I went back to work. I honestly could not wait to get back to work. Work provides a lot for me in my life- in both literal and metaphorical sense.
First, it’s money. I like getting paid for the services I provide to the district. Something different for this year: maxing out my retirement 403b and investing the maximum amount allowed by the government (around 24K) into my main retirement account.
Work also provides the necessary routine that helps me with the feelings of anxiety. Do I love waking up super early to be in school by 7:30? Not particularly. But I love the feeling of leaving the school at 3pm and feeling accomplished… most of the time.
Work has my people. Other world language teachers, my roommate and Spanish teacher Hannah; teachers from other departments, Cheryl the attendance lady. Chris, the resource officer. Maya in the media center. Dan from physics. And many, many others. All those folks make good days better, and hard days manageable.
Labor day long weekend. We have off Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. I still have unfinished tasks around the house (folding, ugh). Battling with dust, still. And just a general need to tidy up the house.
In the evening I have dinner with my sister-friends! I have not seen them all summer. Many of us were away, including myself, and we have so much to catch up on. Between the four of us, we have visited quite a few destinations: Colorado, Tennessee, Denmark, San Sebastián and Bilbao in northern Spain, France, Türkiye, and Russia.
Tasks on my mind
laundry and ironing
garden
sweep the shed
tie up lose ends for lessons next week
start article about new teacher mental health for an anthology
read my book (maybe, just maybe finish it)
groceries!
Kids’ school orientations. I am excited for the school year to start for both of my kids. Mainly, I want them out of the house. Sorry, not sorry. I want them learning, doing work, and being meaningfully occupied, because right now they are just drifting and T and I are running out of ideas to keep them busy.
My daughter will be going to second grade. And my son will be in kindergarten! We saw L’s former kindergarten teacher at the orientation and I wanted to get some intel on this year teachers.
L’s teacher is strict (excellent), and R’s kindergarten teacher is also strict. Even better! I’m not gonna go down the rabbit hole of discussing whether parents should be allowed to pick teachers, not in favor of that, and of course we all want the best of the best for our kids, but the kids learn even with average teachers. The kids learn what to do, and also what not to do.
Curious fact: both of R’s kindergarten teachers (a teacher and a co-teacher) have Nigerian last names!
What do you want to get off your chest? What do you need to catch up on?
Mom of Children 