joy and panic

So. I took out the calendar this morning and just took a look at the upcoming events in the Wold Household to get a handle on the week ahead. Just out of curiosity I began to count the actual days of school remaining in this year. Are you ready for this??

36.


Now if you're a "layperson" in the education field, this may not matter much to you. For those of us in the throngs of 4th grade, kindergarten, high school biology or middle school English...you get it. 36 days. 36 days. 36 days.

36 days to finish your last 2 US regions, states and capitals. 36 days to finish the last 2 units of math. 36 days to teach persuasive writing. To make sure all those kids who are still writing incomplete sentences are ready for 5th grade writing! To get those who still don't know their multiplication facts motivated to practice them! 36 days to reach that kid who so far this year seems...unreachable. 36 days to inspire that kid who never reads, only page-turns a book, to find a book or an author that interests her. 36 days. Panic.

36 days until we can be home with our children and get to be the ones who spend the days with them. 36 days until I can play in my garden and read books to my heart's content. 36 days until we can stay in our pjs until lunchtime if we want to. 36 days until we know our Brazil friend is on her way home to us. 36 days until the kids have my undivided attention, and I have theirs. 36 days until camping trips, bonfires, lightning bugs, long walks, popsicles, and bare feet the come inside black and green on the bottom from grass and dirt. 36 days. Joy.

In reality, out of those 36 days are last field trips, field days, assemblies, special readers, a few early dismissal days, memory scrapbooks and picnics. Our 36 days quickly dwindle down to maybe 28 days...and in perfect Seinfeldian (I may have just invented that word) style...our 36 days just became, really, like 28. Really...it's only like 4 weeks of school left until summer break.

Joy. And Panic. :)