Jack's class is studying the presidents right now and as part of their assignment they had to choose a president or first lady and give a 2-4 minute presentation on him or her. In order to get the highest possible grade the speech had to be memorized. For a 2nd grader (or a 35 year old) that can be rather daunting, but he was up for the challenge... sort of. He chose John F. Kennedy - 35th president. We checked out several on-line sites and then he got to work on his speech.
He decided that he needed to use notecards for prompting and he was willing to take the deduction :). He had 4 notecards and on two of the notecards he had 1 word and on the wordiest notecard he had 7 words. From that, he gave an "um" free, 3 minute presentation to his siblings and I - frankly, I was terribly impressed!
I told Rich that he definitely got his public speaking abilities from his dad, he just needs to work on "eye contact" ;) - if only the ceiling were the audience... As tempting as it was to put him in a "Cape Cod" or "Harvard" sweatshirt and call it a day, he decided he'd like to wear a suit coat and tie?!?! Not really being a "suit jacket" kid, we hit the consignment shop for a blazer and tie and hit the jackpot, so to speak. He was so excited about the jacket, I thought he was going to sleep in it! Who would have known? This kid wears athletic shorts in winter and hates to put on a polo shirt for church! The next day he came down looking dapper in his blue blazer, tie and khaki's - for about 30 seconds I wished this were his uniform everyday, but then I took my daily reality pill...
Mr. & Mrs Kennedy
The day of the presentation was a chapel day, so both 2nd grades paraded on stage during chapel, in character. The whole thing was absolutely priceless! I even got a little teary :). George Washington, Michele Obama, Jackie Kennedy, Ronald Reagan - you name them they were PROUDLY on display. God has been so good to allow us the privilege of sending our kids to a Christian school and God has seen fit to allow Carmel Christian to exceed our every expectation. God has given us so much and to know that everyday our kids are not only taught exceptional academics, but they are also reminded that their creator is the absolute authority and that without Him "NOTHING was made that has been made", including the United States of America. I was reminded of that very thing as I looked at these amazing children dressed as great American patriots. Men and women who were chosen by God alone to lead our nation throughout it's history. How grateful I am to live in a country that, although terribly flawed, was miraculously founded as "One Nation under God" and is still the greatest nation in all of human history.
