new routines
We're easing into a new normal with the start of the school year. Every year the start of school jolts us a bit. It's such an abrupt change to move from the lazy togetherness that summer vacation brings to the busyness and separateness (and grouchiness) that the start of a new school year brings. The kids come home tired each afternoon. It feels sometimes like I am just waiting out a school week to get to a weekend so we can breathe.
Peeks at our world these days:
Kate really likes her new teacher. She is young and enthusiastic and described Kate to me at our conference yesterday as "a teacher's absolute dream student." Kate finished up aerial silks classes a couple of weeks ago and has decided that ice skating lessons will be her fall activity. Go figure. She has been helping me set up my classroom lately and I have found her to be a tremendous help. We walked over a couple of afternoons after finishing homework and snack and had to pull ourselves away to come home for dinner. She so happily completed any little task I could think of to give her. She has been really tired in the evenings. Third grade seems to be a bit more intense than second grade was. She is full of yawns by about 6:00 each night and will sometimes tell me around 7:30 that she is ready to be tucked in please.
Drew is FULL of excitement about his upcoming eleventh birthday. Ben asked me the other day if there is a child in the world who talks about his birthday more. It is a family year for him (rather than a friend party year as we are on a rotating basis because, well, four kids.) and he has dreamed up big ideas that change weekly. First a trip to Chicago. Then a camping trip. Then fishing. He also has a birthday present wish list that grows and grows.
He is such a social kid and seems to be constantly invited to a party or outing lately. Between this and sports stuff and homework, we have to work hard to balance in some down time for him because he has been c r a n k y lately. Truth be told, he is not loving fifth grade as of yet. I'm hopeful this will change as he adjusts to the teaching style of his new teacher, who we've had two other times already and who is pretty much the opposite of the fourth grade teacher he just finished the year with. I had a conference with her yesterday and I may have lost track of how many times the phrase "high expectations" came out of her mouth. She is notorious for lots of homework and since Drew has never had homework before, this will be an adjustment.
Luke has jumped into high school as smoothly as I could have hoped. He seems very content and not the least bit overwhelmed. He has decided to join book club as well as drama club. He has a group of friends he is spending his free time with, often meeting up at a coffee house near the high school just to talk or meeting at the park near one of the girl's home to hang out. He will ask, "Can I go hang out with the group at _____?" and then be gone for hours. When he is home, he is often in his room drawing, working on homework, playing online stuff with his friends, or listening to podcasts. He is my most private kid for sure, but not in a way that makes me uncomfortable. He seems to just like time to himself after a full day at school, which I relate to one hundred percent.
Gracie has started her junior year with great enthusiasm. Cheerleading has occupied much of her time- practices, conditioning days, fundraisers, lock ins, and first games. Like Luke, she has a group that she loves to hang with in her free time. They often go out for a meal and then head back to one of the houses to goof off. I like her friends, a nice feeling. She loves driving and is always quick to volunteer to run to the store or pick up one of her siblings for me.
She continues to be pretty much the kindest person I know. The way she treats her siblings turns me to momma mush. They think she is just the best. I have to agree.
Ben is the one of the six of us with the most going on right now. He has decided that it is time for a MAJOR change up in his professional life. He doesn't see eye to eye with his current boss (only his boss for about two years now) and doesn't agree with many of the changes happening within the organization. He has been interviewing with other companies and received a pretty solid offer from a tech company he is excited about. He has another couple of promising interviews today and next week and then will make a decision. I am pretty proud of him.
He also has been taking great care of himself during this potentially stressful time. He has lost bunches of weight by hitting the gym or taking a run daily. He's been eating well. Again, I am pretty proud of him. He decided he wanted/needed a side project now to focus on when he needs to give himself a break from work stress, so he has jumped into finishing a third of our garage to be a home office. He has spent countless hours over the past month framing things out and getting the space ready for drywall and HVAC.
And me... well, I feel like I am just kind of the glue right now in the family. I've been filling my days working on The Painted Letter orders, setting up my school year at preschool, and working on some projects around the house. I continue to be at my gym and while I wouldn't say I necessarily like the time I put in there, it makes me feel good, so I keep going.
Teaching is going to look a lot different for me this year. I am pumped. My co-teacher from last year got a new job teaching literacy elsewhere. The directors approached me with the idea of rather than having a co-teacher for me, appointing me as the teacher for the room and giving me a full time assistant. It is kind of a dream scenario for me. I get to have free reign to do everything I want in the room and I have BIG plans. I also get to have planning time each morning rather than taking the kids to their special classes (gym, music, etc.) or to recess. My curriculum night was Tuesday and I realized standing up in front of my new parents that I have landed right where I want to be professionally. Small class, complete freedom to teach what I want and how I want, a full time assistant as well as an aide to help me prep art materials/ snack/ etc., sweet bosses and coworkers, and a three minute walking commute to work. What the job lacks in pay (because boy, does it....), it makes up for it every other way possible. I am glad I have The Painted Letter as my side gig because if I put the two jobs together, I almost have a real monthly income. ;)
So that is us in a nutshell. I have neglected the blog over the past month, but hope to get on here soon with some back to school and just general life pictures.
