Exam Week Hurdles

Every school year I dread exam week like a trip to the dentist. I always get stressed out, no matter how I try to make the whole week painless for both me and my children. This first quarter we had the misfortune of having all my school aged kids' exam week in the same week!

How did I survive? Actually I have let go of my eldest who's now in grade 6. Towards the end of grade 3 she was already studying most of her subjects alone. That left me 3 other kids who needed supervision. My preschool girl had only 2 subjects so we studied for them the previous week. The day before the exam we just reviewed her worksheets, concentrating on her mistakes. That left me my grade 1 and 3.

My boy in grade 3 is pretty independent, if he feels like studying :( he just needs prodding and cajoling so that he will actually sit down and study. As soon as I get him started there would be very few bumps before we finish studying for the day. I used to make reviewers for most of the subjects but at grade 3 I cut it down to 1 subject, Math. Since my kids basically finish off all exercises in their textbooks for the quarter I need to give them other exercises for them to practice on, after all, Math is learned and perfected through practice.

My grade 1 needed the most help since it was her first time to have more than 2 exams. With an 8 month old baby there was no way I'd be able to make reviewers for her subjects. Fortunately a co-parent in Grade 1 was so proactive that she organized a review pool. All I had to make was one reviewer which I shared with other parents and in turn they shared their reviewers with me too. It was such a big help! During exam week I just had my grade 1 girl read and review all her reference books and quizzes. Then after she was done I handed her the reviewer, voila, we're done for that subject!

It also helped that we would more often than not, review all her subjects every day. So when exam week came she still remembered most of the things that they took up in each subject. I guess for the second quarter we should be more consistent in studying daily....but for now we're going to enjoy the long weekend :D

Church Attire These Days

As I was waiting for mass to start this morning I realized how lax we Catholics have become in dressing for mass. True we comply with the guidelines that the Church came out with, but still I can't help but feel that my husband and I can do better in dressing our kids for mass.

Our laxity became glaring to me when my family was attending a get together where a Bishop was to be present. As I was helping my kids dress up, I got so frustrated at the clothes my 11 year old was choosing to wear. I told her that it had to be special, and she said "But mom, you let me wear this at church!". This was a pair of jeans and a shirt with a collar....at least it had a collar. I guess I wasn't very consistent, I am making them wear something special for a human of a certain position while I allow them to wear mall outfits during mass, when our Lord and Savior is about to come and be with us.

My husband and I agreed then that we should help our kids always out their best feet forward for Sunday Mass. Which means no sandals, flip flops, T-shirts for the boys, shorts etc.

We also realized that the youth these days no longer know how to dress for occasions. As we attended a wake last week of a poor teenager who passed away, we couldn't help girls wearing short shorts, you know the kind that are almost as short as bloomers :) I'm showing my age...anyhoo, we were shocked that these kids think it's appropriate. Some kids were even wearing red. I think they should have dressed up appropriately out of respect for the parents of the deceased. Are parents too busy these days to teach kids simple social graces? I shudder to think of how kids would behave when my infant becomes a teenager......