On the Road Again...

So after working for my new lead teacher position that I was so excited about I've been laid off? I guess? Let me start from the beginning. I was hired to be a full time teacher. My class was a preschool class (older 2 year olds and 3 year olds) that was going to be split into two classes and I was to be in charge of running the older 2 year old class. I started off getting scheduled 40 hours, but my coworkers informed me I wouldn't be actually working 40 hours a week because most of the teachers get sent home early once the kids start going home at the end of the day. That happened to me a few times. Then I had a day when my boss told me she didn't need me to come in the next day at all... that's a whole day's pay lost. Then a few days later I was sent home after about an hour because the number of children in attendance that day was low. Then I was scheduled the next week for only 16 hours and told they didn't have as many children as they anticipated to start in the near future actually starting and that my position may become an on call position. I immediately made an appointment to start substitute teaching in a nearby district. After taking the interview I found out that actually pays more than I thought and more than what I was making. I originally canceled this interview the first time I had made it a month ago because I thought the job I was offered paid better so maybe this is a blessing in disguise. My boss then emailed me and asked if I wanted to interview for a full time position at one of the other daycares we are affiliated with that was closer to my house. I told her I was waiting to be approved to sub and I'd like to keep my position for a few more days. She told me she had already put me down as my last day being the next day. So even though I was anticipating leaving I was let go a little earlier than I wanted. I still hugged all my babies goodbye and found a few of my coworkers on facebook. I guess now I wait to see if I can sub soon. I have another interview for a different district in a few days.

Cleared for Take Off!

My fingerprints finally got cleared today! For those of you non daycare workers I'll explain what that means. When you work in a daycare or school you have to get fingerprinted so they can do a thorough background check. Until your prints come back with a cleared check you can't be alone with the children. Not being able to be alone made me feel like I was one of the kids. When they would be trying to work out breaks and whatnot it'd always be "oh no wait she can't be alone she's not cleared yet". It makes me feel like I have to be babysat cause there has to be an adult in the room with me. I knew eventually my prints would clear I've been printed a bunch of times but its a weight lifted.

Diversity is the Spice of Life

One thing I love about working in schools and daycares is the different types of families I get to encounter. Not everyone comes from the born in America, married mom and dad in one house, one son one daughter family that I do. And personally I think that's wonderful, we should all learn from each other's differences and experiences.

I've had a little boy whose father was transitioning to be a woman. A 5 year old little boy who just loved what he called his "Maddy" (Mom + Dad). His Maddy would come pick him up from daycare in the evening and you could tell this was once a man. This kid has been in fights with the older kids who couldn't grasp a man becoming a woman and tried to explain to him about needing certain chromosomes and whatnot but he didn't care. And he shouldn't care what other's think, he knows who loves and takes care of him at home.

I have a little girl whose mother recently went back to China while her and her father are still here. I don't know the whole situation but it has an effect on her.

I've had kids of divorced homes, kids of gay parents, kids of interracial families, kids of single parent homes, kids who had another sibling on the way, kids whose parents were going through custody battles and we've had restraining orders on file preventing one parent from coming on the property, I also had a kid who was born in Iraq, his English was ok but his father didn't really speak it which made for a very interesting parent-teacher conference.

One time I had a deaf infant. She was so happy and adorable though. And luckily she was born to very loving parents.

I had one little girl who was 2 years old and her grandmother had custody because both of her parents were involved in drugs. Her mother had died recent to the time I was working with her but when she would play with the toy phones in the room she would always try to call her mommy. Her dad regained custody but we did not have the paperwork from the courts yet so legally he could not come pick her up by himself his mother who had custody needed to be with him. One night he called and said he was coming to get her alone and I was by myself in that class with her. The director stayed in the building with me to make sure he didn't try to take her by himself. Luckily he did show up with the grandmother and it didn't get ugly.

I have two little twin boys who have divorced gay mothers. I don't know if they were ever really married or they're just broken up but my point is they don't live together anymore. I've had kids with gay parents before but never have I had kids having to deal with having gay parents AND divorced parents. I think it'll be interesting to see how boys of two mommies grow up, let alone divorces mommies. But they love both of their mommies equally and they are the happiest little boys.

My point of all this is that I love to learn about the different types of families that can exist. I look at it as another way I can learn from my babies. Never stop education yourself.

The First Few Pages in this New Chapter

This week everything in my life has been changing. I've moved out of my parents house to the city where my grad school is... well sort of. I've put some stuff in my new place but I've had too much going on to move yet. I've started work in my new classroom, and I've started grad school courses. Which one would you like to hear about first? Grad school you say? Good here we go...

Grad school is so far pretty overwhelming but I'm trying to keep it together. I was having some trouble because I didn't bring a notebook or pen to class (what the hell kind of grad student am I). But I had my computer with me and I figured I'd take notes on that, until my professors started asking us to do things with paper. On top of that I was also having trouble registering my computer to the school's wifi. Anyway I got that all settled and now I'm just trying to keep up with my assignments.

Moving has been probably the most stressful part of my last few weeks. We have been slowly moving from our old city to our new city and having to travel back and forth since we don't have everything moved in yet. We also don't have our wifi and cable set up yet which makes getting my work done difficult. We did just get a bed delivered though so no more sleeping on an air mattress, that's a plus. Every few days we move some more stuff up so hopefully soon we can just be all the way moved in and stop going between both cities.

Work is going pretty well so far. I like my co-workers a lot they seem pretty cool and easy to work with. This job is a LOT different than my last job. My class that I will start taking over soon will be basically a class of older 2's and younger 3's that's being split into two classes during instructional times, I'll be taking over the older 2's. This job is a lot more structured than my last position, paperwork for everything and we are NEVER out of ratio, as in if I want to go to the bathroom I have to call another teacher to step in for me. I'm not complaining, it should be this way, it's just different. We also spend a lot of time outside. We also don't really do letter of the week crafts we do a lot more instruction, but also learning through play. Here's a peek at my circle time area: