Parents Hoping for Some Advice RE Xcel vs JO

[GymAuntie]

^^^That should read NOW good day but my auto correct liked no better. I wish chalkbucket allowed longer periods for editing.

 

[raenndrops]

Glad mom is on board if it matters. Much respect to you from one "non-parent" to another for doing what you need to do for the little one

 

[JMACAZ]

Good luck to your LO on her crazy gym journey

 

[bogwoppit]

Holy cow a six page thread.

Just want to put a reminder out that the parents forum is for parents and for people in parent like situations. Lets not be so hasty to close down people who are in alternative situations.

No other advice to give as I do not think I can read six pages tonight.

But please be respectful when giving helpful advice. Otherwise, step back from the keyboard.

 

[txgymfan]

[QUOTE="bogwoppit, post: 409396, member: 389"

"people in parent like situations. Lets not be so hasty to close down people who are in alternative situations."

Thank you from some one who is currently in a "parent like situation" where one of the parents loves to loudly proclaim official parenthood but is not legally allowed to be with the children unsupervised for reasons to horrible and personal to describe here.

 

[GymAuntie]

Sorry to dredge up an old thread here, but I wanted to update everyone on the outcome. My niece is now at the JO gym.

While I said that we would give it one more year with status quo, so much changed in the last month that the move became necessary.

First of all due to school schedule she lost the teacher she loved so much at the original gym. That teacher now only teaches 2 days a week and her biggest obligation is preteam.

Then the gym eliminated the advanced kindergym class and said she would have to go back to regular preschool gym for am undetermined amount of time while they gauged interest in the advanced class. They said it would be back but they didn't know when or at what day and time or who would teach it.

The first thing was not enough to light a fire under my sister but the second one was. She also got a realization that the JO gym was 15-20 minutes closer. The light bulb went on and she was completely on board.

The only negative is that preteam 1 is now full. She went for an evaluation with what turned out to be level 2 preteam. Of course she was not ready for that. Between those girls having more experience and maturity and her being out of the gym for 9 weeks and being in new surroundings, we thought it was a disaster in fact because she was so distracted. She was like a fish and every bright shiny thing that came along competed with her teacher for attention.

Turns out the Preteam Level 2 teacher said she was on par or better than other kids her age that she had taught attention and listening wise. She also said she had a lot of potential and a spark that just can't be taught. Since Level 1 was full at the moment, she advised beginning rec with herself or another teacher to get her acclimated to the new gym. That teacher's classes were full, but she is doing beginning rec with the Preteam 1 teacher. They will let us know if a spot opens up as they don't mind moving kids during the year.

She went to her first class today, and it went very well. My sister is very pleased with the move. She said she didn't know why preschool was so different but she now felt great about the gym and wishes she had done it in June. My mother likes it as well.

The only negative my sister could find is the class time she really wanted was full so she had to go with one that won't allow her to attend as much as she would like. She, her husband (yes the one who is indifferent about activities), and my mother will be in rotation to get her there. The only other possible option was a 7 pm class and for a 5 year old who still has a half an hour drive after she felt like that was just too late. She went on the waiting list for the class she originally wanted but her current class only has 4 girls which means more turns and more individual instruction. She says she may just leave her because of that and the fact that LO likes her teacher.

So all's well that ends well. Everyone is thrilled abd ready to begin a possible 14 year gymnastics journey.

PS She quit cheer in early July. She decided she only likes flippy class. I think we're in for a long ride.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed.

 

[GymAuntie]

Should say and ready. Sorry.

 

[strawberries]

I just read this whole thread. You, GymAuntie are unfailingly gracious, and I am so pleased to hear about your neice's landing spot. Well done with your research!

 

[GymAuntie]

Thank you so much for those kind words. I really try to be gracious. It doesn't always work, but my mother taught me that's how a lady should act.

 

[raenndrops]

Thank you for the update. I had been wondering

 

[GymAuntie]

My mom said she was glad to get her in when she did. Right now more than half their rec classes are full. My sister really wanted to be able to take her the first couple months to see her progress. My sister works until 5 2-3 days a week and 3 the others. Mondays and Wednesdays wouldn't work because she goes to tutoring, but their were no Wednesday classes available and only 6 pm on Monday (and it was a different teacher than L2 teacher recommended). Tuesday had 4 and 5 pm. Thursday had 3:15 and 7 pm. Friday had 3:30 pm.

My sister works until 5 on Tuesday and 3 on Thursday. When she works until 3 she has to go in at 7 am. That's another reason she opted out of 7 pm Thursday. She would not get home until nearly 9. She said maybe if LO was older she would have done that but not at 5. She really wanted 4, 5, or 6 Thursday but all were booked. The owner said next year attendance would shoot up because it always does after the Olympics. With that in mind I think the timing was right to go ahead this year. My sister is going to work with her boss to try and get off 10 minutes early every 2 or 3 weeks so she can take her some. The father only works every other Friday so he's on board as well. It seems like it's all falling in line.

This gym had so much preteam interest this year that they decided to switch preteam from one class to two. Level 1 will work on conditioning and level 1 skills and level 2 will of course work on level 2 skills. The only thing she is not getting in beginner rec that she got in advanced kindergym is a healthy focus on conditioning. But she also was not going to get that in preschool gym. We did not even ask for reevaluation of the original gym for preteam because we didn't want to waste their time since we knew she would be moving within the year. The old gym was very gracious and understood the decision and appreciated the respect we showed them. We would still have no trouble recommending them to others especially girls who want rec.

At my niece's birthday we also spoke with another mom about the new jo gym. She is going to look into it for her daughter. Her daughter is in kindergarten so she would have to come at a different time but she is also interested in preteam next year. My sister hopes that works out so she has a friend there. If not she will no doubt make friends. We've already seen that she has a gift for charming owners. The owner of the old gym loved her and the new one is already picking at her after 2 classes.

The village focus now is to move on to listening and focus skills. She listened much better today but she still was trying to move toward other apparatus before the teacher was finished and such. Attention span better comes with school and the teacher told us that. She said once the newness wears off and she learns her teacher's rhythms that it should get better. It's a process and each day brings about some new challenge. But if anyone has any ideas about improving listening and focus, we are all ears!!!!