runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Thursday, April 12, 2012

5th Grade


I haven't posted about knitting lately because quite honestly I have been so busy knitting. I am teaching a knitting class! I know I know who in their right mind would let me in a classroom to teach kids something useful? Well, it only took 18 years and this time it is a volunteer job but I'm baaaaaackkkkk!

I am teaching a knitting class for 5th grade girls. I have 5 regular attendees and they are each so unique and special in their own way. 5th graders are nuts and fun at the same time. 5th grade is when a lot of girls come into their own and step out of their shyness. 5th graders talk a lot. I have one 5th grader that doesn't shut up - you could call her Mini-me. But they are each lovely and they are doing something I love, knitting.

While I have been teaching this class I have finished a pair of socks for a friend's baby as well as a sweater that is supposed to be a pair of sweaters for a friend who is having twins. I have started 5 other projects too but am really enjoying this phase of knitting. I am no longer a rookie or a hack at knitting. I now know how to read a pattern like I am reading a cookbook. I have bought real, quality yarn from a real, quality store. I can knit both Continental and Standard. I can teach both Continental and Standard. I am a knitting proficient. What i have discovered though is: I am not 5th grade girl proficient.

While these 5th graders are a breath of fresh air, they are also terrifying. The other day one of the girls was talking about how she knows all the kids in the 2nd grade and I've got a 2nd grader. So she asked what my kid's name was and I told her. She said she didn't know anyone by that name and then there was discussion about how many kids I had and what grades they were in and who their teachers were. And then she stops knitting, looks straight at me and says, "I don't know anyone by that name, is she a nobody?"

I didn't really know what to say, I so rarely come face to face with that situation in my life, most of you know me as a woman of many many words, so I just smiled and said, "well, if she is, that makes me Mrs. Nobody." And then that song from Annie started looping in my head, "Little girls,Little girls, Everywhere I turn I can see them, Little girls, Little girls, Night and day I eat, sleep and breathe them".

2 comments:

JulieC said...

WOW! One more reason to Homeschool!! She is a somebody to us!! We can't wait to see all of you!

Whitney said...

Girls are mean! And 5th grade is just the beginning. Thank your stars that your sweet, smartie is in 2nd grade and not having to share 5th grade with a girl who is that rude! Nice response by the way.