SADNESS!!!

This is the time of year where teachers START to think they MIGHT make it to the end of the year.  At my school, we have THIRTY days left, and then BLESSED summer is here, and life slows down a little bit (actually a lot, and in a REALLY, REALLY good way!).

At the other end of the spectrum are some of our students.  Behavior "write ups" SOAR at this time of year, fights break out on the playground, and some members of our student body seem to spiral downward at an alarming rate.

The cause...instability at home.  I had never even CONTEMPLATED not wanting summer to arrive before starting at my school...even as a kid, being bullied all through jr. high and high school, summer was my refuge from the idiots and meanies that inhabited my small town in Iowa.  To think that school is the only stability some of our students have in their lives is UNBELIEVABLY heartbreaking to me.

Yet...the cycle continues.  Kids who are FREAKING OUT about having to leave the "safety" of school and spend three months with whatever their home environments involve start "acting up", and "freaking out", and generally causing disruption after disruption.

My heart BREAKS at the thought of NOT wanting to spend time away from school in the place that they are SUPPOSED to be happy, and protected, and safe...that was certainly the case for me.

Pray for our students...that they somehow find comfort while away from the reading, and writing, and arithmetic, and that they somehow make it to September, where we can again watch over them, and offer structure, support, and safety...!!!