Life

If anyone had a crystal ball in my early 20's and told me what my upcoming life would entail I think I would have turned and ran. I would have ran so fast and far away from life. Looking back on the past 10 years I cannot even believe all the events that I have made it through and surprisingly I'm still alive. I feel like I should write a book on how to get through life when the rain keeps pouring down and will not stop. When you keep repeatedly getting kicked down. The difference between me 10 years ago and me now is that I KNOW that whatever life throws at me I can and will handle. I won't just handle it, I'll man handle it and kick it back to where it came from, trembling from even stepping foot in front of me.

I got pink slipped today. I knew it was going to happen before I even interviewed for this job. I'm not worried about it because dammit I can handle anything. This is not going to make me sad, mad, upset, depressed, etc.... At this point in my life I say "what else can you send my way," "bring it on!" I will conquer any task, feat, problem, event, etc.... I know that this isn't personal and I will cross the bridge and figure out what to do when I'm at that point. There is absolutely no sense in worrying or crying about something that I cannot change. If I keep a positive attitude and hold my head up strong, I will prevail! It's just one more mountain that I will be climbing in this hike that we call life.

What a Year!!!!

2011 sure is turning into an interesting year! Here's a little about what's been going on in our world:

• I turned in my keys and turned my classroom over to someone new in February. I started my new job as a math intervention teacher at a PUBLIC!!!!!! school. I do math intervention for half of the day and the other half of the day I substitute teach in my building or in a building close to mine. I am in heaven and still can't believe that this is my life! I love my job and I love the public school atmosphere. I have had SO many great experiences and professional development opportunities in the past 5 weeks. I will be pink slipped at the end of the year but I hope that I get something for next year.

• R had his business name and website content pretty much stolen by another business in our town. They started the SAME business as him with the name only varying by one word and changed two words of his mission statement to use as their own. It makes me sick to my stomach that people would do this. Our town in small and the last thing that R really deserves is having the rug pulled out from underneath him. I mean they pretty much stole his name and business and are claiming it's their idea and original content. We consulted lawyers and are going to try to avoid sending a cease and desist letter but it may come to that if they won't be amicable about it.

• In more exciting news R got a part time job as an executive director of a foundation. It's a really great opportunity and barring anything coming up on his background check or credit report he has the job. It's just about 15 hours per week and he can mostly work from home! I'm very excited for him especially since he just took a huge blow this week with the whole business stealing. I just pray that it works out because our credit isn't completely stellar with the issues we've been dealing with for the last 2 1/2 years!

• Little man and Baby M are doing WONDERFUL!!! I love them to pieces and I couldn't ask for better children. They are comical, have contagious giggles, and are so smart! I hope that I can spend the summer NOT working and home with them.

• We're on sprin.g brea.k this coming week so I'm looking forward to having the week off. My mom is going to take the boys for a few days to spend time with them so we're going to have some time off. I'm looking forward to a little break and having time to read and get some things done around the house.
  

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything went perfect and it's all falling into place! I'm so excited :)

I'm a FINALIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The interview went perfect and I got a call back today that I made it to the last round. I have another hour interview and then I get to teach a math lesson to 31 third graders while being observed. I think I have this in the bag..........keep the prayers coming my way!

Prayers

I have a job interview on Thursday and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity at a publi.c school. It's part time but it's a chance like no other to get my foot in the door and move into full time next year! Please send good vibes, prayers, anything you can my way because I really NEED this! Thank you sooooo much!

Resolution Progress

• Take the G.RE and decide on a PhD program, possibly begin my program this fall. I have still been exploring programs and talking with people. I'm really up in the air about this and will begin looking at GR.E prep sites soon.
  
• Leave work at 4pm at least 3 days per week so that I can get home at a reasonable hour and spend time with my family. I have been pretty good at doing this but last week was worse because we had a late staff meeting and stuff come up so when things pop up it's hard to get out of there on time. Though I have been much better and I've been getting their later too.
  
• Have a sit down family dinner at least 6 nights per week. We have been having a lot more sit down dinners and that has been so nice, though when R or I have meetings at night it gets more difficult.
  
• Cook dinner 3-4 times per week leaving the rest of the nights to my wonderful husband. I have cooked so much since the new year! I made a BBQ chicken pizza that was SOOOO good. I've made some old favorite recipes but I'm definitely cooking more that I had been.
  
