M.I.A.

Sorry... I didn't mean to be gone so long. It's been such a busy and tiring week. This working thing stinks! Haha.

Back to school... the grade 10 students arrived on Wednesday, all eager, excited and nervous. There were no grade 11s or 12s there that day, so they had the teachers all to themselves for orientation. As I've mentioned before, I teach in a self-directed program, so the system is a bit different for students who have been used to traditional classrooms and bell schedules.

Now, lest you think my job is easier than being in a classroom all day, consider this: In one of my 'classes' I have 65 students. That would never happen in a traditional system. No way. Well, except for that year I had 54 students in grade 10 English class. Yeah, that was fun.

Anyway... We do teach some classes. We have 'seminars' every week for each class we teach. I also teach one class every day (80 minutes) in the upgrading program. The rest of the time we are working on the 'learning floor' providing one-on-one help to students. And marking. And writing learning materials. And taking care of our 16-20 'advisees'. We are responsible for their education plan, schedules, contact with parents, giving them a much-needed kick in the butt every so often, counselling when they have personal problems, etc.

My school is a very busy place to work!

But I like it... most days. If I didn't, I would have found something else to do by now because it's just not healthy to work at a career you don't like... especially when you're dealing with adolescents. They can be trying, to put it politely.

Now it's the weekend. It's a glorious, sunny Saturday. I have lots of work to do, but not today. Maybe later. Today, I'm going to try to enjoy a bit of relaxation. Maybe go to the gym (I've been neglecting/avoiding it this week), perhaps take the OnlyChild to a movie. She wants to see The Time Traveller's Wife. The book was excellent!

.

Thursday night I went with a couple of friends to see Julie and Julia. Loved it! Meryl Streep is so good in the role of Julia Child. If you haven't seen the movie, I would highly recommend it. But go with your girlfriends, rather than your husband/boyfriend. It's not a 'guy movie'.

And did you see the new t.v. show Glee? I hardly ever watch television, but Mr. P was away Wednesday evening so the remote control was in my hands. The OnlyChild and I really enjoyed Glee. I think we might have to pencil it in on our calendars for the rest of the year.

.

It was nice chatting with you again. I've missed you all the past few days. I hope you liked my sunflower photos. I grew these flowers myself! I can hardly believe they actually bloomed, since my past experiments in gardening have been dismal. I had a whole row of them but then Mr. P dumped a load of sod on half of them that he'd scraped off the back lawn when he built the deck. Ooohhhh... I was upset! But the survivors grew very well, as you can see.

.

I think Autumn is coming... although the days are warm, the mornings and evenings are chilly. This is my favourite time of year. I liked it better when I lived in the Maritimes, though, because the trees burst into a riot of reds, oranges and yellows and Fall lasts for weeks there. Here, it's yellow leaves one week, bare trees the next, and then snow.

.

(Shhh... I said a dirty word - SNOW)

.

Have a great weekend!

☺