Exams are STRESSFUL! (A day in the life of my daughter writing her first final High School Exam) #ineedadistraction

Gosh this morning has been a little crazy. I woke up to my phone buzzing with messages because one of our major roads were closed due to fires and protests!!! Whaaat!??!?

My daughters first final English exam was booked for this morning and we were all nervous enough as it was, but here comes another spanner in the works.

We jumped up realising that we would need to leave home ASAP because the longer route was now the only option. As we get going I ask our local security for an update and low and behold the road is now open. Hallelujah!!!

My poor daughter is stressing and now we’re an hour early for her first exam. Oh well. What’s done is done, let’s get some tea.

After eventually find parking in the city and getting her checked in at the examining location, she walked off without even a decent good bye. No “thanks mom” or “see you later”. Anyway, “bye my big girl”. So I leave her behind to do what she’s been dreaming about for weeks. Day 1 of her final exams.

I’ve got 2 ½ hours to kill so I head to Sea Point, on the Atlantic Seaboard for a run to distract myself. The views are stunning. I managed a bit of a run, walk, run, walk because it’s HOT! I would usually run when it’s cooler (earlier in the morning or later in the evening) but beggars can’t be choosers.

Thank you Strava for my map

So I do about 3.5kms and get a coffee, take a look at the pavilion pool and start turning around and heading back for my car. The coffee was actually really good!

We lived a few blocks from here many years ago and although it’s a far more built up part of the city, it’s got all the cosmopolitan vibe and beauty typical of our gorgeous city.

Sometimes as a local I forget how much art and creativity is all around us in Cape Town. We have a brilliant design district and some world class museums and galleries - that will be a post in the future.

For today I’m taking note of how cool the art is on the side of the Loo’s at the beach.

Coffee done, I jog back to my car to complete the 7kms and still have an hour to wait. Radio and air con are my friend at this point as I’m sweating, nervous for Taylor and bored.

Taylor’s been homeschooled for the last year and half (um! She actually did self study because I had nothing to do with her schooling except asking her how it’s going.) She’s been diligent, organised and determined to finish and this is the week when it all comes to a close. No more School from Friday!!! Only 1 more child to go.

My phone eventually pings and I open it expectantly. She is DONE!!! All it says is, “I’m done.” No hoopla or excitement. It was actually quite an anticlimax. Even when I picked her up and she climbed in the car, it took a while for her to start filling me in on the nitty gritty details. It turns out she had to wait to receive an email and for her marks to be loaded on her profile because it’s English, so an actual person has to read and mark the essay section manually.

10 minutes later she logs in and PRAISE - THE - LORD SHE HAS PASSED WITH 80%!!!!! Pretty darn good. My non- academic creative child has 80%. We are thrilled.

Then the realisation sets in that tomorrow is MATH. Lord help us. This after we will not be celebrating because we will be practicing Quadratic Equations and Functions.

The joys of the morning run soon dissipate into the real life stuff of being a mom of teens. Does anyone else out there have these same struggles and anxieties for your kids? I’m so excited for it to be over but also apprehensive about the rest of the year to follow. Times are strange and unpredictable, so here’s to hoping she can keep reaching for her dreams and moving towards her next steps in life.

I’m not ready. (Any advice welcome...)

(UPDATE: Taylor passes English with 80% and Maths by 2 marks 😳 73% - now for Science and Social Studies today and tomorrow 🙏🏻)