The things I will miss about my girls going to school.

I think this might be a two part blog post. The things I will miss about my girls going to school and the things that I won't miss.

Ellie has left school now, all she has to go back to school for is to collect her GCSE results. It feels so strange. I have been a parent to school age children for almost 18 years if you count the time they went to nursery, when they turned 3 years old.

The school years have been a journey for me and my girls. It's certainly had it's up's and downs. These are some of the things that I will miss about my girls going to school.

The free time.

When Becky started nursery I couldn't believe the free time that I had, a whole 3 hours to myself and as they got older the time increased to 6 hours and when they left primary school and walked themselves to school there was even more time with me not having to do the school run. Over the last couple of years Ellie left for school at 8.20am and didn't get home until at least 4pm because she liked to have a bit of time hanging out with friends. It's only now that Ellie is home I have realised how much free time that I had, I miss it already!

The teachers.

My girls have had some amazing teachers over the years. The reception class teacher they both had who was so kind and caring, the teacher who took the class swimming and ended up in the pool just to prove to Becky it really wasn't that scary, the teachers who did everything they could to stop bullying, the teachers who have made sure Ellie had the support she needed and finally the English teacher who made Ellie love English lessons again.

The fun days. 

Book fairs, class assemblies, dressing up for World Book Day, non-uniform days, bake sales, carol concerts, sports days, Christmas and summer fairs, discos and things like that! As much as I used to complain about them because money and effort was usually involved I do miss them. When the girls were in primary school I joined the PTA and helped with the school events which was a lot of fun, I got to see the kids in school which most parents didn't see. There were a lot less of the fun days in secondary school but they still happened.

The routine.

As much as I hated getting up early in the morning I did like the routine that a school day brought. The girls always had a set tea time and bedtime on a school night, there was homework to do and there was order in our lives. I have said to Ellie now that she has left school and she has the summer holidays our alarms will be set for 8.30am instead of 7am. There's no rush to be up but I don't want her to be staying in bed all morning/day.

The school holidays.

Having the set holidays always seemed like a real treat. 6 weeks for summer, a couple of weeks for Christmas and Easter and another random week here and there. Becky is in full time work and really misses having regular time off. 

The friends we made.

My girls and I have all made friends from the schools they have gone to. I met a person when my girls were in primary school and we are still good friends now. So much so that she came to visit us last year for my birthday, all the way from Northumberland. Ellie has made friends from school which I think she will be friends with for life, if she isn't I will be anyway. lol

The things my girls learned.

I was always amazed when my girls came home from school and told me something that they had learned. It made me so proud of them. Of course there were plenty of times that they came home and I asked them what they learned at school and they said nothing. lol

School dinners.

Years ago we qualified for free school meals for my girls and even though Stu works as we applied when we had less income it carried on until Ellie left school. Some days she did take packed lunches but I didn't really spend much feeding her for lunch. Now we have noticed that the shopping bill has gone up a little making sure Ellie has a filling lunch at home.

Less washing.

The girls would wear the same school uniform for a couple of days, not so much in the summer when it was warm but they would come home and put their pj's on and wear them for a couple of nights. Now there's a new outfit every day and usually new pj's every night. Hmmf. My washing basket is never empty.

The stories.

The girls always used to come home with stories about their school days. Ellie's over the last year or so have been hilarious, especially from her Maths class. Her teacher has said he would buy a lad a meal deal from Tesco if he gets a pass in his GCSE's. There was the drama when there was arguments which was always interesting to hear about as long as my girls weren't involved, the gossip about who was dating who and little tales about what had happened throughout her school day. I am going to miss them.

What did you miss about your children being at school?