November 8. Day 313. Soft landing

Three weeks one day until the end of the school year. Yes, I am counting actually.
There's an awful lot of assessment in the pipeline and an awful lot of flapping about in my house.
There's also an awful lot of putting off, talking about doing it and worrying about not getting it done rather than tackling it going on too. (Here I am not talking about the bundle of marking I still have to scale although I confess the same thing totally applies. Like mother, like son).
It was in one of these assessment avoidance moments (his not mine) that I escaped for a walk to South Bank this afternoon and watched the sea gulls at play. Swapping one lot of flapping about for another really.
Assessment is a very different thing at schools these days. Mr 14 has to make a film of a fractured fairy tale, compete in a poetry slam and present a television news report on the Global Financial Crisis. I remember assignment and exams but that's about it.
The thing is that these kids are growing up in a different world and need a different set of skills to allow them to soar.
We need to give them what they need to take off and be around to help with a soft landing if things look like they are going to crash and burn.
My hope is that the touchdown is as smooth in our house as it was on the South Bank pool this afternoon.