Is it summer break yet?

   I am of the opinion that school should let out for summer break the Friday before Memorial Day. After that date, we are all pretty burnt out and struggle to make it through our day to day operations. And what exactly are they doing in school for those last two weeks anyway?

   Two days of the last two weeks, my daughter had two hours of homework to be turned in the next day. Seriously, this is fourth grade! It felt like a flash back to earlier in the year. In a previous post I noted that they had run out of time in class and sent work home. Some of this was "busy work" and took time without actually teaching. My respect for homework has long since run out this year and I could have cared less if she cut out the little papers and glued them neatly in order on a second piece of paper. And how exactly was I supposed to help my daughter with her math homework? They ran out of time in class and the teacher said her parents could help her at home to figure out the volume of cones and pyramids. Yeah, cause I build pyramids in the back yard all the time and have the formula at the tip of my tongue. Again, we seem to have no math book. Thank heavens for the internet. What did parents do before the world wide web? Still other days, there seemed to be no homework due to class trips and school events. Not enough time to cover subjects in school?

   This year we had to make up four days of the school year due to inclement weather during the winter. Otherwise, the students and teachers would lose four days of learning opportunities. During the last four days there was movie day, clean out your locker day and clean out your desk day. Granted, they did finish up a few projects, such as talk to the younger grades about what to expect in the next grade and finish the group project on simple machines in science. They also had a spelling bee, which my daughter greatly enjoyed. So that was worth it, although they ran out of time to finish the bee.  Is it me, or are we starting to see a time theme here?

   On the home front, things were getting pretty loose as well. When I ran out of fruit one morning, I substituted by packing two cookies instead. What? Don't kids like cookies? On cooler days, setting out outfits the night before consisted of finding a pair of jeans that were not too short and a top to go with them. I don't think anyone with kids shops for pants this time of year. Soon it will be too freaking hot to wear them and by the time fall comes around, kids will have outgrown everything anyway. We still manage to get the bus stop before the bus does.

   I was flooded with relief yesterday when I packed the last school lunch of the year. We were both so overjoyed when she stepped off the bus that afternoon that it took twenty minutes before we unloaded her back pack to review what she brought home - like her report card and school registration materials. Of course, there were all the unused school supplies that she brought home, as well as lightly used school supplies, such as the spiral bound notebook that she needed for reading. They used ten whole pages. There was also a 24 pack of crayons, never opened, and brand new markers, erasers and pens that had never seen the light of day. I was too happy that summer had started to be irritated that there was still an unopened pack of lined loose leaf notebook paper from her locker.

   While she went out back to play in the sunshine, I looked over the registration schedule and school supply list for next year. PTO offers a school supply box that you can purchase that will include all the supplies they will need for next year for the low cost of $30. Or I can just pull out the ten pages from the spiral bound notebook used this year, repack her book bag with all the unused stuff from last year and buy a new three ring binder and some post it notes. What to do? My brain is too fried to deal with this just now, so I think I will ponder it over the summer and make my decision next fall.

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   Happy summer everyone!