Well hello there . . . been a while.
It's been more than 3 months since I've made a real post, not counting the 5 I released as a school project. However, in February when I wrote my last blog, I stopped having time due to spring quarter coming up and preparation for that.
The past 3 months have been INSANE. I worked at Lowell Elementary 5 days a week, 8am to 3pm, and then had classes 4 nights a week 5 to 9. 4 days a week, I was out of the house for at least 13.5 hours. And after classes, typically I would hop right in bed. I barely saw my family, and was only home to sleep and take care of my rabbits pretty much.
Wednesdays were particularly busy - I worked until 11:30, drove to Cedar Wood in Bothell for my half day practicum, left for school at 3:30 and sat in traffic for an hour on my way there. My busiest week was at the end of May. I had a lot of projects due in class, and was trying to apply for scholarships. I work up an extra hour and a half early all week just to write scholarship applications and essays before work, because I needed to do homework every other free minute of the day. That was a particularly stressful and exhausting week.
When I wasn't working, I was doing homework. Every second I could. I got to class usually an hour, an hour and a half early Monday, Tuesday and Thursday so I did homework during that time. I did homework all weekend. Any weekend that I was travelling or had plans set me behind and I did miss a couple nights of classes catching up, or did extra homework during IT class. I had huge projects due every other week, assignments and lesson plans due every week, and lessons to teach at Cedar Wood. I had 5 classes - about 16 credits. My practicum class, EOT (Essentials in Teaching), IT for Educators, Math, and Art. Thankfully Art was only 8 weeks long, so the first couple weeks in June before spring quarter was out, I had Tuesday nights off. I still don't know how I did it. It's by the grace of God that I made it through spring quarter without losing my mind and with a 3.8 GPA.
The things that kept me surviving through these months were my planner, car, and the Psalms. I love my planner. I took it everywhere (I still do), and wrote everything down. EVERYTHING. From what assignments were due when, to when I needed to clean bunny cages and when I had bunny pickups or work meetings. I thankfully got my license and a car right after spring quarter started. I don't know what I would've done without it. I'll write another post soon about my car story. It's quite a miracle! Pretty much whenever I had or made time to read my Bible, I read the Psalms. They are easy to read most of the time, and very comforting. Even if I wasn't pursuing God every second or even ever day, He reminded me that He was pursuing me.
Even though I barely had time to breathe, there were some highlights. Students at Cedar Wood told me I would make a great teacher. They learned something from my lessons. My CT told me that I made a difference in the life of one of her students. Even though I was only there for 3.5 hours, once a week. My kids at work make progress on their IEP goals. They didn't die or get hurt. One of my students did pull the fire alarm, but we sincerely hope he learned a lot from that experience (we're pretty sure he didn't). We had a talent show, carnival, and Last Day of School celebrations.
It was by far the busiest, most stressful few months I've had in forever. And hopefully it won't be repeated, at least for a long while. But it wasn't terrible. It was insane, yes, and I can't say it was worth it, but it was a challenge that I passed. I succeeded, I finished it, I grew, and I learned so much.
I have several blogs that I have started as I've felt led or inspired over the past several months, but haven't had time to finish. And even though not all of them apply to what's going on in my life immediately, they did at one point. I'll finish them up and post them during the next few weeks. My next post later this week will be about what my plans are for the summer. School's out now, and although I have summer classes and I'm working, everything will be much more chill. I'm so ready for a little relaxation and summer fun!
Thanks for reading my ramblings.
Holly
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