Summer is almost here! Ok, so we’re just part way into spring, but there are only four weeks left of school and that means summer to me!
We recently celebrated the warm weather by going camping in March. It sounds so crazy, but it was warm enough to give Jeff a sunburn! It was a blast! It was just so nice to get away and have nothing around you but fields and trees and a few other people who are there to enjoy the same things. We bought a few new camping supplies and had fun trying them out, lying in the hammock, playing croquet and cooking some good meals. We look forward to the next time we go and hopefully will have some friends to camp with us.
Not only did we get to go camping, but we hit up our first baseball game of the season! We got to go and enjoy the ball game food, experience and good company. Randy and Kimmie came up to Omaha to visit and told us that they are pregnant with baby number three!!! Becky was there as well and we had a great time catching up J. We ended up catching a squishy baseball that gave us $50 dollars off of a purchase at Stereo West Auto toys, so Jeff got a CD player for his car. Which we installed on our own…. Wow. One of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, and one of the more difficult things that we’ve had to work on together. It was pouring rain, we are sitting in his Monte Carlo, we have tools all over the seats and floor, we are trying to firmly pull off the entire dash board without snapping it, and trying to figure out what still needs unscrewed or unclipped and how in the world we are going to get the dashboard over the steering wheel. We finally got it all put back in place when Jeff remembered that we hadn’t hooked up one of the wires. So AGAIN we unhooked it all and took it off, hooked up the wire, then put it back. SUCCESSFULLY! And now I know a little bit more about cars.
Subbing has been an interesting experience. I have learned a lot through it, but am definitely hoping and praying for a full time job this fall. Until these last few weeks, I had really been disliking it (except for the times I got to go back to the classroom that I student taught in :D ). This is mainly because I feel as though I’m just there to baby sit, like I don’t have any true purpose there. I don’t have enough time to teach students something new, or impact their lives in some way, I just have to make sure they are behaving and getting their work done for their teacher. But this last month or so, God blessed me with a long term job. I’ve been working with sixth graders in a school near Grace that I’ve always liked subbing in. This class however is not one of the better ones. Upon me coming in, their teacher had already been gone earlier in the year for a month, and they were in the process of preparing for a the NeSA (Nebraska State test). I was however not alone; the reading specialist in the building who was in this class every morning got placed in the room to teach along with me. Not only has their schedule been fairly inconsistent all year, but I don’t think their teacher expected very much of them, not in academics or in behavior. I have never seen such a group of unmotivated students. It has been a huge learning experience and I’m so glad I have the reading specialist to work with. We’ve been working with them on skills they will need for the Tests, how to show respect to teachers and classmates, and how to be responsible for themselves. I’ve had the opportunity to try out many strategies that I had learned in school, and that didn’t necessarily need applied when I student taught Kindergarten. It’s been tough since I know I’m only there temporarily, but I feel like I’ve had a much more significant role in these kid’s lives than in my short sub jobs.
