The Last Day of School

    Today is the last day of school, I'm mixed on this one.  Today is the very last day that any student will ever again attend Tweed Hungerford Senior School, or S.H. Connor Public School.  Change is inevitable, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it!  I grew up here, I went to those schools, there was pride in walking my kids into those schools and saying "this was Mommy's school too".  Our community has been selected to receive a brand new school.  To make room for the new school, our old schools will be demolished, it's a little sad.   In the end a school like most things is, well just a thing.
    Today is the last day for two months that I have to hustle to get everything ready for the kids to take to school.  Today is the last day for two months that I have to make sure that I have everything done, or drop what I am doing to pick the kids up from school.  In some ways summer spells out freedom, in other ways it spells out the beginning of a whole pile of new work.
    The thing that I love about the summer is how fluid it is.  There are very few "have to's" in the summer (it's the beauty of being an unpaid stay at home mom).  There is no time line.  I like the care-freeness of it.  I hate routines, and school most certainly does push you into one.  The problem with summer, is that for the first few week I become a tyrant.  The kids are used to every single second of their day being accounted for.  They forget how to just think for themselves.  Because they forget how to come up with their own creative ideas for play, they become bored, which in turns leads to fighting, which leads to yelling and ... punishment.  It takes the first few weeks of summer for the kids to re-learn how to be a fun and carefree kid.
    I say that I want the kids to be carefree, but that doesn't mean that I am hands off for the summer.  I like to try to trick them into learning!   I need to plan out fun inexpensive things for us to do.  In past years we have done "dinners of the world".  This is where we spend the week researching a country, and at the end of the week I make a dinner from that country, I try to make it as authentic as I can.  The kids love it.  I'm not sure about it for this summer though because I think I'm tired of it.  I guess we will have a whole new adventure.
    So now I am wrapping all the school things up, I've just made 30 ice cream sandwiches and need to soon start thinking about taking them to the school.  Teachers gifts have been bagged and taken this morning, all that's left is the noise of some super excited kids, and endless plans for summer... wish me luck!