School

School is just around the corner. Next week, Wednesday, to be exact. Most parents I know are jumping for joy at the beginning of school. I am not one of those parents. I have always detested the start of school. Perhaps it is more accurate to say I detest the end of breaks. Now, before you shake your head in disbelief, I do enjoy moments away from our kids. I love dates with Shane, I love going to "mom coffee" with a friend, spend time with my mom or Julie. However, overall, I want my kids home with me. I resent that a teacher gets to spend over six hours a day with MY kids. They have more waking hours a day with teachers than they do with us during the week. How? Cassandra and Savannah don't get off the bus until 4:10 and 4:40. Dinner at 5:30, homework, showers, AR reading time...bed at 8 (for 2) and 9 (for 2) because everyone wants time for "netflix" or playing on their tablet. That...sucks ass. Griffin and Alyssa get home earlier which is awesome but still, not a lot of time with all that you have to do in an evening.

School is a crappy interruption.

Don't get me wrong, I love our schools. I LOVE our teachers. I should, right? If that person is going to get all that extra time with my kids...I better love them. I better treat them right because they have the most important people in my life sitting in a chair in their classroom all day long. They watch out for them, hug them, console them when they miss me. They put up with ME asking questions, volunteering, sharing things with them that they'd probably rather not know... and more!!

Why do I love having them home? I love the organized chaos. I love being able to hang out with them, tell them what to do ;) play, go places, listen to them play together, argue, sleep. I love all those things. Even the irritating parts are worth it because the time we get together is so short. The one thing there is never enough of is time.

Cassandra is now in 8th grade, Savannah is in 6th, Griffin in 4th and Alyssa in 1st. We stand on the cusp of big changes. Alyssa will now be at school all day (DO NOT get me started or I will cry all over the laptop), Cassandra loves to remind me "only one more  year til high school!!"  Savannah is in her last year at middle school. Griffin is at his last year of elementary school. I've said it before and I'll say it again, where does the time go? How on earth does it go so fast?

Now, for those who will say "why don't you home school?" I have thought of it, believe me. If I thought I could pull it off, I would. Here is the thing though, all joking aside..my kids are awesome. People tell me this, strangers tell me this, food servers tell me this. How could I keep so much awesome boxed up at home? How do I teach them to cope with people they don't like, people who hurt their feelings and so on if they are never out among those people. I can't protect them from every asshole in the world, as much as I want to. They have to learn how to stand up for themselves, be their own person, make mistakes, work as a team and more. As much as I hate to say it, school is good for them and they are good for school. You can also bet that is the one and only time I will ever admit that in writing ;) HA!

So this coming Wednesday, you know where I'll be. Dropping 4 kids off at 3 schools. Taking pictures, with a brave (fake) smile on my face just until I get them all to their respective drop off points so that I can sit in the parking lot and utterly lose my marbles with a good cry. The smile they see at the bus stop to pick them up will be the real deal <3 p="">