School information nights

Another school information night over, the last of the three thank goodness!! I guess that’s one of the draw backs of having more then one child, having to sit through multiple sessions of pretty much the same thing. Still it is a good opportunity to touch base with the teacher and also put faces to names that you have been hearing about, and this time all three information sessions came with the added bonus of receiving either an iPad Air or a MacBook Air at the end so it was kind win win for all.

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One down, two to go!!

One down two to go!!

School holidays are officially over and today my first child went back to school. Harry one of my twins started High school today it was quite a nerve wrecking experience walking him into school this morning and I will admit I was really nervous all day.

Thankfully I am happy to report that Harry had a really good first day and is looking forward to going back tomorrow.

Tomorrow George my oldest is back ready to commence senior school as a year 10 student and on Friday it’s Madelyn’s turn.

Not sure how I feel about this staggered start. One thing is certain though by the end of the week I will officially have three high school students, let the fun begin I say 🙂

Last day of primary school

Today was the last day of primary school for my twins. As of next year they will be heading off to high school embarking on the next phase of their lives.

The future is exciting and filled with so many possibilities. All I could think of was how it had felt waking them into the school on their first day of prep. How excited they had been and how nervous, it’s like we have come full circle in 6 weeks I will be waking them into high school. How quickly the time has passed.

To signify the end of the year, the school hosted an all school assembly and all the Grade 6 children got to stand up the front and perform their grade 6 graduation song which this year was Justice Crew’s Que Sera.

There were many tears shed, mainly by the mums.

Grade 6 ended with a bang at the after party where the kids got to sing and dance and take lots of selfies.

The end of another era

The end of another era!! My babies have their grade 6 graduation today and as I sit waiting in the amphitheater with all the other parents and grandparents I can’t help thinking how surreal all this feels.

It feels like only yesterday that I was waking them in for their first day of prep.

There is a buzz of excitement in the theatre as we wait for our children to step out onto the stage. The lights are dim the performance is about to begin, where are the tissues?

High School orientation day – one down, one to go

First orientation day for my twins and it’s fitting I think that Madelyn as the eldest twin was up first. There was a buzz of excitement in the house this morning as we got ready for the big day. The girls were asked to come dressed in their PE (physical Education) uniforms so that they could all have their photos taken for their student ID’s.

I am so proud of my daughter! She has really embraced the idea of high school and is wanting to make the most of every opportunity presented to her. Although Madelyn is fortunate to have two other girls from her primary school also going to the same high school as her, she has not let that stop her from making more friends today.

I can’t help feeling a sense of relief that she is so positive, so driven and so excited!! I envision great things for my beautiful princess! She is a perfectionist, she always tries her best at everything she does, she is smart and funny and talented, she loves being a girl but gets on just as well with the boys. I can see that she is so ready for the next phase of her life and I know that she will continue to blossom into the most amazing young lady.

So that’s one twin down, let’s hope Harry’s orientation day in a couple of weeks will be just as positive, unfortunately somehow I don’t think so !! My babies couldn’t be more chalk and cheese if they tried. I will often joke that if they were one person they would be a super human. Tonight though I am basking in the joy that my daughter had such a great introduction to her high school journey.

High school uniform fitting

My baby girl had her uniform fitting today in preparation for high school next year.

I can’t get over how much she has grown!! Where did the time go? It’s like I have blinked and she has blossomed into the most beautiful young lady.

She tried on two dresses and both were enormous, she is only a little petite girl with the tiniest waist. The dress we settled on will most definitely need to be shortened a fair amount but at least it fit her well.

It’s a funny feeling that I am experiencing today, it’s kind of like pride, excitement , amazement and hint of sorrow all rolled into one.

School holidays are over.

Can’t believe the school holidays are over and term 4 is here. Everyone knows that the last term seems to just fly by, before we know it another school year will be over and my babies will be moving on to high school. I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad, scared or elated.

The idea of having three teenagers under the same roof does scare me I must admit, I mean one teenager is hard enough, but I know that the twins are ready for the next phase of their lives and you know what, so am I.

So here’s to the last term of primary school, here’s to the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

High School assessment -ACER testing

This weekend Harry had his testing day at the high school he is going to next year. Most high schools do this, it is a way for them to get an idea of each child’s strengths and weaknesses and be able to place them in appropriate grades accordingly.

Unfortunately Harry is the only one going to this high school from his primary school, so it was a very nerve wrecking experience. Out of my three children Harry is the least social, and I won’t deny that I am worried about him making friends and fitting in. I have flashbacks of year 2 when every day was a struggle getting him to school, countless stomach aches, and doctor appointments to tell me what I already knew, he was stressed not happy. Then one day it just clicked, he made friends, great friends that he still has and will hopefully continue to have despite going to a different high school.

Standing in the courtyard waiting for everyone to be ticked off, was very hard, everyone else seemed to know each other, people were standing or sitting in groups laughing and chatting and we stood in the back alone watching nervously. I did spot one of my eldest sons friends mother with her youngest and offered to go across the courtyard to stand with them but Harry did not want to.

Finally just before the boys were split into groups and marched off, a boy approached Harry and started talking to him. It turns out he is also a twin!!! I cannot describe my relief, and what was even more Impressive was that when I went over to say thank you to his mum for sending him over to talk to Harry she assured me that she had not, her son had come over on his own.

The homework battle

I am so sick and tired of the homework battle!!!! Why is it so hard to get the message through to teenagers that school work is important, in fact at this point of their lives it is the most important thing.

Every day when my teenage son comes out of school I ask him the very same question, “do you have any homework?” And everyday I get the same reply “no” sometimes I will also get “I did it at school”

Today after basketball training I hear from friends that there are in fact three pieces of homework due tomorrow and to make matters worse his iPad is not working and needs to be reset to factory settings.

So here I am having confiscated all the gaming controllers in the house, his laptop and any other electrical gadget that could cause distraction, trying to bite my tongue while I wrestle with the dilemma of whether or not I should write a note to get him out of trouble tomorrow, and If I do, is that just enabling him to continue disregarding his homework?

Daunting task of subject selection

Today I sat with over a hundred other parents and students and listened as the teachers at my son’s school talked us through the year 10 subject selection process.

There were lots of V words like VET, VETiS, VCAL, VCE it was VERY confusing!!

At the end of the hour session we were told to not panic!! Like that is even an option? How can you not panic? How can you be calm about something as important as your child’s future?

I think that this whole process could be made so much more easier if there was some system in place that allows you to see what career paths require which subjects. There probably is something like this available but we haven’t yet been made aware of it, so for the time being there is much for us to process.

Hopefully by the time the twins get to this point I will be expert on all of this, but for tonight I’m just a confused mum frantically reading through endless brochures trying to arm myself with as much information as possible to help guide my child through this daunting process.