Tag Archives: education

Road Trip and Summer officially begins

Friday, June 21, 2013, @ 6:10 amadventure, Family, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Weather, Writingeducation, Family, geography, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, restaurants, road trips, seventh grade, weather, writingClay

Google's summer doodle - check it out! — Google’s summer doodle – check it out!

Summer begins today. Actually, it official began at 12:04 this morning. At the time, I was looking at the inside of my eyelids and sleeping but Earth was moving (and shaking) – tilting, rotating, and revolving. There are all sorts of definitions of summer – school, weather, and celestial. Whatever the definition, for most of us summer means vacation and time to kick back and relax. But, time keeps moving regardless of who you are or whether you are on vacation or not.

My world has been moving and shaking, too. This morning I am on a road trip Continue reading Road Trip and Summer officially begins →

Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go

Wednesday, June 19, 2013, @ 10:49 amadventure, Family, food, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, geography, grammar, great days, high school football, making the days count, seventh grade, softball, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, word partsClay

School let out two weeks ago and I have never been tireder. Is that even a word? Actually, it is not – I checked. The correct word, or words, should be more tired. It is the comparative form of the adjective, tired. In case you are wondering the superlative form is most tired and not tiredest like you’d think. Its comparative and superlative forms are irregular so the normal rules do not apply: example small – smaller – smallest and big – bigger – biggest. I would have thought tired – tireder – tiredest, but that does not work. Oh well, I have never been MORE TIRED, seriously.

The basement isn’t going as smoothly as I thought it would. The paneling is glued to the studs with super adhesive stuff and some of the paneling has come off easily, and others have not. The job is taking much longer than I anticipated. I did find a couple of the cracks in the foundation, they were the cracks we discovered in April and they were hidden behind the paneling near the window wells. Fortunately they are small cracks and easily sealable or seemingly so. I still have a lot of work to do. Continue reading Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go →

Oh, how did I get here?

Friday, June 14, 2013, @ 8:25 amFamily, jobs, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, scouting, softball, Summer Vacation, writingClay

It is Friday morning, almost a free day, and no camps, only quiet until everyone wakes. Sleeping in is a summer tradition, after all. Even Ivy joined in. Me, I slept until 6.30, then got up, made coffee, read the paper, and then got started on the computer. That was forty minutes ago.

I started ripping the paneling off the basement walls yesterday. It felt good, really good. We have cracks in the foundation, small ones, but small ones leak when it rains especially when it rains a lot. We learned that in April. We knew about one leaky crack, but we discovered others hidden behind the wall that soggy Thursday morning. I have a lot of work ahead, three and a half walls to go and then there is the re-build.

Between Tuesday and this morning, we’ve endured powerful storms Continue reading Oh, how did I get here? →

First Day

Thursday, June 6, 2013, @ 7:54 amFamily, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Music, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

thefirstday

Today is the first day of summer vacation. Actually, it started yesterday at noon but I was packing my room and I didn’t leave until 1:30. I could have stayed and worked longer, but I had a chiropractor appointment and I needed to be straightened out. I’ll be heading back to school and the room this morning to move my teaching stuff down the hall to my new rooms. W is going with me to help move boxes. I had forgotten how much stuff I had.

There is always a last day and after the last day there is a first day of something else, something new, a new beginning. One of the teachers in our building retired and as I was leaving yesterday, I saw her family helping her pack her car with her things. She was teary-eyed at our end of the year staff lunch and she’ll be missed, she’ll miss us, too but she’ll move on to a new beginning and someday, I’ll be there. Continue reading First Day →

Last day

Wednesday, June 5, 2013, @ 5:27 amadventure, Family, growing up, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, hard work, history, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, writingClay

It’s the last day of school. In a few hours, the busses will pull out of the parking lot for the last time and take the kids home for the summer. They are excited and the teachers are, too. But, the last day of school, or of anything, is always the hardest.

It has been a good year and I’m sad to see the group move on – they are all great kids and have done fabulous job in the classroom. They will be great eighth graders. The day is only a partial day and it will be part fun and frenzy. The kids have their yearbooks and they will be asking other kids to sign and leave a note. Many kids will approach me and ask me to sign their yearbooks and I always leave a note and a message. This year’s note will be asking them to make their summer worthwhile and to use all of their 77 days to their fullest. I hope they do, the days go quickly, much quicker than a day in school. Continue reading Last day →

Getting started

Sunday, June 2, 2013, @ 8:53 amadventure, Family, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, WritingAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, patriotism, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, weather, World War I, writingClay

aisnes_marne_memorial_day_trumpet2013_cropped — Memorial Day 2013 – A doughboy plays taps – Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France photo courtesy of Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery Facebook page

This is a bittersweet time for me. The beginning of summer always is. It is a feeling of relief and joy and uncertainty mixed into one. This should be day 2 of summer vacation. It is day 2 of summer, meteorological summer, that is. Celestial summer will arrive just after midnight June 21^st and we’ll have our peak daylight. But, for now I have three days remaining before summer really begins for me.

