Going Old School in 2026

Ever look around and wonder what comes next? That is me as we enter 2026. Youngest asked me what I am going to try this year. (She, has set herself the task of becoming a skater girl - she has dreams of conquering the ramps she sees.) I didn't have a great answer for her (or myself) - and now I am deep in my own head. 

It is easy to get wrapped up in the constant movement and challenges of living a productive life from day to day. Being busy with all we juggle allows us to be focused on the now - not a bad thing - but limiting. I look back and I miss writing out loud - to a potential audience. I miss it not because I am convinced that people read it - but because it is so much more challenging to write for others than it is to write privately.

Why did I stop doing this in the first place? I have vague recollections of increasing demands on my time and shifts in expectations. The standard had shifted to podcasts and videos.

In my daily life, I already hear my own voice too much - typically  repeating the same directions or requests for the umpteenth time. At some point you are just sick of hearing yourself. So, no podcast for me. 

I cringe at every picture taken of me. Oldest used to say if I was in Divergent I would definitely be in Abnegation - and I can't deny the lure of no mirrors and selflessness appeal to me. I do work on it - taking pictures with my loved ones that I avoid because... personal growth. However, I am nowhere near having a Tic-Tok let alone a YouTube channel. 

These hang-ups have kept me from sharing beyond my musings around the house. After all, I can read the room and there is a very limited audience for the written word in the online universe. 

But hey, when has disinterest ever stopped me? You are looking at a woman who diligently attempts to get over a hundred 14-year-olds to read and understand the plot and language of Fagles edition of The Odyssey each year - AND make connections to society today!

So here is to a new year with an old school approach. If you are so inclined, join me on my rekindled adventure. Or don't. I will be here either way. Happy New Year! 

Mother of the Pandemic Year - No Thanks

I used to eagerly eye spring break's approach on my calendar, quietly rejoicing that there would be time to clean, do a project or two and schedules would ease up for the final quarter of the year. This year my desk was empty - my grades were submitted - and it was March 12th. We were off  - fair week & spring break, happy thoughts & fewer burdens - until everything was cancelled. Fast forward to today.

As the 4th week of no classrooms begins I look back on the weeks of hectic running that consumed January and February with envy. Lots to do with very little time, dates on the calendar that contained multiple places to be - our school/work/home life. Now the calendar is empty and school/work/home are all at home and happening at once. 

GREAT! So much time for projects! Opportunities for crafts! Inquiry based learning at home can happen daily!   HA!

Let's face it, I am a working mom. And I am pretty dang decent at it - if I do say so myself. I love my job. I revel in challenging students to think deeply, to develop ideas, to support those ideas with facts. I love my family time. I am fulfilled when we are together, when we are sharing, when we are doing. 

But never, not once in my whole life did I ever wish I could home school my kids.

In fact, I love daycare. And really wish Youngest could go there now. It's like a magical place where I drop off Youngest, and when I pick her up she is full of new stories and ideas and experiences to share. We can build on them if time allows and I can supplement her learning with activities at home. 

Key word here - supplement. It means something that completes or enhances something else when added to it. 

That's my role as Mom. But Teacher-Mom creates lesson plans to increase understanding and differentiation of shapes, finds stories to read about shapes with no libraries or book stores available creates shape-based art work for the week and games that are based on various shapes. All configured to work around my daily "office hours" for my actual students, late nights working online, and the needs of Teen and Middle - because four-year-olds do not work well alone. Ever. 

All of this is to say that, while I know you are sending me that "great activities you can do at home" post or forwarding me that "10 fantastic projects you can begin now" email out of love... I may hurl verbal insults at the next person that loves me enough to share another "super-fun-easy craft".

While my calendar may be empty - my plate is full, my cup is overflowing, and I am just trying to keep my head above water - like everyone else. Some days I am so frazzled I mix my metaphors! Maybe it's just me - I suspect it's not - but there is pressure to be THAT mom with every share. The wonder-woman of parenting who can do it all even as the world is in crisis, people are losing their jobs, and the death toll keeps climbing. She can even make special crafts that have nothing to do with the learning outcomes set for the week. She's the pandemic-mom-of-the-year. God bless her. She is NOT me. So, let's cut each other a break and recognize that everyone knows what Pinterest is and can find activities should they need them and we can share messages of support instead. Or really funny parenting memes - because who couldn't use more laughter?

BUT....If you happen to have a week or 2 or 6 of lesson plans ready for printing for a 3/4 year-old preschooler, you are my hero and I will sing your praises to the heavens if you share!

Scapegoated

Home, at long last. Juggling a mere three children is a reprieve after a long day spent listening, laughing, and cajoling ninety plus personalities to learn all day. Greeted by a stack of laundry, the need to rush through homework agendas, plus make dinner and squeeze in some laughter at home is the warm embrace of home. After crazy evening routines and rituals, I have earned the right to sit on the couch, watch fiction, and enjoy my creative outlet - lesson planning.

Yes, work. Embracing lesson-scrapping and revamping, altering, adding, and changing is who I am. This is honestly how my creativity works best. I love my job. I do not complain  though sometimes it is because I am burried under 90+ essays and can't breathe let alone talk   Because I enjoy it. Yet, yesterday I found myself near tears while talking about work with Hubby.

Why? Because I have never in my life had so many people judge me and seem to hate me, without even knowing I exist - EVER. The animosity that is pouring forth from any and every one towards my profession is staggering. Suddenly parents, who dread the mere idea of spending another snow day trapped in the house with 1-3 kids looking for any way to keep them busy for a measly afternoon, are proclaiming that not only do teachers make too much money, they aren't doing it right either. Everyone seems to know exactly what we do and how we SHOULD be doing it - for free. 

Let me tell you a secret, I have been to the hospital a time or two in my life. I've watched blood draws and IV inserts, heck I've even seen stitches put in and babies birthed. Does that make me equipped to tell the nurses and doctors how to do their jobs? 

Sitting in a classroom for years doesn't make anyone an expert either. We are paid to make it look easy - just like any good magician. Students and parents do not see the frustration that dedicated teachers feel when they feel a student is falling through the cracks or the messes they leave on their own kitchen counters because there is another assignment that needs to be tweaked to reach those hard to reach students. We don't complain. Not because it is a job any one can do, but because we chose to do it. So, please feel free to be pro or anti union. I don't care. But in the mad quest to end organized labor would it be possible to stop scapegoating the teachers? By and large we are a dedicated group that seeks to elevate your children everyday. and it hurts my feelings