Of Star Wars and Culture

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We decided our children had not really been adequately schooled in their cultural history just recently.  It kind of coincided with my youngest brother purchasing the complete set of Star Wars DVD's.  My poor deprived children had never seen the movies.  We're rectifying this, slowly but surely.  Tonight is installment III of my children's Star Wars education.  We are watching them in the order they were made.  Us oldies just can't fathom starting with the second three that were made.

The End of the World...errr...Term

We had a long weekend here in Victoria this past weekend.  I realised how weary we've all become when a single extra day to the weekend had us all beginning Tuesday with "I don't want to go back to school".  We love our school.  We love being there.  But we are all so ready for a break!  On our staffroom whiteboard the anticipated end of term is hailed with big letters in the square for that day.  And we affectionately call it the "end of the world".

Before then, however, Miss Mischief has exams today and tomorrow and Miss Sunshine and I have exams next week.  All week for her, just two for me.  Two is enough!  I will be doing my exams at Our School with the Year 11's and indeed Miss Sunshine will be doing exams at the same time as both of mine.  She's oh so thrilled.  I think it's fun to tease her about, because she gives me such a good reaction.  In reality, I think she will feel a little comforted, but would never admit such a thing.  My Deputy Principal tells me my exams have arrived.  Now I just wait for the day to arrive too.

And in the midst of all of that I'm doing an extra day at work to spend the day on curriculum documentation.  Despite how that sounds I'm very excited.  It's the teacher-geeky part of me that comes out.  I really enjoy unit and lesson planning.  Lots of teachers find the documentation part of curriculum tedious, but I love the brainstorming about how we want to convey God to our students through the integrated studies topics we cover.  Fortunately this will contribute to some of my exam preparation since it covers all  the humanities subjects I need to delve into. 

Who knows, after next Friday I might just have time to .... well ... clean.  And bake.  My family won't know who I am if I start doing that!!!!!

So much in Such a Short Time aka A Mother's Job is Never Done

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks.  I've finished my teaching rounds for the year.  I had such a ball.  The kids were gorgeous, the teacher I worked with was wonderful to learn from, the school was amazing.  And now I have to go back to reality.....which means not teaching.  Just helping.  Always an adjustment.


It would be a terribly boring list of things to recount all that has been accomplished and dealt with.  Suffice it to say some of it has been pretty difficult and Satan has again reminded me of the fact that I am doing what I need to do in the most challenging of ways.  You know, 'cause it wasn't already a challenge to organise transport and afternoon routines for the kids who have been without supervision after school for four weeks.  You know things are slipping when you think rum and raisin chocolate is a necessity at the end of the day.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Then I read posts from Frances and Jen Hatmaker about the end of the school year.  And I laughed and laughed about all the things mothers just can't do at the end of the year.  Oh my goodness you gals are singing my song and I'm not even half way through the school year here!  My son is getting jam sandwiches (because that's all  he'll eat right now) and has to do his own baking so he doesn't have to eat crackers for morning tea.  The kids all have to put their own notices on the hook on the notice board so I have some hope of knowing what is going on.  Seriously.  How are we going to make it to the end of the year?  I do not know.  I need a day off.  Roll on next Friday!

The Parenting Files: Peers and Challenging Behaviours

My son come home yesterday spouting comments along the lines of "I'm never going back to school", and "I'm leaving and going to another school".  Apparently he is having friendship issues again.  Apparently I need to email his teacher about it.  Again.

The problem is that he is not completely innocent in the friendship issues.  He does things that annoy the others.  I know exactly what it is that he does that annoys the other kids.  I've seen it.  They've told me.  Last night we had a long discussion about being honest with ourselves because aren't usually mean just for the sake of it.  Not a whole class!  That doesn't excuse their behaviour or make it OK, but you do reap what you sew.

He wasn't happy to hear that he needed to own some of the cause for being teased or for the kids being mean.  I know those kids very well - mostly they're really lovely kids.  So I sent Mr Busy off with Matthew 5 and Psalm 37 in his new Bible, received for his 13th birthday.  When he came back to me he'd read some of the comments in the margins.  Quest Bibles have great information for younger people or new Christians.  Then we talked about the kinds of behaviours God wants us to engage in, and how God won't prevent the consequences of bad choices.  We also talked about how God wants to bless us and how choosing His ways and the behaviours He says are good can be the pathway to receiving the blessings God has promised.

