It's finally Summer Break and when I am unsure what day of the week it is, I know I am in summer mode! My husband (who is also a teacher) and I have been off since July first and we have tried to put our school stuff on the back burner to spend quality time with our two children ages two and five. My husband and I are both very hard working teachers and both have an online presence, writing on our blogs and connecting through twitter during the school year. With two small children, I constantly struggle to find balance between work and home. I feel guilty during the year for not spending more time with my children. During the Summer, I feel guilty not writing on my blog or continuing my conversations and networking through twitter. I have actually had messages from other teachers wondering where I am and if I'm okay. (This is my first blog post in over a month) To them, I tell them that I am spending quality time with my little ones and my husband. How do I find a happy balance? I worked harder this past school year than any other year of my career. In return for my hard work, I had the most rewarding and enjoyable year of my career. I had many firsts this year. My students and I used twitter, we collaborated with other classes around the world through Skype and google hangout. I now have an amazing PLN that I learn from daily, we started with zero iPads in our class, and for the first time, I wrote an iPad proposal with my team teacher and we were granted twenty iPads. At the beginning of the school year almost 40% of my students were below benchmark for reading and at the end of the year only 2 in my class were. I want another school year like the one I had this year, but how do I do it without losing precious time with my family? I know the expression, don't work harder, work smarter. How can I work smarter this year? I have so many more things I want to try and learn about to implement in my classroom. How do you find balance with work and family?