• Reduce my credit card debt by 50% this year. This hasn't been going great because of the fact that we just don't have enough money for our monthly bills and I have not been able to get tutor hours. R has to get them for me because I can log on at 12pm on Thursdays. I'm at work and you literally have to get right on at 12pm and they are gone at like 12:01pm. I'm going to look into other ways to make money or start finding things on Craisli.st to sell. I am applying for jobs this weekend in hopes that I can find something that pays better!
  
• Run and workout at least 5 days per week. I have done this this week! I worked out everyday since last Sunday.
  
• Read at least 24 books this year. I haven't done very well with this. I think it's partly because I end up surfing the net or doing other stuff with my free time. I need to get more dedicated with reading!
  
• Run a full marathon. I made my training program and marked the race day on my calendar.
  

So far I'm doing pretty good and just need to carve out more time for reading and couponing so I can save more money on groceries! I also need to find more time to tutor!

More Progress and My Week

• My career path is all over the place this week. We learned that our school that I currently work at may lose their busing services because currently we get our busing through the city where the school is located. They apparently are like 2 million in the whole and so they are looking at cutting busing to chart.er schools. This would cut our student population in 1/2 which means that our school would lose a ton of money and probably staff member jobs would be cut at some point. In addition to that craziness, the job I interviewed at before Chri.stmas just called me back yesterday and offered me the position. I hadn't heard from them so I just figured that it was not going to happen so that's weird. They won't budge on the pay so I think I'm going to turn it down because I can't take that huge of a pay cut. I've been thinking more about programs I could begin and R suggested maybe looking into MB.A. programs because they have great placement programs when you finish. I'm really tired of working with kids.
  
• I left work Monday-Wednesday right at 4pm and it made this week so much more bearable because I did have time to recharge and I actually felt ready for the next day.
  
• We had a sit down dinner 5 nights this week so that was HUGE progress! It's really hard when I have to work late or when R has a meeting. We are doing pretty well though!
  
• I cooked 3 times so far this week and have plans to cook tonight so that has been awesome!!!!!!!
  
• I didn't do so great on this this week. I only tutored one hour and then I forgot part of my time last night :( I also forgot to have R schedule tutor hours for me for next week :( This will be a work in progress and I hope to be able to continue to work hard on this over the next year!
  
• I only worked out 3 times this week due to working late or R having meetings. I need to definitely carve out more time to work out and begin a workout plan.
  
• I suppose I could have a new job by next week if I took this position I was offered but unfortunately I can't survive on even less money than I'm making now. I'm sure this is going to happen though because my school could in fact be laying people off.
  
• I have time today set aside to read and I've read a little before bed a couple nights this week. I'm really hoping this book I am reading gets super interesting, super quick!
• I worked on my training program and marked the date of the marathon on my calendar!

So in addition to everything that's been going on Little man had strep throat again this week and I had to take him back to the dr. He put him on a new medicine at my request so hopefully it takes care of it once and for all. In addition, he has a sleep study tonight at 9pm to see if his enlarged tonsils are affecting his sleep and if he needs to have them removed.

R and I sent a letter to a little cafe in town that is up for sale. We offered to take the cafe over for the woman and have a rent to own situation for awhile until we can buy it outright. It's a great little place and we both have a love for food and it's always been a dream to run our own restaurant. We were looking at that for our retirement but the opportunity arose sooner so we decided to jump on it! We'll see if anything comes out of it and I'll keep you posted.

I had a really bad end to the week at school yesterday so I'm so glad it's the weekend! I had two kids verbally fighting, screaming across the classroom. Another student throw a toy at another child, tip over a desk and throw a tub of books, another child have to be physically pulled out of my classroom by two staff members due to the fact that he wouldn't move and was blurting inappropriate comments, and another child get called to the office and yelled at about a cell phone and then sent back to class crying. This all happened in the first 15 minutes of my day from 8-8:15am.

Progress

• I've done a lot of research on Ph.D. programs since the New Year. I'm sifting through many options and still in the exploratory phase.
  
• I have left work by 4pm everyday so far this week and I'm LOVING it! I feel like I have all the time in the world. My nights seem to last forever and I feel WAY more productive at work :)
  
• We have had a sit down dinners every night this week and I've planned the meals for the week and did my shopping on Sunday so we're not scrambling around trying to "figure out" what to have.
  
• I cooked dinner Sunday and look forward to making a couple more meals this week :)
  
• I scheduled 5 hours of tutoring this week and paid cash for groceries, my Tar.get purchase, along with gas. I can't wait to earn more money and pay down my debt!
  
• I ran 2 miles and walked a mile last night. I will be working out every day for the rest of the week!
  
