My daughter and husband started studying karate together a couple years ago. The picture is one I took of my daughter at her orange belt graduation demonstrating all the moves she had learned: The Sumo ... Full Nelson ... Eagle's Beak ... 

Isabella and my husband would come home from karate class so excited they couldn't sit still at the dinner table. One or the other of them would keep jumping up to demonstrate the latest techniques they were working on: Kimono Grab ... Opponents at Sides ... 

After attending a couple of their evaluations and belt graduations, I decided -- silly me -- that at the age of 49 I wanted to to take karate classes, too.

Although I was concerned about my physical ability (arthritis in my toes and hands and right knee) I found the major problem I faced was lack of time. I knew time would be an issue, but with all the classwork and desk work and reading and computer work demanded by my graduate studies, I sorely needed a workout that would leave my muscles pleasantly sore and stretched. 

Karate class turned out to be as fun a workout as I'd hoped, and my daughter took great pleasure in out-ranking mom at the studio.

Although I initially thought I was too acculturated a female to be able to hit someone, I found that I actually enjoy the physical and mental challenge of sparring. My nod to femininity turned out to be my choice of electric-purple boxing gloves. They're pretty. 

Yes, there were times when my education studies were so demanding that I did not have time to focus on karate, but I had expected that would be the case. Mostly, I was able to put it all in perspective, to tell my karate instructors when I was too overwhelmed to quickly memorize new self-defense techniques and katas. I was pacing myself, being patient with myself. 

Our instructors were amazingly patient with me, as well. For the longest time, it seemed as if they had infinite patience when they had to explain to me ... one more time ... and again ... and again ... and again ... the ending of version C of Bear Hug Free in Back  ... or that pesky middle sequence I kept forgetting in the Little Tiger kata.  I kept trying to put in an extra punch or not stepping forward when I was supposed to with the block. Something like that.

But finally, one night, Mr. Middleton became every so slightly impatient with my inability to remember what I had learned, especially when I admitted I hadn't been practicing regularly at home. "You're a teacher, right?" he asked me, almost conversationally but with a bit of an edge in his voice that put me on warning. 

"Working on it," I grunted, forgetting to put that final kick in at the end of the sequence.

"So what do you tell your students?" 

Maybe it was fatigue, perhaps the stress of preparing for the Praxis exam ... I'm usually pretty even-tempered ... but  I'm embarrassed to admit that I snapped at him. "Yeah, okay, we tell them they have to practice what they've learned, or they'll forget. I know. I know. But I don't have time right now to ... " And then I realized what I sounded like. I sounded like I was starting to make excuses. 

I don't like it when a student makes excuses, even when that student is me.

Besides the importance of practice, another thing we keep telling students is that they make choices all the time, and some of those choices -- such as not practicing -- can negatively affect their success in school.

Yes, I admit I need to practice more. We all need to practice in order to reinforce our learning. Without practice, our learning is only retained in the short term memory. We have difficulty recalling it later. 

For example, it's been a while since I've practiced the moves on my gold chart, because I'm working on my orange belt, but I'm going to have to perform all the moves at graduation. I'm trying to remember ... we take the attacker down to the ground on Kimono Grab B and one other move, and I can't think of which one that is. 

It's the same thing with kids and reading or writing or math or science or anything else they learn in school. If they don't practice what they learn, they have trouble remembering.

And they've been on summer vacation. School here starts again Monday. What will the children remember?  

Sure, sure. They should have been reviewing their school work all summer, right? Seriously, do you know anyone who does that? Of course, if the review is fun, the kids will retain more over the summer.

Our district, for example, has a summer school program for the entire month of June. Teachers set the school up like a giant Monopoly board, and each week the students spend visiting another square of the board. For example, they might visit Hollywood and write movie scripts. Or they might visit Florida and learn about manatees. As they move around the board and complete the projects in each room, they earn Monopoly money, which they can spend on carnival prizes in the school store at the end of each week. 

You get the fact that they're having fun while painlessly reviewing their academic skills. If they're in summer school, they have only six weeks to forget what they've learned during the school year. Kids who don't go to summer school (it is optional) have a total of 10 weeks to forget.

Unfortunately, our district may not be able to offer summer school again next year. Declining state revenues and property values are affecting school financing here, as is the case with so many school districts in the United States these days. The district almost cancelled summer school this year, but managed to pull a financial rabbit out of a hat one last time. They told us not to expect the same hat trick next year. 

What will the children do without summer school? They'll forget. And they'll have a lot more catching up to do at the beginning of the fall. And they'll fall further behind in school, especially the kids who most need the enrichment, especially the kids whose parents can't afford to take them on vacation, send them to summer camps or enroll them in summer activities.

Oh, yeah. It's the Dancer, version B. That's the move I was trying to remember, the other one where we take the attacker down to the ground. I need to remember that, because my evaluation for my orange karate belt is tomorrow. I almost said "Wish me luck," but I don't need luck. It's practice that I need.

I need to practice.

And so do the kids. 

__________________

"The Case Against Summer Vacation," a recent Time magazine article: http://tinyurl.com/2dng6qs

"Financial Woes Afflict Summer School," a recent Education Week article: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/06/24/36summer.h29.html?tkn=MWQFzt6sMLCaEW6CCF3lK%2BpWsigrN%2BOuuPX4&cmp=clp-edweek