Spring break is finishing this weekend, and my children are gearing up for the final sprint to the end of the school year. 9 weeks of putting the finishing touches on whatever it means to be in the 5th and 7th grades: music programs, track meets, final exams, preparations to go to a new school or become the big dogs at the old school.
It may seem like a sprint to the end, but it's a slog getting there. We only have a few days off around Easter, and many of the kids are already checking out on their classes. I would hate to be a teacher this time of year, and on my school bus I know that discipline is likely going to be a problem.
But even as it's a slog, spring is finally peeking through. Today it is 60 degrees and the sky is a beautiful, rich blue, and the long-term forecast calls for some showers here and there but no more of this arctic blast that numbs us and makes my thumbs start to crack. I put my winter coat away the other day, and I do not anticipate having to get it out again for at least eight months. Shoots of grass and weeds and perhaps even flowering plants are starting to break through my dormant yard. Soon I'll have to go out and clean up the lawnmower and spend my evenings (with daylight savings time it's not dark now until almost 7:45pm) out mowing and cutting down the anxious plants that will not rest, even if a drought starts.
I feel for my kids, as I know that they'd much rather be outside on a beautiful day than inside thinking about pre-algebra. But soon the school year will be over, and they'll have all the time in the world to be outside (or, more likely, staring at their phones). And I'll be happy to have made it through to summer as well.
