Pro's and Con's of summer and school

I can hardly believe that summer is over!! Well almost, tonight we have Meet the Teacher night at school and then school starts on the 19th, that's less than a week now. So here's my list of things that I love about summer....

• I get to sleep in!! This is probably my favorite part.
• No scrounging for all the school clothes and having to wash them every few days.
• No doing of the daily homework, although they are constantly reading during the summer. The whole school thing during summer kind of died out back in June when my sister in law came to visit and we'd rather spend time with her instead of doing school.
• And I can continue to read a book if I was reading when 3:00 came around instead of going to pick up the girls.
• I don't always get dressed into daytime clothes right away... sitting around in PJ's is really quite comfy some days.
• I have my children home ALL day, and the older ones help entertain the boys.
• We've ventured into letting the older two girls "babysit" the younger ones, so I haven't had to take them visiting teaching with me this summer.
• I've enjoyed all the visiting with friends, and family.
• Although we haven't taken any "Cross country vacations" this year, I still enjoy the few times we've ventured out and scoped out new places to frequent next spring and summer.
• And bedtime's have definitely been more lax during the summer... but

ALL THIS IS ABOUT TO CHANGE!!!!


and here is my list of why I like school starting again:

• The kids get to be with lots of other kids, and have some kid time.
• They have constant "activity" stuff all day. And I'm not hearing them say "I'm bored"
• They wear uniform to school, so there isn't a lot of complicated choice or contemplation involved in picking out their clothes for school. It's made rather simple.
• I enjoy them coming home and sharing with me things that they learned. Because, honestly I have forgotten a lot of things since I was in school and it's a great reminder or sometimes something I'm learning for the first time.
• They have more structure at home when school is in session. And the husband is more likely to "enforce" the bedtime, because normally in the summer he doesn't even think about bedtime. (this is definitely precious time to me)
• I have more of a routine when they are in school. And I get to leave the house daily.
• I find myself actually getting dressed first thing in the morning, so when someone wants to stop by "unannounced" I'm dressed, and not shuffling to the room to put some real clothes on instead of just being in PJ's. (by the way I welcome company.... come on over..)
  

BUT

This is why I don't like school ...

• I have to wake up before I'm ready to. I'm not really a morning person, so it's hard for me. And especially when the little 2 year old doesn't want to sleep in his bed, and it takes forever for him to fall asleep at night.... this makes for a very long night, and one extremely tired mommy in the morning. And trying to awake my children to get ready for school. I'm like the one doing all the work.
• I'm washing their school clothes like ever 2 days, because they don't have enough to last for an entire week so I only have to do that laundry once a week. And with this is the need for using socks on a daily basis once again. (you don't understand how easily socks get lost in this house... I swear their really is a sock monster that takes and eats socks)
• I have not only one child to help with homework... which is fine to help, but when you have three that you have to check everything on and sign ALL pieces of homework, it really gets hard to spread yourself between the three while trying to take care of your other household duties that take place in those 'after school' hours. Plus you have two other non-school age children that need attention too.
• We don't get to have a life in the evenings when school is in session. Because we always have homework to do, AND because the kids have to get to bed by 8pm.
• I don't like all the nitpicking of the uniforms, like the belt wearing, shirts tucked in, and the certain types of shoes. And like with slips, or robes, ---- uniforms seem to be only available during this time of the year in the stores around here. (This is another post)
• All the volunteer hours that have to be put in. (I'm heading up the yearbook this year, and really am wondering if it's too late to back out ;P)
• And there always seems to be a lack of communication between teachers and parents... mostly to do with the parent trying to contact the teacher, and not having success in reaching them.

So I think that about says it all. Is there anything I forgot....?