There are only 21 days before I go back to school. It feels like it was just yesterday that I packed my last box and turned in my modular keys. I spent the first week of vacation just catching up on all of the TV I've missed. I think I had about 15 hours of shows on the old DVR! I have painted the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, bedroom, and bathroom. Ok, the bathroom is not officially done, but it's a slightly new color. I say slightly because the old orange-yellow is still showing through the white I put over it. I ran out of paint and won't be able to buy anymore until payday!
My son and I have gone to two different zoos. We went to the Pueblo Zoo with friends of ours. It was hot and humid, but the animals were nice. We then went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo which always promises cooler temps. It was hot and miserable! I spent the day sweating and walking up and down the mountain. We saw only about a quarter of the animals. Dad paid for a membership so we'll go back with the whole family...when it's cooler!
We went to Idaho Springs, CO for the Fourth of July to visit my grandma. It was nice for my son to spend the day with his great-grandma. It was a good 35 degrees cooler there, so I enjoyed the day immensely. We took a drive up Mount Evans Scenic Byway to 10,600 ft. Echo Lake is up there. It was cold enough that we needed a jacket and I was still a bit cold in my shorts. We walked along a couple of the trails looking at all of the beautiful pine trees and climbing on rocks. I got a couple of pictures of my son trying to climb the trees; he got about an inch above his head! There were quite a few people there, but no one had any luck with fishing. We then headed back down to Idaho Springs, visited a park, walked along the river, and found a waterfall. The fireworks were spectacular that night, even if it was still a bit damp from all the rain. The ride home was horrendous. We had a two hour drive through torrential rain. We got home just as it stopped about two miles from our house. We got a bit of rain, but we still had to water the lawn the next day. I still can't believe that we drove through all that rain and it stopped two miles from our house.
So, now it's the end of July and I'm in full panic mode. My classroom was moved from a modular to the main building. Thank you, God! I now need to unpack everything I own. On top of that I will be moving from teaching fifth grade to second grade. I am so excited (and scared)! I'll be going in on Monday to start the process and to use my copies. I am fortunate enough to have a couple of friends who will not be using their copies so they gave them to me. I'll have to spend this afternoon gathering supplies and making a list of things to copy. I'll also have to swing by Walmart and buy paper. Since I'm changing grades, I also need to make sure I have everything. I borrowed some resource books from friends, but I have to buy an alphabet strip (mine is in cursive) and figure out what else I can't transfer from fifth to second.
It always amazes me how the public views teachers. The other day I ran into a friend who asked if I was enjoying my summer. I recapped all that I had been doing to get ready for school (visiting websites, changing all of my centers, buying center materials, buying paper!, buying school supplies, cutting out sight word cards, organizing phonics centers, etc.) and she had the audacity to complain that we should go to school year round so that she wouldn't have to "deal" with her kids. Then, put in that teachers get paid year round so we should work year round. Do people really have no idea how much work goes into teaching kids? I remember many times when I had my infant son at the school at 9 pm because there was a concert or performance I was still cleaning up from, being at the school at 7 am because I had to make copies, not to mention all of the money teachers spend. I spent over $1000 last year on books, supplies, paper, and everything else! That won't be happening this year, though. Our district won't be giving teachers their vertical movement, which means no raises. I'll make the same amount I made last year.
On top of all of that, I'm working on my doctorate. I started off the summer with two papers left to do. I watched those darn shows on the DVR and completely lost track of time. The next thing I knew I was behind and struggling to keep up. I just started my new class and I vow to keep up! So far, so good. We'll see. My overall goal is to get most of the classwork done before school starts so that I can devote more time to school. My son is starting kindergarten, hopefully at my school. I also want to fit in time to volunteer in his class (maybe on my lunch break or plan time?). In education we value children, but our own children are often left behind. I hope I can do enough to let him know I'm there for him!
