Embracing a Snow Day

or Thank God I Have Another Day Off From Work

SNOW DAY!

Today is a snow day for us, and I must say I could not be more thrilled.  I have been in a fog this weekend because of the news I was told on Friday.  I didn't even do lesson plans yesterday, like I usually do on a Sunday.  However, I planned on cramming the planning into this mornings activities.  Thankfully I didn't have to cram them into the morning, as I have the DAY OFF OF SCHOOL!!!

In my last blog spoke about the impact the Ladybugs will experience with their school closing.  However, I failed to mention how I feel about losing my job with the school and being told second hand rather that first hand of the closing.

Yes, the truth is I haven't been officially told of the closing yet.  And I am a staff member.  I really do feel this makes things even less "real".  The finality of our magical school could still be a roomer, right?  Yeah, I know it is not, but there is still this voice that says, "what if?"  I am also rather hurt that I have not been informed the correct way.  Hearing information second hand is really crummy.  REALLY CRUMMY!

The truth is, I am only teaching music at the Ladybugs' school for them.  Since they have been born, my work has been for their gain.  I am sad that my time teaching at the school will be over, but I can say that I'm not really all that sad.  I am paid less than half what I get paid per hour to teach private lessons, and I am only paid for 8 hours of work each week.  Teachers will tell you that for every classroom hour taught at least one hour is preparing at home.  So I am getting paid even less than half if you figure that in.  So, no, I'm not sad about losing my job at the school.

Where Will I Go From Here?
I am planning to continue teaching private lessons in the fall, but I am definitely going to pair down my schedule a bit.  That means only offering lessons to those who want/deserve them.  And to those students and families who I enjoy teaching.  My time is money, and I am not going to keep students who don't practice or care to practice. I am also not going to keep students who have parents who do not respect my time and profession.  If the Ladybugs are not going to attend a private school (nothing is set at this point), I have plenty of reasons to lessen the burden of teaching through the week.

Making Plans for the Ladybugs
So far our Plan A is to attend the school of choice in our district.  I have filled out the paperwork and on Friday I received confirmation that our information was in the system.  However, we have to wait until the end of May to find out the outcome.  We currently do not have a Plan B.  Many of the families are either going to home school in the fall or send their children to another private school.  However, that school is not an option for us, since we are not Lutheran and the doctrine of the church is one we'd prefer to not have our children learn.  Plus the church runs the school, and that is a big NO for us as well.

I still have connections in our public school system, as does my mother.  Our next step is to research our neighborhood elementary school further.  The internet does not view them favorably, but that does not mean it is true information.  We are going to determine whether the school is as poor as we assume.  We are not thrilled with the adjoining middle school nor the high school the school feeds into.  However, that can be determined at a different point.  Who is to say we will be living in the home in 3 years when Zoe would be entering middle school.  So lets just plan for next year.

The hardest part for me is the waiting...the unknown.  But for now I will do my best to continue to teach and research schools.  For that is all I have control over.