First Graders

So my adorable first graders are very loud and talkative, but I love them. I am looking forward to getting into a routine that we all know and love. The talking and noise was much better today, I seem to have good and bad days. I appreciate this challenge and all that it is making me learn. I am trying lots of fun ideas and trying to find out what works best. I really want these kids to learn and be great students. Here are some of the names of my students: GerrQuan, RayShawn, A'Kearria, I'Yionah, Daiyana, Keion, Eljae, Dae'ja, Nya, Kushi(my little vegetarian), Rajere, Trinity, Rickneisha, Dasani, Tianna. Needless to say, it took me 3 rather than my usual one day to memorize them and get the pronunciations right. 22 in all showed up from my list, thank goodness because the final count was up to 28 the night before the first day. I just love the 2nd grade teacher, Kelli. We have a lot in common :she's easy going, a strict teacher, not gossiper, married, trying to have a baby, trying to loose weight, married to a Matt who cooks, is close to her family, is a great teacher, works hard. It is so refreshing to have a coworker that can be professional and family oriented like me. What a blessing. Tonight we had our first PTO meeting and we both stuck around school for it, so we chatted for a while. At the PTO meeting the director (aka principal who hired me-a turkish fellow-this whole school system is turkish run) said: "I heard you're the best first grade teacher" : haha, I'm the only one. So we had a good laugh. He graduated from the same master's program I did, just one year earlier so we have this sort of bond, maybe over the fact that we are both survivors, I hope that earns me brownie points.


Matt has his last day at McDonalds Saturday. He's glad to move on to new things. He had his first day of classes yesterday and continues tomorrow. He's not real talkative about them, as you may know, getting information out of matt can be difficult at times. He is really glad to be getting time to focus on schooling like this. He is taking 3 on the campus and 2 online: a computer drafting class, math class, english class, problem solving, college/survival-are what I can recall. They're mostly generals. Hopefully he'll be able to start the internships 3rd term, but sometimes it doesn't happen till 4th.

We are living with less money than ever before. I enjoy the challenge because I've always bragged about how good I am with money, so now its time to "Put my money where my mouth is" (wow that cliche worked well) and see just how well I can stretch a dollar. Luckily we own both our cars, are debt free besides student loans, have a savings chunk for emergencies, and can focus our money to a tight budget! Our goal is to come out the same way we went in plus a little extra in savings, we'll see. We are hoping to not use Matt's internship money and put it towards savings. When he gets done and has a job, we can afford a house-at least that's what we're thinking now. Best case scenario, at least. But I know better than to think that this will actually happen, ah, life its not a destination, but a journey.
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