Today is the last day of the last periodical exams for the school year. The full implications of that haven’t totally hit me yet, though I already feel like jumping and dancing for joy.

If your kids study in a science school with a grade cut-off of 85, you would totally get why I’m rejoining. I tutor my kids, help them with their assignments and projects, and I follow up every little tidbit of class update for both my boys.

As the one actively involved in the running of my children’s education, I also get the corresponding headaches and high blood pressure that are the consequences of being too familiar with teacher idiosyncrasies or unreasonable school policies.

Don’t even get me started on the errors in the textbooks. But no, no, no…I’m stopping myself with the ranting right here.

Today is the unofficial end of the school year so I’m writing only glad tidings, such as the summer break that’s fast approaching. I’m so happy I could run from work to home and back, chest pains from chostochondritis and all. Haha!

As this school year ends, I take a quick look back at how it fared for my kids.

* Lennon passed the rigorous three-part tests for STEC and began Preparatory, while Dylan entered fifth grade.

* Lennon regaled me with his timeouts for various reasons: talking, shouting, standing on the table, laughing, and playing with his classmates during class. He tells it with such flair you can’t help but not be angry.

* Lennon memorized the Green Eggs and Ham book by Dr. Seuss, and recited it to anyone who will listen at school and at home.

* Dylan joined the Math quiz bowl and became the only fifth grader to land in fifth place. The other placers are all Grade 6 students representing schools in the Lapu-Lapu City Division.

* Dylan made up one of a two student-team that competed in the Math Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP) contest. His team placed second during the written eliminations exam and first in the contest proper.

* Lennon’s Preparatory class won the dance contest for the Preparatory-Grade 3 level, while Dylan’s Grade 5 class also won the dance competition for the Grade 4-Grade 6 category.

* Dylan’s whole class failed to get a passing score in MSEP (don’t know what it means but it’s a subject taught in Filipino, as if that isn’t hard enough) at the Regional Achievement Test (RAT).

All in all, it wasn’t such a bad school year. If I have to look at it in one positive light, at least they get to go to school for free. Hehe

Despite the school and its many failings, my sons at least continue to learn on their own because they read extensively.

And while I have given up hope of Dylan ever doing good in any subject taught in Tagalog, I’m happy because he excels in Math, Science, and English (and in that order).

My Lennon, well, he defies description.

Just yesterday, he made me laugh so hard, when he said he believes he nailed his Reading and Language exams and (gasp) got perfect scores in both. I know him well enough not to fall for that one, though. He has been known to bungle tests by underlining instead of encircling (defying instructions), and one time totally missing out from answering one page of the exam.

Today, Lennon’s yaya — who had to bring something inside the classroom while the test was ongoing — told me that my son took his tests with the extra pencil tucked behind his ear. The teacher told her that was how Lennon had always taken the exams. That’s my Lennon, always managing to surprise.

Once, shocked at seeing him on all fours digging in the dirt with a toothbrush, he told me calmly that he was looking for fossil.

His endless chatter once drove his kuya and me close to tears, and when we begged for a little quiet time he asked why when his mouth was not yet tired from talking.

He could talk up a storm about anything under the sun, but three topics stand out: insects and bugs, Jesus, and the computer game Warcraft.

Where does he get inspiration for his questions? Why, from the many books he is reading, of course.

The favorite today is “The Big Bug Book” and he now knows more about insects than I do. I’m always careful when he asks me questions about them because just any answer results in his whipping out that book and turning to the page that proves me wrong.

If there’s one thing I’m happy about this school year, it’s that my Lennon has become a reader, like his dad, big brother, and me.