Saturday, June 09, 2007

School's Out For Summer

School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Out for summer
Out 'til fall
We might not go back at all

School's out forever
School's out for summer
School's out with fever
School's out completely

–Alice Cooper

Thank you, Alice. And, thank you to all the teachers who pulled Wizard through this school year. You recognized his brilliance and excused his laziness time and time again. This didn't teach him to be organized or self-motivated, but maybe he'll learn external motivation next year in middle school.

FYI, Wizard found the postcards he lost and completed the novel project. He turned in the last paper to his Language Arts teacher the last day of school. She accepted it, but she may not give him credit for it. She's a big talker and threatened to give him a zero, but I think she's a softie and will give him partial credit.

Wild Thing had a good year in second grade. He is an average to above average student, but he works hard. He thrives on positive reinforcement. His teacher pulled him through the math program, so he completed the program with the rest of the class. WT proudly showed me his certificate of completion of the math program. I can already see, however, that we are going to have to review and review all his basic math facts this summer. He just doesn't retain things unless they are drilled into his head. WT is now a good reader and is motivated to read more fiction than before. He still prefers non-fiction books about the human body, but at least he's interested in adventure novels now. Reading will have to be a daily assigned activity now, too.

Moose had a marvelous year. He flew to the head of his class and soared over all their heads. He is now reading at a second grade level, with vocabulary words into fourth and fifth grade lists. His comprehension is good, too. I'm going to start him on simple chapter books this summer. Magic Tree House books would interest him but the reading level might be a little advanced. Does anyone have any suggestions? We have successfully avoided the Captain Underpants books, and I'd like to keep them out of this house. The boys are vulgar enough! Moose is anxious to do his summer packet and get it over with. I just might let him do it. He is motivated enough that every activity can be used to teach him. He even remembers math facts that Wild Thing doesn't.

Next week, we're going to spend time digging out everyone's room: closet, bookshelf, dresser, etc. I'm going to throw out most of WT's and Moose's toys because they don't put them away. I need to get caught up on all their laundry, too. Because Moose and WT keep each other up at night, I may move them both into the playroom on the first floor – their bedrooms are currently on the second floor – so we can monitor them and force teach them to go to bed on time each night instead of running around playing.

Once we get the house under control, then I'll put them into camps. I may try to take them up to the Kennedy Space Center for a week and put Wizard and WT into the day camps there. It would give me and Moose some time together. I could also visit my dear friend, Boatman, who lives nearby.

In the meantime, it's been a fun weekend so far. After classes ended, and we ran some errands for WineGuy (a whole, other, ugly story), we went to see the new movie, "Surf's Up". It was cute, but not as good as last year's "Happy Feet," which I adored. We had dinner out and then attended Sabbath services with Rabbi Z, whom our congregation just hired. For the first time in eons, I felt that spirit and joy as I sang with the small group. Rabbi Z is aware that the group needs to grow to survive; he asked us to remember this first night so that when the group is too large to converse freely with the rabbi during services (from his mouth to G-d's ears!) we will recall our small and humble beginning. Amen, Rabbi Z, amen.

Today, we all went to a barbeque and swim party at another physician's house. It was hot as Hades, but the shade and the pool were cool. We had a late lunch and then came home. I was ready to lie down for a nap when WineGuy proposed we go to the new county waterpark around the corner. The waterpark just approved a flat-fee family pass, which is a great deal. So, we dashed to the park, filled out the forms, got our cards and raced into the waterpark. It was the end of the day, and it wasn't too crowded. Wizard and WT immediately ran off to the giant waterslides and such. I was Moose's chaperone. We had a great time floating down the lazy river together. He dictated where we went and what we did. He was brave enough to climb on to the low diving board and the giant waterslide. Moose was not ready to take the plunge from either, but I was proud of him for trying and facing his fear. However, he did dive right into the deep pool and swim to me. WineGuy just sat reading in a lounge-chair the whole time. Afterwards, we had dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. The boys were exhausted, but not enough to get right into bed. I am finally tired now, too.

Who knows what adventures tomorrow and the rest of the summer will bring? I just need enough sleep to be ready for them. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

4 comments:

MLL said...

Happy Summer!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your summer!! If you want books for Moose to read, try Nate the Great or Cam Jansen. They are great books for early readers. They have a plot, story elements, helps with inferencing and other skills for comprehension.
What is Wildthing's favorite fiction title? Has Wizard continued to read the Charlie Bone books?
*hugs* all around!
Anne
p.s. let me know if you plan to head this way--I would love to see the kids (and you).

Sock Girl said...

Enjoy summer! (Ours doesn't start for another few weeks!)

Kel said...

my goodness
you guys sure know how to pack a whole lot of fun into a weekend
i'm exhausted just reading it