Another School Year Done

It was late this year...summer vacation. Not only the weather (we do live in the Netherlands, after all), but school went this year until July 20th. I think that's a good 6 weeks or more after I started seeing all the postings on facebook from my state-side friends.

Little Man really felt it this year, too. Group 3 is full of daily work in all subjects, much less playtime or free time then last year - these are full days, and it took the first couple of months for Little Man to hit his stride and get into the swing of ''real'' school. It only gets more intense from here.....

When I compare it to the US what strikes me about the school systems here is that while the work done at school is pretty intense, there is as yet no concept of home work. Outside of school, kids are free to play, do sports, clubs, etc.....be kids. There are exercises sent home with the kids on the last day of school to keep kids from having the ''dip'' that comes from being out of school for 6 weeks, but it more about encouraging behavior such as writing free association poems, small stories, practicing time tables, etc.....all journal style rather than only doing worksheets.

He's grown so much!

As long as it took this year to roll around, and as short as it can sometimes feel,  I also overall really do like that the breaks here are spread out. It's not 3 months summer vacation (although 6 weeks can really fly by!) - but 6 weeks in Summer, a week in fall, 2 weeks at Christmas, a week between Feb and March, another week at the end of April/May and a week usually in June. I think it works out that roughly for every 6 or 7 weeks of school, there is a week free -  it seems to keep the freedom itch to a minimum, as there is pretty much always a break to look forward to.

The last report card of year was a good one. He's making leaps and bounds in all subjects - he's above the average level in all subjects, but his standout is reading - he's currently reading, at the end of group 3,  at the middle point of group 5, so he's a full year and a half ahead there.

Our nightly bedtime ritual, we read out lound to each other.

He's also done very well on the 2x per year CITO or standardized tests -  that starting from this year help determine which level of school he will go into after group 8. His one big improvement area for next year remains his attention span and listening. On one hand, I think 7 year old boy - what do you expect?! :-) And I think sometimes, alot of the people in his life (teachers and mom included) hold him up to a pretty big yardstick because of his intelligence - this is one area where is ''just'' 7 - and I have to remind myself as grown up as he can be, he really is still 7 and is allowed moments of fruit fly attention span.

Unlike a lot of kids his age, he doesn't talk about what he wants to be when he grows up - the usual firefighter or police officer isn't there, and while he LOVES football (soccer), he's also told me he isn't sure he ever wants to play in a big arena in front of ''all those people''. I love that, for now, each day is it's own adventure, and he's always busy doing, learning, being active.

1st live football match seen in a stadium (Amsterdam Arena)

What has also solidified this year is those parts and characteristics of him that are neither his father nor me, but just - Kevin. Of course, I hope at some point there will be some direction, focus and drive...and that whatever he wants to do will align to his talents and skills, but for, we're both going to take a deep breath, capture these 6 weeks of summer and not yet think about group 4 ..........

School Photo Day

Kevin is definitely a boy's boy.

1) He loves cars (not only the Pixar kind) - can spot a Porsche from a Ferrari, knows that a Bugatti is one of the most expensive cars in the world
2) All things Soccer (football)  - playing on weekend, training during the week, pick up games during school breaks, after school, going out with Dad, and lately even watching it on TV - all the while telling me which clubs are better - he didn't want to support Ajax earlier this year because they weren't ''very good'' this season...now that they have won the finals, they are OK again.....
3) Lego -building, preserving, remaking sets, leftover bricks, it doesn't matter. All Lego's are good Lego's.
4) Pants - I know my son can walk upright. I see him do it daily - yet his pants tell me the 8 or 9 hours a day I don't see him he must be walking around on his knees. Even given his regular growth spurts, it seems after 3 or 4 washing, the knees in otherwise perfectly good pants are gone.

Now, I'm not a totally useless mother to a boy - I mean, I like the occasional Top Gear, and do my best cheerleader impression along the line every Saturday morning, but exactly how he came to be such a Lego building, car loving, knees walking soccer fanatic is a mystery to me. He's just. all. boy.

I am glad that in one area, I see a small glimmer of myself in my (not so) Little Man - sometimes he just wants to dress up and look polished by wearing more formal clothes for no other reason than he feels like it. He's currently in love with his bright green trousers (not denim jeans) and this year, for school picture day, he wanted to dress nice - in a dress shirt and real (not clip on) tie. Anyone know any good you tube links for tying a windsor knot?

 His twist - he didn't want to tuck the shirt in, because it would ''get all wrinkly''.

I took some photos in the morning at home - and was glad I did, because when I got the proof back from the school.....they had them all lying on their stomachs this year, feet in the air. I mean, cute concept (no shoes, etc) but you can't really see the tie or nice shirt. Mom was a bit bummed - but as his mom, I don't think he can take a bad picture anyway.

These are the proofs, with watermarks, taken from  www.deschoolfotograag.nl.

What do you think?

Birthday Boy - Party Time!

Kev's views on Birthdays are very clear - they are fun, should be counted down to in 'sleeps' long before mom is ready to think about party's and gifts (did we not just have Christmas?!)and are a thing of joy and much discussion in the weeks leading up to the main event.

Mom's views are a little more ambivalent...I know it's not supposed to cost much to do a kids' party, but it always costs more than I think at the onset...in terms of time, money and effort. It's these times I feel like single momness (very technical word, I know) pretty much kicks my behind. It's also when the juggling act I somehow always feel between being a mom and full time employee (then throw in party planner)leaves me feeling pretty stretched.

All this is to say that somehow I got talked into doing a party this year not at a venue like the last years (Bowling, play castle, community building) but at home. My Home. For eight 5&6 year olds.

I couldn't resist Kev, who due to my schedule has the one of the least number of playdates in his class, and almost never where kids come to us - Kev always goes there. So how could I refuse when I could in effect get 8 playdates in fell swoop and earn some points with little man?

So, we agreed on a theme (spongebob) and a date (his B-Day which was on a Friday when school ends at noon) the guest list and the games.

When the big day came, I knew I couldn´t do this on my own.....I needed backup, and Richard agreed to take a half day free to be on hand to help me keep order. He was also the pinata hanger, photographer and drew the dreaded ´keep mom sane´ duty.

We had lunch, played a spongebob variant of Pin the Tail on the Donkey (involving stickers of jellyfish and trying to get them closest to spongebob´s net), twister, beat the heck out of a spongebob pinata, opened gifts,

ate Spongebob cake,

played bingo, painted sea themed sun catchers, and signed a spongebob t-shirt. It was a full afternoon!

Everyone went home happy, and Little Man had a great birthday Party

....and a great class party, and a great party at daycare.....

almost a whole week's worth of celebrations have left mom very happy that b-days come but once a year!