The Last Day of School--I Think

Rumor has it that today is Jack's last day of school. All I know is I'm to pick him up at the pool at 1:30 after the fifth grade party. Whether that's really the end of it, we'll see. I expect to get an email later in the afternoon from our room parent saying, "Don't forget, tomorrow's a half-day!"

We've had three half-days in a row now. I don't know why that's so irritating, but it is. Why not just keep the kids for an entire day-and-a-half and call it a school year? I would have been happy to have dropped off Jack at school on Monday with his toothbrush and sleeping bag and then come back Tuesday afternoon around 5.

Will was done yesterday. He seemed ready to be shed of first grade. He's had a great year, but he's tired. Both my guys get tired the last few weeks. They look pale. They bicker. I wonder if this is true of home-schooled kids as well? Do they reach a point where they feel like yelling, "Enough already! Can't you see I'm run-down and irritable, and I can't process any more information?"

As always, our summer plans are minimal. A trip to the beach for a week, and that's about it. We'll run up to the mountains a couple of times. Will is doing a lacrosse camp. Jack signed up--much to our amazement--for "Camp Survivor," one of Our Fine School's summer programs, but it was canceled for unknown reasons. The Man thinks maybe one of the camp administrators actually chanced to watch the show "Survivor", upon which the camp is based, and realized, "Hey, this really isn't for kids."

Anyway, Jack now has to pick out a new camp. He's leaning toward Robotics camp, which is what we thought he'd pick in the first place.

I'm pleased to announce that Jack has been placed in pre-Algebra next year. It sounds like about 25% of sixth grade math students go on to pre-Algebra; the rest do a general math course. I don't like to brag on my kids, but if you knew the mathematical gene pool Jack was drawing from--i.e. mine--you'd realize what an accomplishment this is. Actually, there are plenty of people in my family and the Man's who are really good at math, but I feel my badness at math outweighs their gifts to the extent that it's a wonder my children can add simple sums.

We're off to the mountains for a couple of days, so I probably won't post again until early next week, when I should know for sure whether or not the school year is actually over. Stay tuned!