This is the Life!

I know on Monday I complained about being home all day and not having the "break" by teaching all day. But boy, this is the life. Yesterday, my neighbor had a luncheon with some of the women and their children. We sat and talked while the kids played. I didn't get anything done. It was such a great day. We sat out in the sun and just enjoyed the company.

Today I went in for a couple of hours and prepared for my unit on insects and my unit on Charlotte's Web. I made all my copies for the next four weeks. The children came with me. They insisted on bringing the dogs, so it was a little crazy.

Later in the day we went to my mom's. We had a nice visit. I wanted to go to Utah/Idaho Supply while I was in S.L.C. My parents offered to watch the kids while I went. Ky ended up coming. It was still nice to get some shopping done.

In short, I have forgotten how nice it is to have days like yesterday and today. I love those days when I have free time and the freedom to plan out my day.

Meet Sammy

I would like to introduce you to a new member of our family. This is Sammy. Many people are wondering what would make us get a second dog. The truth of the matter is that Lexi really is just Porter's dog. We gave her to Porter on his birthday years ago and they have a special relationship.

Kyath has been struggling with so things lately. We fight to get him to school. We fight to get him to church. We fight to get him to do his homework. Many would say it is because we are bad parents. Kyath has always been hard. He is struggling with his emotions.

He has been asking for a dog ever since we got rid of Sammy (the miniature pincher). I just felt like we had enough with one dog. Kyath was looking for free dogs on KSL. I started to think how much having his own dog would help him. I felt like we should look into it.

Then Ky found a lab mix on KSL that was already neutered, potty trained, kennel trained and one and a half years old. We looked at his picture and saw that he was not a full sized lab even though he was full grown. We just felt like he was the dog. Oddly enough, his name is Sammy.

So we picked him up last night. He fits in perfectly with our family. Lexi isn't all that excited. But she will just have to get used to the idea.

Spring Break

This week is spring break for all of us here at the Moore household. You would think I would be excited. But I am going nuts! It is so hard staying home, doing laundry, cleaning and all that other stuff.

I feel bad for Don because I have spent a lot of time just taking a break.

Yes, teaching full-time is hard. It is exhausting to work all day and then take care of my family and house at night. It is hard to burn my candle at both ends. But I think it is harder being home. Psychologically I start going insane. What am I going to do over summer break?

Happy Birthday Kyath

Kyath turned 10 a few days ago. It is hard to believe he is ten. It is even harder to believe that I have been a mom for ten years. His birthday caused me to reflect on being a mom and how I have changed from when he was born to today.

When I first became a mother I was so overwhelmed with all of the new emotions I was feeling. I had never felt so protective, so complete, and yet so inadequate all at the same time. I remember just holding Ky and crying. I was afraid someone would take him away because he was so beautiful. I wouldn't let Don even push the stroller on walks because I was sure someone was going to come from behind and take him.

I remember Kyath crying, and crying, and crying. I would walk the street at night to let the neighbors know that I wasn't beating my child. He cried so much. A baby crying had never broken my heart like it did when my own child cried.

I remember just wanting to hold Ky and watch his cute little moves all day. Who needed TV. I loved watching him make new faces. I loved watching him sleep.

Kyath changed my life. I am grateful to have him. He still makes my life complete. I could still just sit and watch him all day. It still breaks my heart when he cries. I could never be as proud as when I see him achieve and grow.

I love you Kyath.

How Do Teachers Do It?

Click Me- The Teacher 8 My Homework
When Mrs. Grant left, she warned me that I would have to spend a lot of money just to make my class run. She said, "When I first started teaching I thought that teachers made pretty good money. After seeing how much I have had to put in my class, I realize just how little teachers make." I thought it was a funny comment because teachers in Utah don't really get paid much in the first place.

I have seen the reality of her comment. There are so many things my class could use. There are so many things I need. But the reality is that I have to buy EVERYTHING my class needs. Right when I started, my school notified the teachers that any money set aside for teacher's classrooms was being taken away. They also told us they were limiting the amount of printing we could do and cancelling all field trips for the rest of the year. It's crazy.

I told my brother-in-law, who is also a junior high principal, that I have to buy a table for my classroom if I need one. He told me that couldn't be true. Schools are supposed to provide any furniture needed in the classroom. I thought I would listen to him and just request a kidney shaped table to work with small groups. The school told me to go ahead and put in a request, but that the chances of me ever getting one was slim.

I use music in my classroom for transitions throughout the day. It is an easy way to let students know it is time to turn in papers, get ready for recess, and clean up. RBH donated speakers to our classroom. I am so grateful. They are perfect for our classroom. The students love them too. The first day I brought them in, they danced with each transition. I was hoping to get an IPod for the classroom, but the chances of that are next to none.

There are a lot of parents at my school that make donations to their children's classroom. In fact, a first grade teacher at my school just received a donation to buy seven IPods for her class. I am amazed because I had a hard time getting parents to help pay for the Chinese New Year Party we had and that was $50 for the entire class.

Almost all the teachers at my school have ELMOs in their class. My class, of course does not have one. An ELMO is a document camera that allows the teacher to show papers, books and other items. They can be used to show science experiments, show and tell, and anything else a teacher might need for their lesson. It makes it so that teachers do not have to write everything on the board and helps them refer back to things that they covered without re-writing it all back out on the board. This is a big thing for me because I have arthritis and it is hard for me to write too much at a time. They can also be used to show science experiments and show student's work.

My brother-in-law pointed me to a site where teachers request school materials and donors help donate toward the needed supplies. I have put in a request for a document camera. They only allow one teacher request at a time, so I decided that I have greater need for a document camera than a table or Ipod. It is still in the approval process. Soon, hopefully, it will be on their website and can be found on www.donorschoose.org. The title of my request is "The Teacher 8 My Homework." If anyone would like to help meet the needs of our classroom, they can visit the site and make a donation.

Now I don't want people to donate because they feel like they have to. I mention it here to get the word out. I am hoping people will let others know about my request on this website. If you know anyone that would be willing to donate, or have the funds to help out, tell them about my class.
The Teacher 8 My Homework

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad

Today, Valentine's Day, is my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that my parents have been married 50 years. These day it is not as common to reach the 50th anniversary with higher divorce rates and couples waiting much longer to get married. My parents, however, made it. Thanks Mom and Dad for showing me how it is done. We will be having a nice family dinner together on Monday.

February

Things have been crazy lately. This working full-time has really made it hard to do anything like write on my blog, clean the house, clean clothes or even just get things done. Today is teacher prep. day, thus time to do all of the above.

Kyath has changed back to his old school. He was miserable at my school. I thought it was worth the fight to keep him there. But then my sister-in-law called me and convinced me that it would be better for him to go back to his old school. I didn't want to believe her. I thought about it all night and realized that she had been inspired to call me. I really felt the spirit confirming that Denise was right. Thank goodness for family.

We celebrated Valentine's Day and had a Greek Olympics on Thursday. It was really fun. We had many Olympic events including: the shot put (throwing cotton balls), Javelin (throwing straws), Discus (Frisbee), long jump, relay races, and tug-of-war. It was fun cheering my students on as they competed against the other 2nd grade class. We made sure to include Eros (Cupid) in the festivities and had children hand out valentines. I, by the way, came home with tons of gifts from my kids. I was touched.

I went to bed at 9:00 last night and woke up at 8:00 this morning. Boy, was I tired.

Well, enough computer time for me. I have to get back to getting the house in order. My dear sister and mother snuck in this week and did some laundry for me. They are too good to me. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of housework to do.