Peeks at our world these days:
Kate really likes her new teacher. She is young and enthusiastic and described Kate to me at our conference yesterday as "a teacher's absolute dream student." Kate finished up aerial silks classes a couple of weeks ago and has decided that ice skating lessons will be her fall activity. Go figure. She has been helping me set up my classroom lately and I have found her to be a tremendous help. We walked over a couple of afternoons after finishing homework and snack and had to pull ourselves away to come home for dinner. She so happily completed any little task I could think of to give her. She has been really tired in the evenings. Third grade seems to be a bit more intense than second grade was. She is full of yawns by about 6:00 each night and will sometimes tell me around 7:30 that she is ready to be tucked in please.
Drew is FULL of excitement about his upcoming eleventh birthday. Ben asked me the other day if there is a child in the world who talks about his birthday more. It is a family year for him (rather than a friend party year as we are on a rotating basis because, well, four kids.) and he has dreamed up big ideas that change weekly. First a trip to Chicago. Then a camping trip. Then fishing. He also has a birthday present wish list that grows and grows.
He is such a social kid and seems to be constantly invited to a party or outing lately. Between this and sports stuff and homework, we have to work hard to balance in some down time for him because he has been c r a n k y lately. Truth be told, he is not loving fifth grade as of yet. I'm hopeful this will change as he adjusts to the teaching style of his new teacher, who we've had two other times already and who is pretty much the opposite of the fourth grade teacher he just finished the year with. I had a conference with her yesterday and I may have lost track of how many times the phrase "high expectations" came out of her mouth. She is notorious for lots of homework and since Drew has never had homework before, this will be an adjustment.
Luke has jumped into high school as smoothly as I could have hoped. He seems very content and not the least bit overwhelmed. He has decided to join book club as well as drama club. He has a group of friends he is spending his free time with, often meeting up at a coffee house near the high school just to talk or meeting at the park near one of the girl's home to hang out. He will ask, "Can I go hang out with the group at _____?" and then be gone for hours. When he is home, he is often in his room drawing, working on homework, playing online stuff with his friends, or listening to podcasts. He is my most private kid for sure, but not in a way that makes me uncomfortable. He seems to just like time to himself after a full day at school, which I relate to one hundred percent.
Gracie has started her junior year with great enthusiasm. Cheerleading has occupied much of her time- practices, conditioning days, fundraisers, lock ins, and first games. Like Luke, she has a group that she loves to hang with in her free time. They often go out for a meal and then head back to one of the houses to goof off. I like her friends, a nice feeling. She loves driving and is always quick to volunteer to run to the store or pick up one of her siblings for me.
She continues to be pretty much the kindest person I know. The way she treats her siblings turns me to momma mush. They think she is just the best. I have to agree.
Ben is the one of the six of us with the most going on right now. He has decided that it is time for a MAJOR change up in his professional life. He doesn't see eye to eye with his current boss (only his boss for about two years now) and doesn't agree with many of the changes happening within the organization. He has been interviewing with other companies and received a pretty solid offer from a tech company he is excited about. He has another couple of promising interviews today and next week and then will make a decision. I am pretty proud of him.
He also has been taking great care of himself during this potentially stressful time. He has lost bunches of weight by hitting the gym or taking a run daily. He's been eating well. Again, I am pretty proud of him. He decided he wanted/needed a side project now to focus on when he needs to give himself a break from work stress, so he has jumped into finishing a third of our garage to be a home office. He has spent countless hours over the past month framing things out and getting the space ready for drywall and HVAC.
And me... well, I feel like I am just kind of the glue right now in the family. I've been filling my days working on The Painted Letter orders, setting up my school year at preschool, and working on some projects around the house. I continue to be at my gym and while I wouldn't say I necessarily like the time I put in there, it makes me feel good, so I keep going.
Teaching is going to look a lot different for me this year. I am pumped. My co-teacher from last year got a new job teaching literacy elsewhere. The directors approached me with the idea of rather than having a co-teacher for me, appointing me as the teacher for the room and giving me a full time assistant. It is kind of a dream scenario for me. I get to have free reign to do everything I want in the room and I have BIG plans. I also get to have planning time each morning rather than taking the kids to their special classes (gym, music, etc.) or to recess. My curriculum night was Tuesday and I realized standing up in front of my new parents that I have landed right where I want to be professionally. Small class, complete freedom to teach what I want and how I want, a full time assistant as well as an aide to help me prep art materials/ snack/ etc., sweet bosses and coworkers, and a three minute walking commute to work. What the job lacks in pay (because boy, does it....), it makes up for it every other way possible. I am glad I have The Painted Letter as my side gig because if I put the two jobs together, I almost have a real monthly income. ;)
So that is us in a nutshell. I have neglected the blog over the past month, but hope to get on here soon with some back to school and just general life pictures.
Comments
Reading it and looking at all the wonderful pictures makes me smile and remember how much Paul loved your blog. He would love to see what a good job you and Ben are doing and how much the kids have grown. But then, I am sure he does. Love you.