End of the School Year Ramblings.
We have one week of finals before the school year ends. Like most parents, I am burnt out and ready for summer vacation. My boys started finals before my daughter and technically I will have had three weeks of finals when we are finished. My oldest in the 10th grade has two weeks and a half of finals with only one day break in the middle. I know he is also exhausted.
I have no plans for the summer at the moment. I think completing the renovation is more than enough.
I am done with super early mornings. (School starts at 6:30 am here because we need the school day to end before it’s too hot and to help minimize traffic (an impossible task in the capital) My kids go to two different schools so they have to leave earlier to make it in time before their first class starts.
I am done with school projects, school activities. No more creative lunch ideas. Though I confess I haven’t been very creative this past year. I’m done with school pickups and the occasional drop offs when my youngest is feeling a little grumpy.
I am done with school activities, homework, research and exams. My kids are older and more dependent on themselves, I just check on their progress and occasionally help with something or another. Usually providing materials for projects.
I know I will soon miss the structure school gives the day. I will try to keep bedtimes early (though that gets harder as they grow older) I know I will miss my quiet mornings and the chance to nap, to go on errands without feeling guilty for leaving the kids at home or taking them with me and boring them with my mom errands.
I will try to make sure we do fun activities together, have time to read, write and do something educational. I have a summer bucket list that I used to do with my kids when they were younger. That was before my youngest was born. I’m not sure my two middle boys remember much either. I’ve discussed making a new bucket list. My kids have been a little enthusiastic but of course they want to choose the activities themselves. We will need to sit and work on that after finals. I still have my old list which I will post later and link the activities I found on line.
My 6th grader told me they were having a class breakfast on Thursday. My response; why? I have zero energy left for any activities.
My daughter and her friends all have to change schools next year because the school doesn’t have a 9th grade. Apparently, they don’t have a license for middle school. My daughter has been going to the same school since she was 3! All my kids have studied in this school. It’s been an emotional week with my 4-year-old finishing school and going to his class room for the last time. The same classroom that 3 other children studied in. The school has been open for 12 years. We have been a part of it for 11! When we walked into the class room for the last time we got a little emotional. I’ve been a part of this school for so long. We will miss it and everyone there.
Changing schools is hard for the kids and the parents. Even my 4-year-old told me he didn’t want to change schools. My daughter and her best friends have been trying to convince their parents to put them in the same school. Easier said than done. Each parent has their own standards for what school their child goes too. The school we picked is farther than her current school but is a branch of the school. She will have a different principal and teachers, she knows only three students so far, but it’s a similar environment, I know the elementary school principal and she speaks high praise of the middle school and Highschool principal. Her twin daughters moved with her at the beginning of the school year (they are my daughter’s age) It seems like a good educational environment. We’ve researched, asked around, prayed and made our decision. Praying it is for the best.
This makes the end of this school year hard; my daughter doesn’t want her time with her friends to end at school but she is also tired of school and exams and needs a break. She will still speak to her friends and meet up with them, but it won’t be the same seeing them every day. Especially since they’ve been together since kindergarten and the first grade!
I helped her make gift boxes for her three best friends and they are having a gift exchange on Sunday. I know it’s going to be hard. Friends are everything at her age. I hope they keep in touch despite changing schools. I know how important having a good friend is.
As the school year comes to an end and I reflect on how much my kids have grown. Hopefully learned and accomplished. I know we all deserve a break. They have worked hard and done well and I am proud them. I have done my best to be helpful and supportive while I juggled my many responsibilities and health issues.
I think as the school year ends, it was a good year. Not amazing but good. I now have two middle schoolers, my youngest will be in kindergarten next year, a year away from elementary school. My oldest has two more years until he graduates high school ad moves on to college inshallah. How time flies!
I know too soon, they will have grown and moved on to college and jobs and have their own families and I won’t have this end of school year burn out. I know I will miss them. I try to cherish every phase of life as a mother. I know its ok to feel burnt out now, to be glad school is coming to an end and to enjoy the lazy days of summer. (well, as lazy as possible with 5 kids and a renovation project to oversee.)
I will try to give them as much time as I can, do fun activities, have friends over, and make the most of our hot Riyadh summers.
I know by the end of the summer, I might actually look forward to the new school year. That’s ok too.