School’s “out” for the summer

Last day of school - a day we usually all look forward to, celebrate, and it usually feels like a small holiday.  This year, well....was just plain old weird.  There really has not been the traditional countdown going on.  We have all sort of lost track of the days, and I was honestly surprised when I started getting the "final week of virtual learning" emails.  The last 2 months have been a mix of oddities and weirdness.  We did not really celebrate.  Quincy finished her year last week.  The 8th grade always finishes up a few days early.  They usually have their graduation, which was a no-go.  She instead turned in a Chromebook and received her diploma while they played the graduation song in the gym.  She was neither sad, nor happy about it.  She is just indifferent about this whole thing.  She has taken it all in stride.  She is finished with junior high, which is hard to believe.  Off to high school she goes!  Maybe.  If they reopen next year! 


Preston finished his year with straight A's.  He was happy to be done with virtual school.  The problem he had with it - he finished all his work the first week.  He decided to just do all of the assignments and be done.  Except they kept wanting him to check in, attend zoom meetings and whatever else, and he was annoyed.  If you have the work done, what is the point?   I understand his view, but they needed to log attendance for the state I am assuming.  He was highly annoyed by this.  After much consideration, and a lot of heart filled discussions, we allowed him to be removed from the gifted program.  Here is my take on it.  When he was young, he was tremendously bored at school.  They did not know what to do with him.  by the time he was in 3rd grade, he was doing junior high level work, and they kept just piling it on, he would finish it, and be bored.  He had teachers who thought the answer would be to have him "help" the other kids, but he resented it and it was not good for him.  Enter the gifted program.  It was awesome and amazing.  He was finally challenged at school.  They gave him projects, outlets, entertained his mind with real world applications for the stuff he was doing.  In other words, he was no longer bored.  He is now taking college level classes, playing sports, participating in a few clubs, and in band.  He is not bored at school anymore.  Gifted became a place where he was just overwhelmed with busy work.  He was not enjoying it, and it was not beneficial to him being annoyed all the time.  So we discussed it and had him removed.  He was so happy with this decision.  He will be taking a full load of classes and if he wants to put in the effort, will be able to graduate high school with his associates degree.  That will be his choice though.  He is kicking around going to tech school, so we will see what he decides.  I still can't wrap my mind around him being done with his freshman year! 

Harper is now finished with 4th grade.  Harper is the one of our kids who was made for quarantine.  She has not complained.  She is not bored.  She has quietly finished all of her assignments with very little help.  She has kept herself entertained, and has not one time asked to go play with friends, or begged to go somewhere.  She was not real excited about having to go to the school at all, even for the 10 minute drop off/pick up time yesterday!  She wanted me to just go for her.  :)  She told me she doesn't mind school, but virtual school is ok too.  She has definitely been easy during this strangeness!  I am thankful for her amazing technical skills.  She was a ton of help with navigating google classroom and some of the other programs. 

And last, but not least, Saige is super excited to be finished with 2nd grade.  She didn't mind online school, but she definitely prefers to go to school and hang out with all her friends.  She has done almost all of her work by herself and loved having the projects and zoom meetings.  That isn't to say she wasn't excited to have summer break.  She is excited about swimming, going to the lake and has multiple other ideas of things we should do, however I am not committing to anything because who knows if we can make it happen or not.  This could be a very interesting summer.  But is any summer ever bad?  I mean...who doesn't love some warm sunshine, chlorine smelling skin, adventures to quiet places, lack of a schedule, popsicles, sprinkler afternoons, and freshly grown produce!  The ball park nachos might have to be made at home, and the field trips may get way more creative, but the sunshine and warm weather will heal our souls and make everything feel happier!