End of the Year Stress

It always seems like the end of the school year is full ofexcitement, chaos, and relief.
The chaos comes in when everyone realizes that the semesteris about to end.  Reports have to bewritten, final projects need to be turned in. There are final performances for students in band, choir, orchestra, drama.
Excitement comes when students realize they are about to have the whole summer off, free from school, and for many of them this also means freedom from responsibilities that are normal school year responsibilities.  For students graduating from high school the end of the semester is filled with the excitement of proms, graduation parties, graduation ceremonies, and senior pictures.  It is also filled with the excitement of ending one chapter of their lives and moving into the next one.  It is not unusual for them to feel fear of the unknown as they step into the next part of their lives.
Other students also feel this transition discomfort and excitement as they move from elementary to middle school, or middle school to high school.  Additionally, many families try to arrange moving so that children can finish a school year at an old school, before moving to their new location and school.
The mentioned examples are not limited to traditional school students.
 In fact, homeschool students also feel some of the chaos associated with the end of the traditional school year.  And homeschool students who go to school all year long will have some of this chaos and excitement as the activities that they participate in often follow traditional school year timetables.
Both excitement and chaos cause stress.  It may be good stress, happy stress, but it is still stress.  So, how do you avoid the stress of the end of the school year crunch?
Planning is the answer.  It is probably too late this year to avoid the stress.  Indeed, you might not even want to avoid some of the stress.  But now is the time to think about how the school year is ending for you and your students, and figure out ways to reduce the stress next year.  To do this you might want to document what you liked about the end of the semester, and what you didn’t like.  Make notes about things you would change, as well as what you would like to keep.  If your end-of-school was particularly chaotic, make note of why it felt that way.
When you begin to make plans for next year refer back to your notes, pay special attention to the things that you noted were particularly stressful.  These will be invaluable in making your end-of-school or even end of semester plans for the next school year.
 If you or your child felt over-scheduled, make note of when and what activities contributed to that feeling.  It is natural to want your child to be able to participate in many extra-curricular activities and indeed, these help round out your child’s education. Going to a meeting or practice once a week throughout the year does not seem to be very taxing when considered on its own, just remember that as performances approach, extra practices may be called for musical or dramatic productions.  Often activities that had been rather undemanding at one hour a week for most of the school year will often take up much more time as deadlines and performances approach.
It is very important that you plan that time in so that you and your child are not over-scheduled at the end of the semester.  Also as you are planning a school year’s activities, remember that if it is a group activity, there are other people depending on you and your child’s participation. Making a snack or party favor for one activity does not seem like much, but suppose your child is involved in four or five activities?  Or you have more than one child?  Each of them will not only have demands placed on their time, but also on your time.
If you have more control over your school year, as homeschoolers often do, you might consider finishing the academic coursework
either in April or in June.  This means that your student will not be studying for final exams at the same time as year-end performances are occurring.  Consider allowing your student to spread out major projects and reports into other times of the semester that are less tight on time.  Homeschoolers who homeschool the entire year often have the time built into their school schedules to avoid the crunch that happens as other activities come to an end in May.
Even if you do not homeschool all year long, consider allowing your student some school work time during the summer.  This will prevent the summer brain drain, and the subsequent review time as the school year begins.  This review time needed to bring students back up to speed often means the timelines that should have worked on paper will not work in reality.  You might find that there is an academic crunch at the end of the school year that could have been avoided if you plan ahead to keep your student’s academic track in forward motion, and review time minimized.
Of course, all of the normal stress reduction advice applies here at the end of the school year.  Get enough sleep.  Avoid changes in diet when possible.  Build in time for traffic delays.  Make sure your other children have activities to occupy their time while waiting on siblings at practices. Whether you are a parent with traditionally educated students, or a homeschooler, make notes now as the end of school year flurry of activity is occurring.  It will mean that you have the upper hand as you plan for next year.