Tests on a Monday?

Why do teachers do this to our kids and us?  Why oh why do they have tests on a Monday? Don’t they understand that some families spend the weekend doing special things with their kids or just chillaxin and not at the local tutoring center?  

My 4^th grader doesn’t need to be worrying about a quiz or a chapter test on Monday.   For goodness sakes, she’s 9!  She should be enjoying playing with her Webkinz, riding her bike, and fighting, I mean playing with her brothers—not studying.  This weekend she had 3 chapters to review for a social studies quiz/test (she wasn’t exactly sure which one it was).  Granted the chapters were not that long but come on, couldn’t they do this later in the week?

My 6^th grader has also had his fare share of tests on Mondays.  He’s even had one after a 3-Day weekend.  That REALLY chaps my hide.  When we get these infrequent and well-loved, extended weekends, we often try and head to Tahoe or do fun day trips.  Do you know how hard it is to squeeze in studying for a test when you are trying to enjoy the snow?  It’s like trying to do a double black diamond on one ski, it rarely happens. 

Maybe I’m getting more riled up then I need to be. I suppose I get stressed out over these Monday tests because I feel like the onus is on me to get my kids to study.   They certainly are not going to stop playing their video games or watching T.V. to crack open their books.   And trying to carve out a little time on Saturday and then again on Sunday doesn’t work either.  Something always comes up and we/they end up cramming before bed.

I understand that now is the time to instill and teach study habits (although our last minute cramming sessions are not the best example).  I get that these tests and quizzes really don’t matter.  That the scores my kids get in 4^th and 6^th  grade are not going to impact what college they get into.   But I know that my kids notice who does well on a test and who does not.  And to have them end up on the right side of that fence, means they need to spend part of their weekend reviewing material. 

Maybe instead of ranting here, I should be complaining to my kids’ teachers.   I just feel that in a school district that prides itself on test scores, my concerns would fall on deaf ears.