School's Out For SUMMER!

[Sherri Tierney]

No more homework, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks...

Today was our last day until August! I tell you, it was bitter sweet. I don't remember being so teary-eyed last year.

My daughter had her 5th grade promotion and she is moving on to middle school next year. It is so hard to wrap my head around having a child old enough to be in middle school. My son is moving on to the 2nd of the 3 attendance centers (we have pre-K - 1st in one building, 2nd - 3rd in another and 4th - 5th in third). My guy will be a 2nd grader next year, so no longer one of the 'little' kids. I've kind of sniffled about that today too. They are just growing up so darn fast!

They are both excited about their new adventures though. My daughter can't wait for middle school (what is the difference between middle school and junior high?.. we called it jr. high where I grew up) and my son is super excited to get to finally go to 'his' school. Back when we had neighborhood elementary schools instead of attendance centers, my daughter attended what is now the 2-3 building. She was there from K through 3rd grade and my son grew up visiting there while I volunteered, attended class parties, etc. He's always considered it his school so he's excited to get to go there.

I have my own new adventure next year. I have a new position at school. I will be the technology aide or 'computer lab teacher' as the kids call it. I'm pretty excited.

Anyway.... here I sit wearing a jacket when it is barely 60 degrees outside. It feels nothing like spring, let alone summer break.. yet here we are! No school/work for 3 months. Woot!

[rach3975]

Congrats! It definitely goes too fast. We've still got a month left, then I'll have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader, and a pre-Ker.

Originally Posted by Sherri Tierney

(what is the difference between middle school and junior high?.. we called it jr. high where I grew up)

When I was growing up, my town switched from a junior high to a middle school the year I moved up to it. Jr high is 7-9th, middle school is 6-8th.

[rachaelsscraps]

Wow, that's so early! We still have a month left too. I sooo can't wait until my son's last day!

[fifilur]

We have a couple of weeks to go before summer break. June 5th is the last day for the pupils, but we teachers still work for about a week after that.

[mariewilcox]

Yay for you! We have a few weeks left - June 13th and Cheyanne will be moving on to 8th grade She can't wait to get out of middle school though because she's getting tired of going to school with the same kids for the past 9 years and is looking forward to meeting new friends and having more diversity within her school community.

My granddaughter will be going into Pre-K - now how the heck did that happen!

And you are lucky to get 3 months off for summer!!! Cheyanne only has 9 weeks and it goes by way too fast!

[MissKim]

Today is my last day with kids. Half day tomorrow and my contract has been fulfilled (until I work 2 weeks in June to test kids for next year).

My middle child will be a senior next year and she's thinking about doing Project Life to document her senior year. Cool, huh? My youngest is going into eighth grade. My oldest will be a college sophomore. They grow and grow and you learn to let go. Easier to have the youngest going into eighth grade than the first.

My kids' district has a 5-6th grade center called the intermediate school and then the 7th-8th grade is called middle school. It seems to me it should be called junior high but I guess when they reconfigured everything (because they built a new high school) they didn't want to change the signs and stationary.

[glumirk]

New England gets out of school sooo late! I think it's all of the breaks. The year I graduated it was a huge deal that the school year went into June because our school was struck by lightening and got partially flooded so they had to start a couple weeks late.

[Milmomma]

We have two days left of school. We usually start in middle August though.

[DawnMarch]

Congrats! I can't wait to be done -- we finish Friday. No more school lunches or "mom, I can't find my shoes!" in the morning.

[chastml]

We have less than a week left. If it weren't for the snow days, the kids would've been out this Friday instead of next Tuesday. We too go back in mid-August and seem to have fewer breaks than other areas.

[Stacey42]

We aren't out until around June 12th, though I have heard the 13th & the 14th due to snowy weather. I suppose sooner or later they will let us know for sure.

They have 10 weeks off, though no doubt the last 2-3 will be taken up with football practice.

My boys will be starting 5th & 4th grade in the fall.

When the elementary school went from k-6, we had a jr high for 7-9 and high school was 10-12. But when they built the new primary school they decided to make it k-2 & regrade the other schools, making the elementary 3-5, creating a middle school for 6-8, & putting the 9th graders in with the high school.

[Sherri Tierney]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

Congrats! I can't wait to be done -- we finish Friday. No more school lunches or "mom, I can't find my shoes!" in the morning.

This is the part I am most excited about!! I will miss working over the summer because I really love my job, but I am tired of having to wake my own kids up every morning and fight to get them ready!

Jr. High vs. Middle School - It is interesting the differences in places. I grew up in Arizona. The elementary school I went to was K-6. Jr. High was 7-9 and High School was 10-12. During my 9th grade year I transferred to a different district (next town over, just a few minutes away) and their Jr. High was 7-8 while High School was 9-12. It's been a long time since I graduated, but now that very same area also has schools that are K-8 along with some other configurations. It seem so strange to me that within the same city there are so many schools set up so differently.

[Sherri Tierney]

Originally Posted by mariewilcox

Yay for you! We have a few weeks left - June 13th and Cheyanne will be moving on to 8th grade She can't wait to get out of middle school though because she's getting tired of going to school with the same kids for the past 9 years and is looking forward to meeting new friends and having more diversity within her school community.

My granddaughter will be going into Pre-K - now how the heck did that happen!

And you are lucky to get 3 months off for summer!!! Cheyanne only has 9 weeks and it goes by way too fast!

I remember that feeling... looking forward to meeting new friends and having diversity. For us it was 7th grade though as we had something like 7 elementary schools come together for jr. high. Then we had 5 jr. high schools come together for high school - in the district I started jr. high in but didn't graduate from. In the district I graduated from there were 4 elementary schools that moved on to one high jr. high and then the one jr. high moved on to high school together.

Here the same kids are together from kindergarten until high school. The only diversity is when kids move in and out of the area. I love this at the elementary level but I'm not quite sure how I feel about it at secondary levels yet. Jr. high was such a great experience for me because it opened my eyes to new friends and new ideas. For my daughter, she will be going with the same kids she has spent the last several years with. I am hoping that having classes with a variety of kids as opposed to being in a single classroom with the same kids for a year at a time will be a good experience for her though. I want her to be able to really find her niche in school. For her, going from middle school to high school won't be much of a transition (besides a new building) because she will be going with all of the same kids. The big difference is that there will be more older kids for her to get to know (and younger ones as she moves up in grades). It won't be until my daughter is in 12th grade and my son is in 9th grade that my kids end up in the same school at the same time. Kind of a strange thought.

[julifish]

We still have two more weeks of school. My oldest is finishing 8th grade this year and moving on to high school next year. I'm in total denial this happening. I'm not ready for this high school stuff!!! Cars, parties, drinking, etc. Gah!!!

My youngest is finishing 5th grade and moving up to middle school. I've been teary the past few weeks thinking about the fact that we're done with elementary school. Middle school is so rough with girls and hormones and all the drama, plus my youngest has an August birthday so she is almost a year younger than everyone else which puts her behind developmentally (puberty) and in her maturity.

We have 10 weeks of summer vacation and it's packed full of things to do from day camp to sleep over camp, a family vacation and trip to grandma's for the girls. The last two weeks we'll use to get everyone adjusted to the new schedules and to do all our back to school shopping. Time moves so much faster when you are an adult - you know what? I don't like that!