New Beginnings

Phew! I made it through the first week back at school. I always forget how exhausting this week is - even with it having been a short week, it still sucks everything out of you! It's quite the adjustment to go from 10 weeks of summer, no work, and sleeping in, to dealing with 185 eleven year olds, talking for 6 hours straight, and getting up at 6am.

But, I must say that it was a great first week back! I was definitely ready to go back to work this year. Summer was great, but because it was a mellow one, I was ready to get back into a routine. Anyone else love routine like me? I thrive off of it. Love having a schedule and feel so much more productive when I have one.

I love the start of the school year. It's like a new beginning, a fresh start. Any frustrations and difficulties from the previous year are behind you. It's a brand new group of students, who I think, also see the new school year as a new beginning. They have new teachers, new classes, a new schedule...they are relaxed, rested, and ready to go! I love my little 6th graders at the beginning of the school year. They are like perfect little angels. Part of it is that they are scared to death, but the other part is they are so excited for their new beginning - starting middle school. They are enthusiastic, polite, and eager to learn. And...they do exactly what I say. But, it's always fun to see their personalities come out during the school (well, most of the time...)

This school year is also really exciting for me because I have TONS of siblings from former students. The past two years there, I have had a handful of siblings. But, because this is now our fourth year as a school, we are seeing lots of siblings come through. In every class I have at least 5-6 (or more) siblings of former students. So much fun!

800 plus students pouring out of campus

Not only was this week a new beginning for me, but it was for Jason, too. While I went back to being a teacher this week, Jason went back to being a student. That's right, Jason started grad school on Monday through Liberty University. He is getting his Masters in Public Policy and is really excited about his program. However, it was definitely a week of reading, writing papers, and re-learning how to format a paper in APA. Oh, the joys of being a student again...

We are both really excited about where we are at right now and what is to come. So, Year 5 of Teaching and Year 1 of Grad School...we're ready!