Earlier this summer, I made the announcement that I would be stepping away from teaching this year. After teaching 1st grade for 6 years, and Theo taking on a new job with a completely new set of responsibilities, I was feeling really close to burn-out. I knew that I needed to change something, so after a lot of prayer and discussion, I decided to step away from teaching. My hope is that it is only a year and then I feel refreshed and energized to go back to it. I LOVE teaching and want to be in the classroom, but not at the expense of my own mental health or the health of my family. Shortly after I made the decision to step away from the classroom, my Dad was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. I am so thankful that I listened to the whisper of the Lord leading me away from the classroom to have more flexibility in my week because my parents will need some support and there will probably be a LOT of driving this fall as he goes through radiation and surgery.
School starts this week and I have been trying to process how I feel about not being a teacher this year. Honestly? My primary feeling is peace. I feel so much peace about this decision, I have not once questioned it. I did feel a little sad when I walked into my classroom to grab something and it was no longer my classroom. I also feel sad about not being with my co-workers, whom I love dearly and consider them my friends- and my main adult interactions!
People keep asking me what I’m going to do with all my “free time”- as if being a stay at home Mom with kids in school is completely unheard of. First of all- my kids will be in school for 2.5 days a week (since we attend a hybrid school) and then I will be homeschooling them the other 2.5 days. Secondly, I will be doing house chores, grocery shopping, animal chores and all those other million little errands and things that need to be done. I would love to have a consistent workout routine during that time.
I am thrilled to be able to say yes to a few little things- things like picking my kids up right at dismissal and not being at school until 5. Things like volunteering to help coach the little kids cross country team. Things like going out for coffee or lunch with a friend, or having some capacity for a mentorship program through our church. I would love to have a little more time to dedicate to my doula life as well. I know I won’t have endless time, and I don’t think that I will be in any danger of just sitting around all day!
I also was officially hired in a new role. Don’t panic!!! It’s only a few hours a week, so it barely counts as a job. I will be a marketing assistant for the school, and my main role is basically to collect content for the newsletter or social media channels. I’m not even the one making the newsletter or running the school socials, but I will be the primary one who collects pictures and videos from classes and such. So, on the first day of school, or when a class is doing a fun project, or when there is a spirit day, I will show up and go around and grab pictures and videos, then send them off to the right place to get posted or published. I also get to brainstorm some fun social media stuff and we’ve already gotten to create some fun stuff over there! You can follow our school social pages to see some of the fun content that we create. Thankfully, having a blog and being active on social media has actually given me a pretty good baseline knowledge that goes along perfectly with this role!
Anyways, I get to take tons of fun pictures like these:
Sooo…here we go. New school year. Totally new roles. I have high hopes, and yet my whole goal is to keep things simple and restorative. I’m excited but slightly nervous about the year ahead!