Not so panicked about the last day of school

Yesterday was the last day of school. I wasn't as terrified of school finishing as I've often been in the past.

Possibly because gradually, ever so gradually, my boys are less demanding. It's not that I don't like to spend time with them (but 24-7 for 11 weeks is a bit much, especially when

they were younger).

But also, though I may look like a Stay At Home Mum, I'm really am more like a Work From Home Mum. I only work part-time, and don't have a time-based salary, which makes my time very flexible. However it doesn't mean that I can put my work down for the 11 weeks of school holidays we've just entered. Much of my work continues.

A blog is a useful record of some past events, I've just read through the list of things I still had pending at this time last year. The list is similar this year, though I'm a little further along in some things. Interestingly we had very little end-of-school class activities and none of these sorts of emails:

You know, "We've decided to do a special book for the teachers, please have your child draw an amazing multi-coloured picture with some special words of thanks for the teacher and have it to us yesterday." (I exaggerate, but you get the idea.)

Another reason why I'm not feeling so panicky this year, is that both our younger boys will be gone for five days next week at a summer camp, leaving me with more spare time than I'll know what to do with. After our experience of them both going to Soccer Camp in

Here's another reason not to be too scared about
holidays this year: the boys are still somewhat obsessed
by this game our eldest got an extension for on his birth-
day a couple of weeks ago.

March, we know how weird it is without their presence in the house for days at a time. Next week will be weird, no doubt about it, but it will be good for finishing up things before we leave for our great Hokkaido Adventure next Sunday (23rd).

These first few days after school finishes have been panic-inducing in the past because my boys aren't fabulous with transition. And the sudden change from a highly structured school day to a relatively unstructured holiday-day is hard on us all.

Additionally I'm married to a teacher. A teacher in the American system that believes in doing exams right up to the very last day of school. So these days following all the students going on holidays is very busy at school with marking and reports. In fact David works at school right up to the end of next week, doing all variety of things, including, I'm sure, preparation for the next school year. We work well as a team, so parenting on these difficult transition days without him around has been tough in the past. Thankfully we're past most of those days as the boys grow, but I'll still be happy to have him on holidays too and seeing him get the rest that he needs after an intense year.