I'm on the verge of a nutty and I'm unsure why. I am teaching 9 classes including a tree house that meets MWF and comes with lots of parent involvement (good and bad). I have a student who gets at least verbal abuse if she goes home with poor marks or comments in her communication book. I have a student who appears totally confident and competent in class but then goes home and forgets how to write his homework. I have a student who seems pretty secure in class and on homework but then come test time writes "No, there is't on the table" instead of "No, there aren't any blocks on the table." There are only 6 students in this class. Josh teaches the same class but has 19 students. We are envious of each other. He has tons of homework to grade and rowdy kids to control. I have no excuse if a kid gets below a 100 because it's so easy for me to spend time with them. Sometimes they just forget an "s"...sorry Ma.

I have an upper level class Saturday morning that doesn't want to be there which makes ME not want to be there. The slowest student in class had to miss three lessons because his Junior High School had make up classes on Saturday morning. So I had three make up classes with him. Couldn't he have just gotten make up classes for the make up classes at Junior High School and still come to mine? He came to take the quiz on the third make-up lesson, but he was so unprepared I studied with him for an hour and sent him home. Finally, when he did take the quiz, he was 11% points below the class average that included his grade.

I'm taking an economics class online free from MIT, and would love to spend more time doing it, but I can't because I have to grade homework. I am really interested as of now, and it's great to be back "in school."

I will hear back on Tuesday/Wednesday from the University of Indiana...one of if not the best program in the country for what I want to do...meaning that I am super nervous, not sure I'll get in, and not even sure I'd accept if I did get in. I'm liking Seattle a lot which means I'm thinking about the prospect of moving 3500 miles away from the person I intend to marry. Who I don't even see that much now and when we do we are either talking about work or eating lunch.

I am tutoring this really awesome kid. But it breaks up my morning and takes away about an hour every day.

I will start subbing kindy at Josh's school on Monday. For wednesday, I have to have my new class prepared for a kindy performance show. The "untalented" kids will be singing "sorry sorry sorry"...a very popular korean (?) song with a funny dance. I am hoping that the hugs and time with kids will be relaxing and rejuvenating like last time, but I am afraid it will just be exhausting.

I have a friend at work who is my CT for the only two classes where I teach all of the lessons. She's really hard-working, which, to me, gets to the point of overbearing. We had set up a language exchange to teach each other Chinese/English, but we just started talking about work... She has several times incorrectly corrected my students, and will interrupt their speaking to reprimand them for sitting improperly. It's hard because both of us micro manage. AND, I found out that part of the reason she is like that for Tree House is because we have six students (including a new one). This means, if one student drops out, the class closes. Talk about pressure now. No saying "no" to a parent now! (PS-their kids are 7 years old. How hard can they push them? I guess I'll see).

Okay. That's all. We have a soccer game on Sunday, and I'm hurting from Wednesday's practice. I hurt a guy, and in the process, hurt my shoulder. I have a couple of skinned knees that I'm proud of and am getting fast enough to run with some of the big boys. Now I just need to be able to play soccer...

Trying to save money, I think I have been neglecting eating enough. I'm hoping that once that starts again, I'll have more energy!

I apologize for wasting your time, but I am sick of talking to people about my classes but know I need to get my nervous energy out. I'm afraid if I keep talking about my weaker students at school, they will just think I'm a bad teacher. At some point, I expect my students to study at home.

For the most part, things ARE going well. I love Tree House, and after these make-up classes are over, I will have substantial breaks in my day. Long enough for books and walks, etc. THEN, after I finish subbing this one month of kindy, I will be back to 20 hours of class a week, with one class (7-9 pm) on T/Th. Glorious. On April 8th (Payday) I'm going to take the huge wad of cash they pay me and open a bank account. Transfer some money back home. and start SAVING again. WhooHoo!

PS-Josh and I are going to Thailand and Cambodia in April. We'll have 5 days including travel days, and about 2 full days in Siem Reap (Ankor Wat). Long and exhausting maybe, but needed and exciting!

Here's a toast to toast. Actually. With crappy blueberry jam :0) I'm Honggree!