... and the livin' is easy.

Summertime. Two and a half whole months to do whatever I want. I have been reading, taking naps, getting projects done, relaxing ... your typical teacher-on-break summer activities.

Ha ha! I wish! First off, I have two small kids, so I hardly get to read or relax. We have been to several parks, including one that has a splash pad and one that is brand new and is pretty much the coolest park we have ever seen. We have been to the grandparents house to swim. We have been to the library, played Monopoly Jr. and Hi Ho Cherry-O more times than I care to count, made cookies, went on walks, rode bikes, watched fireworks, gone camping, watched movies, and spent a little time in time out (because everyone has off-moments). This stuff I don't mind. A small part of why I became a teacher was so that when I did have kids, we could spend summers together. I take advantage of that as much as possible. In fact, right now, I have a wee one trying to climb into my lap, telling me he wants to "carry you." I think he wants me to carry him, but he always gets that backward. :) I gladly sacrifice reading and relaxing for fun-time with the kiddos.

Second, my friend and I organized a Craft Show to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation because we both have a child with type 1 diabetes. While I fully admit that she did a LOT of the work, it was exhausting doing less work and being her cheerleader, and right now I don't even want to see another vendor or craft ... ever. We did raise just under $1,200 for research into the prevention, treatment, and a cure for diabetes. It kind of makes me feel good, so I'm sure by January I'll be all excited again, the exhaustion of this year forgotten.

Lastly, teachers don't really have the summer off no matter how many kids or craft shows they have. I took a professional development class that was two weeks long. I admit that I went into it kicking and screaming, but it was, hands down, the best professional development I have ever attended ... better even that Penny Kittle, and that says a lot because she is my hero! I'm so glad I did it, but that was two weeks out of my summer. I have spent another two weeks and counting working on curriculum for my district. I have come to realize that writing curriculum is the most difficult thing I have done as a professional. Part of it is because I am so OCD about things that I am constantly looking back at previous lessons to make sure everything is flowing and written in the same manner. That is something that could be done in editing, but noooooo, I feel like I have to catch it now (which makes me a hyprocrite because I am not practicing what I preach to my students). The other part is the constant voice on my shoulder asking me if what I'm writing is really as good as I think it is, or how I think other teachers will react to my curriculum. Ugh ... she has to shut up or I'm never going to get anything done! Six lessons to go ... no wait, eight, because after my two week class, there are now two more lessons I want to add. Maybe that class was too good.

I want to spend the last three weeks with my family, so my goal is to get these last lessons written today. That would be glorious. Three weeks to hang out together and do family-fun things. That way, we'll be good and sick of each other when school starts. Maybe I won't be weepy-sad about going back to school this way. Maybe I'll just be kind of sad.


But even if I wasn't taking classes or writing curriculum, I would be thinking about school and planning for school in some way. Heck, I had plans before I even left for the year! (Thank goodness for Post-it Notes, or I'd never remember anything and make myself crazy.) So while others can relax and read, my mind is constantly working, thinking about ways to make my teaching life easier/their learning easier/things run more smoothly/my point clearer/ etc. I love summer ... there is just so much to do!