• My sister in law found a job opportunity for me last night and I applied last night.
  
• I am in the process of reading my book club book but I'm not crazy about it, at what point do I abandon it and move on. I think I need to give it a chance and try to get "into" it.
• I am going to plan my training calendar this week.

Here's to a great New Year!

Resolutions

I think I have skipped this post for a couple years. After the year I've had I feel that it's fitting to write down some resolutions. I have come to the conclusion that I'm the only one who can control my destiny. I'm tired of just being in the back seat of my own life and letting others dictate what's happening in my life. Here are some of my resolutions for the upcoming year:

• Take the G.RE and decide on a PhD program, possibly begin my program this fall. It has always been my dream to get my Ph.D and pursue a career in higher education teaching college. I am going to study, take and hopefully score well on my G.RE this year. I have begun researching what field I would like to get my Ph.D in but I need to finalize my decision and start the process to apply.
  
• Leave work at 4pm at least 3 days per week so that I can get home at a reasonable hour and spend time with my family. I work far too hard too hard for how much they value me at work so I need to make it a priority to get as much done throughout the day as I can so I can leave work at 4pm and not waste time there.
  
• Have a sit down family dinner at least 6 nights per week. This is extremely important to me because I know it's so very important to having a healthy family that communicates and shares their days with each other.
  
• Cook dinner 3-4 times per week leaving the rest of the nights to my wonderful husband. I love to cook and with everything going on this past year the job of cooking has flown out the window and it makes me sad because I love it and lately it's seemed more like a chore. I want to get that love of cooking back this year!
  
• Reduce my credit card debt by 50% this year. I will have to online tutor at night and sell things that are unnecessary to daily life but I'm going to vow to find a way to reduce my debt this year!
  
• Run and workout at least 5 days per week. Even if it's just a walk around the neighborhood I want to stay active to help reduce stress and improve my health.
  
• Find a new job by the end of 2011. I want to find a position that will value my talent and be happy that I'm a part of their workplace.
  
• Read at least 24 books this year. I am part of a book club but I really need to carve out time to read each day so that I can meet this goal.
  
• Run a full marathon. I'm thinking the Charle.voix marathon since I ran the 1/2 last year and it was awesome.

I know this is very lofty but I need to set my goals high and work to achieve something big and bold this year because 2010 was not my favorite! Yay, for a new year!

No Call

The school that I interviewed at told me that I'd most likely hear from them yesterday.....the phone didn't ring. I suppose that maybe I won't have to make a decision or tell them no because maybe I won't even get offered the position. That is super depressing because I thought for sure that I had it in the bag. I knew that I wouldn't be able to take the position but it was still an ego boost to know that I had something else if I wanted to accept it.

I have been really unhappy lately. I'm so sick of feeling like my luck has run out or that my life is just totally sucking. I need to do something about it and I feel like I'm stuck. I am applying for EVERY job that I can and not hearing anything. Unlike R when he was in this position and thought he might lose his job he wasn't hitting the pavement and applying for jobs like I am. I hate feeling over qualified and wishing that I never got my masters degree. There was a small moment where I was able to feel happy about achieving my masters and being the first person in my family with their master's degree and now I'm wishing like hell that I could somehow erase it from my transcripts. How messed up is that?

I feel lost right now and I know that my destiny lies in my hands but I'm so confused as to what I want to do. I'm contemplating going back for my Ph.D. so I can get into higher education and actually use my degree and teach college but that's going to be a ton more money. I racked up so much debt just getting my master's degree and it makes me sick that I could get further into debt because I can't get a good job with the degree that I have. I also need to take the G.RE and that just freaks me out because I don't consider myself a good test taker and it's been so long since I've taken a standardized test.

I just hope that 2011 brings some good fortune because I'm really tired of having crappy luck!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a great and wonderful Christmas! Being Santa is A LOT of work! I'm looking forward to finally beginning my vacation because I've been non stop going for the past two days and it hasn't been much of a rest. I am so glad that I have a week to relax.

Post Interview

The interview went awesome! I'm pretty sure that I'll get a call offering me the position, however, it only pays 30K per year. The insurance benefits are WONDERFUL and the school day is shorter. I wouldn't have to be there until 8am and could leave by 4pm. The kids don't start school until 8:30 and then they are out of my classroom by 3:15pm. Right now I have to be to work at 7:30 and can't leave until 4pm. I usually have 1-3 kids still in my room until almost 4pm. I would get a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch. Right now the kids have 20 minutes for recess and then I have to pick them up and bring them back to the classroom to eat for 20 minutes.

