Pretty Decent

I have to admit, this horrible cold and its long term laryngitis aside, this are pretty decent right now.

I mean yes, I’ve been really busy. And yes I feel like I can barely keep up. And yes, an entire WEEKEND at school would be needed at this point to get everything graded and entered. But the foundation of my life right now feels solid and, dare I say it, satisfying.

I think a lot of that is my schedule coming together at work. It’s not ideal, by any means, but overall I’m quite satisfied. Right now I am teaching one large (but within contractual limits) 7/8 Spanish class at the end of the day at the other campus. I was hoping they would give me another class at that campus, so I could just go there after lunch, but alas, it was not meant to be. That is the unfortunate part.

The good news is that we’re changing the way 6th graders take electives and next year I’ll only have ONE PERIOD OF 6th GRADE!!! This is VERY EXCITING. I will see all the 6th graders next year, but only have two classes of them at a time, on an A/B schedule, and for only one trimester. I will only ever see a certain class about 24 times during the year. This is AMAZING news.

All the rest of my classes are 7th and 8th graders. And not only that, but I get to teach 8th grade College and Career Readiness (CCR)–which used to be called AVID–and it’s a class I’ve always wanted to teach. The incoming 8th grade CCR class is big enough to split the class into two smaller groups and I will be getting one of them. It will probably only be for one year, but I will appreciate having a chance to teach it, and learning whether I actually like it as much as I think I will.

My other two classes will be smaller 7/8 (or possibly a separate 7th and 8th) grade Spanish classes. There is a chance I’ll teach a support class and one bigger 7/8 Spanish class, but either way, I’ll be happy with what I get.

The biggest challenge now is deciding if I want 1st period prep or 5th period prep. If I have 1st period prep I’ll have to get my daughter to school by 7:40am, which would mean being up a good 15 minutes earlier than we currently get up. It’s definitely doable, but I’d probably still be late to work on occasion, when it rains or the traffic is just really bad. I HATE being late to work, and next year there won’t be another teacher in that class to cover for me.

The good thing about having 5th period prep is that I have a period to get over to the other school, which would be really nice, and would give me time to get everything for that class ready before I mosey on over with a ton of time.

Of course, 5th period prep would also mean that I have no time to get ready for my first four classes, which you must remember, will be in four different classrooms. In the end I think I’ll take the 1st period prep, not just because it gives me some leeway to get to work late, but also because it gives me time to prepare for my first four classes, and even to disseminate materials to the different rooms. Hopefully I can get a routine down where leaving the minute 5th period gets out, and high tailing it over to the other school in the 15 minutes I have between classes, doesn’t result in me arriving late to THAT campus every day.

What next year will require, more than anything, is organization and planning. These are not my strong suits, but I’m confident I can create enough of a routine to make it work. Having a prep period at work again is going to make everything SO much more manageable. With that 45 minutes to plan and make copies every day, this insanity will probably be doable.

It’s amazing how much more calm I feel when my schedule is more or less figured out.

But it’s not just work stuff that is getting better, things at home have been pretty decent too. My marriage is good shape, despite a really challenging month. My husband has grown so much and is way more capable of handling the general stress of working full time with two kids. Sure he is exhausted every day, and sure he wishes he had more time to pursue his personal interests, but he doesn’t sulk around sighing loudly about it anymore. We aren’t spending as much quality time together as I’d like, but we do exchange a few hugs throughout the day, he calls or texts me at least once while I’m at work, and he’s just generally in a goodish mood. It really does make all the difference.

And after a couple of rough months with both kids, things seem to be settling down with the two of them. My daughter only has three more weeks of school, and four until her birthday. Her SEVENTH birthday! (How did that happen!?) She remains super enthusiastic about her party at the amusement park, and I am still grateful we aren’t throwing a party at the park. My son is still a 3.5 year old, but his easier days are outnumbering the harder ones (at least they are right now). He can be infuriating, but he is can also be the sweetest thing. And yes, both of them are totally exhausting, but in general parenting is feeling less stressful. I am so grateful to be their mom.

Despite some annoying meetings at work this week, things should be settling down. Only three more weeks until my daughter’s school is out, and six until my summer break starts! Whoot!