Well,
folks, we have arrived at a very special Hump Day—the one that falls in the
middle of the 36th and final
week of the boys’ academic year. (I’ll just insert a quick but enthusiastic
“Whoo hoo!” for them…okay, back to business…) So you might be wondering what,
exactly, goes on during the last few days before springing the eager students
free for their long-awaited, much-anticipated Summer Break. And the definitive
answer is: um…actually, it’s kind of complicated, and depends on which son
we’re discussing.
You see,
for Derek, Final Exams have begun.
When Riley—whose tests were given last week, and are therefore completely
finished—seemed flabbergasted by this, he exclaimed, “WHY do they do it at the last minute?” Derek himself responded to
this one, with the matter-of-fact explanation: “They know that as soon as exams
are over, no one’s showing up for classes anymore, so they push them back as
far as possible.”
He has a
point, as we’ve figured out from his past two High School years. I remember
when he was a Freshman and trying to convince me that the standard procedure
was for kids to attend only when they had a test to take, skedaddle as soon as
that particular exam block was over—and not show up on the last day of school
AT ALL. Although he’s not prone to telling me whoppers, I admit I was…skeptical about his information. Perhaps
he misunderstood? But no--that’s how
the game apparently runs around here.
So for
those of you keeping score at home, here’s Derek’s super-demanding schedule for the week (which I had to write down, so I could keep it straight
and not yell at him for missing school
in an unauthorized fashion): Monday
morning English exam, walk home afterward; Tuesday off day (more on that in a
second); Wednesday a relatively challenging Human Body Systems test in the
morning and History in the afternoon (meaning he was forced to remain trapped
in the halls of learning for the Entire.
Day. The horror!); Thursday the
dreaded Math assessment in the morning and then…that’s it. As he put it, “Everyone leaves, and it’s just… over.”
(Which would sound fairly dramatic…if
it weren’t delivered in such a mild
tone of voice, accompanied by a nonchalant shrug,
by a teenage boy.)
Back to
Tuesday, when he would have had his 3rd
and 4th period Finals: both of these were A.P. Bio slots (lecture and lab), in which he’d already taken the
test a month ago, so there was literally no need for him to be in class that
day. In fact, his instructor imparted something along the lines of, “I’m not…legally…allowed to tell you to stay home…but I don’t want to take
attendance. And THIS is what we’ll be doing (proceeds to stare into space with a vacant
expression whilst twiddling his
thumbs. Bless his heart--I love this man…you can always count on him to
tell it like it is…). Taking this sage advice, Derek opted to use his time
wisely…sort of…by sleeping in a little, doing some studying….and spending the
rest of his bonus free day hanging out with friends.
Meanwhile,
the Middle School regimen couldn’t be
much more different. First of all, they got all their exam…toil and trouble…out
of the way at the beginning of June, so they could kick back and…honestly, I
don’t know WHAT the heck they’re up to this week. Oh, except the 8th Grade Celebratory Field Trip
happened on Tuesday, when those who chose to participate piled onto charter
buses at the decidedly un-fun hour of 7:30 a.m. for the 2-1/2 hour drive to Carowinds amusement park. There they
would presumably amuse themselves by checking out all the crazy rides, loading up on carnival-type junk food, socializing with their classmates…and hopefully not getting into TOO
much mischief.
When Riley
returned home, 12 hours after being dropped off, he reported that he’d enjoyed
himself…except for one tiny glitch: he
discovered (the hard way) that the rollercoasters
made him nauseous. Oh, dear…it seems
my younger child developed a bit of motion
sickness when he hit puberty.
Well, now we know: small-to-medium-size boats…and
spinning/plunging/twisting thrill rides
are RIGHT OUT. (Eh, I think those are easy enough to avoid…if it ever extends
to automobiles or airplanes, we’re gonna have a problem, though…) Because of
this, he didn’t feel able to eat
anything all day, either, so there goes the whole “stuff yourself with funnel cake” plan that Husband had encouraged
before he left. Oh well…he had a good time with his peeps, and that’s what
counts, right?
Okay, next
up: two solid days of…nah, I can’t even imagine
what they could possibly do to fill 14 hours, to tell you the truth. Clean
out their lockers? Shred old assignments? Help teachers pack up their rooms? Um….grade papers? (Yeah, hopefully NOT!)
Anyway, whatever the adults-in-charge come up with to keep them in check, it
only has to last until Friday morning, when they’ll be experiencing their 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony.
And yes, because his older sibling is
unfettered by any of his own
obligations, Husband and I are making him come,
to support his brother (or, you know, for the purely “you must get out of bed early on your first day of vacation and
sit on hard bleachers for 90 minutes of stuff that will bore you to tears” torture
factor…whatever. Parenting has its privileges…mwah hah hah!).
But that’s
a post for another day (that would be "Friday"—duh!), and my more immediate need is to devise
ways of keeping the boys busy, to
prevent them from falling into the bad
habit right away of frittering
away all of their appealingly empty waking hours. Hmm…there’s ALWAYS laundry to do…they could probably organize
the garage….or I could take it in the
completely opposite direction, and
just JOIN them in their appreciation of leisure.
Heyyy…..NOW we’re talking! We’ll see how that goes…
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