The Sunday of Summer

Over my last three years of teaching, I've come to view the summer as one giant weekend. Allow me to illustrate...

June is the Friday of summer. You start out with school, but the whole time, anticipating the arrival of summer. Once school is out, you do your "Friday night party type things," go on vacations, relax, forget about the school year, etc.

July is the Saturday of summer. For me anyway, Saturdays are housework days. So, you concentrate on all of the projects you have planned to do for the weekend/summer. You still have fun of course, it is Saturday.

August is the Sunday of summer. It's your last full day of the weekend/season. You've gotta start thinking about Monday/September, and the work that will need to be done. It is still also you last full day/month, so you gotta take advantage of the day/month.

September is of course Monday, although the analogy stops here. Mondays pretty much suck, no matter how you look at them. September is usually pretty exciting. It was when I was a student... looking forward to new classes/teachers, getting settled in to a new routine, a fresh start and a clean slate, and my favorite part, school supply shopping! As a teacher, it hasn't changed a whole lot. The whole clean slate/fresh start thing is the most appealing to me.

So here it is, late on a "Saturday" night. How did my Saturday go? Did I get everything done I wanted to get done? Let's see...

I planned two major projects. To build a deck, and to finish the nursery. Those are both done! There was other stuff I had planned, such as landscaping the front yard and building a workshop in the shed, that I did not get to. The reason for this being $$$, so I am not even considering those. Looking at all of this, I had a pretty awesome "Saturday."

So now, I need to look towards tomorrow, the "Sunday" of summer. My perfect weekend Sunday during the school year works like this (unless handbells are performing, of course)...

I get up early, and try to get as much school work done as possible. I usually have a list or a pile of work that I plan on doing. My goal is generally to finish it up by lunchtime. This way, I don't spend the rest of the day worrying about school. After lunch, I get the housework done that I didn't get finished on Saturday, or relax, do something fun for myself or with Meg. Sunday nights we go to my parents for dinner. This is a very relaxing time for me. There's always good food at my parent's house, along with joking, laughing, and catching up on a week's-worth of stories. We usually reluctantly leave my folks, to come home, make lunches, pack-up our laptops, and go to bed a little early for Monday morning.

I am going to follow a similar model for my Sunday of summer, with the exception of going to my parents. I don't think they would appreciate us squatting at their place for the last week in August, but here's the basic idea:

The first half of August, say, before the 15th, try to get all of the school work that I planned to do finished. Here's what I've got planned:

• Curriculum maps for all grades
• Updated band handbook and policies
• Updated classroom management policies
• Tentative band schedule for the year
• Lesson plans for the beginning of school.
• Worksheets and materials prepared for the 1st marking period
• Halloween Parade music prepared and arranged.
  
• Create band portfolio system (an idea for tracking student progress I am ripping off of a product I saw at the NJMEA convention)
• Take an NJEA PD course.
• Purchase and read a book on classroom management to fulfill my PIP

This seems like a lot, but I want to get a good head start into the school year, and stay ahead of the game, because, come November, we are going to be a 'little' busy! Also included in this schoolwork is preparing for the upcoming Handbell season:

• Ordering and picking the music
• Work out performance schedule with Jane
• Work out a rehearsal schedule based on that performance schedule
• File last year's music
• Stuff folders with this year's music.

A lot on my plate here, but the sooner it is done, the sooner I don't have to worry about it anymore.

After the 15th, I can relax, take care of low cost home improvement projects, go on cheap day trips with Meg, etc. That gives me a half a month of relaxation, and NOT worrying about school.
Then on to Sunday night, which, in my model, is actually that part of September before school officially starts. That's when I'll really get ready to implement all of this stuff I planned. I plan to spend at least one day before the in-services in my classroom, getting things set-up, stuffing band folders, making copies, etc. I will be adjusting my sleep schedule to get me back to getting up at 6 AM. I will be mentally preparing (and not "worrying") about the school year. Then, September 7, a.k.a, Monday morning, rolls around, and its another school year/workweek. Only this time, with a new member of the family coming around Period 3 :-).

This summer has been/will be pretty awesome. Last summer was all about moving. That was cool, because I love this house. But there was no relaxation. It was packing the old house up to July 15... after that, it was painting and unpacking, pretty much up to the start of the school year. The other thing is marching band. I will not be doing it in the fall due to our little girl coming, as well as a recent refocus of my future career goals. Though I always enjoyed doing marching band, the fact that it starts in the beginning of July and involves a week away at band camp puts a big damper on the end of summer. As soon as you get to that first band practice, it feels like September.

So here's to the Sunday of Summer, I am ready!

Whoops, this blog is about what I did everyday. Kinda forgot to talk about Sunday, TODAY! Here is a bulleted list version of what I did:

• Got up at 9 - breakfast
• Moved tools and paint out of guest room, and put everything away
• Cleaned and organized shed
• Pulled up all of the grass for good in Max's "Poop Pit"
• Weeded the garden in front of the pool
• Sprayed "Round Up" on all of the weeds growing up from the cracks in the pavement on our property
• Mowed, weekwhacked, and blew the back yard
• Took a swim to cool off
• Cleared off my desk (again!)
• Moved boxes in the family room to the attic
• Nick, my parents, and Laura and Sean came over for dinner
• Dad lent me edger to clean up front yard. Family loved deck and nursery.
  
• Made grilled chicken with rub for dinner for family
• Played Encore game with family
• Mom brought water ice for dessert, yum!
• Blogged for a LONG time.

Sunday, here I come!