I is tired....and I work too hard.

So it's been awhile......It seems like this school year has been off to a busy start. I'm hoping that sometime soon I'll be able to come up for air. There seems to be much to do and little time in which to do it. As a result, I stay tired. It's a horrible feeling when you just always want to take a nap. There's just no way I can get all the sleep I need without it cutting into the million or so things that need to be done.

So what's been going on, you may ask. The answer: lots. Nothing Earth shattering, just the ordinary things that fill up my days.

*School: This takes up 90% of my time. The amount of papers I bring home to grade never seems to get any smaller. It's like a continual snowball rolling down the mountain side. Sooner or later, you'll get run over by it if you can't stay ahead of it. I'm just a hair ahead of it and can feel it closing in on me. The other things I have to do at home related to school is to call parents, plan lessons, and do research on the computer for upcoming units. While at school, the amount that I'm being asked to do increases each year. I'm not given any more time or money to do these things.....I'm just supposed to make miracles happen. We currently have 7 computer programs to manage....6 of them are to help the kids and the other is a program I have update frequently that parents can access at home. This program allows parents to see that day's lessons, view daily homework, and see their child's grades. This is in addition to the lesson plans and grades that I have to keep record of on paper. This is double work for me since I already send home students' graded work each week and students graph their results for easy averaging. My newsletter also includes the week's content that we'll be learning. While at school, I'm finding it hard to get all my teaching in. My schedule this year isn't so great. After all the moving around and pull out classes, I have my student for about 3 hours a day. During that time, I'm supposed to teach math for 75 minutes a day, reading for 60 minutes a day, 45 minutes on language and writing, and 45 minutes on science and social studies. In addition to this, I'm supposed to counsel students with problems, help students learn to get along with people they can't stand, nurse their wounds, and teach character education lessons. I'm supposed to challenge students that are bright, remediate for students that have deficiencies, and keep everyone motivated and interested. All. at. the. same. time. Not an easy job. People that tell me what an easy job teaching is, haven't walked in my shoes.

*Graduate School: I'm currently enrolled in my last college course before I get my master's degree. I'd like to say that I've learned something new, but I haven't. My main motivation is to earn more money. I won't start seeing that money until next school year. The class isn't interesting and I don't know anyone in the class. The professor doesn't seem to know what she's doing, but gives off the haughty air that she does. Every single class I have something to turn in....article summaries, a paper, a presentation, or a test. Total bummer. On top of this, the class starts at 3 and I'm not out of school until 3:30. I have to farm out my students to get there on time. There's really no time to clear my head from the stresses of the day before class starts. I just have to stick it out until December.

*Other: that's pretty much everything else that fills up my days. Running errands, washing clothes, cleaning the house, watching TV, spending time with my friends. You know....the little stuff that makes up life. There's lots of that swimming around too. Of course there's always David and Raelynn......and I'm ashamed to say that I don't spend near enough time with them doing anything of consequence. I'm still trying to figure out if that's because of what's going on in my life or if that's just who I am. David is wonderful....a great father, great husband, and all around good guy. He puts up with me, so I can't complain. And Raelynn....well, she doesn't have a choice. Thankfully, she thinks I'm great.

Even though I'm stressed, I'm not unhappy. There are things that I don't like about my job, grad school and the other details of life that bother me, but all in all, I'm pretty blessed. I'm not sure how to get everything in and make everyone happy in the meantime.

Anywho....kind of a dull and depressing post. Sorry about that. I'm hoping that soon I'll get some sleep and I'll be able to return to my usual self. I'm not sure who's currently here, but she yawns a lot and can get kinda cranky.

Have a great one.....

Tassie