Summer Break's Over

At least for me that is. DD doesn't start until next Monday.

Summer Break went W-A-Y too fast!

The Library Shelf: Bud, Not Buddy

Up on the Library Shelf today is "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis.
"Bud, Not Buddy" is a Newberry Medal Winner and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. It's set during the depression of the 1930's in Flint, Michigan. Ten year old Bud, not Buddy, is a motherless boy trying to find his father. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: advertising flyers for a band. Bud decides to hit the road to find him.

The descriptive language makes you feel as if you are there as "a fly on the wall" watching all the goings-on. Some of it even made me laugh out loud.

The hardships of the depression, the Jim Crow laws and discrimination of blacks are entertwined with the journey of Bud through comedic episodes giving a different insight into the life of an orphan on the run.

This book is actually classified as a Young Adult's book, but I think "old" adults would enjoy it too. It's one of the choices given to the middle school students at CAVA to read as part of their literature course. I'm going to be doing online Literature Circles this coming school year. There are quite a few books on the reading lists that I have not read so I figured I'd better get to it if I'm going to be teaching these things. It's a good read!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

That's how I feel after the past five days!

Papers, Papers

Guess what I've been doing today?

Trying to clean up this:



I'm doing the paper-shredding chacha. Wow! What a lot of paperwork accumulates in one school year. And, I'm one of the organized ones. I'd hate to see what it would look like if I wasn't.

School's Out For Summer!

Tomorrow's actually the "official" last day of work, but all the report cards are signed, sealed and off in the mail. All the student's new courses are ordered for next year. The only thing left to do is mail the time card (and clean out files - lots of files).

DD had a great first year of high school. She did well in all of her courses and even ended up with some extra credits to her name. Afraid that she would get bored over the summer, she decided to do 2 Summer classes (Music Theory and Spanish 2) and dive into some of her English coursework for next year already too.

With some time off, I hope to be on here more regular-like and update with more stories of our adventures.

Spring Break

Spring Break is only hours away! I can see it from here! I love my job, but everyone needs a break every once in awhile (even from something they love).

And, with Spring Break comes.............

ROAD (FIELD) TRIP


Wonder what wild and crazy adventures this one brings.

IT'S SNOWING!

We woke up to snow flurries this morning! Two days ago it was tank top and shorts weather.

I'm running through the house shouting, "It's snowing, It's snowing!" DD says to me, "You get more excited about the snow than a 2 year old." Hey, what can I say? As long as I don't have to go drive in it, bring it on!

However, it is a major distraction. I have to look out the window every 23 seconds to see if it's still coming down, and I should be concentrating on getting all of this work done by Friday so I don't have to do it over Spring Break.

Wordless Month????.......and Shirt Refashion

HA!HA!HA! Didn't mean for Wordless Wednesday to turn into Wordless MONTH! LOL

The beginning of the school year (what we call "launch") is super hectic with 10-12 hour work days, 7 days a week. It's been crazy!

But, today I said to heck with work and finished refashioning this shirt for DD.

I started with this:


It was an old man's shirt (not like an "old man with a cane", but an "old" shirt that a man would wear - LOL).

I first took off the collar which left me with a stand up band-collar (sorry I don't know what those are called - maybe a mandarian collar?).

I took the breast pocket off, added a stripe of solid turqouise to the top of the pocket for accent and repositioned it on the lower right front of the shirt.

I cut a couple inches off each side seam to make it a little more fitted and curvey. Can't make it TOO fitted though as DD is still growing.

Then, I took off the sleeves. I shortened those and added the solid turquoise band at the bottom to make them more girly. (There is a thin turqouise stripe which runs through the plaid on the shirt.) When I reattached them, I did a little gathering at the shoulders.

Finally, I added a slightly gathered stripe of the turqouise on each side of the button placket to give it more color. (Well, actually it's main purpose was to cover up a spot that I couldn't get out.) I wanted it to be more ruffled and puckered, but after I had attached it, I wasn't about to take it back off.

I would have liked to cut the bottom to make it straight, but DD wanted me to leave it curved.

Here is the final refashion:

Back to School

Today's the big day. DD starts high school!

Here she is. All ready to go.


But, I think she probably feels more like this.


Even though she's homeschooled, it's still a big deal. She's going to be doing a different program this year, and I'm no longer her "official, credentialed" teacher. She now has to answer to someone else besides me. And, "gasp", she's going to have to put her name on EVERY PAPER! That's something she hasn't done in two years. She's starting off the school year with a full schedule: Algebra 1, English 9, Cultures and Geography, Biology 1, Spanish 1, Art, PE, 7 Habits of Effectiveness, and Clarinet. She's going to be one BUSY gal!

And, I start back to work today. I will be in training sessions via the computer all week from 8:30 - 5:00 every day. I know there are changes that have been in the works over the summer so it will be interesting to see what my job will entail this year. I am almost certain that I will no longer have to travel to other areas to meet with my students. The other teacher that lived in town here moved away, and I'm supposed to be getting all of her students. It will be so nice to not have to spend so much time driving. No more singing, "On the road again....."