I told myself once school was out for summer (go ahead, sing the song, you know you want to) that I would attempt to get back into the habit. Plus, I also used to scrapbook, and blogging was a *sort of* online scrapbook. Another thing was in November of 2017, my laptop "ate" some of my precious photos. Anyone who knows me will know that photos and memories are a HUGE deal to me. So, by blogging my memories, I could keep them safe here on a blog.
We have been out of school for one week. My goal was to give us a week to "recover" from school and have a few restful days before we needed to get our rears in gear and clean this house. We need to go through clothes, toys, random stuff, etc etc etc. You get me? When Thing 1 and Thing 2 were younger and I stayed home from work, I had 4 tote boxes, labeled Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4. I got all of their toys and sorted them by similarity, for example, we had 3 types of musical instrument things. One instrument went into the "Week 1" tote, the second went into the "Week 2" tote... you get the idea. The motivation was simple, I wanted to free ourselves of extreme clutter, wanted to see what they ACTUALLY played with, and then I could clean and sanitize the toys I put in the previous week's totes. That was a great habit, until they discovered the totes, and all the organized "stuff" went to a mass of mess all over the house. Yay. Not fun. Not a fine Mommy moment for me, either.
Through the past 4 school years, when Thing 1 started Kindergarten, I went from the mom who dropped her kid off and picked him up...only volunteering a few times to full-time staff at the school. It's quite comical when you see the progression. Be patient...this is long and wordy.
K: school interaction was drop off, pick up, volunteer a few times (Thing 2 was only 3 years old and went to preschool twice a week). Anyway, I'd volunteered in the school's Santa Shoppe, run by the school's PTO. Apparently, I had a memorable interaction with some of the students, and I only say this because I was told this numerous times. The last few days of school, I happened to be at the school, a PTO Board member grabbed me, and told me I was going with her. Uhhhhh, where? A PTO meeting. Somehow, I do NOT know how, but I left there as the new Volunteer Coordinator for the next school year. How do I get myself into these situations?
1st grade: Thing 2 was in PreK (Monday-Friday until 1:30), so I had more time to volunteer, which was great, because, well, remember? I'm the new Volunteer Coordinator. I spent a LOAD of more time at the school, but I also had more time to grocery shop and personal "me time." "Me time" translates to "there is no noise in the house, I can clean it without interruption, I can go wherever I want without having to constantly watch others (aka children) and hearing them say, 'I WANT I WANT,' and GOSH DARN IT...I can just sit and stare at the wall if I want to." And oooooooh, do I miss my solo SuperTarget runs. Those were the days. I would hook my phone up to the Target Wifi, get a Starbucks (because 'Allyssa' is also synonymous with 'Starbucks.' It's like my Salt to my Pepper, my Mac to my Cheese, my Jelly to my Peanut Butter...), put on some Pandora music, and shop away with NO OTHER NOISE. <insert a long sigh>. But those days were dwindling more and more throughout the school year. More PTO responsibilities...and it had been suggested to me that I be a substitute teacher. After a few months of weighing out the pros and cons, I finally did the necessary paperwork, fingerprinting, etc to become a substitute teacher. It was March 2016, I had just completed Substitute Teacher Training. I had gone by the school to drop off about 3/4 of a birthday cake for Scottamus (the hubs - I never call him by his name, by the way) that we were NOT going to eat. I figured teachers and staff would enjoy that...and they did. But as I had come to the office, telling the Secretary of my plans, she had stopped me mid-sentence and asked if I were on the sub list. I told her I had JUST come from training. She proceeds to ask if I wanted to sub. "TODAY?!?!?!" I asked. So, this deer in headlights person got to sub, with no preparation, in the most wretched, awful, horrible class...EVER that school year. I had heard several teachers say, when they saw me with the class, "Yep, she won't be back." Yes, it was a day straight out of Hades. At the same time, I have a Psychology degree, and I've worked in a Mental Health Hospital. I've been through MUCH MUCH MUCH worse. Not only did I return the next day to sub, but it was with the SAME wretched class. After that, teachers started asking me for my phone number. It really was funny. And to think, these were the 2nd graders who just "graduated" from the school this year. Anyway, long story to show the progression.
2nd grade: Thing 2 is now in K. I'm no longer the Volunteer Coordinator because that position got "deleted." HA! I am now the Yearbook Guru, among other things. I'm pretty much booked 20 or so days to sub after the first 2 weeks of school. March 2017, I'm asked to be part-time with a PreK child, being their one-on-one staff person. I had this child for 7 weeks. Holy...I think I aged several years due to the stress of this classroom. They were 10 times worse than the previous classroom from my 1st subbing day. I am NOT joking. After the school year was over, I think I had subbed 125 of 170something days. I really did enjoy it. So now, I'm asked to be full-time.
