Young Poet's Society

Yesterday was the day.  My kids had been fearing this day for the past 10 weeks and honestly, so had I.  

The dreaded poetry recital at co-op.  

I've always been terrified of public speaking.  I'm not good at it.  I'm so self-concious and I hate being the center of attention.  I think it all stems from way back in seventh grade when I gave some kind of oral report in Mrs. Jarrard's science class.  My zipper was unzipped the entire time.  Fun.  I took the required "communications" course in college.  My instructor said everyone in her class would learn to love public speaking.  Wrong.  Somehow I made an A, even though I froze up on my last speech and completely forgot what I was supposed to talk about.  

Back to my kids.  They're so funny.  They don't mind singing in front of a crowd.  They do this all the time.  However, when I broke the news to Shaun that he was going to have to memorize a poem and a scripture to say aloud in front of our homeschool co-op, he freaked. And I secretly freaked with him.  I know how I would have felt about this in sixth grade.  Who are we kidding?  I would still feel the same way if I had to do it today!

I thought about not making him do it, but at the end of the day I decided to be responsible and parent-like.  I chose a four-line poem for him to memorize.  He picked his own scripture-  one that he had already memorized from church.  And we learned them.  

He was actually okay until the day of the recital.  He was so nervous yesterday!  The recital participants went on by grade, and then in alphabetical order, so he had a long time to wait!  The younger kids went first and said their poem as a class.  Here is a picture of Jordan with a few kids from his class, taken with my cell phone.  I can't find my camera anywhere!

This picture is deceiving.  He didn't say a word of his poem!  Afterward, he said he was just too nervous.  Stinker!

A bit later, it was Shaun's turn.  He had asked that I come and sit near the front so that I could cue him if he needed it.  My stomach was in knots as he made his way to the stage- I was so nervous for him.  And bless him...he froze.  Like mother, like son.  I whispered the first word to him and he remembered what he was supposed to say with a smile on his face, but he was so embarrassed and my heart hurt for him.  I was so, SO proud of him for staying up there and finishing even after he had a rocky start.

Of course, he wasn't the only one who messed up.  There were a lot of mistakes made by lots of other kids.  I reminded him of this when everything was over and he was saying that he sucked.  I also stressed how proud I was of him for sticking it out and finishing strong.  

At the end of the day, I was glad I made them do it.  Shaun lived through it, just like I knew he would.  The first time is always the hardest and we talked about how easy it would be next time since now he knows what to expect.  He just looked at me when I said that part.  Ha ha!