Saturday, May 3, 2008

Summer resolutions

I gave my last exam today. I'll grade like a mad woman for 2 or 3 days, turn my grades in, and then face a long summer of freedom--freedom from folders stuffed with ungraded papers, freedom from fussing with unfinished lesson plans, freedom from students handing me excuse after excuse for late essays and missed classes. If only teaching literature meant just teaching and none of that other business. Oh the joy that would be.

I have ambitions for the summer, of course, and I thought perhaps thinking them through here, committing them to binary code would help solidify my commitment to these ambitions. So. This summer, I hope to:

Clean out the house. Really, really clean out the house. In fact, I'm hoping to reduce our belongings by half.

Sew a lot and toy with the idea of sewing more seriously.

Be more creative with the kids. Less TV and computer, more play.

Teach Owen to swim (it's high time, I know, but the boy's a fraidy mouse).

Teach Owen to ride a two-wheeler (see excuse above).

Revive Mommy Blog Round Up

Increase my contributions to Momformation

Set up an office space for John

I should stop there before the list gets so long I run screaming away from it. I tend to overwhelm myself with ideas of how to use my free time until I'm at a loss about where to begin and end up doing nuttin'.

Happy summer (to me)!

5 comments:

email said...

I have one of those fraidy-kids myself. She's seven and we're STILL working on swimming and riding a two-wheeler. The fact that she's not a fan of the outdoors because "there are BUGS out there," adds to the difficulty of these endeavors. Good luck!!

LitTeacher said...

I hate you. Mountains of papers and three weeks to go. I can see the light, but its very faint and hidden by the piles of ungraded papers. Enjoy your free time!

Anonymous said...

Tell me about it...on Wednesdays I only have my daughter (4mos) as my two boys go to Grandmas (bless her:) and I end up doing nothing that I set out to do. Sometimes it's nice, doing nothing. I used to teach too and boy, summers are a dream. They go by too fast though. Right now everyday is the same for me like a big run on sentence:)

Tracy said...

I remember the bliss of end of year :) But I'd always manage to get a virus or 2 in the break and end up spending most of them in bed. But I'd be better for start of term!
Now I'm "retired" . I have huge amounts of respect for anyone who works and raises kids. Especially teaching which is a 24/7 occupation the constant planning and assessment and other assorted paperwork. Bravo Mean Mommy well done enjoy your well earned break.

Blair said...

i'll help you clean out ash! summer is still 3 weeks away for me though. oh, and then i have my national board assessment and then vacation after vacation. then i switch classrooms so uhh, maybe i have 2-3 days left to help. haha! seriously, i'll help even if helping means taking the kids to pool (to get Owen swimming) while you work until you can meet us there later.