Back to Work

Today was my first day back to work and now I have the rest of the week off to enjoy Thanksgiving. I had a lot of mixed emotions about today. And I worried a lot about how I would feel leaving this morning. I actually did just fine (maybe it's because my cute husband prayed that I wouldn't be emotional about leaving my babies behind!) Part of me didn't want to leave my kids. I have so enjoyed my mornings with them. I love being with them. And part of me is sick of the extra work I have had to do by having a sub.

Lots of people, Erich included, believe that having a sub is no big deal and should be done often. I beg to differ. That is why I do not like to get them and will go to work unless I am on my death bed (or giving birth). And having a sub for an extended period of time is really a lot of extra work and stress and frustration. So I am relieved to be done with the sub. And I am ready to go in and clean up the mess he made. I am ready to reinforce rules and seating charts and reteach how to subtract integers. And I am ready to remind my students what is and isn't cheating. And I am ready to be done with hours of work at home. And so as hard as it is for me to be a working mom, it is a lot easier to be a working mom that actually goes to work and does her job than it is for me to be a working mom who has someone else try to do her job and not do it quite as well. (No bragging on my behalf or disrespect of my sub, but the man didn't make them sit in their assigned seats half of the time, didn't always give out their homework, and one day gave them their upcoming tests as homework and yes, it did say test on the top!)

And back to the original meaning of this post, work was fine. My kids today were good. I only had to remind one student that I was the teacher. And they actually seemed to appreciate having a math teacher teach them! (My kids next Monday might not be as happy to see me though as they are the real cheaters and the real behavior problems!) And Erich said it was fine to be home with both kids. He seems to think it will be no big deal which makes me very happy.