Not sure if it will always be this way, but the end of the school year is a time of mixed emotions.
Summer break is an exciting time for the kids after nine months of school, a set schedule and a lot of hard work, but the fact they will be moving on to new classrooms and teachers in the fall can tug on the heart strings quite a bit when it comes time to officially wrap up the school year.
Beckett finished his first grade year this week and Carson will conclude pre-kindergarten next week before moving into the full day world of kindergarten.
For Beckett, this was a major year of growth in first grade. I don’t know if the saying is true that “kindergarten is the new first grade” in the current climate, but what I do know is first grade brought on much more reading and more studying and reviewing for tests in a multitude of subjects. Somewhere along the way he seems to have matured tremendously and become a much more independent person and student.
Sure, he is still wild, crazy and disobedient at times and can be an overly impulsive boy. Kids will be kids and there’s no question he’s a rambunctious 7-year-old boy who is prone to push the limits. However, the big thing is he has grown a tremendous amount since September and learned a lot. He now likes to be challenged by math and can read everything. His major shortcoming is handwriting because he rushes too much. This lack of patience results oftentimes in scribble, but we have some framed evidence from class assignments that shows when he wants to he can write legibly. It will just take some time for him to realize it’s important.
As parents, I think we tend to wander through life with blinders on. We wake every day, focus on what’s ahead with work and family and go about our personal and professional lives. Sometimes we forget about what others may be going through.
That’s what I was thinking when I came across an online post from Beckett’s teacher, Mrs. Marshall. He seems to be in denial that she will not be his teacher next school year. That’s been evident this week whenever we brought up the subject of his days as a first grader being numbered. It was the same thing in previous years with Mrs. Mancini and Mrs. Berry. Perhaps it’s his age, but like previous years, the whole moving on to a new teacher seems to go over his head. Or maybe he’s just being a detached male and not wanting to accept the emotions he may be feeling about the finality of the school year and whole moving on thing. Instead of talking about what he might be thinking, he just ignores the subject. I am quite certain I have done that a time or two (and probably daily).
At this time of year, I often wonder what the teachers are thinking. Are they sad, happy, excited for summer? It’s probably a bit of all. In our house, the teachers become part of the family each year and are important people in our lives.
That’s why it was nice to see Mrs. Marshall share that quote on Facebook this week. It read, “I call my students ‘my kids’ because in our year together they aren’t just kids on my class list, they become a part of my heart.”
I like to think all teachers feel this way, and it’s certainly heartwarming to know that was the case this year.
The week of June 7-13 has been proclaimed Chromosome Disorder Awareness Week by an organization called Unique that we have become involved with over the last year or so.
Two years ago, after many months of questioning and confusion, we got our official diagnosis for Carson, our now 5-year-old son.
Pam and I knew he had major developmental delays early on and he started receiving physical, occupational and speech therapies as an infant without a lot of major progress. Through genetic testing, we were able to learn he had a rare chromosome disorder called dup7, which means he has too much of chromosome 7, resulting in his developmental delays as well as other specific concerns. The major issue is tremendously delayed speech, kidney and heart issues and a low muscle tone that makes potty training and other specific milestones difficult.
Fortunately, his kidneys and heart have checked out fine to date and will need consistent monitoring. His low muscle tone will probably be a significant obstacle for some time, but speech is his major challenge.
Through the website www.rarechromo.org and related social media outlets, we have been able to hook up with parents of other dup7 kids and have learned a ton of valuable information, such as progress of kids older than Carson to gain a frame of reference for what we might expect. He continues to receive therapies and slow progress is being achieved on all fronts.
With the idea being to spread awareness about these rare chromosome disorders this week, all members connected in our little rare chromosome world were asked to spread the word about the diagnosis, and that’s the reason for the little rambling here.