Today marks the beginning of the second half of my summer break from teaching. During the past weeks I've pretty much kept up with my routines, except my often neglected desk day duties. I've cleaned out my bedroom closet, my mud room entryway and my drawer in my home office desk. I thought cleaning out my overflowing desk drawer would help motivate me to work on the stuff on top of the desk. No such luck. I've made a list of some furniture and a few organizing accessories that will have me on the lookout when I'm out and about in the next month or so. I've read a few good books (nothing great yet), took a few day trips, went to see a few movies, and relaxed while occasionally getting splashed in the pool. I have had several days that I really didn't do much of anything. They were days when I just did the basic, bare minimum, routines and whatever I wanted to do like catching up with my television programs, reading all day and even into the wee hours of the morning, cyber-socializing and surfing the net, hanging out with friends and family, or sitting by the pool drinking something cool and refreshing. I've also kept up with work as most teachers do, reading parts of a couple of education books, getting caught up with reading my education journals (magazines), spending a day at a workshop with a couple of colleagues, and working on plans to restructure the classes I teach and preparing for a smooth start for the new year. Planning and writing has started for an education themed blog that I hope to launch soon, and I am currently playing around with a couple of specific ideas for its name and purpose. I've spent a couple of days in my classroom getting supplies, books and manipulatives uncluttered and labeled, and at least an hour or two each week I've spent working on planning for the smooth start for the new school year.
So much for the reflection of the first half. It's done and whatever my level of productivity, I feel rested, semi-organized and ready for what is to come. Now it's time for the pep talk to prepare for a great second half. Very soon we will be on the go as my family has been planning our summer vacation for weeks. It is hoped to be an exciting trek north and west to see Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, the Seattle, WA area and our family living there, the Olympic and Rocky Mountains, my favorite city, Colorado Springs, CO, and everything in between. Joe is staying behind this time to work as this is the busy season for his new job. He has a long list of projects that he is hopeful to complete while the boys and I are away, and hopefully some quality fishing time. I've arranged for neighbors to take care of the flowerbeds and the dog as those are things that Joe may not have time to deal with day to day. My almost ten year old and I will be celebrating our birthdays during mid-July and when we return, we will also have an extended family party here at home. Before school begins again we are planning to see a couple of movies when they are released in theaters, a day trip to the zoo and another one to a theme park. We will do some camping on our trip northwest and hopefully will do some lake time and more camping with Joe when we return. And before it all begins I am working on getting a lot of things organized. Whew! Is that enough? I'm amped to get as much as I can out of the rest of this summer break. Ready....Set.... Just do it!!!!!
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