I am ALL OVER THE PLACE right now. It’s been hard to get my bearings since the winter break. So here are some ping pong thoughts on all manner of things bouncing around in my head right now.
The final weekend of the break was nice. I took my son to the Pinball Museum in Alameda on Saturday because it was raining and I knew neither he nor I could just stay home all day. We had a nice time. We played a lot of two player games, and he never got mad when he didn’t win (or as he wasn’t winning). He really is getting so much more mature; some activities that used to be tortuous with him are quite enjoyable these days. We also finished Jon Scalzi’s Starter Villain and started Jon Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society, which relates nicely to Monarch, which we’re watching as a family on AppleTV+. We’re excited for the new Japanese Godzilla movie.
Sunday both kids came with me to the Great Highway to ride bikes while I ran. That was really nice. We all kind of did our own thing, and we all appreciated being outside. The 13yo is VERY 13 right now, so I was super pleased that she came and seemed to enjoy being outside. They didn’t even bicker during the car rides.
There was plenty of bickering at home though. By Sunday my kids had achieved the impossible: I was almost excited to return to work the next day! After two weeks of SO MUCH QT, I think we were all ready to get away from each other for a significant portion of each day.
I didn’t do ANY work over the break. I didn’t even open my work email (I actually moved the Gmail app, which I use exclusively for work email, into a random folder so I wouldn’t click on it out of habit). I figured this was okay because we had a Professional Development day on Monday 1/8 and I could do the bare minimum during those meetings to get through the first day back with students. I was also able to stop by my classroom on Monday morning to turn my Chromecart on and check on copies (which I made before I left). And it was, for the most part, fine. But I spent much of Tuesday realizing that I needed to do an every growing list of things, and many of them require some time and effort. So yeah, I guess not doing any work during the break was a mistake. Not shocking. The question then is, what is the correct balance of working during a break so that coming back is not a disaster, but also giving myself the time to really turn off my work brain? I have no idea and predict I’ll spend my whole life trying unsuccessfully to figure it out.
On a totally related note, I’ve been really struggling to plan for work this week. It’s like I can’t jump start my brain, it just keeps revving but not actually turning over. I sat with both planners (last year’s and this year’s) for over an hour on Monday and all I really had to do was copy last year’s plans onto this year’s week and I couldn’t seem to do it. I really hope my brain starts working again soon. It’s been a lot harder to get back into the swing of things since the break. Maybe because I did no work for two whole weeks? Aack! So now I have to not only worry about not getting concrete things done, but also not being able to access my brain in the right way when I get back!
Tuesday’s snowballing list of “work shit I did not do over break” got so big that I ended up not going to the dojo like I planned that afternoon. I didn’t even bring my son for his class. Instead I stayed late in my classroom prepping for the rest of the week. Then I ran an errand on the way home. It was the right move, but I was disappointed. I’m going to try to go today.
I also spent quite a bit of time putting everything back into the downstairs bathroom, WHICH IS FINALLY DONE! All the stuff sitting all over my bedroom was driving me crazy so I was really excited to put it all away. (You know when you start cleaning up one area and then all the still-messy areas bother you more? That feeling multiplied by varying amounts of my bathroom being strewn all over my bedroom for almost two months). I also really love the new tile. Now I just need to replace the handheld shower head (it can’t handle our water pressure and sprays water all over the wall behind it) and the bathroom will be done! I’m so happy with it. The downstairs bathroom has always been on of my favorite rooms and I’m so glad that is still the case.
The house is starting to look good. Like visibly, on a daily basis. There are no longer bags lying around with stuff I still need to work through (I’VE CLEARED THE BAGS! HOORAY!). And when there is clutter left over from the day I know where most of it goes, so I put it away! It’s not done, to be sure. We still have a lot of work to do in the kitchen (pantry needs to be purged and the fridge and freezer need to be cleaned, badly), but the living rooms are in nice shape.
