Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

So… I’ve enrolled Little Yum-Yum into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes. The main reason is because he was being bullied at school. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying he should just go and start random fights. I just want him to know how to defend himself. He was in a really dark place at one point, not wanting to go to school, crying, clinging on to me, crying out in his sleep, plus more (which I will not go into) whilst the teachers denied what was happening.

I never backed down, and met with the headteacher after sending the school a couple of emails. The bullying was finally acknowledged, and has now (hopefully) been dealt with once and for all. I will not sit by idly, and not say a word just to please others. My son comes first.

I chose this particular type of training, as it teaches discipline, wellness, confidence (not that he’s not confident already!) and self-defence. On top of this, it’s fun! He attends three times a week, so during the summer break (which is seven weeks this year), he will still be able to interact with children his age and make some new friends.

So far, he’s really enjoying it and keeps asking if he can go every day.

Kids Classes

Enhance self-defence
Get fit, strong and flexible having fun
Learn the GB (Gracie Barra) Self-Defence and Anti-Bullying System
Increase focus, energy and concentration
Improve social skills and make new friends
Get a better understanding of goal-setting and working towards them
Become a champion of small, medium and major tournaments
Attend competition training

Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy

End of Academic Year Report 2017-18

How time flies. The Academic Year is almost over, and the reports are in.

I am pleased to say Little Yum-Yum has done well in school. He is right where he should be for his age – even exceeding in a couple of areas; Technology and Exploring and Using Media and Materials. The use of his InnoTab Max and receiving Toucan Boxes has definitely paid off.

On another note, four weeks after starting maths and English with Kumon, Master Maximus has gone up a level in both subjects. He can also identify numbers 1 – 50 which are randomly placed in front of him (in other words, not in numerical order). I’m so proud of him.

Well done, Maximus!

Tell the Time

Another game we have started playing together is that of telling the time. The same concept as the game Shopping List, it’s great for encouraging memory and observation skills. After picking a board, Maximus must pick a faced down card. If the time and activity on the card does not match one on his board, he must put the card back on the table faced down again. He must try to remember not to pick that particular card. The game is over once he completes his chosen board.

One the box, it has the following educational guide:

• Reinforce time telling skills
• Encourage observation
• Develop personal & social skills

Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take a photo of his facial expressions, but believe me, they are quite funny!

Kumon

Recently, I signed Little Yum-Yum up to Kumon for extra maths and English lessons.

Don’t get me wrong; he’s not behind for his age, but I did this because I don’t like the teachings in mainstream schools. I guess where I perhaps went wrong was enrolling Max into a private preschool. There, he excelled and I was extremely happy with his developments. However, private school fees are so much higher than that of preschool, so it is unfortunate that my budget could not cover such an expense.

Since starting mainstream school in September last year, I feel his full potential is not being acknowledged.  I feel he is somewhat being kept back. For example, he knew how to spell a number of words by the time he left preschool. His teachers and myself worked hard with him to ensure this was the case. The word ‘this’ was spelt as normal. Yet, a few months ago, when I randomly asked him to spell it, he sounded it instead “ter-hur-ie-sss”. I thought “What in the world is this?!”. Anyway, I asked him again, and he did the same thing. When I asked him to say the letters, he couldn’t remember what they were. This is because the children are being taught how to read and spell using phonics. In my opinion, it is a dumb decision, and I think parents should be able to choose how their children are taught, because I had to re-teach him all over again.

When I brought up this issue at Parents Evening, I was was brushed off. Being me, I continued with what I had to say, and the teacher finally caved in telling me that Maximus “can cope with both, so it’s OK to learn phonics as well as the old fashioned way”. When did it get to the point a complete stranger could and can tell you how to raise your child and what to say to you child? What is this phonics nonsense?

So this, as well as other reasons are why I enrolled Max onto Kumon. He is not allowed to use phonics, a calculator, or Google (lol). He must work everything out using just one powerful tool; his brain.

I’m open for discussions on this. Please, let me know your thoughts.

Land of the Dinosaurs

Well, not quite, thankfully! Little Yum-Yum has a collection of dinosaurs which were purchased when we visited The Natural History Museum.

The Dinosaur Adventure Set came with 23 miniature dinosaurs and a map. However, this was not enough for Master Maximus, so he also got the big versions of

a triceratops and

a Tyrannosaurus Rex, his favourite.

Could you imagine these creatures still roaming the Earth?