End is in sight!

The first half of this semester I felt like I was drowning. Ironically, the very first semester I supervised student teachers (January - May 2003) I also felt totally overwhelmed, but at that time it was because I was a FT adjunct instructor at Kutztown plus a PT principal. The school board gave me a partial leave of absence which helped the school financially and also helped me test the waters to see if I wanted to switch to higher education. I thought to myself that I liked both jobs (principal and professor) but I never wanted to do two jobs at the same time again! And from that point until this year, that was the case. However the past 9 months I have again felt like I've been juggling two jobs at once - FT adjunct instructor plus homeschooling three kids, yard work, cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc. I feel the same way as I did fifteen years ago. I enjoy both jobs, but it's too much to juggle at once. This time the plan is for Paul to cut back his hours plus work more from home so that he can help more with the housework, yard work, and homeschooling.

Nadia and Ian have both said they would rather me go back to being a SAHM, but hopefully this new plan will work out well. It still *sounds* like an awful lot for two adults to juggle - homeschooling three kids, housework, running a company, and being a FT professor. Time will tell how this plan works for the five of us. The good news for me is that I can visualize the end of this race!! It is such a wonderful feeling after feeling in totally over my head earlier this semester. I think part of it was because I hadn't supervised student teachers for 13 years so that was an adjustment, and it also had been that long since I had taught this particular course, even though I had only been at home for 5 years.

Today was my last day on campus. I am meeting with three student teachers tomorrow and two more next Tuesday. My math students are taking their final exams on Monday and Thursday next week. I have 54 students total in those two math classes, and 70 out of 75 questions are multiple choice and the computer will score it for me. I only need to grade 5 questions from each student's final exam. Not bad at all! I am almost done submitting all of the assessments and paperwork for the student teachers. I am much farther ahead compared to the first half of the semester.  I need to write two more letters of recommendation and then just a handful of assessments to complete after that! I am dreading one conference tomorrow as I have to tell the student teacher I'm not giving her a high enough score for her to receive her teacher certification. It's heartbreaking. I'm giving her a high enough grade so she will at least receive her Bachelor's degree, but still this is a very hard thing to do. 

1. I was looking into a few summery history camp options near us, and I found out that one that is just a one day camp will be on a Medieval theme. How perfect is that since we have been studying the Middle Ages this year! All three kids are old enough to attend this one day camp in July.

2. One of my students this semester is from China. Meaning English is not her first language. She listens to me in English and takes notes in Chinese. Amazing! She asked me questions almost every single day either before or after class, and so today to show her gratitude she gave me a small stuffed animal (panda bear). How sweet was that! It meant a lot to me. Then of course all three of my kids were trying to claim ownership of this little panda. I'm keeping it for now in part because I have no idea whom I'd give it to since I have one bear and three kids.

3. Last night the kids received their AWANA awards. Oliver was one of two Kindergarteners who finished his book. Ian was the only 2nd grader who finished his 3rd book plus the extra credit book. Nadia was one of two fourth graders who finished their books. As has always been the case, none of our kids won any trophies for their cars. They award them for speed and creativity. As hopefully you can see from the photos above, Ian's was a pencil, Nadia's was a piano, and Oliver's was a Batmobile. Of our three kids, Nadia's car was the fastest. I skipped choir rehearsal to attend this event with them. 

4. Paul has usually been getting home from work around 7pm, which means by the time he gets out of the shower it's just about time to put Oliver to bed. Nadia has been wanting to attend our local Christian radio's monthly skate night. They don't hold them in the summer, so Paul agreed to take her roller skating tonight, which meant he actually got home from work before the kids and I did. Nadia had to quickly eat her dinner, and then it was time to head out the door.

5. We absolutely loved the Wilderking trilogy, but we're done with that. Now we're reading the third book in the Mr. Lemoncello's library series.

6. On Monday a driver from the Dealer where Paul bought the Mazda drove up so I could sign the title of the Prius. My name was the only one on that title, which presented a problem when Paul tried to trade it in toward the cost of the Mazda. I'm thankful they were willing to send someone to our house because the dealership is more than 100 miles from our house, and I really didn't want to drive that far just to sign a piece of paper! Of course last week our pastor had to fly all the way to Guatemala just to sign a paper. That was a much bigger hassle than driving 100 miles! Our church goes down there several times a year on mission trips, and he was working to set up a nonprofit down there to make it easier to distribute medicines when they send a medical mission team down. 

7. This evening as I was working on paperwork for the student teachers, I overheard a conversation between Ian and Oliver. Ian was teaching Oliver different science concepts he's learned this year. I heard things like, "See you have hair on your arm. That's because you're a mammal. That's why you drank mommy milk when you were a baby." He also was telling Oliver specific facts about various creatures we've studied such as octopuses. Earlier today when they saw a little puddle of water I heard Ian ask Nadia if she thought they were any tardigrades or rotifers in it. Considering I am their science teacher, it put a big smile on my face! This week Ian has been writing a report on octopuses, and Nadia  has been writing one on dolphins. They are ready to go to Sea World in a few weeks!