And yet, I could still do more. So now I have to start deciding… to what end? Where do I stop? And if I’ve decided that I’m done purging and organizing, what goals will I set for myself moving forward. Do I want the common living spaces to look pristine before I go to bed? Do I want things more clean now that I clearing them off doesn’t take as long? In the past I’ve found that keeping the house in REALLY good shape takes a dedicated 30-45 minutes every night. I usually don’t find that time commitment worth it, and start to backslide. If I’m only going to spend 10-15 minutes a night, how and where do I focus that energy? A messy house doesn’t really stress me house on a daily basis, it’s more that I hate feeling like I don’t want to host because the work required to make my house guest-worthy is too much to contemplate. So I’m really not sure where we’re going to land on this project, but I am super pleased with the progress we’ve made.
It’s been pretty cold lately (for us, which comparatively I understand is not cold at all). We keep our thermostat pretty low (63* when people are in the house – 58* at night) and only turn the heat on downstairs to triage when it feels freezing. That means it can get as low as 52* downstairs at night! I put flannel sheets on all the beds and switched out or light comforter for a super warm blanket (we also use a weighted blanket), but it’s still pretty chilly at night. Last night I kept my warm socks on while I slept! When I first put the warm bedding on I was way too hot at night, but now I’m wondering if I should add another blanket. Or just sleep in a sweatshirt.
And… I should probably get back to doing work. It’s my long prep and tomorrow I have no prep, and lots needs to be ready for a day with four block periods and no breaks. I was hoping that writing this would help quiet my brain, but it doesn’t seem to have done the trick. We shall see.
How are is your brain doing post-holidays? How do you balance prepping for your return and the need for rest during a break from work?
Huge accomplishments! Once again so impressed by all you did do. Which of course means there was other stuff you did not do. But on your break prioritizing your family and home seems to me to be the right choice. You are not paid for that time. Your salary is based on work days in the year. At least that is how I understand teacher pay but perhaps I am in error.
Getting back in school sync always feels impossible at this point in the year but it always DOES happen. Hang in and know we are cheering you on.
(My brain would prefer to remain in vacation mode also but life isn’t that way. I set a list and time line. Sometimes it helps. Setting a reward system also sometimes helps me.)
I think NOT checking your work email during vacation is 100% worth feeling refreshed enough to take on the items in your email when you get back. Generally if I check my email during a break and there are to-do things, I won’t do them AND I’ll worry about them, so they interfere with my break anyway. Just don’t check it! At least that’s my system, but I am a very flawed (re: lazy) worker, so maybe don’t take advice from me.
We do 10-15 minutes of straightening up/cleaning/decluttering every night. There are two of us, so that’s 20-30 “manminutes.” Generally it’s easy stuff like clearing papers off our desk/dining room table, but sometimes it’s more complicated, like vacuuming or cleaning a sink or toilet. Our house isn’t PERFECT, but it’s lovely when we wake up and if someone stops by without notice, we’re not embarrassed. That being said, if anyone looks too closely in our closets or drawers, they’re going to be shocked at the level of disorganization.
My brain is working okay. We only get one week of break. Between Christmas and New Years, and I do check my work email. Mainly to clear it. Most of the time, it’s things that are sent to everyone in the district/reminders/etc. so, little of essence. So I delete, and move on with my break.
My lessons plans are resumed from last year, and if I have the energy or come across a different activity, I add it while removing something else. If not, oh well.
I do not over think it and I don’t worry about whether it’s a horse and pony show everyday. It’s not. It’s work and grind and effort, and my students know it.
Copies. At the beginning of every unit, the students receive a packet from me- vocab, grammar, audio. and integration for this one unit. We pull from the packet as the unit progresses but we may or may not finish it. So I technically only make copies once per unit. A unit lasts about one month. I cannot fathom making copies every day :-/ that would be so hard!
Well done of declutterring!!
I would say best to avoid email on your holiday and deal with the consequences when you are back at work? I know what you mean re getting back into the swing of things. After our month overseas I really struggled with getting back into doing all the stuff. Plus there were a number of big messes that needed to be cleaned up where people had done the wrong thing in the accounts while I was away. I’m sure you’ll settle into the swing of things pretty quickly.
I definitely try to NOT open work email on breaks at all cost. It just makes me think about work when I shouldn’t be thinking about work. But then, going back after a week (or longer) away is always hard and takes a few days to settle back in…