Testing, Testing...

 Second grade testing starts today.  Free was instructed to have a good breakfast and be on time to school.  After a good breakfast of quiche (breakfast had to contain eggs to make him smarter, Freestone said), it was time to practice and get ready for school.  Free claimed he didn't have time to practice because he had to get to school on time.  I tried to explain that it was only 7:30, but he whined, "Practicing before school is like killing yourself before you're even born."  Wow, I'm glad he doesn't have any strong feelings about it or anything!  After fussing through most of his practicing, Freestone got dressed, fretting about not having enough time.  I asked him what he wanted to have time for, and he said, "To go get better parents."  Putting socks on brought on a whole whining episode about wishing he had a better life.  Standing at the front door in his coat with a glazed look in his eye, he said, "I feel hot."  I said, "Don't worry about the test.  Just try to answer every question."  He looked straight ahead and emphatically said, "No."

I don't like that the kids are so stressed out about the test.  I wish they would get to school and be handed a No. 2 pencil and a test with no advance warning.  Most of them would probably do better on it.  Bet then, stress, preparation and worry prepare kids for real life.  Throughout their academic career and beyond, there will be tests, deadlines, decisions and hurdles, and the answers won't be A, B, C or D.  Sometimes there won't be answers and they'll have to make up their own.  Sometimes a test will happen in a heartbeat with no warning, and sometimes a test will last for years.  Sometimes they'll have to make the right decision over and over every day, and it won't ever get any easier.  There will be decisions between two wrong choices or two right ones, tests that threaten to destroy everything, tests where you'll never know if you got it right and tests where you know you definitely got it wrong.  There will be times when they will feel like there are just too many unanswerable questions.  But you always have to pick yourself back up and try to grow for the next test.  So I'm actually grateful in some way for the ordeal of end-of-level testing.  It's not the last ordeal my 7-year-old will face, but it might help him feel more prepared the next time a challenge jumps into his path.  All I can do is give him a good breakfast.