3rd grade: Thing 1 is at a new school, but Thing 2 is in 1st grade now. I'm still in PTO, doing the yearbook again, but PTO is majorly suffering this school year. I started out being one-on-one with a physically handicapped student (among other disabilities), but I also monitored 2 others with autism. One moved away, and the other had to overcome several MAJOR obstacles. But this one did SUPER and is moving on to the new school next year. My one-on-one, let's call this student "Personalty"...well...I don't want to get myself started. This one made me laugh and cry. Cry for joy, cry for being stressed, and cry for sadness. Geez Louise...I knew I would get attached, and I knew I would cry at the end of the school year. Never once did I think that I would flat out "UGLY cry." But...I did. I UGLY "ugly cried." It was bad. So bad that I hyperventilated. I was happy for the overwhelming progress "Personality" made, but I was also super sad to see "Personality" go to the new school. And.......who knows what I will end up having next school year.
I say all of this to hopefully encourage any stay-at-home parents who may feel "worthless" to society. Trust me, I know how it feels. I got so tired of being put in a separate social "box" so to speak, being told how shameful I should feel for Hubs having to work while I stay home, etc etc etc, fill in the blank with whatever negative statement imaginable. You may not feel worthy to society, but really, who gives a rat's rear end? Are you staying home for society and their thoughts or for the upbringing of your kids? What was your motivation for staying home? When your kidlet(s) look at you and tell you all the cutesy things they say and do all the cutesy things they do, all of society and their nonsense doesn't matter. Sure, I am grateful for Hubs for sacrificing to let me stay home. Sure, there were MANY MANY days where I desperately wanted to have friends and "non-preschool" conversations. Sure, there were MANY MANY MANY days where I felt guilty for not contributing to the income. However, I do encourage any and all of you to eventually become involved in your kidlet(s) school(s) when they are school age. It will get you out of the house (and your jammies), and you will have the opportunity to make new friends (non-preschool conversations)! Becoming involved in the school and even in PTO will be a great example for your own kidlet(s), allowing them to witness you become a great citizen. And in my case, it allowed me to be able to be on my kid's school schedule while bringing in income. And to top it off, I have made many new friends and a new "family" at the school, for which I will be eternally grateful.
We have been out of school for one week. My goal was to give us a week to "recover" from school and have a few restful days before we needed to get our rears in gear and clean this house. We need to go through clothes, toys, random stuff, etc etc etc. You get me? When Thing 1 and Thing 2 were younger and I stayed home from work, I had 4 tote boxes, labeled Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4. I got all of their toys and sorted them by similarity, for example, we had 3 types of musical instrument things. One instrument went into the "Week 1" tote, the second went into the "Week 2" tote... you get the idea. The motivation was simple, I wanted to free ourselves of extreme clutter, wanted to see what they ACTUALLY played with, and then I could clean and sanitize the toys I put in the previous week's totes. That was a great habit, until they discovered the totes, and all the organized "stuff" went to a mass of mess all over the house. Yay. Not fun. Not a fine Mommy moment for me, either.
Through the past 4 school years, when Thing 1 started Kindergarten, I went from the mom who dropped her kid off and picked him up...only volunteering a few times to full-time staff at the school. It's quite comical when you see the progression. Be patient...this is long and wordy.
K: school interaction was drop off, pick up, volunteer a few times (Thing 2 was only 3 years old and went to preschool twice a week). Anyway, I'd volunteered in the school's Santa Shoppe, run by the school's PTO. Apparently, I had a memorable interaction with some of the students, and I only say this because I was told this numerous times. The last few days of school, I happened to be at the school, a PTO Board member grabbed me, and told me I was going with her. Uhhhhh, where? A PTO meeting. Somehow, I do NOT know how, but I left there as the new Volunteer Coordinator for the next school year. How do I get myself into these situations?
