Tag Archives: Summer Vacation

Ten days in

warm and dry – courtesy of The Chicago Tribune

Today is the tenth day of summer and it feels like the tenth day of summer. The weather yesterday was warm and dry. We need rain, the forecast yesterday called for rain however, the rain went either north or south but it completely avoided us.

There are things I would like to avoid, like interruptions, distractions, and lack of focus. However, that is what and who I am. I can distract myself like no one else. I can also be very productive or incredibly unproductive, like I was yesterday. I got nothing done and except for the annual physical – required for scout camp and because I am of a certain age. I did not learn anything I didn’t already know or suspect; I need to lose weight, I need to exercise, and I need to start now. Every summer, I get started and I lose a little bit of weight and exercise more than during the school year, but once school starts, I fall back to my old ways of doing things and eating. From what I heard yesterday, I need to start and make it happen AND stick with it. Continue reading Ten days in

Alice’s Dairy Bar

The sign says it all - 'Bar' not 'Barn'
The sign says it all - 'Bar' not 'Barn'

It has been a week of summer so far, six days; some short, some long, but six days nonetheless. The kid’s summer started Wednesday afternoon and Thursday we headed off to visit grandma and grandpa in Ohio. Continue reading Alice’s Dairy Bar

Next stop, High School

I remember it like it was yesterday. I can close my eyes and see my classmates around me crossing the stage as we waited in the lunchroom for the ceremony to be over so we could bust out the door and summer could start. That was thirty-six years ago and last night I sat in the gym watching the same event from my parent’s eyes, except I wasn’t crossing the stage, William was. Continue reading Next stop, High School

Summer Reading

Books can really slow me down. I have been on a tear to read adolescent literature since moving to Language Arts a few years ago. Before then I read books about social studies – books for big people, such as The History of the World in Six Glasses or Salt: A World History and it would take me all summer or a semester to read them. Now, I read, on average, a book every two weeks, not bad. However, I have a more ambitious summer goal – to read twenty books.  That is a book every four days, and that means I am going to be reading a lot! I know I am going to make somebody unhappy! Continue reading Summer Reading

What now?

Several years ago, I left a job after over twelve years. I remember that first day after I resigned, I decided to take a week off and wait for my new job to begin. I was uncomfortable, bitter, and out of sorts – feeling as though I had lost something, but not knowing exactly what it was. I had a similar feeling yesterday at the end of the day. Friday was a short day, but it counted as a workday and an attendance day for the students. I was finished with all of my duties as a teacher, cleaned my room, filed my grades and I was on my way home. I was exhausted and spent. The previous weeks had been frenetic at work and I had put off things at home to finish things at school, and vice versa. I was mess. Continue reading What now?

Last Day, summer begins

Summer is finally here! It is the day that most kids look forward to on the first day is here, the last day. It has felt like summer, off and on, since March, but today it is 50⁰F, overcast, and drizzling. It feels more like early fall than summer. However, it is here. Continue reading Last Day, summer begins

Down to two

I can always count on opening my laptop to slow my productivity to a crawl. With three days left in the school year, there is the frenzy of finishing all the end of the year stuff, cleaning my room, and trying to channel my student’s energy in the right direction. I awoke early this morning, very early, because a) I set my alarm and it was ringing, and b) Ivy was barking about something. I let her out, started the coffee, and went outside to wait for her to finish the yard inspection and the coffee to brew.  She came back to the deck satisfied the yard was safe, at least until daylight and we both went inside. I grabbed a cup of coffee and together we went to the basement; I went to wrap up grading a final set of papers and focus on Wednesday and Thursday and Ivy lay down beneath the desk and went to sleep. I think she got the better part of the deal. Continue reading Down to two

Blogoversary, really

Two years ago, actually 104 weeks ago to be precise, I sat down and started writing Making the Days Count. It started as a dot com but, it has morphed into a dot org, however you can get there either way. You can even get there with dot info and dot net too, but it doesn’t matter how you got here, it is that you are here and reading, following along, thank you. It started because the previous school year had been crappy, from the beginning until the very bitter end in 2010. New curriculum, new schedule, crappy teaching (yes, I was crappy, very crappy), and some students who fought me every inch of the way made it even crappier. There were some excellent students that year, but they got lost in a year when I always behind, always unprepared, and contemplating whether I was cut out to be a teacher, or not. Continue reading Blogoversary, really

Winding Down

Courtesy of FineArtAmerica.com

It is Teacher Appreciation Week and I am feeling appreciated. More importantly, I am grateful for the teachers I had who shaped me through their lessons, stories, patience, and passion. Thank you to, and in no particular order, Atlee, Guinn, Wright, Giesberg, Clark, Shand, and Gilbert. I know there were more, but it’s early and I am thinking and writing. I am also grateful to the teachers who have shaped my kid’s lives and made a difference for them.  THANK YOU and THANK YOU for being a teacher. Continue reading Winding Down

Embarrassed, seriously.

I got up early this morning and finished my book, Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt. I have been reading it since early January at night before bed, reading as much as I could before I could no longer hold my eyes open. Last night, when I got home from the dance, I wanted to finish it, but I was exhausted and spent from a long week and read only a few pages before falling asleep. I woke in the middle of the night and went downstairs to read – to go back to sleep. I read a bit on the couch before dozing off with the light on and the dog at my feet, I woke up to a bark and dog who needed to go out. I made pot of coffee and covered up on the couch and finished the book. Overnight, we got a dusting of snow and the dreary cloudy days of Thursday and Friday were erased by a clear, bright sunny Saturday morning. Continue reading Embarrassed, seriously.