Its been 3 weeks of madness - later than late nights making teaching resources, getting my head around endless assessment forms, 3 nights a week of after-school meetings, then there's the mundane stuff like dishes and making lunches. Getting good at this though...
Don't get me wrong. I'm LOVING IT. Here's my Top 10 observations after going back to work full-time in the classroom:
1. I used to think about my kids quite alot during the day. Now I am lucky if I have time to remember I HAVE kids before 3pm each day.
2. It is not always beneficial crossing things off one's to do list. Another 5 tend to replace it.
3. I need a PA. Making and laminating whole-class resources is a full-time job in itself.
4. Teachers brains don't appear to have an 'off switch', or if they do, mine's faulty. I find myself dreaming about cool art ideas or maths games I could be doing with my class at night. Frustrating muchly.
5. While my decision to go to work full-time was initially quite alot to do with $$$$, I now realise I would happily do this job right now even if I wasn't getting paid. And yes, something is seriously wrong with this picture. I know.
6. My house is TIDY! This is a beautiful, and quite unexpected thing. Although the fact we've moved both girls into the same room, giving them a 'playroom' for their toys has helped too :-)
7. You should see my kitchen bench on a Sunday night now. Actually I nearly took a photo last week just for the laugh. You'd think I was about to feed an army of homeless people. Actually, I've totally excelled myself and cooked up all 5 weeknight dinners at once. Two weeks in a row, even. Cooked, frozen, then defrost heat n eat. BLISS. And the bonus is...big savings on food bills as I'm not going shopping for extras mid-week anymore! (also hubby & I are saving leftovers for lunches alot more now instead of eating extra helpings at dinner).
8. My waistline is loving me - yes sirree - my scales are down 3kg in 3 weeks and I've only managed to gym it on the weekends! Most of that is because a) I'm out all day; b) I only have time to gulp down the contents of my healthy, home-made lunchbox each day and c) with my dinners only needing reheating each night there is no need for pre-dinner snacking anymore! I am not doing WW. I am not writing down everything I eat. I am keeping it simple this time around, and just choosing water or fruit for snacks between meals.
10. Brain cells left for blogging at night = Zero. This post is only the result of two early nights and sleep-ins. Gotta love school holidays. Sooooooo much more now.
Lyn
