Repair the World....one bandaid at a time

In Judaism, we have a required work, called, Tikkun Olam; which translates to "repair the world". It calls all Jews to take up work that will help to repair the ills of the world, one good deed at a time. Some argue this is a call to social action or social justice, you can read about the beginning of the debate here.

I think it quite succintly explains why so many Jews work in service of some type; law, medicine, education and many others.

As a teacher, and former nurse, I feel as though I have a unique position to pass on to my students an interest and a love of serving others.  I try to find ways that our work in class either connects with their real-world lives or that we can connect it to other things. Such as, their long-term assignment of writing science books at a kindergarten level. This may sound easy, but once you take a look at the Dolch primer list of words, the project becomes astronomically more difficult.

This year, teaching feels a bit like we are under attack. It seems every way we turn there is someone else wanting to fill out a form, check a box, observe a space, or give some new standardized test to see what we're up to. I'm not sure what's helping and what's junk, but it's a lot.

Ultimately, I have to believe that what I am doing is helping. I have to believe that I am empowering my students to "think globally and act locally". My students asked if they could read their books to small children once they are finished, so I'm working on a field trip for them to go to area feeder schools and read to the students at their old elementary schools. I hope that the kids I'm teaching can show the kids I'll eventually teach that science is fun!

I think this is one of the many reasons why I can't leave education just yet.

I feel like I need to for personal reasons, mostly financial. But the love I have for the work and for the kids keeps pulling be back.

I guess eventually I'll get run down enough that I will finally give in. But for now, I'm going to keep pushing.

To that end, if you would like to help me in my quest to help St. Jude, please feel free to follow this link or this link, for my daughter's page and donate.

Tuesday equals second monday?

I don't know about you, but the start of school for 3 of my children and teaching takes a lot out of a person. There are days that I feel like I'm really on the ball and on top of things, and then there are days that I feel mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. Do you have those days?


Since losing my mom, I spend a lot of time feeling like something is missing in my life. And there is, it's my mom. That's not news. I don't know if that feeling is ever going to go away. Some people say that the pain of losing someone you love will not be as strong as time goes on, I'm not sure if that is true or not. While I can talk about my mom with friends, family, my students, even strangers, without getting all teared up, I don't miss her less. Maybe I'm more comfortable with the loss than when it first happened?

Right now, I'm having a hard time. Not only am I missing my mom and having some general morale issues with being a teacher, I'm actually and acutely jealous of my friends right now as a result of my life choices. Please do not think I am say I regret my children. That is not what I am saying. I am saying that I'm looking at my friends who have one or two children and I'm remembering the simpleness of that compared to where we are now and I'm missing the more simpler part of my life. I'm sad for my friends who are struggling to get pregnant. I truly do not understand why I can get pregnant so easily and they cannot. How is that fair? What is it about my family that makes it so that I lose so many people I love in such a short time, and have 5 children without much effort? Why do my friends get to watch their parents grow VERY old and I don't? Why do I get to have 5 kids and some of my friends can't have even one? How does that make sense? Some people say it's G-d's way, but that leaves me feeling lost. So, I'm not sure what the answer is and that frustrates me.

Some people read my blog or see me in person and think that I have it all together. Please believe me when I say, that I so don't. I work hard at a few things that are important to me and I make the required effort at the others. Organizing and planning are things that I enjoy doing. Checklists make me feel like I am in control of the situation I am in, even if I'm not. I do not have a clean house, but I have a clean classroom. My space is organized at school because it is more conducive to learning and a fast-paced environment. My home is slightly more chaotic because I do not have imminent domain. My kitchen, bathroom, laundry area, well, my whole house; is not immaculate, but my children are well fed, they have clean clothes, they are bathed and they are loved.

Is it perfect? No. 

Does it work for us? yes.

For now, let's celebrate each other's good things. I'm going to try to be grateful for my kids today. I'm going to try to look for a silver lining and work on cleaning my house this afternoon, since I carved out some time to do it. I'm going to share with a friend who isn't getting pregnant, how much I love her. Will I be able to fix it for either of us? Probably not, but I'm hoping a coffee and a hug will let her know I care about her. Hopefully, cleaning a room, with my checklist and hugging my friend will help us both.

Community Values

Today was a busy day. And it's not over yet!

It was the start of the fall swim season with a meet 30 minutes away. This pool is one I enjoy because they have a front "lawn" where my girls can run around while we wait for my oldest daughter's next event. It was rather chilly today, so we ended up moving inside the building. Still space to move, but not as much as we like to use. I got to have a great conversation with a mom friend who I have not been able to talk with in a while. Her kids swim on the same team as my daughter and I really appreciate her perspective on things. 

We came home for lunch, naps and getting ready to go to events #2 and #3. Event number 2 was the Homecoming Fall Festival and 5k at my high school. Each year this event gets better and better. More booths, more kids coming out, more teachers/administrators participating and (most importantly, I think) more alumni coming out! My swim team sold "This is Sparta" yard signs to raise money for going to state and lots of students and alumni friends came out and participated! (photos by the 3 year old!!)

Event number 3 was Annie running in the Zombie 5k. My cousin Greg is a runner and offered to help her train for the St. Jude Half Marathon in December. When she said she wanted to run in today's race, I knew I wouldn't be able to but she asked Greg and he seemed delighted to do it. They had a great time and she finished well! Beating her PR by 1mibute and smashing her goal time today by 5! 

A photo finish for sure!!

In the midst of all of this, we realized I forgot to buy Brauts for dinner tonite! So instead it was grilled cheeseBLTs and fries. Trust me when I say, they were amazing! 

It was great to sit around the table with my whole family and hear everyone talk about their experiences with everyone today. 

Tonite, I'm heading back to my school to serve my time as a dance chaperone. In hoping not to be there too late, but I'm excited for the dance to have returned! 

What's the point of all this? Community. 

We all want our kids to feel safe. We typically want them to ha e fun, make friends and enjoy life. But through it all we want them to grow in a community that is strong, diverse and encouraged and nurtured them to develop into their best self. Today's event have several different communities, but ones that I'm grateful to be a part of. Communities I'm proud to see my children be a part of. Today I watched my students play with my children and my students were all having a great time sharing great experiences. It may be one of the greatest gifts of being a teacher and a mom. I'm proud to support both of these communities. 

What are you proud of in your communities? How are you helping to nurture positive experiences for your kids?