The Kinder Report - Day One

So, sorry, this is almost a week later, but *things* intruded.

So:

Preparation video, because I'm addicted to this blogging thing.

This is a picture of the class room set up, before the kids arrived.

I went to the 7:30 Mass, as I said I would. It's...very early. Smaller, quieter, there's no music, so all the hymns are simply spoken. I've never seen the priest who celebrated the early Mass before, so I'm not certain who he is. *sheepish grin* I liked it though.

Got over to the Parish Life Center around 8:15, and proceeded to run around like a nugget getting the books and folders together, relabeling a few because we 'lost' some kids, and gained some more, so the class size is officially 15. We didn't have enough books for everyone, but the DRE is supposed to get us the rest, so we didn't pass out the books on the first day of class.

We went over the general idea of the class, sort of a 'why are we here' thing, went around the room and made introductions, and then we went through the Our Father. A couple of the kids, of course, already knew it, but we read it as a class, and then we had them make their name tags and decorate them however they wanted.

It was funny, the boys and I got into a discussion over Transformers (the girls were taking a *long* time to finish decorating theirs) and one of the boys was having trouble getting his to stand up, so I went over to make the crease better - and I ripped the corner off accidentally! *hangs head in shame* But everyone thought it was pretty funny... :)

We finished this, then went over the Hail Mary, and oh! before all this, we started with the Sign of the Cross, because that's a prayer as well.

Then, we went through the Ten Commandments, going around the room and having each kid read one, and then we asked what they all thought it meant. Now, I forgot to mention that while 15 kids are signed up for the class, only 8 actually showed - 6 boys and 2 girls. When we got to the last two Commandments, we just asked who wanted to read them and picked a hand.

'Adultery' is always fun...if they were my *actual* children, I'd tell them exactly what it meant, but because they're not, Deb we trying to explain without *explaining*, and was saying how it meant that you had to stay married to the person you married, just them, and then, of course, there was the one boy whose parents were divorced and his mom remarried, so she had to tell him that was okay. And 'coveting' - got explained as being jealous of other peoples stuff.

We had snack time (oatmeal raisin cookies) and potty breaks, and then we did the 'letters to Jesus' portion, and the 'vocab' box, which we just did as an example of what we'd be doing at the beginning of the classes. And then, we got to release the hounds! Their parents came and took them away! :)

Related to kids, but not class, we were talking at work, and I mentioned the whole, not gonna tell my kids about Santa, and was looked at as though I had two heads. Then, in the same conversation, one of the mothers was saying something about her oldest daughter saying that she'd be okay if they 'just' got her a PS3 and laptop. 'Just' those. And she was saying how whatever she got, if she didn't get the oldest those things, then it 'wouldn't be fair' in the mind of her daughter. To which I replied that "'Fair' is whatever you say it is. You're the mother, she's the kid." To which I got laughs, and someone else said, 'Amber's kids'll be perfect, *or else*!' And I laughed, but, uh, since when are the kids supposed to make the rules in the parent/child dynamic? Did I miss that memo?

Right. Bonus Itteh Bitteh Kitteh:

Not my kitten, but the friend I was dog/cat/house sitting for.