Taekwondo Ammon

Ammon and Simeon started a Taekwondo class through the Iowa City Recreation program a month ago and they both LOVED it right away. Heck I loved it to. Master Smith talked about thanking parents, making thier beds, self control, all while teaching them taekwondo moves.
Ammon was so into the class that he wanted to continue to take them. He decided that he would rather do taekwondo then play baseball.
Last Saturday I got up the nerve to go into Master Choe's and find out about signing Ammon up. When we walked in Master Choe came right out and he was drawn to Ammon. He talked with us about his classes and let us watch a Black belt class for a little bit. He was very nice and really liked Ammon and wanted him to come back at noon for the children's class. We had plans for that day, so we came back today.
Ammon went into class, then Master Choe brought him out and got him a uniform. Ammon was over the moon excited to have a real Taekwondo uniform.

Well he loved the class and wanted to keep coming. So this week he took 4 classes at Master Choe's and finished his last class with Master Smith.

The nice thing about Master Choe's is that you can make the classes work into your schedule. We pay a set price each month and then Ammon can go to as many classes as he wants. He could go to 2 classes every day if he wants to. He needs to go to at least 24 classes in 12 weeks to promote.


The next promotion is on May 5th and he is hoping to have learned enough to get his yellow belt.

New routines

It's amazing how the beginning of the school year can be so busy! You'd think with 3 kids at school all day that there would be more time to blog, or play or do whatever I thought I'd be able to do with them gone during the day.
With the school year starting we needed to change some of our routines to make them work better. Now that school has been in for 3 weeks and sports going for that long too we are finally starting to somewhat settle into our new routines. Next week more activities start and life will get busier.
Since we are settling into our new routines I thought I'd be fun to write down what we do to keep our house going and the activities the kids are in right now.
In the mornings we try to get some things done so after school we have less to do. Each week the kids are in charge of the dishwasher (unloading and loading) 2 days a week. They also have 2 days of bathroom duty.
Laundry of course had to change since they were doing it all start to finish this summer. Now they have laundry baskets in their rooms that they put their clothes in daily. Monday night or Tuesday morning, they take their baskets downstairs and sort them into the 3-bin laundry sorter. I wash and lay the clothes out for them. I am strict and I DO NOT undo any clothes. They go in as they are, or they go back dirty. Period. I do more sorting and folding for Ammon since he's younger and Corrine right now I leave her hang up shirts laying out and fold the rest into piles so that she will see what is play vs school clothes.
Bathroom duty is also called the "5 minute bathroom". They pick anything up off the floor and either put it away or throw it away. Then they do the same to the counter. They use Clorox wipes to wipe down the counter, sink and toilet. They each get an "extra" (mirror, floor, and full toilet) in the bathroom each week. It's amazing how having the kids take 5 minutes or less on the bathroom every day has made their bathroom so nice to walk into.
If it's your dishwasher day then you take care of unloading before school and loading after dinner. The other 2 kids are in charge of the dinning room. One cleans the table and one cleans the floor.

Our Weekly schedule

Monday
Track club during lunch recess-Corrine
Simeon's library day
Corrine has Girls on the Run 3:15-4:30 at Lemme
Simeon has Lego Robotics 5:30-7:30 a parent goes with him at Lemme
Simeon has Band 3:30-4:30 at City High school (starting Oct 17th)

Tuesday
Ammon has baseball practice or game 6-7:15 City Park
Ammon has soccer practice 6-7 (he goes on baseball practice days) St Patricks field-on the completely other side of town from City Park!
Simeon has baseball practice or game 6-7:15 City Park

Wednesday
Track Club during lunch recess-Corrine
Corrine has Girls on the Run 3:15-4:30 Lemme
Corrine has soccer 5:30-6:30 (every other week) Lemme
Simeon has scouts, mom has Young Women, dad has Young men 7-8:30
Corrine comes for activity day girls 2 times a month

Thursday
Simeon has science club 7-8am Lemme
Corrine's library day
School gets out at 2:00 today
Ammon & Simeon have baseball practice or a game at City Park 6pm
Corrine has soccer practice every other week 5:30-6:30 Lemme

Friday
Johann has the day off!!!
Ammon's library day
Corrine has science club 3-4pm

Saturday
Corrine has a soccer game
Ammon has a soccer game -both are anywhere from 9am to 1pm

Sunday
Church from 9-noon
Then we rest from the week and gear up for the next.

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE my white boards and colored dry erase markers?? Oh they are heaven sent for an active family of 6! Yes I have 2 white boards. One is attached to the wall that we write our daily schedule, meals, chores and more on. The other I use for after school things to do. Then there is no nagging they just look at the board and see what they need to do. I even go so far as to write down times for everything in afternoon/evening if it's really busy.