THAT time of the school year

It is near the end of school for Camden, which means...EOG Testing! (End-of-grade testing - for those of you without children in school) And with him being in third grade, this is a big year. Third grade is a benchmark grade - and the first time that testing actually counts for something.

Camden had a friend over this past weekend, and she asked him, "Are you afraid of the EOG's?" He looks at her like why would I be afraid? and replies, "No." Apparently she is, as I'm sure many are. They are taught this is the BIG TEST (well, testS). But Camden had no worries. They did pre-EOG sample tests so they would understand what to expect (at the beginning of the year to determine where the children were and just recently to prepare them for the actual EOG's), and he did just fine on those. OK, better than fine. He did great.

Day 1 of the EOG's was reading. Ummm...piece of cake for this kid. The only worries we had was he would rush through (which the teacher thought he did), so we remind him over and over to take his time, read everything carefully, go over all answers even if he's sure the first choice is correct - that sort of stuff. On the way home that day, I asked how it went. Oh so nonchalantly, Camden says, "It's just like any other test we take. Just a bit longer." So basically - no big deal. The next two days (today being the last day) covered math, and he thought the same way. He did go slower and take his time on these, but he still thought it was all really easy. (I reminded him that even if it is easy, he still needs to take it seriously, and I expect that he did.)

I'm actually looking forward to seeing his results! I get excited when it's time for his report card and testing results to come in. The only thing I ever worry about is his conduct...since he does seem to have a hard time being quiet at times. So yay for the first time taking the EOG's. I'm so grateful that this comes easily to him. He didn't get unnecessarily stressed out over anything but still tried his best.

Oh - and he thought he would get to go to bed a little later, too.... His teacher reminded them that they needed to go to bed earlier, such as by 8:30 (her example). Apparently I am in the minority of parents that put their children to bed earlier on a regular basis, as Camden's bedtime is between 7:30 and 7:45 (if he gets up well and is ready on time, it's the latter). I remind him that he will not be staying up LATE on a testing week and explain that some children do not get enough sleep and stay up later to begin with (or they might not need as much sleep as he does). And with that, he dropped it. He knows my reasoning - and knows I am right - and he doesn't bother to push it because of that. He wasn't arguing at all - just thought hey, the teacher says to go to bed at 8:30 this week... Ha. Ha.