WHATAREYOUDOING????!!!!!!

A local homeschool group gets together for group classes, organized by parents. One of the moms organized a jump rope class, led by a professional who coaches a performance and competition team.

I asked my homeschooler if she'd like to try the class. She said yes. I signed her up, paid the fee.

The first class was this week.

I was a bit nervous. My girl, notsomuch.

We pre-paid for a jump rope. When we arrived for the first class, each jumper was given a jump rope and each jump rope was cut to fit. Here's Little Bit trying her pre-customized rope:

The coach measured Little Bit with her rope in order to customize it for her. Little Bit needs more processing time and more specific instructions than some of the other kids, and the coach noticed immediately and made an adjustment right away by becoming more concrete and by showing Little Bit what to do. Really nice. I relaxed a little. (The coaching team knew that there would be a child with autism in the class; they reassured me weeks ago that they've included students with autism in a public school setting before.) I reminded the coach that this is the child with autism. She said, "No problem." She told me she works with high schoolers, includes students with disabilities like autism, and she said, confidently, "We get every one of them jumping."

An Important Discovery For Mom

Class began with some stretching and warm up, with some stretching while sitting on the pavement. (see pic below) The coach asked each child to tell his/her name, age, where he/she was from. I slipped in beside Little Bit to be there if she needed help. She looked at me like I was crazy, leaned toward me slightly, and whispered urgently (and loudly) through clenched teeth, "Whatareyoudoing??? You're supposed to be WATCHING!!!" So, I got my big butt off the pavement and went to stand with the parents. I could see her introduce herself but I could not hear what she said.

The class was a mix of jumping solo while turning your own rope combined with little exercises, activities, drills (not sure what to call them, exactly) without the rope. They jumped on their toes. They jumped back and forth over ropes that were flat on the ground. They did get to hold one end of a rope with coach on the other end and twirl the rope for a classmate. You should have seen my girl twirl! (Do you know how much coordinating, co-regulating, motor planning that takes?!)

As class ended, I saw what all the drills, activities, exercises led up to: Double Dutch. The coach and assistant twirled two ropes and each student jumped between the two ropes in motion. First, the coach had the child begin to jump on his/her toes. And then the coach and her assistant twirled the ropes around the child who was already in motion. And my kid was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's in the white long sleeved sweater, black pants, and the coaches in black outfits at each end of the ropes are twirling TWO ropes for her. AMAZING!