That's a wrap...

Well folks, today marks the end of a new era.

That "era" being 3rd grade!

Today was the last day of school for J'Bear. And needless to say, she's not quite excited. Sure, she's happy that she won't have to get up at 6:15 in the morning. Sure, she's even happy that there's no more homework. SURE, she's happy that there are no more "yucky" lunches :-).

What she's NOT happy about is not being able to see her teacher and her school friends. Nor is she happy about the fact that she's not "formally " learning during the day. (Not to worry...I'm gonna take care of the latter for her, lol)

3rd grade is a pivotal point in a childs educational career. At least here in Georgia it is. 3rd graders are not quite "babies" anymore. And they're not quite "big kids" either. They are (supposed to be) learning to be more responsible human beings. They are learning to write their names in cursive. Learning the multiplication tables and how to divide. And learning to do REAL projects/reports. And now, 95% of the owness is on the student!  No more assignments where mom (or dad) have to do most of the work.

Also, 3rd grade was the year of STANDARDIZED TESTING! Good LAWD!!! This was NOT my idea of fun!  There were 2 standardized test in the month of September ALONE!  Both within a week of eachother. Then there is the CRCT test. The test students plan for all school year long. In fact, they are taught based on this one test. CRCT testing is a week long and it happens the week after returning from Spring Break, in April.

Nothing worse than seeing the kids all stressed out about this test. Reason being, there are a few grades where this test is more "important" than others. Here's how it works. For third graders to be promoted to the 4th grade, they have to pass the READING section of the CRCT. It helps if they do well in the other parts too. But being promoted is hinged on the reading portion. For 5th graders, they have to pass the reading AND math portions to be promoted to the 6th grade.

J'Bear struggles a little with reading. Well, not actually "reading" itself...she's actually an awesome reader and really enjoys it. The part she struggles with sometimes is comprehension. AND, she reads quickly. So by reading quickly, she's missing critical points like maybe, who said what. Kinda hard to explain.

ANYWAY, we she was really a little stressed by this upcoming test. In fact, her teacher even suggested some tutoring in the subject to help her S.L.O.W. down and take it all in, so to speak. So I she was on pins & needles waiting on test scores to come back.

When the scores came back, J'Bears teacher proudly told her that she in fact DID pass the reading portion. Boy, we were SOOO excited when we get that news.

Funny story; the day after Ms. C told J'Bear that she'd passed the reading portion, she told her that she'd also passed the math portion. To which J'Bear promptly announced, "YEAH BABY! I'm going to 6th grade!" LOL Uh, no sweetie, that's not how it works. Lol.

Anyhoo, that was a long way of saying that we can rest this summer break in knowing that J'Bear won't have to retest or possibly get kept back in 3rd grade. Come August, we'll have us a 4th grader. Yeah Baby!!

So in the meantime, I need to find a way to keep this 4th grader entertained over the summer. Hmmm, what to do? What to do? There won't be any family vacations this year (trying to pay off some debt). So me and J'Bear might have some short, not too long trips. We may try and head to Mobile to visit my mom. And we MAY try and hitch a ride to Nebraska with some of our friends. Then, there's the possibility of a extended weekend with the family to Savannah. We'll see!

What's everyone else up to this summer? Anything fun & exciting? Do tell...