School!

 September 2009
    Work for us had been great - I'll have to describe our typical work day.  Things changed a bit when Cristian, our driver, had to cut back his hours with us as his hours with the government job increased.  It has worked out great, though because now we are driving in with a teacher who lives in our neighborhood.  She likes to swim at the school pool before work, so recently we have been going in early.  Very early - but there are several advantages.  One of which is that we are really making an effort to get to bed early at night.  We are in when the school is quiet so we can get a lot done before the kids arrive, which cuts back on work we bring home. After school, we are taking the school bus nearly all the way home, and we have a chance to talk about our day during the 15 minute walk from the bus stop.

I have spent a few Saturdays at the school, and today it was Spencer's turn. He spent several hours grading papers.
    So now we are getting up at 4:45, getting ready, having breakfast and getting our lunches together.  We leave about 5:50 or 6, and get to school by 6:10 or so.  The bell rings for the kids at 7:55, so I have had lots of time for checking work, planning, and working on my classroom.  I pick my kids up at 7:55, and we're started on our day by a little after 8.  We work on a bit of spelling or grammar, and then do our math lesson before the kids head to Spanish at 9:30.  They have Spanish language, history and a bit of science at that time.  I have meetings a few days a week, and planning time for myself other days.  The kids have snack from 10:15 to 10:30, then we're back in the class from 10:30 until 12:45 when they leave for lunch.  My schedule with their specials worked out so that thye go after lunch to PE twice a week, aand art and music each once a week.  On Wednesdays, the kids are dismissed at 12:20, and we have professional development meetings all afternoon.
     Spencer's schedule is similar,  and he spends time in the morning preparing for his day.  He has 5 classes per day 2x each week, 4 classes per day 2x per week, and on Wednesday - the half day - he has just 2 classes followed by an afternoon of meetings.
      There you have a glimpse into our daily school life.  We are having fun all the way round!