Bare Rear & New Career

Since we've introduced Sydney to the wonderful world of indoor plumbing, she finds it necessary to practice taking off her diaper. This disturbs me.

Although, I'm not sure what frightens me more...the fact that she CAN take off her diaper anytime she pleases...or...the fact that...

she is constantly in "REFILL" mode with the sippy cup.

*shiver*

On a completely un-Pamper related note, I am back in the swing of things behind the teacher's desk. I didn't realize how much I had truly missed teaching...I had worked as a Reading Coordinator for my local school district for a couple of years after being in the classroom for a decade.

My situation:

I am teaching 8th grade at a public charter school called Vista Preparatory Academy. It is the largest public charter in the state of Texas. Check out the website for info.

My pupils: I teach 11 lovely 8th graders...6 girls and 5 boys. They are awesome. Did you catch that number? 11. I am self-contained and teach the 4 core subjects in the mornings while their brains are still fresh and ready to receive vast amounts of knowledge. (I hear you snickering.)

My schedule: I am officially part-time and only work the morning shift which allows me to spend the afternoons taking care of the home business, playing with Sydney, running errands, sleeping, crackbooking, cleaning, putting out fires, and laying on the floor.

What I like about it: I have TONS of freedom curriculum wise. My only guide is teaching the state required skills...other than that..the sky is the LIMIT. I have many ideas for field trips, projects, and adventures for this coming year. I have access to a 15 passenger van which will allow me to take my darlings on mini field trips during the day. We are in the process of obtaining laptops for my class which allow us to be paperless and fully utilize web resources. I have zero interruptions during the class day. I am teaching like a house ablaze.

In the last week alone, we have covered: chromatography, performed a lab experiment, delved into pre-Algebra, conversions, fractions, percents, square roots, summaries, scientific method, M & M's, Reese's Pieces, conventions, learned 5 new S.A.T. words, researched places of geographic interests, tutored kindergartners, participated in a service project, studied literary elements, discussed character analysis, and enjoyed a cupcake during snack time.

Whewww...I am working harder and having more fun than I've had in a long time and Sydney is too!