Summer's End

I have one week of summer vacation.  Sam and Emily have a bit over two weeks.  I was looking at my list from the beginning of the summer and, miracle of all miracles, we got it all done.  We've also managed to get a few friends over, played some games, and seen a few summer blockbusters.  Our faves:  Mr. Poppers Penguins and Captain America.

We are now all feeling a little flu-ish. We're hanging around the house more lately anyway because it is so hot and it costs money to interact with the world.   I am  working my way through "The Kennedys," an 8 part series over the presidential years of JFK.  I am also getting last minute things done for school that will make things a little easier once classes get started.  Next Friday, I will meet with my new administration for the first time.  I am a bit nervous, but mostly anxious to understand the expectations and schedule.

Emily will be in middle school and she is crazy nervous about it.  I know she will be amazing in middle school, but I can't keep her from experiencing the required anxieties over each rite of passage moment. Sam is looking forward to 5th grade, but is not necessarily in a hurry to start school again.  He is enjoying this sleeping late thing. He is deeply struggling to get to sleep at night.  That makes his morning wake time later and later.  I hope we can all get back on track smoothly in a couple weeks.  

Mid-Way

Can you believe summer is more than half over?  On Monday, I stayed up all night finishing a project for a class. I might be too old to be doing that.  I finished my first two classes for my reading specialist work.   Now I have moved on to prep for the new job.

It has been a busy summer.  First, Emily and I went to girl scout day camp where she was a teen helper.  I stayed the night with the girls from our troop.  That was the first opportunity I have had to get to spend time with her new school friends since she started at Merriam Park this year.  Next, she and I went on a canoe trip with more new friends.  The junior high youth group at our "new" church situation takes the 7th graders on a canoe trip so they get that chance to gracefully transition in to junior high ministry.  I have join the junior high youth staff.  The kids are very different than those I teach, but they were pretty normal pre-teens and they warmed up to Emily and I nicely.   Once we returned, we went to Iowa for our family reunion.  There were some concerns, because this portion of my family can be sensitive and anger-driven sometimes.  However, nearly all of us have grown up in lots of ways.  We had a fabulous weekend of fishing, playing, cooking, etc.  I received a trophy for a sheet cake recipe I made for my mom's 60th birthday.  There is a lot of irony in  that, but I will not elaborate on why.

The whole family came home.  Ashley, Kreisa and Emily helped reface the cabinets. A few days later,  Emily left for church camp.  Sam and I ate out a lot and had one of his friends over a couple times.   We purchased school shoes, lost a couple teeth, and slept late.  Meanwhile,  while Em was at camp, we had a crazy brief storm that did some water damage to Emily's room (siding issue, I guess) and pushed down two LARGE pieces of trees.  One fell on the back fence.  The other fell into the neighbors yard and made it all the way to her house.  We, mostly Michael, have been cleaning it up since (for about 10 days).  This week we have visited the vet, dentist, orthodontist, and pediatrician.  Next week we visit the optometrist.   All that to say, we have made use of the time off.

I have 15 more days off and the kids have 25 more days off.  It goes by so fast.  All of us will be in different places each day once school starts.  I will be praying for what happens and what we bring back to each other at the end of each day.

GS Day Camp 2011

Summer is in Full Swing

One class down.  One district project down.  Two more of each  to go.  
Most of my list is done or scheduled to be done.   Now I thinking toward two weeks of movement.  Em and I will go on a canoe trip for the 7th graders in youth group.  We will come back to KC only to repack and head to an Iowa-based family reunion.  We will return to a short girls-trip somewhere (details not final).  I will then settle in to finishing my second specialist class and prepping for my new adventure at Harmon, while Emily heads off to her last year at camp with elementary kids.

So far this has been the most relaxing, pressure-free summer since I went back to the classroom.  The kids are hanging with friends.  Emily is playing softball.  Both are working on some keeping-the-brain-sharp summer lessons.  Emily also has the summer work for her advanced science and English classes.  Ashley, my beloved grown girl, is recovering slowly, but consistently, from her broken ankle.  She is also re-taking that terrible philosophy class.  I wonder if anyone likes their college philosophy class?

Worries?
__ Sam being at Merriam Park without Emily.
__ Emily beginning middle school.
__ Starting a completely new job with many unknowns.
__ Helping mom work through the grief of losing our dad.
__ Keeping my kids active in church when we are all going through a weird stage with that.

When you look at the world and all that humankind is forced to endure,  I have no true worries, but how to make a bigger dent in the problems and worries of those in so much suffering.  I should make that list.  That will have to be another post.  

Note: Blog needs more pics.  Working on that!

What Must Be Done

Ominous title for a general summer to-do list.   Ever get to that place where you have so many things to do and you know you are going to forget something important?  I'm there.  I eliminate, or at least reduce, that stress with lists.  I make daily, weekly, monthly, even seasonal lists. Yes, I admit I am an obsessive list maker.  One of those that puts little boxes in front of each item so I can see all the check-marked boxes at the end of the day.  Obsessive, but effective.  As I watch my son, I see that I passed him my own ADHD.  Instead of medication, I used my own types of behavior management (which I am teaching him to do, too).  My two most successful:  making lists and never procrastinating.  Today, I am making a list so I won't procrastinate.

