Last Day of School

Today is Jacob's last day of third grade. Since I no longer work outside the home I sort of feel like I'm about to start my summer vacation, too. I get to say goodbye to nightly homework struggles, frantic backpack packing, brown bag lunch making, bedtime battles and having to practically blast a grumpy, sleepy nine year old out of bed. The long, lazy days of summer are about to begin for us: sleeping as long as we like, hot afternoons at the local pool, dinners on the patio and lots of movies at night. We can eat lunch when we want and read what we want.

Despite all the fun, it's a little sad too. Jacob is over halfway through with elementary school. In fourth grade the students start getting letter grades. There won't be anymore stars and smiley faces next to the "percentages" on Jacob's papers, only big red letters. Fourth grade seems so much more serious than third. Jacob will turn 10 in the middle of the school year and I'll have two kids with double digit ages. There are only two more years until Jacob will enter the big bad world of Middle School. At that point crayons (remember how much fun it was to get a brand new 64 pack of Crayola crayons?) will be replaced with ball point pens on the school supply list and I'll be buying shoes and clothes for a preteen. Somehow I don't think getting a middle schooler ready for "back to school" will be as much fun as it is getting an elementary schooler ready.

But I'm not going to let myself get hung up on all that now. Summer's here! It's time to get out the sunscreen, the sidewalk chalk, and all the fun books we've been saving to read. It's time to make plans for museum visits and to think about what to do on rainy days and those days when I hear the dreaded words, "Mom, I'm bored." It's time to relax and have fun.