School's out!

It was a busy final week of school, a busy weekend and I'm finally getting around to recapping it. I had basically given up all hope that my sinus headache would ever completely go away, but Tuesday, after 8 days of headache, it was just gone. No more neti pot or allergy meds. Easy come, easy go. Thank goodness!

Kaylin had a great first year of middle school. Her attitude was excellent, her drive was amazing, her grades were excellent. I was very disappointed in the school system for wasting the third quarter drilling the kids for state achievement tests, but sadly, when the bulk of the funding is based on test scores, what can they do? Kaylin was completely burned out by the end of the year, but after a rough third quarter she brought her grades back up and finished the year as the top math student and a top student overall. It was an absolutely shocking change from her lazy, disorganized 4th grade year and I'm very proud. I definitely think we made the right decision to keep her out of the gifted school and its huge amount of extra work and allow her to figure out on her own what she's capable of if she gives a little effort.

Logan had a rough start to 2nd grade and was having an especially hard time with reading. His teacher scared me at his first conference with words like intervention. I freaked out for a couple of weeks before realizing my kid just didn't realize reading is important. I sat him down, told him how important reading actually is and in no time he was up to level. Suddenly everything clicked. Rather than spending HOURS memorizing spelling words, spelling just made sense. We'd go over his spelling list ONCE on the way to school Friday morning and other than the occasional tricky word, he easily got them right. Spelling and reading went from completely frustrating and hugely time consuming to nearly effortless. What a relief! Logan got the "Most Improved Reader" award in his class. I couldn't be more proud!

Summer baseball started this week. This is Logan's final year of Coach Pitch and he's loving it. He takes his baseball VERY seriously, is very focused and aware of all the rules. He knows how to cover other players and knows where to throw the ball. One of the other moms came up to us at Saturday's practice and complimented us on Logan's focus. She played softball her whole life and was working with her son to get him focused, etc. How did we do it? Um, HE did it. I seriously doubt you can teach your kid to love rules. Logan loves baseball and practices constantly. If he's not playing, he's watching games and observing what the pros do so he can imitate it. Gene and I just hope that all his practice and love of the game somehow make up for his extreme genetic disadvantage. :)

Kaylin's in her 2nd session of ceramics. This class is her perfect mix of art and mess. She loves it. I sort of hope that next session she goes back to drawing or tries painting because she is allowed to make unlimited stuff. I think two sessions worth of ceramic cups and pitchers and tiles and puzzles and STUFF will be plenty for a while! Or maybe she can get volume out of her system and work on quality over quantity?

Camp Zone starts today and I still have to label all the sun block and hand sanitizer and beach towels and extra outfits and pack the backpacks. Ugh. I also have to fill out the in case of emergency paperwork. I better get on it!