DD4 had an audition with a new string teacher. Our city's youth orchestra's current concertmaster and associate concertmaster are both her students so it's rather competitive to get into her studio.

DD got in and her new teacher wants to know if we'd be willing to sign up for a competition next year and DD would be chosen as one of the 3 allotted entries from her studio. So it'd be the concertmaster, associate concertmaster, and DD.

We don't do competitions so we'll likely decline for the next few years at least but it's still quite validating to know that we weren't imagining her talent.

Mana, she's a special girl!

Sounds supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

DD's favourite word, I frequently find it written across her whiteboard - the one we use for our dyslexia reading remediation. Three months ago, it was barely recognizable; last night she wrote "supercalifragilisticexpialadoshus" - which is darn near perfect since we haven't yet gotten any where near the likes of "cious". And she then went on to explain why it had to be "su-per" and not "sup-per". Wahoo!

Thank you aquinas. I wish we didn't have to look for a new string teacher but since DD started with her old teacher at such a young age, they have bonded emotionally. That was wonderful when DD was a compliant child but now that she isn't, it has become a problem and private music lessons are too expensive to have behavioral management issues.

Mana, you have to evolve alongside her, and you're wise not to force a relationship that will be unproductive.

aquinas, I must admit, it was actually a friend of mine who urged me to find a new teacher. She took cello lessons until college and both of her DC played piano; every time I talked about DD's string lessons, she urged me to consider finding a new teacher.

I was in a denial for awhile but my DD kept on acting out yet she didn't want to quit. At first, I thought she was acting out because things were finally getting hard but in retrospect, she probably knew instinctually that she and her original string teacher needed to part ways.

Her previous teacher was a gifted performer. Her new teacher is a gifted teacher. I am glad that we transferred while DD was still a beginner.

DS7 has decided to honor PI day this year by learning as many digits as possible. He memorized 104 digits in 35 minutes and says them so fast I can't even keep up...not a valuable skill but still, he is having a blast. :-)

If he keeps practicing and can get to 797 digits, he could win a Pizza Hut gift certificate at our school😃.

He is awesome - one of the professors at my college could recite 200 digits of pi - he used to say that even though it was not a valuable skill, it was a great memory test as well as a source of self entertainment.