Do you hear that?  It is a quiet calm settled through the households around the great state of Maryland.

Why?

The Maryland School Assessments are being conducted throughout the state this week.  For teachers, I suppose it is five days of stressful exam situations. But for us parents, it is nirvana.

Well, at least a slice of it.

For me, the working mother, it is a rare slice of serenity in a sea of turbulence.  MSA testing, at least in my school, means no homework. Can you feel my relief?  Not only that but  this week I have found MY VERY OWN OFFSPRING lecture ME about how they need to get to bed early and eat a healthy breakfast. Imagine that!  The school must be really drilling that info in them because it is working miracles in this household, let me tell you.

So for one week, my children come home and the entire family is relaxed and carefree.  There are no homework battles. No papers. No deadlines. It is like a mini-vacation.

I am savoring it.