The downfall to this position as I mentioned is the pay. Right now I make more than that and we're barely making ends meet. Also, the drive is 20 miles longer and will take me about 15 extra minutes. I would be paying around $150-200 per week in gas because we have a SUV. So unless it paid about 35K I don't think that I could take it. It's disappointing but at least I was able to get an interview and had a chance at another position. Hopefully I'll get more opportunities in the future and won't regret taking this position!

Interview

I have a job interview on Thursday morning. It's for another char.ter school about an hour away from where we live. I'm going to explore my options. I want to see what it entails and if there's any chance that I could move up in salary and drop some of the stress I'm feeling. It's been a month since my incident at work and I've been pouring on the sappy smiles and sunshine but who knows if it's enough. I'm feeling as though they are going to can me tomorrow. If I make it through tomorrow I will be surprised. The job is for 4th grade, which it exactly what I am teaching now. I'm just thankful to have an interview and possible another option.

What If?

Life's a Beach gave me the idea for this blog post after reading her post today about one of her ex's. My story is similar in some respects but a little different. I started dating this guy in college and when I say dating, I mean we went out on some dates, talked on the phone, and it was semi serious. Not so serious that we were taking each other home to meet mom and dad but serious enough. He was 2 years younger than me. I was going into my internship year (5th year) and he was not even 21 yet. This guy was awesome though, super smart, charismatic, personable and treated me like gold. He was also unpredictable because he was still into the partying scene and drunk dialing.

I ended up meeting R and I kind of just stopped answering his drunk dials. He was also black and my parents don't have anything against blacks however, they didn't want me marrying a black guy. It was a hot topic between us and one I'm still a little bitter about. Society is more accepting of interracial marriages but there are still issues. I can honestly say that I don't mind and I'm totally accepting.

Long story short we started talking again back in 2007 by accident. He randomly instant messaged me by mistake, he was trying to talk to the person listed above me on A.O.L instan.t messen.ger. Turns out he's doing very well for himself and he's still a wonderful guy. The timing just wasn't right. I do think about the "what if." We're great friends and he's got a pretty serious girlfriend now and I anticipate him buying her a ring and proposing any day. I wish him all the luck. I got to see him for about 10 minutes this fall at a football game and it was great. I can't help but wonder.

Ugg, I'm low

So things have definitely been better over here in my world. I'm really trying to stay positive but it's really, really hard. Here's a little about what I'm thankful for and the good things because I need to focus really hard on these right now.

• Baby M, who like I've mentioned isn't a baby anymore will yell out at the most appropriate times "what the heck?" He has the giggle, head tilt, and sparkle in his eye. I know it's that's it's definitely something that he picked up from Little man and isn't great that he's saying but it's so darn cute and makes me laugh every time I hear him say it.
• I got a sweet deal on the Leap.ster Explorer for Little man for Christmas, $49.99, originally $69.99 Ta.rget had it on sale for $10 cheaper and then I had a $10 off coupon. I was super excited about that!
• I'm going back on birt.h con.trol. It's bittersweet because we were trying haphazardly to get pregnant and it didn't happen, thank god given our circumstance. I feel like once I'm back on I can quit worrying and just have fun with my hubby.
• I went to my first cookie exchange on Sunday. It was pretty cool to go home with tons of different kinds of cookies. The hostess made everyone a really cool CD with all the recipes. I made yummy Or.eo Truffles for my cookie and they are to die for!
  
• I got to read today! Even though I'm home sick it totally didn't matter because I actually read a couple chapters in my book club book. I feel like with all my work that I never get to read anything other than student work. It was so nice to "get into" a book. Now I just have to carve out time each day to read so I can actually finish the book.
• My friend invited me to do a gift exchange on the 22nd. They found this cool website that allows you to make a group, put in all the names and e-mail addresses and then it randomly sends a name to each person of who they are going to buy for. You can also go on to this site and put up your wish list.
  
• Little man got his report card on Friday and he got all 4's (Mastered) in all academic areas. He got mostly 4's on behavior with just a couple 3's. We're so proud of him. He's already in a guided reading group and is doing awesome learning his sight words :)
  
• Christmas break is 11 school days away!!!! Our first day of break is the 23rd. It will be a short break but I want to enjoy every last minute of it!
  

I have to keep focusing on the positives because they are the hardest to remember and celebrate when life gets tough. It's really easy to focus on the negative things because they hurt so much. Here's to keeping my chin up and persevering!