1st grade: Thing 2 was in PreK (Monday-Friday until 1:30), so I had more time to volunteer, which was great, because, well, remember? I'm the new Volunteer Coordinator. I spent a LOAD of more time at the school, but I also had more time to grocery shop and personal "me time." "Me time" translates to "there is no noise in the house, I can clean it without interruption, I can go wherever I want without having to constantly watch others (aka children) and hearing them say, 'I WANT I WANT,' and GOSH DARN IT...I can just sit and stare at the wall if I want to." And oooooooh, do I miss my solo SuperTarget runs. Those were the days. I would hook my phone up to the Target Wifi, get a Starbucks (because 'Allyssa' is also synonymous with 'Starbucks.' It's like my Salt to my Pepper, my Mac to my Cheese, my Jelly to my Peanut Butter...), put on some Pandora music, and shop away with NO OTHER NOISE. <insert a long sigh>. But those days were dwindling more and more throughout the school year. More PTO responsibilities...and it had been suggested to me that I be a substitute teacher. After a few months of weighing out the pros and cons, I finally did the necessary paperwork, fingerprinting, etc to become a substitute teacher. It was March 2016, I had just completed Substitute Teacher Training. I had gone by the school to drop off about 3/4 of a birthday cake for Scottamus (the hubs - I never call him by his name, by the way) that we were NOT going to eat. I figured teachers and staff would enjoy that...and they did. But as I had come to the office, telling the Secretary of my plans, she had stopped me mid-sentence and asked if I were on the sub list. I told her I had JUST come from training. She proceeds to ask if I wanted to sub. "TODAY?!?!?!" I asked. So, this deer in headlights person got to sub, with no preparation, in the most wretched, awful, horrible class...EVER that school year. I had heard several teachers say, when they saw me with the class, "Yep, she won't be back." Yes, it was a day straight out of Hades. At the same time, I have a Psychology degree, and I've worked in a Mental Health Hospital. I've been through MUCH MUCH MUCH worse. Not only did I return the next day to sub, but it was with the SAME wretched class. After that, teachers started asking me for my phone number. It really was funny. And to think, these were the 2nd graders who just "graduated" from the school this year. Anyway, long story to show the progression.
2nd grade: Thing 2 is now in K. I'm no longer the Volunteer Coordinator because that position got "deleted." HA! I am now the Yearbook Guru, among other things. I'm pretty much booked 20 or so days to sub after the first 2 weeks of school. March 2017, I'm asked to be part-time with a PreK child, being their one-on-one staff person. I had this child for 7 weeks. Holy...I think I aged several years due to the stress of this classroom. They were 10 times worse than the previous classroom from my 1st subbing day. I am NOT joking. After the school year was over, I think I had subbed 125 of 170something days. I really did enjoy it. So now, I'm asked to be full-time.
3rd grade: Thing 1 is at a new school, but Thing 2 is in 1st grade now. I'm still in PTO, doing the yearbook again, but PTO is majorly suffering this school year. I started out being one-on-one with a physically handicapped student (among other disabilities), but I also monitored 2 others with autism. One moved away, and the other had to overcome several MAJOR obstacles. But this one did SUPER and is moving on to the new school next year. My one-on-one, let's call this student "Personalty"...well...I don't want to get myself started. This one made me laugh and cry. Cry for joy, cry for being stressed, and cry for sadness. Geez Louise...I knew I would get attached, and I knew I would cry at the end of the school year. Never once did I think that I would flat out "UGLY cry." But...I did. I UGLY "ugly cried." It was bad. So bad that I hyperventilated. I was happy for the overwhelming progress "Personality" made, but I was also super sad to see "Personality" go to the new school. And.......who knows what I will end up having next school year.
I say all of this to hopefully encourage any stay-at-home parents who may feel "worthless" to society. Trust me, I know how it feels. I got so tired of being put in a separate social "box" so to speak, being told how shameful I should feel for Hubs having to work while I stay home, etc etc etc, fill in the blank with whatever negative statement imaginable. You may not feel worthy to society, but really, who gives a rat's rear end? Are you staying home for society and their thoughts or for the upbringing of your kids? What was your motivation for staying home? When your kidlet(s) look at you and tell you all the cutesy things they say and do all the cutesy things they do, all of society and their nonsense doesn't matter. Sure, I am grateful for Hubs for sacrificing to let me stay home. Sure, there were MANY MANY days where I desperately wanted to have friends and "non-preschool" conversations. Sure, there were MANY MANY MANY days where I felt guilty for not contributing to the income. However, I do encourage any and all of you to eventually become involved in your kidlet(s) school(s) when they are school age. It will get you out of the house (and your jammies), and you will have the opportunity to make new friends (non-preschool conversations)! Becoming involved in the school and even in PTO will be a great example for your own kidlet(s), allowing them to witness you become a great citizen. And in my case, it allowed me to be able to be on my kid's school schedule while bringing in income. And to top it off, I have made many new friends and a new "family" at the school, for which I will be eternally grateful.
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