Final Days of School

We are charging through the final days of school.

I can hardly wait.

I am ready to be done.

A homeschooler at heart, I look forward to the last day of school all year.  This is not because I don't like our parish school or because I dislike learning.  I just love having my kids home, teaching them myself and learning alongside them, soaking up a routine that works best for our family, beholden to fewer outside demands. Plus, by the end of the year, we are all in need of some School of the Home. We may have forgotten a few of our manners, we may need some time to focus on our treatment of others (hello, Fruits of the Spirit), our chores may need some brushing up, and we may just need a bit more space to explore other activities, other interests.  Yes, the Summer School of the Home is a blessing.

But before we get there, we have to get through these last two weeks, and let me tell you, I am sliding across the End-of-the-Year-Finishline on the fumes of Grace.  Recently, a friend sent me this archived blog piece by Jen Hatmaker entitled, "Worst End of School Year Mom Ever," and I found myself on the floor with laughter because it hit a little too close to home.  The school schedule is bursting with end of the year celebrations, field trips, out of uniform days, cold lunch demands, full days for E-Bear, special requests and chaos in general.  The normal routine is totally discarded, uniforms are out grown, and each day there are about a dozen out of the ordinary things that must be remembered for each child.  To top it all off, my body is just not able to keep it all together, currently gestating at 34 weeks.  So recently, when my sweet G-Bear came to me and confessed that her tennis shoes had holes in them and the laces had snapped so that she could no longer tie them, all I could muster was a pathetic, "Do you think you could get through 2 more days of gym with them?  I promise you can wear your sandals everyday in the summer."  Because really, holes or no holes, laces or no laces, when are we going to find time in this gauntlet schedule to buy new tennis shoes, which are sure to be outgrown when she puts them on again in the fall?  

Please, Lord, by a miracle, get us to the end of school!

But, be encouraged, time marches on.  The end of school is in sight.  No one stays pregnant forever.  Bring it on!

Happily Ever,

Queen B