We talked a lot about being meek. 

We looked it up. 

Gentle, kind, humble, courteous, patient.

Hopefully he'll switch his brain on before he says or does things today.  Thirteen year old boys don't seem to think much before they act.  Who said boys were easier?  I reckon the girls were much simpler at this age.  And much more sensible.

Updates Of All Kinds

Lots of updates for you today.....

I am still healthy.  I am surrounded by little people with snotty noses and God is good.  I started to get a sore throat the other day.  More praying.  More ease-a-cold.  I'm tellin' ya folks, if you're the praying kind and aren't opposed to natural cold and flu stuff this is working out to be a good prevention recipe!  It could also be that God just know I can't take any days off because I would find it so difficult to make them up later. 

The daily devotional thing is still going.  I've missed a day or two with the change in routine that has come about from being at a different school.  But I am enjoying thinking about those Bible passages from the perspective of "what did I learn?" and "what will I do?"  I don't even read the blub in the booklet.

Teaching rounds are going so well.  The teacher I'm working with is an amazing person to work alongside and to learn from.  She lets me experience my own inexperience and then provides me with really helpful and meaningful feedback that I am able to implement the next time I'm teaching. 

Amongst all of that I'm trying to write an assignment.  Ugh.  I miss my day off!

Going the Extra Kilometre....or Fifty

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I began teaching rounds today.  It was so very nice to be back with the Preps I met in February.  And they remembered me...that's always a heartwarming thing.

For the month of May the school I am in is getting the student body involved in "Go the Extra Mile".  The school has decided to donate to last year's funds recipient as it was more appropriate for little people as well as big people.  So, for the rest of the month of May I need to get moving!  I need to do 2km every day to reach the goal, which is also my last day there.

I think it's interesting that I had just been pondering my dilemma of not having time to exercise.  I was reading something the other day that challenged me that this is a lie.  Well...I'm yet to be convinced that this is actually a lie for me.  People who are often up at 5am working and don't really stop except to cook and eat dinner until about 9.30pm are pretty busy and genuinely find it difficult to fit extra things in.  So rather than saying "I don't have time" I've started thinking "what can I do that will fit in a schedule like mine?"  And here is the answer, handed to me just like that.  Walk.  At school.  It is 2.2km from my front door to the end of the main street in Our Town and back again.  I think I'm going to have to drag a child out to walk with me after work every day.  It's too dark in the mornings when I would want to be doing it.  And we'll be walking the track around the oval regularly throughout the week as well.  Just in case there are days I really don't get out at home.

I'll keep you posted!  It'll be an interesting and, no doubt, challenging journey for this I-wish-I-loved-exercise person.

Baking Day and Colds

A few weeks back when I last trekked over to Costco I bought a 2kg bucket of Greek yoghurt.  I enjoy it with a little drizzle of maple syrup for breakfast some mornings, when I'm bored of egg on toast and it was the same price as a 1kg tub.  Apparently I don't enjoy it quite as much as the quantity required of me by the use-by date.  Two kilos is a lot of yoghurt!

So what to do with about 1/2 a kilo of yoghurt that has officially gone past its use-by?  My answer is CAKE!  One gluten free, one regular and both containing yoghurt so that nothing was wasted.  The timing was doubly perfect as we're off on a family picnic tomorrow.  Now my mission is to convince everyone they don't need icing.  Dh and the girls have all got/had colds this week.  Sugar always makes the symptoms worse so I have a bit of a job on my hands!

And on the subject of colds, I have decided that even though there are more cold/flu germs in our house right now than could sink a ship I will be not be getting sick.  I begin teaching rounds again on Monday and have to make days up if I take time off.  I'm not doing it....it's decided.  Just to make sure I'm taking ease-a-cold tablets to get ahead of any germs. And eating chicken soup.  And praying lots because God is the one who insisted I do this degree.  So far I'm fine.