July 5, 2017
Our two grandchildren, Izzy, age 10, and Ethan, age 8, were just with us for
two weeks of "summer adventures.'
They left us yesterday and we are missing them!
We are missing their incessant energy, laughter, silly jokes, etc. To
use Seiko's description, we are missing our "giggle farts." But we
are especially missing two well behaved, respectful kids who are smart and
creative, enthusiastic about learning, and who impressed us daily with
their endurance and grit!
(
Well done, Mine and Marc!)
We had specific goals to achieve in those summer adventures. Mine and Marc
wanted "JiJi" (Japanese informal word for Grandpa) to teach them as
much survival Japanese as possible in preparation for their summer vacation
trip to Japan in August. And I, "Mo Mo," (common name used for
grandma in Southwest Louisiana, my former home) had to encourage them to read
several books on Japan and also to continue journal writing, which they had
done before. And along with this school stuff, they had to have a lot of fun!
To accomplish these "goals,” we began with incentives and choices. They
each got to choose their own journal from Office Depot and they were able to
write about anything they wanted that happened each day. If they
wrote reports on books they read about Japan, they earned extra points. I
was able to get 10 excellent books from the Evanston children's library on
Japan, and they could choose to read any of the titles that interested them. I
suggested that they try for 4 titles each which they easily accomplished. Each
also had a binder where they kept handouts on their Japanese language study and
other brochures collected from places we visited such as the Morton Arboretum
where they saw a fantastic exhibit on origami sculpture. They earned stars on a
special chart in their binders for journal writing, Japanese, behavior,
cooperation, chores, and "extra achievements."
The star points at the end were converted into money for something special
they wanted or for the Japan trip spending money.
Shortly after arriving here, I suggested to Mine that we also start a blog
for them and that perhaps each would take turns to write about something
special they enjoyed while here -- maybe taking turns to post twice a week. Then
as a family they could continue with the blog while in Japan as a way of
sharing some of their experiences with all of us left behind. Although Mine was
skeptical about another school-like "commitment," she decided to work
with them to set one up. It's called:
"Iz and E-man’s Summer
Adventures." Well, weren't we all surprised when both Izzy and Ethan
took to the blog with gusto with each choosing to write daily about their
experiences since the blog was initiated. There have been no complaints about
doing it each day. This was in addition to the journal writing. My job was an
easy one -- only to read it when done. They both know how to bring in photos
which they take every day or which they find on Google Images when
needed. They taught me many easy ways to maneuver the blog! Even though I have
been keeping my own blog on and off for several years, it has always been
"painful" to remember what I need to do for each new post. Working
with them was a constant reminder of how technology has reformed education and
the ways we have to use when teaching these young minds that soak it up so
easily because their brains have been rewired to do this. Old minds like mine
have a hard time holding on to any technology learned, especially if not
practiced often. If interested, you can access their blog at:
https://bloggingwithizzy-ethan.blogspot.com/?m=1
One of their posts entitled,
Interviewing Our Grandpa JiJi about
World War II turned out to be quite remarkable.
It took several days to do this beginning with coming up with questions,
interviewing and taking notes, and then typing the responses into the
blog. Hiroshi and I were both impressed with their choice of
questions and with the effort they took to do research on some of the content
JiJi told them about, like the types of planes and the balloon bombs. We family
members all admitted that we learned something new about the war and about the
Okano family from this interview. This interview will always be treasured and
we are so grateful that it evolved so naturally from their reading about Japan
and especially the dropping of the atomic bomb. The book that motivated the
interview was
Hiroshima: A Novella by Laurence Yep.
Izzy, Ethan and I read it together so that we could have a discussion
about it along the way. Although it's written for children, it has descriptions
about the bombing that can be disturbing. Izzy had a hard time getting to sleep
the night we finished it. I think their visit to Hiroshima in August will be a
memorable and meaningful experience.
When a friend asked me this week about the grandchildren's visit, I told her
about some of the things we did and about the blog. Her immediate response
was..."But can they do hopscotch?" I was happy to be able to respond,
"Yes, and they have also made a hopscotch on the sidewalk that extended
almost a block long! It had taken them hours to construct and hundreds of hops
to complete!" Although they did a lot of "school stuff," they
also spent a lot of time outside. I recognized early that it was important to
let them expel some of their energy on a regular basis at the local park or
school ground. In the park, they befriended two families of geese and ducks,
even naming the offspring. They did gardening and caught fireflies at night. And of course, we
did the usual trips to the zoo, the planetarium, and the aquarium. We
were all busy with little time to be bored and we went to sleep fast.
Although there was a lot of structure, there was a lot of fun, too. It's in the
blog.
There was also music in their lives. When Izzy saw that I had
"Hamilton" on discs, she wanted to listen to it because she had heard
about it from a a friend who had seen the play. So each day we listened to it
in the car on our way to places. And all three of us became captivated with the
music and the story. (Although I had the music, I had not taken the time to
listen to the whole thing!) When Seiko saw how enthusiastic they were about
Hamilton, and after listening to it herself, she planned her activities in
Washington D.C. to capitalize on their interest in the Founders of our country.
Hence, they visited Williamsburg, Yorktown, Mt. Vernon. And at Xmas, we are
planning to see the play, Hamilton, in Chicago.
When I think of my own childhood and compare it with theirs, I see how
"privileged" they are. My summer adventures that I can remember were
riding our bikes with the neighborhood kids to "where ever" we wanted
to go in that small rural Louisiana town and making up all kinds of games and
plays and fishing on the bayou, and also doing a little reading although we had
no library close by to give us many book choices. We didn't have a lot of
structure in our lives. We had no television until I was in 8th grade. Anyway,
that's another interview for another time. The challenge today is to provide a
balanced life for these kids so schooled in technology with so many
opportunities to experience, together with an equal love for nature and outdoor
activities.
So far, I think Marc and Mine are doing a great job trying to balance the
digital world with nature and outdoor activities. Involving the older
generations is a good way to do this as it becomes two-sided.
We both teach each other and also learn from each other. We get to know each
other in a special way through sharing both good and bad memories and through
struggling to be patient with each other while learning something new or while
trying to "act" young again. As I reflect on having Izzy and Ethan
with us this summer and sharing various adventures together, I conclude that it
involves a lot of choice and planning together with goals, structure and
flexibility. And for it to really have meaningful results, I think there needs
to be endurance and a lot of grit on both sides!
