Into the teens

As of right now (because all three kids are officially finished with school for the day) we are officially down to 19 days until school is out for the summer.  Strangely enough, the stay-at-home Mom seems to be the one the most excited about this.  That seems odd, don't you think?  I am absolutely certain that my Mom never was as excited as I am about summer coming.

I will foremost acknowledge my mom is an early morning person and I most certainly am not.  School begins very early morning (everyone in this house is up BEFORE 6AM), so the appeal of summer sleeping in is undeniable.  Of course there are those swim practices at 8AM every day for seven weeks, but that still means sleeping in an entire hour...every week day!!!!  So yes, the joy of sleep is definitely some appeal of the summer.

I also need to acknowledge that my mom and I are not living in the same parenting world.  This is going to sound like bragging, but I graduated 8th in my class and my sister was salutatorian.  That means there wasn't a lot of worrying my mom had to do about our school week.  That makes life carefree...I know because I have a very hard working student and I'm so grateful for her efforts.  Unfortunately, I have three kids and only one of those self-reliant students.  With Robert folks, honestly, we are just hoping and praying he graduates.  No, actually that is not "just" what we are doing.  We are nagging, prodding, pleading, cajoling, and sometimes even physically standing over him to get him to do his work.  I have no intention of doing this for the rest of his life and some might say I should let him learn the lesson now.  Sorry, really need this guy to graduate.  He has tools that I believe will allow him to be successful in life, but those tools do not translate into a traditional school setting.  We are cautiously optimistic that trade/skill based school next year will be a big step in the right direction for him.  We are also dealing with some personality traits that I won't publicize, but trust me when I tell you school, and the chromebooks they assign to each child, are not remotely helpful.  I also have to remind Thomas every day, over and over again, to pack his lunch.  Again, just let him forget a few times and he'll learn the hard way, right?  Not particularly.  He is a child prone to fainting, and although he has never been diagnosed with a specific blood sugar disorder, the only times we've ever had an issue is when he hasn't eaten.  To be honest, the kid is so easily distracted that sometimes he flat out forgets to eat.  And those days when it gets packed but left in the fridge? Yep...out the door I go.

The thing is, I really don't mind taking care of my kids and making sure they have what they need.  The tough part about school is the schedule, and the outside forces judging us for not doing "enough".  I get it though.  With all of the rather ridiculous requirements heaped on teachers, they NEED the parents to be actively involved.  If it is so necessary for the parents to be so involved because the teachers are judged by standards the kids can't live up to...maybe there is just something wrong with the entire system????

Regardless, nothing about the system or my kids' needs and personalities is going to change.  Nor am I suddenly going to become a morning person.  And that is why I am so very excited there are only 19 school days left in this school year!