Summer Plans

School's been out for a few weeks now and my family is settling into a summer routine. The end of the school year was extra chaotic as I had to pack up all of my belongings and resources from both of my schools and haul it home until I can move into the art room at my new school. My garage is at capacity with all the "stuff" from two classrooms and everything that was in my art room at home while we wait for the necessary furniture to finish the remodel.

I don't know how typical this is for other people, but sometimes it's hard for me to relax as soon as something is over. I think it's just part of me being a Highly Sensitive Person. So for me, it's not like walking out of school singing along with Alice Cooper and leaving it all behind. This year was a little harder to transition into summer with leaving behind two schools I've loved and lots of work friends whom I will miss, but I'm glad Facebook will help me keep in touch with them and their families. I came home after the last day of school and started painting that night. It was my little art therapy session and after I worked maniacally to finish it, I felt a lot better! I only wish I'd been able to get to my watercolors in the garage. I really enjoy watercolors, acrylic, and oils, but I would have preferred watercolors for the translucent poppy petals.

So now, my summer plans...

Curriculum- I decided not to take a graduate course this summer so that I can focus on preparing for my new gig. I've spent the last 6 years teaching about 800 K-6th grade students a year and will be moving to a much smaller school district where I will have PreK-12th grade, but less than half the students. Most of my day will be spent with high school- 5 high school classes a day, 1 middle school (7th grade one semester and 8th grade the other), and 1 elementary class a day. I took notes on what the previous art teacher covered so I'm kind of working on a transition with what she's covered, what I want to cover, and what the new Core Arts Standards include as my state is working on adopting those.
Be an artist- I also plan to keep working on my own art and doing some small photography and design jobs. My husband works nights so on the nights he works, after I get my kids to bed I spend a couple hours working on something. Sometimes I go paint, sometimes I put something on Netflix and work on my computer. I've also designed a mural which will be painted on the practice board at the tennis courts in my hometown in the next few weeks. That will be done in the mornings before it get too hot and humid!
READ!- I love to read. In the school year I don't usually allow myself to read a physical book because I get kind of obsessed and want to read instead of doing things I really need to be doing. I've listened to a few audio books while working and read a few hardbacks so far. I have a couple of academic books I want to try to read and take notes on to start working on research I may use for my final semester of graduate school including Classroom (Jaquith & Hathaway, 2012) and Engaging Learners through Artmaking (Douglas & Jaquith, 2009).
Garden- I'm excited to watch the progress of my butterfly garden and the vegetables in my raised beds. This is just the second year I've grown food and though the excessive rain fall has made this not a typical year, I still keep learning things I should do differently next year. The trick will be to remember it...
Family time- Most importantly, spend time with my awesome family. They are one of the biggest reasons I applied for my new job. I will end up with almost 2 extra hours at home during the school year. Though nobody ever said that taking care of 2 kids was easy, it's pretty great to have the opportunity to be a stay at home mom 2 months out of the year.