Summer Plans

Well, tomorrow is my first official day of Summer Vacation! Yay! With Common Core being implemented in the Fall, I have a few trainings to go to for Reading, Math and Writing. A weekend in Key West at the end of the month. Then a visit to Jacksonville to visit with my daughter over the 4th of July weekend. I just love going there, so many cool shops, Art Walk, and good food! Still need to schedule my trip to Lexington, Kentucky for the end of July or early August. My niece will be here for 2 weeks starting next week, so I've got to start planning things to do with her. Usually I look at the Summer as a barren desert with no prospects of anything fun, it's the first time I have plans and that makes me very happy. In addition, there will be Wednesdays for the beach and the Sand Bar with friends. I can't wait to see what the Summer will bring!

Oh, and by the way....... Let's go Heat!!

Organization

Even after teaching for 25 years, I find myself struggling with time management and organization. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the one with ADD and not my students. My kind friends say, "Well, you're always so busy!", or "Don't worry, everyone is in the same boat."

Since I've noticed that this is affecting my job performance, I have a hard time accepting that. Day in and day out I witness teachers who are organized all the way down to their colored construction paper. I want to be that organized too!

Any suggestions?

The Countdown Begins

Well since we are officially in the month of March I have started my "Spring Break Countdown".  Only 22 days until the first day of freedom! Here are my goals:
1) Finish the renovation of my son's room that I started 4 years ago (I know that IS bad)
2) Catch up on my reading for pleasure
3) Leave all my schoolwork at school

I will have to add to that list as the Countdown continues but I want to keep some of my time free.  For now I only have 6 days to get my class ready for FCAT.

Another Day

Well today is a brand new day, the funk has lifted for the most part. Spent some time in the ER with my mother and my younger brother. Poor guy, so many health problems for a young guy (31 yrs old). It's such a helpless feeling when someone you love is in pain and there's nothing you can do to make them feel even the slightest bit more comfortable.  After an x-ray and a CT scan they sent him home with a prescription for Librax. He could still hardly stand up from the pain he was in and the nurse gave me attitude about getting a wheelchair for him. Now it's two hours later and he feels even worse!

I need to start getting some lesson plans together for the week and start getting ready for bed.

It's Been a Very Long Time

I can't believe I forgot all about my blog! It's been soooo long since I've posted but today I've had a lot on my mind. I've been in a kind of funk since yesterday.  My oldest teen is now 18 and getting ready to leave for college in Jacksonville this summer and my other will be 15 this summer.  The two of them are giving a run for my money lately.That's several posts in and of themselves.

Since I last posted, I have become "obsessed" with NCIS.  Absolutely love Mark Harmon! We even have the same birthday, September 2nd. Don't worry, I'm not one of those "stalker types" LOL.

The thing that I'm struggling the most with these days is the fact that one of my children has "come out". It's not that I am not accepting this news, but at times I have a hard time letting go of all the things I thought would happen in the future. Up to today I felt like I was handling it "ok". A couple of weeks ago some teachers at work were discussing how they knew one of their relatives kids were going to end up "coming out" and how the relative who was a born again Christian would react. They seemed to think the reaction would be comical. For some reason that has stuck with me and the wheels in my head won't stop turning. If they only knew what gut wrenching experience that can be and how hard it is to reconcile your hopes and dreams with a different reality-not a worse reality, just an unplanned one.

One thing that is not different from what I had planned is how much I will always love her.

Back from D.C.

Well, it's been more than a week since my last posting. I've been to D.C. and back and I have to say that this trip seemed longer than any other I've been on.

After standing in the parking lot of the Tri-Rail station for over an hour and a half we boarded the train at 1:00 pm. By 9:30 we were only in Jacksonville! By then the kids were overdue for dinner. At least we were able to get them to go to sleep after that. I actually slept pretty well on the train (sleeping pills are a gift from God!).

We must have made up a lot of ground during the night because we got into D.C. by 12:30 which is the earliest time ever. For once we were able to get into the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for a tour. The kids loved seeing how money was made. Afterwards we walked to the Holocaust Museum and then headed over to Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guard. After eating dinner (at the worst restaurant of the 3 possible) we went to the hotel. By 10:00 we had the kids locked in their rooms for the night. By the end of the day I'd walked over 8 miles so needless to say I slept like a baby.

More to follow......

Time to go back to work......

Well, it's been a nice two week break from work but tomorrow it's time to go back to work. The kids don't come back until Tuesday but tomorrow we have a "workday" that consists of a three hour training, ugh. On the bright side(positive attitude at work here) we leave for Washington on Thursday morning.

Between preparing the kids for FCAT in March and 5th grade Exhibition, the next two months are going to be brutal! Each fifth grade class in my school participates in Exhibition projects. The Exhibition projects consists of groups of students that are studying a global issue in depth. Each group had to come up with 8 key questions about their topic. The questions serve the purpose of driving their inquiry. Each student is responsible for researching the answer to 2 of the key questions. Their answers are about 1 page typed (double spaced). They were due before the break but some kids needed some more time so I changed the due date to the 10th. What I'm getting at is that I have 50 pages of reading/editing ahead of me and two weeks to get it back to the kids so they can type their final copy.

Then there's FCAT related stuff like test prep, assessments and achievement meetings. We're going to attempt covering the entire Science textbook in 2 months. My kids and I are in for an intense couple of months. Lucky for me(positive attitude) I have a great class of well behaved and motivated students, my challenge will be to keep them from freaking out and cracking under the pressure. From my point of view whatever will be, will be. That doesn't mean I'm not putting any extra effort into my teaching, but I'm not going to completely stress myself out either.

Being back at school also means family life will be kicked into high gear. My daughter is on her high school softball team so that means practices and games 5 days a week. My son is in the Boy Scouts and they're in the middle of their biggest fundraiser-the Spaghetti Dinner. That involves meetings, ticket sales and a lot of prep work. I have a feeling I'm going to blink it it will be the end of February!

Well, it's getting late and I still have a set of papers to grade. I got a lot of that done over the break but there are still some piles lingering here and there. If I want to get to bed at a decent hour I'd better wrap things up.