The Hobbit and Karate

Since The Hobbit movie is coming out later this year we decided to try and read it with Keegan.  Of course lots of questions came to mind: Will he enjoy it?  Will he sit still for longer than 5 minutes?  Will he understand it?  Will he love it as much as I did when my dad read it to me?

Well guess what...he loves it.  He loves it to the point that we can actually get him to behave by threatening not to read it if he doesn't shape up :-)  We've been reading it for over a month now.  I have a very nice illustrated version and although there aren't illustrations on every page, there are enough to keep Keegan interested.

Every time we sit down to read I start to recap where we left off.  Then Kee will interrupt and start telling me exactly what happened and what he is hoping will happen next.  So he understands what is going on and he enjoys it.

Given that the language is a bit outdated and some parts of the story move kind of slow, I am surprised that he is so interested.  But it is the suspense that gets him.  He can absolutely not wait to get to the part where the dwarfs and Bilbo face off against the dragon.

It is so much fun to watch him enjoy this so much.  When the dwarfs enter Mirkwood he grabbed my arm in terror.  When the spiders attacked he was horrified.  When the dwarfs trickled in slowly to meet Beorn he laughed at Gandalf's sense of humor.  And when the dwarfs were stuffed in barrels to escape the Wood elves it was hilarious.

Not sure that he is ready to start the Lord of the Rings, but the fact that he enjoys the Hobbit opens up possibilities for so many other chapter books that I hold dear.  Just think we can start The Spiderwick Chronicles, we can start the Oz books, we can read Gaiman's Odd and the Frost Giants.  There are just so many possibilities.

I have to keep in mind we need to balance the chapter books with picture books as well.  Picture books are very important too, and this kid of ours still needs to learn to read.  Although he already has a lot of addition and subtraction down pretty well, he's been a bit resistant to learning to read.  This always surprises me given how much he loves us to read him books.

Anyway, the other thing we've been doing the last few weeks is Karate.  Not community Karate class but actual Karate school Karate.   Keegan had been begging for over a year to start Karate. We finally enrolled him at Professional Karate Studios (PKS); the same school that I went to for a number of years.

They have a special Little Dragons program there now, the kids get more in between belt colors and tape on their belts when they've mastered small skills.   It gives them a lot to look forward to and lets them have a little of little achievements to celebrate.

Keegan is absolutely enamored with it.  He wants to go four times a week and just seems to love it.  Kind of ironic considering for most of the class him and his fellow white belts get yelled at to focus, constantly yelled at to say "Yes Sir!" and are forced to do more sit-ups, leg-lifts, and push-ups then Keegan has done in his entire life up to this point.

I have always liked that PKS not only teaches Karate but teaches respect...for the teachers, for each other, and for your country.  These teachers don't let the kids slack and they don't let the kids get away with doing things wrong. It the white belts start to get too wiggly (as 5 year old kids often do) the kicks and punches stop and they spend some time talking about how to focus your mind, your body, your eyes.  The fun doesn't start again until all the kids are still with their eyes focused on the teacher.

Is this too harsh for five year olds?  Nah, apparently Keegan (and his classmates) love it. Keegan has a new best friend who is also a white belt and seems excited to be part of something so cool.  He is getting better at focusing...and it has the added bonus of being useful at home.  When he starts to loose focus getting ready for bed we can stop and say "Keegan focus your mind...what are you trying to do?  Focus your body."  He usually stops and thinks for a second and then is a bit less scattered.  I figure that is a skill he will probably find useful in the future.

Watching these kids do this is a bit hilarious though.  Half of them don't know how to do jumping jacks or push-ups when they start.  Also the "Yes Sir!" can get a bit drilled into their heads.  Yesterday Lyle asked Keegan to get into the car and he said "Yes Sir!" and then started crumbling about how daddy isn't really a Sir and why did he say that :-)

We will see how long this lasts.  I explained to him when he started that this isn't an 8 week commitment like hockey...this is a years long commitment.  I am hoping he is as enthusiastic about it in two months as he is now.  A lot of the classes overlap and that has really pumped up his enthusiasm.  He is constantly watching what the older kids are doing and wants to learn that.  So I am excited.

Although when I told him I would bring up my Karate trophies he looked doubtful.  I finally brought them up from the basement and he was all like "Wow mom, I thought you were telling me a story!  You really did do Karate!"  He is so funny.

So I will leave you with the below images of "the man" in uniform.