School Ending = Glory Glory Hallelujah!… Homework (and packed lunches) Ending!

{homework toward the beginning of the year: I’m there on the other side of the counter, focused, and with a large coffee!}

Tomorrow is the last day of school. The end of 3rd grade and kindergarten for us. And it isn’t even a real last day, because it is only a half-day, and it is only “closing ceremonies.” I often feel quite melancholy about the bambinos’ last day of school, but not this year. This year, I am feeling nothing but happy giddy excitement about it. We are ending this year on a high note, we’re all feeling awesome about how this school year went, and we’re all looking forward to an adventure-filled summer.

And… importantly… this was our first year of serious, hard-core, real homework. And I could not be happier about taking a nice long break from that for awhile. Holy cow, I don’t know how people who homeschool do it. I just know I could never do it. Homework (i.e., our kids’ homework) doesn’t come easily for me. And homework (i.e., their own homework) doesn’t come easily for the bambinos (sitting still at home doing anything doesn’t come easily for Kyle and Owen, and Meera would much prefer to just play play play play play — if it were up to her she’d never do any school work).

But we made it through together. And, as much as I hate homework (and actually, philosophically oppose it for kids younger than high school; seriously), I do have to admit that it was quite the bonding experience for us. It came with the package of our new school, and it was something we knew we’d have to get on board with when we signed on. Especially for Kyle and Owen, homework this year was symbolic of the transition to a new, much more academically rigorous, much more serious and intense academic environment. This is what they wanted — they wanted a school like that. And they got it. Homework was the sort of direct and tangible expression of that at home.

In the beginning of the year, homework was very painful. K & O had a ton of catch-up to to do get on-track with where the other kids at this new school were. They were very far behind, and there was a lot of hard work required just to get through homework each day. Some tears were shed (mostly by me). But by mid-way through the year, K & O were pretty much caught-up and on-track and homework became easier and less painful. By the end of the year, homework was pretty much a breeze, and they were doing it almost entirely independently.

I am so proud of how hard these guys worked (all three of them — but K & O especially). And I am really pleased by the fact that this year was a resilience-building year for them. Homework was just symbolic of it, but they learned that their hard work sometimes really does pay off, and that perseverance can get them through. That made them stronger, I am sure.

Still, I’m not sad (at all!) to see homework go away for a couple of months! In fact, I’m thrilled about it! Glory glory hallelujah the homework is done!

{above: homework toward the middle of the year. note that I’m sitting with them, grading papers while they do their homework}

{below: homework toward the end of the year. note that I’m unpacking lunches, texting on my phone, but… still… drinking a large coffee!}

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I am, however, a little tiny bit weepy about the fact that our kindergartener is just about done with kindergarten. There is something about moving to first grade that just seems… well… huge. Still, though, I’m nothing but ecstatic about her, too, being done with homework for the summer. Even though it was relatively very little homework, and even though there is not much more darling than watching a little person learn to read, I’m happy to have a break from Meera’s homework too.

{seriously, she is adorable with her little finger pointing diligently at each word as she sounds it out. seriously, she is just plain adorable}

{above: whoops! We didn’t get her homework done the night before! that’s the worst: trying to get the homework done during the morning mania mad rush. on this rarest of days, big brother pinch-hit and took one for the team to get her through that homework}

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In related news: I packed the last trio-of-school-lunches for the year last night! Now THAT is really something to celebrate!

{note: yes, that’s a glass of red wine in the photo below. yes, I often try to prep the lunches the night before. yes, often at midnight. yes, I have carefully calculated it and I estimate that I made the bambinos approximately 540 packed lunches this year. and yes, a glass of wine makes all that lunch-packing a tad bit less painful}

Cheers tonight to all those care-givers out there who are celebrating the end of the school year! We deserve at least a couple of glasses of wine tonight my friends!