Next week I'll be teaching a fabulous science summer camp for elementary kids (and one of my own very favorite daughters will be attending). Today I got to go in and set up "my" classroom. This was no big deal, but the feeling of Control was sweet. I'll be one of four or so teachers, with three classes of kids rotating through our rooms each day. The camp has a full curriculum with pretty much all the supplies provided, so it's a great opportunity for running the show without having to invent the show. In my room the kids will be working in teams to construct "land sleds", along with other activities, leading up to a grand
prix on Friday involving an obstacle course outside and water balloons. In fact, water balloons figure prominently throughout the week. Games involving throwing them and getting points for being driest will allow kids to buy gear for their sleds with the points. Note to self: don't wear white blouses next week. I'm sure to get hit at least once.
Meanwhile, Operation Move the Family of Five continues unabated. Right now I'm looking at my living room overflowing with those 5 gallon plastic storage tubs. There are around twenty of them filled with books, kids' stuff, and baking dishes. Oh, and my "office". I managed to go through an entire graduate degree program using the dining room table as my work space next to a weird bookshelf I built full full full of textbooks and binders. The dining room is smack in the traffic pattern for the house. It was not ideal. Literally the day after my last class, we started moving. Once the dust settles and we're all moved in I'll have my very own office and art studio suite. With doors. And no homework to do. Let's hope I get work and need to do lesson plans in there!
On a side note, I figured out how to review comments. Wow am I a modern gal. This had never come up before, but now I see that someone actually reads this and I'm not completely talking to myself. Which I've been fine with. I must say, it does add a little something to the blogging experience, knowing
someone's reading. Thanks!
In keeping with the ongoing spirit of forced optimism I've been enforcing around here (here being my own head, of course) I'm proud to say that I did not shy away from finding out what the bleep was up with my recent student loan statement. A got this little paper in the mail, and though I've largely ignored them all year because nothing comes due until 6 months after graduation, I figured what with the graduating and all I should open this one. And it says I owe about $28,000 more than I was expecting. Oh, the emotional roller coaster. Oh, the
wtf, the lost sleep, the "how do I break this to husband?". I added up the tuition estimates on my school's website, verified that my math wasn't crazy, and working against type I actually called the Direct Loan folks (that's federal student aid, for those lucky enough to not have incurred such debt). Turns out this was the one statement I should have ignored: sort of a typo-snafu resulted in bad info. It's all cool. And I love this administration. Thanks to the brand
spankin new
Income Contingent Repayment plan, I could be enjoying low low monthly payments of like $15 or $20 for ten years. Then, I believe, the remainder is likely to be wiped clean. Anyone out there, especially K-12 teachers, with federal Direct Loans: look into this. It made me go from freaking out to cool as a cucumber. OK, I'm a kind of hot, tired, and unemployed cucumber, but still. Finally some good news. I'll take what I can get from the stingy Good News Department.