 This is my summer list:

PERSONAL  (Sadly, there are no little boxes to check.)
Girl Scout day camp (check)
Garage Sale
Hair cuts: Em and Mom
Em and Mom to eye doctor
Sam/Emily/Mom to dentist (July)
Family Reunion
Trip to Branson
Em to 5-6th grade church camp
Emily needs tetanus shot b4 school
Raymond to vet
Locate piano teacher - double check Em still wants to start again
School clothes and supplies, school fees
Submit application for volunteering at Wayside Waifs
Walking/Biking training for events
Organize the basement covered in stuff from my NW classroom.

PROFESSIONAL
30 hours of iPad lesson development
15 hours of resource development for literacy
2  specialist classes finished by mid-July
Unit development for English (Harmon)
Tech idea development for high school English

Okay.  I already feel better just seeing this.  I looks a bit less overwhelming laid out like this.
I feel a more unsettled than usual this summer because I am transitioning from middle school literacy to high school English.  I don't yet know if I will be teaching just freshmen or both sophomores and juniors.  A few years ago the idea of teaching junior would have made me crazy anxious, but not now.  I am ready for whatever they offer.  I am ready to just get rocking through my first year in high school.  I know a lot of growth will be involved.

I didn't get that TL (teacher leader/instructional coach) position, but other than a little pride pain, I am so cool with staying in the classroom.  It is where I belong.  I don't read the politics well enough to be successful at that level, and I hope I never do.   Every time I thought about not teaching or I thought of a good idea I wouldn't be able to use as a TL, I would regret even applying for TL.  I am meant for the classroom.  This culture often makes you feel like you should be seeking bigger, higher, better positions of authority (power, if you will), but what's bigger or better than working with students.  I let myself get sucked into the thinking that teaching wasn't good enough.  I don't even know how it happened.  I used to know better, but I bought into the things people say about what I would be good at and what I should do.  It is all a lie.  I am ashamed of myself for not seeing it.  I am embarrassed that I thought I could fit into organization politics, when others could see I clearly can not.  Lesson learned.  A little humbling is essential sometimes.  Now that the process is passed, I am so excited about my next adventure with high schoolers.   One day I will make a fine instructional coach, but I am not called to it now.  Students still just jazz me too much and most adults just don't.  Enough said.

Okay...now on to conquering this list........

Ending 2010-2011

The school year for me is essentially over.  My students promoted to freshmen yesterday.  My Emily and my Samuel are now 5th and 7th graders.  Mike and I will be delving back into the world of raising a middle schooler again.   So many habits and general patterns of thought are solidified in middle school, so I have a lot of praying to do over the next 4 years until they both get through the time.   They are both doing well in school.  I am so proud of how they have handled the changed and actually grown in very positive ways from it.  Although Maranatha offered so much good biblical education that they needed to make the right choices, it has also been a blessing to escape some of the negatives of that situation.  

We are finding our way through public education while holding tight to our faith.  Some of that has been difficult with the loss of grandpa.  Grandpa John was such a positive influence.   We've had to replace the losses of our lives with other positives.  That hasn't been easy for me.  The loss of John has left a huge hole I didn't deeply anticipate. Gratefully,  Ashley and Kreisa do help just by being such good people and putting up with me.

God is faithful:  He will make a way. We are finding our way at Central Church to replace the biblical instruction  and  fellowship lost by changing schools and churches.  We are also trying to help grandma make her way in this world without her guide and protector.  That has already been a challenge with some unwanted adventure.

I also don't know what my job is next year.  Many adventures still lurk.  What would life be without the anticipation of the unknown?

2011 and Beyond

The new year has been productive and most of my efforts to seek a more positive existence have been fruitful.  I did put in my transfer from NW.  I feel very comfortable with that.  No regrets about my time there or about leaving.  The process of putting myself on the auction block is daunting, but filled with the little excitement and hope for what God has in mind.

My kids have finished their first-ever round of KCA tests.   I think both did well.   Sam is a little frustrated over what he sees as a season of boredom.  He expresses particular irritation over the loss of computer time through testing season.  His teachers say he is more negative this quarter, and they would like him to lighten up. In spite of this, I am impressed with how well he is doing.  He could get straight A's, but I know he mostly wants to complete the requirements,  meet my expectations, and then go do his own thing.  I will insist on certain standards, but I understand all to well how it feels to think of school just something to get through. Emily is experiencing great success in the public system.  She likes the more interesting opportunities, and her grades are stellar.  I don't see the transition to middle school as being more than a minor speed bump for her.   She will jolt for a bit at first, but success will be hers.

The pain of John's death is still pretty fresh most days.  Learning to live without such a positive force is very challenging.  He really buffered some of the things that could be overwhelming with my mom.  So far we are doing alright without the buffer, though the sadness is deep.  I see some mountains to conquer in the coming months.

My life is full of anticipation, but until the blocks begin to fall into place, there isn't much more to say here.
Until then....