I'm Speechless

All I can do is cry and frankly that's not making things any better. Our fourth grade team got pulled in for yet another meeting today and there's just a few more things that we're doing a shitty job at. If I survive this year I'll be surprised because at this point I don't really see any light at the end of the tunnel and it's the worst feeling I've ever had in my life. I don't think that I've ever felt this much pain in my life. I hate being made to feel as though I suck at my job and can't do anything right because I'm doing a great job and deep down I know that I'm.

I wrote this on 11/22 and never posted it. On 11/23 administration wrote me up with a "final warning" before being fired. It was my first disciplinary action ever, let along there. It was for a bunch of b.s. things that weren't even true. I have until tomorrow afternoon to turn in my rebuttal, but I am seriously job hunting and trying to get out before they fire me. It's inevitable that they'll do it and usually they do things before holidays so I'm expecting Christmas break. I'm gathering and gearing up for a fight because they picked the wrong chick to screw with! I would appreciate any prayers and good vibes sent my way because I know that I'm doing a kick butt job and that they are bullying me and targeting me just like they do to people every year. I'm working hard to put an end to this nonsense behavior so it will stop.

Take the Good with the Bad

Glad to see that I have at least one person reading my blog still :) The end of last week sure did end up bad but Saturday totally made up for it! We had Friday off from work, if we were done with grades and personalized student achievement plans. I was pretty much done with my grades and worked on my student achievement plans Thursday night with my team (M and S). I just went in on Friday to finalize everything and get situated for this week. So I shoot our curriculum person an e-mail about an hour before I leave and then head out the door to start my wonderful weekend.....or so I thought!

At about 3pm, keep in mind this was about 11am when I shot the e-mail out, I get a call from S. She said, "we have a big problem." Apparently our curriculum person came into their classroom and ripped into them like no other. She didn't like the goals that we used for their personalized student achievement plans (which we worked VERY hard on the night before) and wanted at least 5 of them redone. The problem with the whole situation was that she was a complete lunatic and very disrespectful to them. I think her tone and mannerisms would have been different had I been there to stick up for everyone. They are both new and I think she was like the wolf going in for the kill!!!! I was and still am very upset with the way that things are handled on the part of administration at work.

I'm not okay with having personalized student achievement plans that are complete crap (though I still stand by my work and don't see an issue with what we did) so I ended up redoing all 25 this weekend, hence my bad reference earlier in regards to my weekend. The good part though was that I got to be on the sideline with a fancy pass at our college's football game on Saturday! I got to meet an N.F.L.. player that used to play for our team and got to ring the touchdown bell with my husband. It was one of those moments that I will never forget in life. One of those moments that comes in close behind marrying my husband and the birth of our children! It was so much fun and I will remember it forever!!! I will post a picture soon!

So needless to say the goal that came out of this weekend was that I need to hit the pavement hard looking for and applying for jobs so I can actually be respected and valued at work. Our team comes in early, stays late, and goes WAY above and beyond what other teachers at that school do. All the recognition we get is being disrespected and treated like crap. My plan for the time being....slap a smile on my face, act like everything is GREAT, and apply for every job that I can even remotely tie into my experience. My goal is to have something new by January 2011! I'll keep everyone posted on how my job hunting is going!

I'm Back!

Wow, really it's been since August since I've posted?!?!? It's one of those things that I've been "meaning" to get around to now for months. Things have been busy, wish I could say that I haven't posted because I started a wonderful new high paying job, or that R had finally got a job, or that I won the lotto, but nope things are pretty much the same.
I have a new position that is A LOT more work and the same amount of pay (not sure how that works?) and I've been working 60+ hours since the school year started just trying to keep my head above water but overall it's going well. I'm still on the look out for new positions and jobs that open up and I apply for everything but no luck. I was passed up again for 2 positions in our local school district once again because I have my master's degree. I'm really contemplating my new career move and going back to school because I'm totally screwed. I need to advance in order to because able to get a better paying job that's higher up on the totem pole.
R's business isn't going bad. He's gotten some new clients and one is ever a steady paying one so that's nice, though it's very minimal. He keeps VERY busy and is working harder than he ever did when he made thousands. He's also super dad and doing a wonderful job keeping the house running in my absence.
Little man started kindergarten and is LOVING it! We have parent teacher conferences tonight so we'll see how he's "really" doing, lol. He's reading at a level 2 which is pretty good for the beginning of the year and he's going to start learning decoding skills in small groups. Overall, I'm happy with his teacher. She's pregnant and will be going off on maternity leave in January so hopefully that goes well. He's a little too chatty and a bit silly at times but his behavior isn't terrible.
Baby M needs a new name on this blog because he's HUGE and so not a baby anymore. He can say his ABC's, count to 20, and he knows all his shapes and colors. He just turned 2 in the beginning of September and amazes us each day. He can now carry on complete conversations with you and just loves life. I love that I can come home everyday, yes everyday, and I ask him how his day went and everyday I get the same answer, "good." I'm going to miss the days when I don't get a "good" from him. He smiles all the time and is such a happy go lucky kid.
There's the quick update. As for smaller less important details I've started running again and I'm getting frustrated that I'm gaining weight, yes you read that right, gaining weight!!!! We're contemplating baby #3 but I don't think that's going to happen at this time. I'm really going to try to be better about blogging!

