Coming up for air, finally

School is out for the summer! I didn't know how crazy the last few weeks of school would be. My kids would always come home and tell me, "We're not doing anything." I didn't realize the teachers were running like little hamsters on exercise wheels. At least, that's what I've felt like the past few weeks. We had final exams scheduled on Monday - Wednesday last week, a short schedule (25 min. classes) followed by a barbeque and play day in the afternoon Thursday, and a half-day with an awards ceremony yesterday. Leading up to finals, I wanted to get as much additional information covered in each class as I could, then review for finals. Competing with this plan were several class & club trips which had students missing partial or entire days of school that last week before finals. Hmm -- maybe I do have something to request of the new principal next year. There are so many kids missing school for so many trips like this. The timing was really bad, too. I added 6 points to each Algebra 1 student's final exam score just to make the class average on the test a 75. Ouch. Have I been talking to myself all year?

I'm not really done with the end-of-year wrap up. I'll have to go back in Tuesday (when summer school starts, but I'm not teaching summer school; I need a break!) Grades are turned in, but I have to requisition supplies for next year, and turn in various paperwork.

I am about halfway through a 4-week summer intersession course for my certification. It is a lot of work! Three credit hours in 4 weeks. Very intense. So these past 2 weeks have been doubly busy. Now I get to breathe a little, and maybe even knit. Haven't even touched my knitting in days, and when I have, I didn't get much done.

I did get to attend the Spring Fling hosted by The Loopy Ewe in St. Louis 4 weeks ago. It was a great weekend. I took a sock designing class from Cookie A., and got to visit The Loopy Ewe in person. Fun!

Upcoming events include the kids' birthdays -- my daughter will be 20 on Monday, and my son will be 16 on Thursday. Of course, this will involve taking a driver's test and getting a driver's license. The only problem is that in our rural area, the testing sites are open on weird schedules like the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month, or the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. So we've pinpointed the one place that will be open that day. The only hiccup in the plan is that we'll be in St. Louis for the Stitch n Pitch game on Wednesday evening, and will spend the night there. We'll have to make sure we head home in time to get to the driver's testing place before it closes. That will cut short any shopping time in St. Louis, which will disappoint my daughter, I'm sure. C'est la vie.