CRAFTING OUR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

CRAFTING OUR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION I crafted Imhotep, my first-born, five-year old son's, summer education program in 1984, the year that I was divorced from his birth mother. No area program had seemed satisfactory to me. I had wanted a combination of recreation and education , not exclusively one. Fortunately , I found the Linwood YMCA for swimming lessons and recreation. It ran 7:00 from to 3. So I could drop him off there and then go to work . But there was still the period after 3:00, since I did not get off from work until 5:00. I asked around for a private tutor . I was blessed to find another federal worker , a former school teacher's aide, who got off work at 2:30 and who rode a bus past Linwood and Cleveland, the site of the YMCA. I arranged for her to pick up my son and go across the street to the Central Christian Church basement where she would tutor him in math and reading until I came by @ 5:30. I happily paid her and the Y $35.00 a week for their vitally important services in Kansas City, Missouri. One memorable anecdote involves Imhotep's "old school " swimming instructor, a black woman, who did not play! She called me at work to tell me that Imhotep had 'forgotten' his swimming trunks at home and was therefore refusing to swim. As he was wearing shorts anyway she proposed to require him to swim in them. I said "Carry on, Ma'am ! Do what you do! He won't 'forget' his trunks again!' She thanked me and proceeded to do just that! At the end of 1984's summer, we parents were invited to demonstrations of swimming proficiency of our kids . I swelled with pride to see that my son was an adept swimmer, who became later a life guard , and a far better swimmer than his father had ever been at any age. Hooray! for old school teachers who improvise and who 'don't take no mess' when it comes to teaching their crafts! Happily my son and his wife have crafted similar programs for their sons and others' children on the West Coast. What goes around right back comes back, doesn't it!