Kid Tribe: End of an Era

 Back in 2017 we were in a book club with the Jensens, our friends from BYU/Cinnamon Tree who were fellow homeschoolers. We reconnected with here in Texas. Then in 2018, the book club morphed into a co-op. The kids decided to name it Kid Tribe. We've been going strong with that co-op, even through COVID, for the last five years. People came and went, but a few families stayed the same, though we are the only family who has been in it every semester since it started. 

Last year, however, it wasn't the best fit for Annie. Homeschool groups tend to really thrive in the 8-12 year old age range. It seems harder to find and make a group work for junior high and high school aged kids. So we had another friend who was starting up some classes for homeschooled high schoolers. And we decided to join them. But of course all of those high schoolers have younger siblings. So there will be some separate classes for them, too. 

So all of a sudden, we found ourselves in a new co-op. That means Kid Tribe is kind of...over. But all of the people who were currently in Kid Tribe will be coming with us to the new group--those not going to public school, that is. There is quite a bit of turnover in homeschool groups as everyone figures out every year what is best for their family. But I felt I should note on the blog this end of an era. I'm grateful for the new group, but it's sad to think that my kids aren't so little anymore. In some ways, I feel like I raised them in Kid Tribe. So many good memories and friends and experiences there. I hope my kids feel like they've had a happy childhood. From my perspective, their childhoods have been pretty great. 

At the end of the school year, we had a day at the river in Bastrop that was kind of a merging of the old and new groups. It was a good day, a day that made me realize that the Lord provides the people and opportunities we need at exactly the right time. 

And here's Kid Tribe through the years. We had a good run!

Recitals and Concerts

 In May we had a lot of musical happenings in our family. Last year our piano teacher closed her studio, so we needed to find a new teacher. At a gathering of a mutual friend, we met Ms. Renae. She is a Latter-day Saint, and she came up and started talking to Annie. She said she felt a little push from the Spirit to do so. And we found out she teaches piano lessons. She wasn't really accepting new students, but she said she would pray about taking Annie as a student. And in the end she decided to take Annie on. That was last summer, and in the fall she also took on Scotty as a student. It has been a big blessing. She has taught us a lot and really helped the kids to grow as players. 

Ms. Renae participates in the National Guild of Piano Teachers, and so all of her students prepare a program for the end of the year. You can do just two pieces or you can do a ten-piece program. My kids both decided to do the ten-piece program. So they learned a whole bunch of songs and performed them at the end of the year for another piano teacher and were rated and everything. It was a really good experience and cool to feel like they really accomplished something. We laughed at the different rankings they have to tell you if you're only good enough to play for your family or if you're good enough to play in a citywide competition and so on. 

There was also a recital at Ms. Renae's house. And Aaron's parents came. Our gift to them (and ourselves) for Christmas this year was to bring them down for some grandparently occasion that they wouldn't normally come to being so far away. It was fun to have them here. 

On the same weekend, which was also Mother's Day Weekend, Annie also had her concert for Millenial Choir. They performed at the Long Center in Austin. I was required to be a backstage helper. So we spent the day there together doing the dress rehearsal and performance. It was a "Long" day indeed. 

The concert was lovely, what I heard of it anyway. It was really cool to have the live orchestra there. They played Orchard House from the soundtrack of Little Women. Loved that. And the Joseph Smith's First Prayer arrangement they did was my favorite choir number.  

P.S. We got Scotty a basketball hoop for his birthday, and Grandpa Dennis helped us put it together. 500 pounds of sand in the base of that bad boy! Scotty has used it a lot, even though it is summer and deathly hot.