Why can't the summer come sooner?

Tom looked at my today like I was a crazy woman. "I think I want to pull the kids out of school and just be done for the year." We still have two weeks of school left, and I'm good to go for the year. I told him that there are a ton of cool things to do around here, and I was done with the whole schedule thing. Apparently I do this every year (see my post below). Last year, same time, and here I was complaining that that the summer couldn't come fast enough. And it didn't help that today it was a whopping 99 degrees outside. It hovered above 90 degrees for a good chunk of the day, and all I could think about was the pool. Yes, the pool is open, but mostly on the weekends. It opens at 3pm until school lets out, and by then it's almost too hot to get out of the house. But tomorrow, providing everyone is healthy (we had one kiddo home sick today) we are hitting the pool. Hot is just hot, no matter how you cut it, and I believe that anyone will agree, even my loving husband, that 99 degrees counts as hot.

June 10, 2010

Why can't the summer come sooner?

I have four kids, three of whom are in school. What I really mean to say is that three of them are in school still. It seems that our summer doesn't start until halfway INTO the summer - at least it feels that way some days. It now is staying light until well past 8pm, our typical bedtime, so the kids are still wide awake well past then. The sun rises at the crack of dawn as well, so naps (for me and the little one) are definitely on tap as my kids get up way to early for my taste. But crazy hectic school, sports, and extra-curricular schedules generally prevent any late afternoon naps from happening. And all of those cool summer activities that I remember from childhood? Well, they've already started and we still have two full weeks of school left.

This means that we don't get to participate in some of those cool activities, like swim team. Granted, the little boys aren't quite ready, but my oldest might have been had there been a day (or four) for him to practice with the team. But ongoing school and extracurricular activities still occupy those precious after school slots, so there's no room for swim team. There are other things that I'd like to be doing as well with my days, but it seems that we are not quite done with our required 990 hours/180 days of school yet. (Yes, the really do count that way depending on the year and weather, and this year wasparticularly bad).

I guess the worst part about this time of year is that it feels like it should be summer break. This means that my kids are acting like it's summer break - giving up on any semblance of good behavior left in their little bodies. They did well behaving all year - followed directions, did what they were supposed to do, but their little wills to behave have finally broken. They are turning in those ugly, nasty little summer cretins - like caged animals trapped in school kid bodies. This is easily fixed with some running around, boredom, pool time, bicycles, you name it. But we can't do any of those things because we're still in school. And you know that the teachers know this too.

I'm sure it's one thing to wrap school up in May, like loads of other places do, and then deal with those end of school wigglies. But not here in Fairfax County, and we have the good Kings Dominion law to thank for that. We can't start school here until AFTER Labor Day. This means that this year, and next year, (and many other years for that matter) we start the second week of September, and run through the end of June. This law has been around since 1986 and thanks to the lovely folks at King's Dominion, some state legislators, and a bunch of people who don't have MY best interests at heart, we go to school until all 180 of those days pass. And that's late June once again this year.

So here I sit on a beautiful, albeit slightly rainy afternoon, wondering when the summer will come, or when we will all be on a year round school schedule with much more reasonable breaks.

This is an original DC Metro Moms post. When Suzie isn't mourning the loss of her favorite season, she's blogging over at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman.