leave us?  Apparently, it leaves us with basketball and volleyball.  Lindsey has loved and played basketball for years, and after filling in for scrimmages at this year's basketball practices, Olivia has realized that she actually likes basketball too, so she's giving that a try as well.   Lindsey will also be trying out for a girls travel ball team.

Olivia has been involved in some volleyball clinics this year, and has decided she wants to focus her energy predominantly in that arena.,   We've already had a local private school approach us about having Olivia playing for them in the fall, but we've decided to have her play a year in an instructional league before going into a school team environment.

Lindsey will continue her piano lessons and hopefully Olivia will get motivated and finish up her 2 year curriculum that is now in year 3 or maybe even 4.   Both girls will continue to work on guitar as well.

Olivia will complete her second year in the John Lewis Society and work at the museum two days a week over the summer, and then at least two days a month from August through December.   I'll add the two years worth of work together to give her a history credit.

They will also be attending an IEW class one day a week and we will do a monthly enrichment class at our church (still in the planning stages).   We will also still be part of our local homeschool support group, however I won't be on the Board this year.  I decided three years was a good term as president and I was ready to hand the reins over to someone else this year.

How is your extra-curricular list lining up?