Cameron played on an amazing baseball team this season, the Reds. Their coach, Adam Moser, was super into it and really explained the game to the kids. And it helped that even at the first practice you were like, Whoa, they've got some horses.
The Reds were blowing people out by 10 runs early in the season, then lost two games, then rallied to win the regular season.
Well, the first tournament game was Monday night, and I got there late. I could tell by the long faces it wasn't good. The Reds were down a run and promptly allowed three more in the Indians' last at-bat.
Cameron wound up being the last batter of the game. He hit a dribbler down the first base line that he tried hard to run out, but couldn't. He was bummed - a great season came to a sudden end and he made the last out. I explained to him, though, that the loss wasn't his fault and that he had actually played well in the outfield.
Oh well. Now, on to swimming! Kids take breast stroke lessons on Thursday afternoon.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Publishing party for Anne Houston
Spent the morning over at Joyner Elementary with Anne Houston's publishing party ... She had my mom, Caroline and our much-loved former sitter Amanda Jones there - quite a crew!
I stopped by afterward to talk to Mr. Whitehurst, the AG teacher there. Anne Houston is doing some AG work with him, although no one is officially tagged AG until the end of the third grade. Basically, she has to take the Cognitive Abilities Test and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in January. The CogAb has a verbal, quantitative, nonverbal and composite score. Those tests determine who gets into AG, which isn't decided until the end of third grade.
At Joyner, it sounds like you get pulled out once a week for about 45 minutes if you are AG, so it's actually not a lot extra work. It seems like the AG program doesn't start to accelerate until middle school.
I stopped by afterward to talk to Mr. Whitehurst, the AG teacher there. Anne Houston is doing some AG work with him, although no one is officially tagged AG until the end of the third grade. Basically, she has to take the Cognitive Abilities Test and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in January. The CogAb has a verbal, quantitative, nonverbal and composite score. Those tests determine who gets into AG, which isn't decided until the end of third grade.
At Joyner, it sounds like you get pulled out once a week for about 45 minutes if you are AG, so it's actually not a lot extra work. It seems like the AG program doesn't start to accelerate until middle school.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Making a splash on swim team
Swimming has a new meaning for our kids this summer - swim team.
The Huffmans avoided this in the past. Mom and Dad didn't want to get sucked into the vortex that is Tuesday nights, with meetings starting at 5 pm and lingering on past 9. You'd see all the cars and the weary look of parents as kids zoomed around the pool and you thought, Hah, not me.
Well this summer .. us.
And so far, it has been great. Anne Houston was easy to convince, and Cameron was, too. In fact, one of the moms practically hogtied me at the swim signups, since a 13-year-old boy is in such intense demand at swim meets.
When you're an 8-year-old kid, you're a dime a dozen in the swim meet world. But a 13-year-old boy who can swim? Whew, those are guaranteed points.
I thought Cameron would put up immense resistance, the kind of wall of indifference only middle schoolers can master. But instead, he shrugged and said, OK, and he has been great about practice so far. Basically, the team is thrilled to have him if he only shows up for meets, but he has been enthusiastic about practices. I have to say, I watched him swim tonight and he did really well. He's very graceful in the pool.
This definitely will help him get in shape.
So far, so good. The team practices every day, with AH's group at 5:45 and Cameron's at 630, but it actually works out well. They are making some new friends and doing their best.
And of course, Anne Houston is bound and determined to find a way to get a ribbon ...
The Huffmans avoided this in the past. Mom and Dad didn't want to get sucked into the vortex that is Tuesday nights, with meetings starting at 5 pm and lingering on past 9. You'd see all the cars and the weary look of parents as kids zoomed around the pool and you thought, Hah, not me.
Well this summer .. us.
And so far, it has been great. Anne Houston was easy to convince, and Cameron was, too. In fact, one of the moms practically hogtied me at the swim signups, since a 13-year-old boy is in such intense demand at swim meets.
When you're an 8-year-old kid, you're a dime a dozen in the swim meet world. But a 13-year-old boy who can swim? Whew, those are guaranteed points.
I thought Cameron would put up immense resistance, the kind of wall of indifference only middle schoolers can master. But instead, he shrugged and said, OK, and he has been great about practice so far. Basically, the team is thrilled to have him if he only shows up for meets, but he has been enthusiastic about practices. I have to say, I watched him swim tonight and he did really well. He's very graceful in the pool.
This definitely will help him get in shape.
So far, so good. The team practices every day, with AH's group at 5:45 and Cameron's at 630, but it actually works out well. They are making some new friends and doing their best.
And of course, Anne Houston is bound and determined to find a way to get a ribbon ...
Monday, May 10, 2010
Fresh test post from Dane Huffman
This is a test post from Dane Huffman to see if multiple people can post to the blog. This is a test from Dane Huffman.
Second test for Cameron
This is a second test for Cameron Huffman. We are checking to see if one person can post and then a second person can post after that and different people can comment on what they see.
First post from Cameron
This is the first post from Cameron and is a test. We are testing to see if several people can post onto the blog at the same time. So Cameron and Dane are now posting on the blog, and people can make comments after the post. This is a test for Dane and Cameron.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
