No More Pencils! No More Books!

My kids are done school in two more days and I'm figuring out the logistics of childcare for the next two months. I'm not sure if I'm AS excited as they are to see the end of Grade 2 - but I think it might be close. Don't get me wrong. The Wonder Twins were very happy Grade 2 kids this year.

I loved how much they loved their "madam" - she was engaging and encouraged them to achieve goals. When you compare the attitudes of the kids last year (read: NOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't WANT to go to school on a daily basis) vs this year (Madam says we're going to [insert activity here] today to help us with our math), I know their experience was a pretty fantastic one. That said, the daily grind of waking up early (really early for my kids - I bring them to work with me for 7:30) and getting everyone dressed with brushed hair and teeth etc. is um... overdone. I'm ready to not worry about reading all 4 books for a total of 30 minutes each per kid, making sure the "plan a travail" is done, asking them to count by 2, 5, 10, 100 while asking math questions at traffic lights and/or when they're trying to tie their shoes.*

This Mom, Jen Hatmaker, writes a blog I have only recently discovered, and she is my new favourite person.  There is a recent entry where she laments lunches and dials in the required reading time. This woman is a professional writer that I imagine takes things like reading very seriously - and for her to tell the rest of us that she has officially gone on "summer vacation mode" makes me think it might just be okay if the rest of us have done so on occasion as well.

I wrote (and did not publish) a whole crankypants blog post the other day about how I'm obviously not as organized and/or fantastic as some of the other moms out there who have time for all the activities and who create flowcharts to track progress and award stickers made from organic glue and sparkles they made by mincing natural rock formations in their Vitamix blenders - but it was a little too bitter and I'd hate for you to think I weren't a sunshine and lollipops kind of girl. Suffice to say, I'm glad to be done for the summer - and while I understand we'll have to reintroduce school-type activities soon, I'm going to let my kids be on vacation for a few weeks...

*I discovered the other day that my kids don't know how to tie their shoes. It is a skill they didn't master because I never bought them shoes with laces. I'm fairly certain there's a special place in hell for parents like me.