Mama Made: Button Down Shirt and His Presentation

So, there's quite a story behind this.  At our homeschool co-op, there's a presentation day when kids get the chance to present whatever they want in front of a pretty big audience.  Adrian never has done any public speaking before, so I suggested a 'show and tell' of maybe his feed bag. As in "Look what I made, any questions?". 



"No mama. I'm a farmer. I want to teach everyone about cows."



I tried to convince him otherwise, suggest other ideas. You know, a smaller project to start out.



"Mama. People need to know about cows. I'm a farmer. I'm going to teach them so they know."



"Okay, but if I sign you up for this, it's important that you work hard and practice. If you are going to pick something hard, you are signing up for hard work.  We're not going to sign up and quit."



"It's okay mama, I'm going to do it."



Hard work he did do.  He spent an ENTIRE week making this elaborate poster. He was cutting things out right and left, gluing things here and there. The poster was mostly him, although I did guide him in labeling categories so it was more organized.



He did practice too. For four days before the presentation, I encouraged him to practice.  He had different (family) audiences at the time, which was trickier than practicing just for his parents and sister.



On go-day, he was nervous in the morning, but so excited.  He was super enthusiastic about setting up and loved standing up there...until it was go-time. And he didn't say a thing. I reviewed what he worked on and he stood next to me.  Of course told him that everyone loved his poster.



Then when we got home, he was so sad. "But mama, I just got scared and now no one even knows about farming." 



I assured him it was okay. 



It's hard to wrap my brain around what a mama should do in that circumstance.  I mean, it was his idea, he wanted to work hard and although I felt he was successful with making the poster and practicing,  it was hard on me that he didn't feel successful on presentation day.  But, we had an idea and made up for it.  He was stressed that no one knew about cows and I suggested we video and share the it so many can learn about cows. That was even better than presentation day sharing, as more could learn.  Turns out, he loved that idea.  You can watch that video here.  Also, on Thanksgiving, he did give the presentation in front of a big crew. They had a long question and answer session and Adrian knew almost all the answers!  They couldn't believe he could spout off the names of the cow's stomachs.  His interest is so intense.



Anyway, here's the shirt I made for the big day.

 Here he is with the outfit he chose for presentation day. Mama made cow undershirt, cow buttondown shirt and cow hat. He was rockin' the homemades.

 And here he is ready for the presentation. Click HERE for the youtube video of his presentation. 

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