Summer as a Stay-at-Home Mom

Summer is here and I give it a big cheer. For 9 weeks I am a stay-at-Home Mom. It is a luxury I bask in. I have a bit of guilt that I could take a summer job and save some honest $$$-but then again so many of my fellow sisters do this full time job year round. It is good for me to slow down-spend some quality fa,ily time, and even have enough hours in the day to clean the house.

Staying home during the summer months also gives me a real appreciation for what full time stay-at-home moms deal with. My fellow working Moms are bit well- jealous of my weeks off. Sometimes I poitely remind them that they get several weeks off during the year-can leave work early to see their child's stuff at school-while I am frankly not able to partcipate in any of my own children's school activities becasue I am at another school. I have to admit as much as I love teaching-I love being a stay-at-home mom even better.

I love the possibilities that exist each day. When a day is not filled to the brim with lessons, reports, parent phone calls, meetings-you can actually hvae time to chew your food. I can take time to plant a flower read a book, and discuss deepl;y thought questions with my son. I get to enjoy the laughter of children without the responsibility of making sure they are all following some schiolk procedure. Swiming, biking, and reading a book-just for fun! Ahh summer.

Even as we struggle to discover the mystery of Tim's headache's I have the blessed gift of time. I can be there for him-for my family-what a gift. If you are able to be a stay-at-home mother-relish the gift. It is a blessing

Life in all of it's Complexities

Every morning I get up and put on a Attitude of Gratitude. For I am so blessed to have a warm home, a car that at presents still works, a family that loves me and a job where I get to make a difference in the lives of the children I teach. Sitting on the GREA Executive board I was granted a view into the "politics" that seem to define education, and it strengthen my resolve that teachers are still important even if school boards don't always "get it!"


Paying attention and listening to board meetings I can't help but wonder why my school board will not settle a contract with us. It has been 2 years-we are the lowest paid teachers in the county and still they want us to give up more money while they increase our working hours and class size. At some point it would be nice for them to realize that it is about respect. Right now they will not even settle on a calendar for next year and it is looking like we could go 4-6 weeks without a paycheck. We have somehow become a "human resource" and no longer a person. So it is indeed important that we stick together and remind ourselves that teaching is more of a calling than a job.We have an obligation to be the voices of our children. When the school actually propised to "Plug" kids into computers for 3 hours a days expecting software to be highly qualified and teah children-we must remind them that we are NOT producing cars-we are inspiring students.

I worry that all the bad press and demands on teachers today will discourage others from entering into the profession. Already we have a hard time get teachers to subtitude teach in Grand Rapids and many student teachers will not take student teaching assignent in the inner city. Our student deserve great teachers. Teachers that are respected. I remain shocked beyond words that they actually think they can be replace people with machines. You just have to read this to believe i.http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/06/new_alternative_education_prog.html