In The Hartland: School's Out for Summer!

Thursday, June 21, 2018

School's Out for Summer!

Well, the long awaited day finally came! School is out! It seemed to take forever for school to end this year because of how late PSD finished up the school year in comparison to other school districts--especially in other states. But, it really is okay because it means that we don't have to go back to school until after Labor Day which is really the end of the summer for me. In addition, we really had a cool and cloudy first two weeks of June which made it easy to keep on sending the kids off to school; however, the summer weather came in with a vengeance last Saturday and we have had temps in the 80s and 90s every day since then! So, we are grateful to be done today.
Overall, the 2017-2018 school year has really been a great year for all three of our children. I feel so blessed and fortunate for how well they are all doing in the classroom environment. Ella, who wouldn't even leave my side in August, managed to establish her independence this Fall and was able to head off to preschool with just a little trepidation. By the end of the school year, she was going to her church class, ballet and swim lessons, and play dates at friends' houses without even blinking an eye. I am so relieved and grateful for the progress that she made this year. She absolutely loved preschool and enjoyed playing with friends and completing her activities and crafts and I am grateful to the four other moms who stuck with the co-op until the end of the year. In fact, we only had one mom cancel (without being able to find another mom to switch with her last minute) the entire year. As successful as the co-op was, I am looking forward to sending Ella off to our beloved, Lutheran preschool this coming fall.
Although Logan really shined in his preK class at the Lutheran preschool last year, I was a little nervous about how he would do going from three morning classes a week to five, full-day classes a week with the switch to Kindergarten this fall. Luckily, he did fabulous and totally thrived in this environment all year long! He excelled at being a focused, hard-working student who always produced quality work. His teacher absolutely LOVED him and chose him to receive the "Most Responsible" award for the first trimester awards assembly. He was placed by the most talkative student in class for the first several months of the school year because of his ability to stay so focused while completing his work. In addition, he was hand's down the most amazing artist in class. His neat and perfect coloring received much praise from his teacher, other parents, and his peers throughout the year.

Lia continued to be the naturally wonderful student that she has always been since preschool. She continued to be polite, obedient, respectful, focused, and hard working all year long. Once again, her teacher loved her and Lia loved her back. Lia was placed in a class with some of her closest friends (who she has been in the same class for three years in a row) and loved heading off to school every day. She continued to be a crazy, avid reader and averaged 2-3 chapter books a week all year long. If it weren't for the public and school libraries, this girl would have driven us into debt by now with how many books we would have needed to buy her on a regular basis. Since she took a computer, AR test for most of the books she read this year, we were able to find out that she read almost 4 million words by June! Talk about an amazing kid and an amazing accomplishment!

So, overall, it has been a great school year and I am so proud of our kiddos. However, I am so ready for a break from the daily rush and roar of getting the kids off to school in the morning and all of the busy afternoons and evenings full of activities. It is time to just be free of responsibilities and play, play, play in the sand, sun, and water. Bring on summer!