Saturday, September 1, 2012

Dance Class Update

I received an e-mail back from the owner of the dance studio.  She said that Annika's behavior in class is totally and completely acceptable and normal for a child taking their first class and for a child who has never been in a structured learning environment!! I'm so glad that she understood where we were coming from with putting her into this class.

As for anyone who questions that she won't be 3 until November that is only 2 months away.  So she's actually starting this class only 2 months earlier than she should.  I actually told the owner this and she said it was fine, totally not a big deal again.  I think this may be in part that they want our tuition payment for the 2 months but she really didn't care at all that Annika is only 2 in a 3 and 4 year old class.  Also if you ask Annika how old she is she answers "Annika" since typically people ask her what her name is.  I've tried in the past to tell her that she's "2" but she always responds with "Annika".

The mother that told me that maybe Annika is too young for class was an old friend from dental assisting school.  I know her personality and she really has no filter at all on her mouth.  She never thinks before she says anything so I'm just going to ignore her.  I hope that Annika starts paying attention more in class and Josh and I have both had talks with her about listening to the teacher and waiting her turn in class.  I plan on having the same talk with her prior to class starting this Thursday and I also plan on directly telling the teacher that if Annika is too much of a distraction and really isn't pay attention please just remove her from class.  I hope that it doesn't come to that and I really do hope she pays attention this week.

The owner of the dance studio said sometimes it can take up to a month for children to really "get it" so she said we are fine for that first month and that it is up to us whether or not we want to keep her in the class or not.  According to her they never remove students from class, instead they try to correct the problem or will give us suggestions on exercises (such as taking turns) to do at home.  That makes me feel better.  The woman I knew from dental assisting school told me that the school has removed girls from the classes before which now I know isn't true!

So we're going to give it till the end of September to see if she gets any better.  I honestly hope she does!  All day yesterday she talked to Josh about how much she loved dance class and that it was fun and that she wanted to see the other girls.  It would break my heart to pull her from the class!  Today she even wore the shirt they gave me when we registered that has the name of the dance studio on it and she seemed so proud to even wear that!

I'll be sure to update again on Friday morning what the class was like Thursday evening!

2 comments:

  1. Wow, that is great news! I'm so glad to hear all that. I'm sure she will get better and calm down a little. I'm glad you're ignoring that other mother.

    Thanks for updating about this. I was thinking about you guys.

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  2. I'm sure she will get better at it as time goes on! Glad she gets to stay!

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