Last day of school

Today was the last day of school. Paramount Elementary last day of school is very similar to Chaparrals but since we are new it just wasn't the same. I don't regret moving Ashley over to Paramount but miss seeing all the teachers and friends that we had at Chaparral. When we moved, I wanted to make it the easiest that I could on my kids so at the time I thought I was doing what was best for them by letting them decide where they wanted to go to school. Looking back now I wish that I would have made them all switch to the new schools by our house. This year for Ashley has not been easy but there has been many valuable lessons learned. I now see how I have withheld those lessons from Madison and Allison. Parenting should really come with a handbook that tells you exactly what to do.
Even though this year has been hard for Ashley in many ways, there is so much more good things that have come from it. Walking into this year Ashley had Kendal in her class and she was so happy nothing could go wrong. Well, Kendal moved and Ashley had some hard times with her teacher. Being the new kid can be hard and when you don't know all the teachers like we did at Chaparral I think it is also hard. Mrs. Ostrum is a good teacher but Ashley had a hard time reading her which made it hard for her to communicate with her. It was a learning year for both of us but that is good.

Paramount is a wonderful school and I wish that all my kids could experience it. Mr. Brigham makes elementary school fun and I think that is important. Chaparral was definatly missing out on the fun. Madison did get a few years of that before Mr. Brigham moved from Chaparral to Paramount but Allison has never experienced a fun school environment and I think that is sad. I am glad Ashley will get to end elementary at Paramount so she will see the fun.
The girls were so excited for the last day of school. Madison only had to go until about 11:00 and Ashley got to leave after lunch. The district doesn't do a half day of school on the last day so Allison was in school the whole day. She didn't mind that much because Meridian Middle tries to fill the last couple of days of school with fun activities for the 8th graders. This morning was the awards ceremony. Allison was recognized for a 4.0 all year and also a 4.0 all three years of middle school. She also got an award for receiving an outstanding on her pace project. She was also recognized for responsibility by her health teacher. She is a great student and works hard to get good grades and be a great example to the students around her.

She will be attending Renaissance High School next year with the goal of graduating high school with her associates degree also. She has high goals for herself and has a great plan set out to achieve them. I sometimes wish that she would relax a little and throw some fun in there too but we will have to see.
Madison also worked very hard this year. She took three AP classes and is 2 years ahead in math. She also found last year that she was interested in Sports Medicine so was enrolled in Sports Med 2 (a demanding class). Her AP Chem class and Sports Med were dual enrolled classes so she got high school and college credit for those. Chem seemed to give her the hardest time this year but she stuck it out and finished strong. Next year her senior year is going to be another challenging year but she does a great job managing the classes. She is always hard on herself and thinks she can do better but she is ranked in the top 20% of her class, I think she is doing great. I can't believe that she is a Senior and will be going to college in a year. I am not sure I am ready for that.