Marching Onward

Just a quick breather on a Sunday afternoon and then another plunge into insanity.

It's fourth quarter around here.  Spring break was awesome-- not exactly enough time to recuperate, but at least I had quite a few mornings of sleeping in.  But we had to dive right back in headfirst-- no gentle "get used to the school grind" around here.

It's T*E*S*T time.  I'm not the world's biggest fan of standardized testing-- there's so much it can't actually show, and schools often end up "teaching to the test"-- however, I understand that it does serve a purpose.  It is one way to see if our schools are actually accomplishing something, however imperfectly. And in the world of competitive schooling (i.e. open enrollment/charters) it gives the parents a tool to compare schools with.  So I do want my kids to do their very best.  That means that during our AZ Merit testing days I try to actually make a decent breakfast (usually oatmeal and scrambled eggs around here) instead of leaving the kids to fend for themselves.  The other part is that we have to be on time to school.  Now, I am picky about being on time anyway.  (Well, picky is perhaps not strong enough.  Anal about it.  How's that for descriptive?)  But I have two children in particular who tend to run behind, one of them nearly every. single. day. (*cough* M *cough*).  So that is an extra added dollop of stress, and I'll be honest, my head is hurting right this second just thinking about it.  I know it's pointless to stress ahead of time-- I can't do anything about it right now, after all, and I'm still going to stress when we are actually fighting to get out on time too so why double the anxiety?-- but I can't seem to let it go.  Stupid anxiety.

There are two additional complications to the normal testing stuff this year.  One is that this is M's junior year, and it is time for all the college admissions testing.  She has the ACT this week, and two AP tests and the SAT the first week of May.  No pressure, right?  On her or on our pocketbook!  The other one is J.  Since J is doing ASU Prep Digital (which is online) he'll have to go into one of the ASU Prep physical campuses for his testing for three days this week.  The campus he was assigned to is over an hour away, and it is in the opposite direction from everyone else's schools.

Guess who's going to be spending even more hours in the car this week??  Even better, I'm going to be spending hours hanging out nearby the campus so I can pick J up when he's done.  It's going to be loads of fun!!!!

At least next weekend is General Conference.  Other than making our traditional crepes and some of our usual conference games, I am planning on taking the whole weekend to recuperate.  And so onward!