We had a snow day in March and two flood days in April that threw a wrench in the school calendar and thus mine. It has been a rainy spring, which is nice because last year we had little rain and the fall fruit and harvest was dismal at best around our parts. Friday was warm and muggy, you could feel the energy in the air and Saturday was overcast with afternoon rain. We’ve been spared violent weather thankfully, but we had a spectacular lightning show last Tuesday evening and rain almost every day for the past week. Continue reading Getting started →

Life is Good

Sunday, May 19, 2013, @ 11:04 amFamily, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, church, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

Summer vacation is three weeks away, a mere twelve class days, but for some reason I find myself mired in EOTSYS – End of the School Year Syndrome. Yesterday was softball and errands and we finished the day playing a fun game as a family. I did not do a darned thing having to do with school. I started to write, but busied myself with other tasks, and now I sit on the deck enjoying the morning and watching Ivy patrol the yard for squirrels. The maple trees are dropping their seeds all over the lilac bush is in bloom, and everywhere nature is working, everyone except me.

The past week presented opportunity for me to reflect and think. Most weeks do, but this week was unique. Continue reading Life is Good →

Postcards from Spring Break – 2013

Friday, April 19, 2013, @ 4:13 pmFamily, history, Hobbies and Fun, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, history, making the days count, postcards, reading, seventh grade, Spring Break, teaching, weather, writingClay

a warm sunny day at Bahia Honda State Park with the Atlantic in background

It has been a great day, a great week, and a great month. I just don’t know where it went. Three weeks ago, I was on a beach on a warm sunny day with the breeze in my hair. It felt like it would last forever and I guess it has. Memories of our vacation to the Keys has sustained me over the past few days – from torrential downpours to flurries in the air, it has been quite a few days.

Yesterday morning, it was raining and I went to the basement and I discovered water pouring in through a crack in the foundation. I soon realized I wouldn’t be able to keep up and woke W who jumped in to the job grudgingly, but soon embraced the task. By 5:30, I knew I had to stay home and was busy writing a quick sub plan when W’s school called the day off. An hour later, my school called off, too. So, I spent the second day of summer vacation (see a NO SNOW snow day) fighting with the water in the basement, moving furniture, bookcases, pulling up soggy carpet up and hauling it to the curb. We were lucky our water was just that, water. Other homes in the area had water coming in from the sewer (yeah, ewwwwww). Continue reading Postcards from Spring Break – 2013 →

Communities

Saturday, April 13, 2013, @ 8:17 amCooking, Family, growing up, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, Writingchildren, communities, education, Family, great days, making the days count, Monsters are Due on Maple Street, Monsters are on Maple Stree, reading, seventh grade, spring yard work, teaching, The Giver, writingClay

son — Jonas’s eyes from the cover of Son

I got up early this morning. Ivy was eager to get out and survey the yard and I ventured onto the deck after her and heard the unmistakable crunch of winter precipitation underfoot. I stepped gingerly to avoid being an early morning casualty and coaxed her back inside. By that time, the coffee had finished brewing and I could enjoy a cup while sitting on the couch with Ivy in my lap.

Vacation was great, really great, in fact amazing. It was good to get back, but being away and kicking back was what we all needed. Our last day was amazing and interesting, all at the same time and our trip home full of surprises, at least for two of us, but that is not what I awoke for this morning to write. All week long and most of last week, I have wanted to write this post, but I haven’t made time. Each day, there has been another project, task, or appointment in the way of writing and then last Saturday night another piece of the puzzle developed and I struggled with it. Continue reading Communities →

Postcards from…

Friday, March 29, 2013, @ 9:07 amadventure, Family, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, geography, history, making the days count, postcards, seventh grade, Spring Break, teaching, The Florida Keys, writingClay

It’s Friday morning and I have already started to wonder where the time went, but I already know. Time on vacation goes much faster than real time. Even when you try to make sure time is counting or days are counting.

I remember when my dad would travel, before my parents divorced, he would send us postcards. It was great fun to get a postcard and short message in the mail from him and even after my parents divorced, he would send a postcard now and then, from where he travelled. Of course, this was before e-mail, text messages, smart phones, and Facebook or other social media sites. Postcards were the social media! I have tried to bring back the art of the postcard and send one or two, or even more from wherever I am.

A few summers back my mom sent me all the postcards we had sent her and the ones she had collected. Continue reading Postcards from… →