Ready for a Vacation

I have two weeks left of my summer and it just began. I'm really excited because I'll be in So. Caroli.na next week visiting my brother with Little man and my mom. I need a vacation. Things are really starting to overwhelm me and I just want one week where I'm away from here and not forcing myself to come in contact with reality. Here's what's been going on in my world. I'm starting off with the positive.

1. Baby M is no longer a baby anymore which is bittersweet but it's amazing how much he knows and is able to communicate. He's able to do so much and he's so darn funny. Tonight he rode Little man's three wheeled scooter down the side walk with one foot on and the other one sliding along the sidewalk making himself move. He was actually using the scooter correctly. On Tuesday he peddled his two wheel big boy bike with training wheels all the way to the playground. I had to guide the bike but he was actually peddling. I just love this age!!!!
2. Little man is loving day camp this week. They get to do so many fun activities. He really is getting independent. He's in a hard stage right now and we're having a difficult time right now but he amazes me everyday too with all that he says and does. He's so excited for Kindergarten!!!!
3. I'm going on vacation. We are flying and renting a car and staying with my brother. We are going to visit Colum.bia and Charl.ston as well as Myr.tle Be.ach. I'm so excited. All I want to do is relax and read and try to rejuvenate for this upcoming school year.
   

• Dryer vent broke and hubby didn't realize it. I discovered it when he was out of town on Monday evening. It was blowing moist warm air into our basement for God knows how long. It caused things to mold and mildew. I ended up sending a good deal of baby stuff home with my mom because she's having a garage sale today and tomorrow. Things got ruined and I was stuck here alone having to clean everything up. It sucked
• I'm slowly coming to the realization that we aren't having any more kids. I believe in signs and I'm feeling like the fact that a great deal of our stuff for a baby was ruined just seems like a sign. Also, I was going over our finances are we are WAY too far into the hole to bring another little person into this mess.
• I'm feeling really down because I'm working my a$$ off and I just feel as though it's for peanuts. We're still coming up short every month and I'm now trying to figure out how the hell we are going to try to ever become debt free.
• We thought we had our fourth grade team set for this year but they are changing things around again and might be moving one of the teachers back to her old position and hiring someone new. It's going to be tough having someone totally new because there is so much to learn. Guess we'll adjust and figure things out, I'm not going to worry about it.
  

Summer Begins

Summer school ended this past Thursday so I can finally begin my summer vacation. I will have three weeks of summer before we have to go back for pre service. Summer school was a breeze and I really enjoyed just teaching math. The kids made some great gains and I feel like most of them really are ready for 5th grade math :)

I'm going to fully enjoy my three weeks that I have left of my summer. We're going to Sou.th Carol.ina from the 10th-16th to visit my brother. My mom is taking Little man and myself so that should be a fun time! I'm really hoping to relax and get rejuvenated for the school year. I'm really starting to freak out about all the work that I have to do so I'm really trying to get some planning and stuff out of the way right now.

Last week the two other fourth grade teachers and myself got together to meet and just discuss stuff. We are all new and are all pretty unsure of the upcoming year. I'm not sure if I've disclosed details or not but we have a teacher that is coming from Kindergarten and one that's coming down from 6th grade math intervention and then myself. In addition the intervention teacher that's taking my job has yet to be hired. I am really pretty ticked about that because I really wanted to meet the person and hand them the reading intervention program that we are going to be co teaching together so that later on this summer we could actually get together for a planning session. It's not going to do any good to try to plan before the person has had time to delve into the program and just look it over. I'm not planning on going back to school until I absolutely HAVE too because I've been there for the past month.

So far it's been a really great summer but I'm looking forward to having some time off where I don't have to go to work!