*Sigh*
This week has been
mentally challenging. I was officially laid off from my teaching position and
began the steps to file for unemployment. That was heartbreaking, and it has
nothing to do with money. When I was still being paid, it gave me hope that we
might return to school before the end of the school year. However, the moment I
received the news, my bubble was burst.
On Wednesday afternoon,
the governor announced that no one would be returning back to school before the
end of the year. That was expected, but again, knowing what my children are
feeling makes it difficult to accept. I have been thinking about this a lot, and it seems to me like we are going through the stages of grief (all over again). I definitely had denial (no, school won't be canceled), anger (why can't we just stay until Spring Break), bargaining (we can at least go back for a day to see friends and say our goodbyes), depression (been in this stage far too long), and now acceptance. I get it- we are in it for the long haul and there is nothing I can do to change it!
I have been trying really
hard to find the good and make better use of my time, especially since I know we will be doing *this* for several more weeks. Since being laid off, I
have had to give myself some time away from my class in terms of lesson planning,
etc. Yes, all this time at home and I have still been planning and sharing
lessons with my students. Since it is 4K, obviously the work is optional, but I
wanted to provide it for those families who needed something to do during the
day. I will continue to do so, but this week I needed to not think about the students in my class for my own sake.
This week I decided to empty
my attic of all my homeschool books and materials. I have taken photos of each
set and listed them for sale. If quarantine has taught me one thing it is
definitely that I will NOT be voluntarily homeschooling my children again, lol.
Trying to juggle teaching a geometry lesson on angles to my 7th
grader while keeping the almost-3-year-old out of the snacks and the 5-year-old
from climbing so high in the tree while
in the middle of responding to Facebook messages on behalf of my 15-year-old
who was selling his high-end lawn mower just proves that I made the right
choice for my mental health when I went back to paid teaching. :) Anyway, I
digress…
Working on taking pictures
and posting curriculum has given me a project this week and kept my mind busy. I
also made time for fun, and that included strawberry picking with the kids.
We
had such a good time and the weather was PERFECT! There was a couple other
families there when we arrived, but by the time we really started picking, the
fields were empty. We just enjoyed the quietness of the farm and snacking on
fresh strawberries. Tobias wore his rain boots (as he does every day regardless
of the weather) so he thoroughly enjoyed jumping in the puddles and wading into
the deep muck. The smile on his face and the joy in his eyes made me so happy!
This mini-adventure was a blessing from God because normally our days would be
too full to enjoy a simple family outing such as this.
Some other blessings this week were having meals delivered to us. One of my sweet students and her family
brought over the fixings for a full taco bar. It was a HUGE hit as Mexican food
is definitely a family favorite! Plus, it was so good to see them and I couldn’t
refuse a hug from a 5-year-old, especially when she was running at me. It was
precious and made me cry. She kept hugging me and didn’t want to leave- so
sweet!!
Another evening my sweet
neighbor texted and said she was having supper delivered to us. It was a feast
of pork BBQ, mac and cheese, green beans, salad, mixed veggies, and dinner
rolls. The kids enjoyed the change of menu as we typically don’t eat BBQ unless
we are out somewhere. I loved the break from cooking and menu planning!
I also made it a point to be a blessing to others this week. I picked up coffee and a sweet treat for one of my neighbors and delivered it to her. She has 4 youngish children, one of whom was in my class last year. It was nice to surprise her, especially since she had said she had been having a rough day and had stopped schooling for the day. Boy, do I understand that!
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