teaching

I am going to be a teacher. I may have said that before on this blog. I might not have. At one point I thought I was going to be an elementary music teacher, then I realized my college was trying to teach me how to be a band director and nothing about how to teach general music to the kiddos. So last October, two months before my undergrad graduation, I changed my path to gen-ed.  A regular old classroom teacher.  But, hey, I will get to teach reading and writing, science!, math, social studies.

Last week I got my internship placement.  I was (and still am) so excited.  I couldn't stop grinning for about 24 hours afterward.  I can't wait.  I get to stay here in Kirksville to do it, which is great, because I won't have to worry about having to transfer Camden in the middle of the school year.  I'll be working with 2nd graders, which is the grade I have been leaning towards teaching.  Although so far I've had a pretty narrow range of kiddos that I've worked with, so I'm not really sure what it's like to work with the older kids, like in 4th or 5th grade.  Anyway!  I start in January and end in May.  I'll only really be teaching full time for about a month in the middle of that time, but I will be in the classroom for all of it, teaching at least some during the entire time.

And after that... After that, I will be a fully certified teacher.  Ready to go out and shape young and impressionable minds.  Imagine!

Just a little update on the awesomeness that is my life right now.  ^_^

Harry Potter

I re-read the Harry Potter series over Christmas break. Eight months ago. I recently acquired the audio books, because I thought they would be good for car trips and the like. Little did I know, I would once again be sucked into the world of Harry Potter. And even more little did I know, so would Camden. We've listened to books 1 and 2, and are on the second to last chapter of book 3, now.

Last week, Camden decided he had to have a wand. Why? I don't have any idea. But he absolutely had to have one. So I made him one using this instructable. A wand from a sheet of paper and hot glue! Who knew?! But he didn't like it. Apparently, wands are supposed to have bends in them. Like a stick of wood. The other day we were outside, and Camden found a stick he wanted to use for a wand. Then... He had to have the rest of the costume. So I looked. And looked. And shopped. And price-matched.

And everything was pretty expensive! I am NOT made of money, however much I might want to be. (Plus, his birthday party was last weekend, and I may or may not have overspent.) So I found a tutorial for wizard robes that said it could be done by cutting an XL t-shirt up the front. Voila! I happened to have a black XL t-shirt. Then we ran to dollar tree and found some reading glasses of close to the right shape. We popped out the lenses and tah-dah.

Harry Potter!

my summer and my return

I left the blog behind this summer. For a variety of reasons. Mainly because my life has been crazy busy. I have been living and writing my "story." In June I was teaching summer school (third grade). In July I was taking classes. In the first week of August (or the second week, maybe), Camden, my mom, and I were roadtripping. We visited my brother, who is in Ft. Knox, KY and my sister, who is in Atlanta, GA. We got home with a day to relax before Camden started Kindergarten.

The secondary reason is that this blog started out as my own religious meanderings, and now that I've finally settled down into a religion of sorts, I've been wondering what to do with this. Granted, it hasn't been a religion/spirituality-focused blog in quite a long while: not since I changed to "One Witch's Story." So this summer, in the midst of my hectic life, I've been debating whether or not to shut down my blog. But... something happened a few weeks ago that made me want to keep trying on this blog. Return it not only to telling my story, but to the religious/spiritual meanderings on which it started. What has sent me scurrying back to my blog (aside from the free time I've found in a 14 credit-hour semester)? It was something Camden said.

We were talking about god, specifically, the Christian god and how he isn't exactly a benevolent being. And we talked about Thor (who he, admittedly, views more as a superhero than a god, thank you pop culture), and the Oak and Holly Kings, and a little about the goddess. And why I/we worship them as opposed to the Christian god. I told Camden that I'm a pagan, so I can believe in more than one god, unlike some of his friends who are Christians and only believe in one. I told him that he could choose what he wanted to be, and he said "I want to be Pagan." Which, in turn, makes me want to be a "better" Pagan, so I can help guide him. So, with lots of luck, I will return to my blog on a more regular basis! And write about Pagan-y topics, as well as telling my story.

I found a kitten hiding under our dumpster in June. He's now a member of our family, though sometimes he drives us crazy. Camden named him Rock Leone.

We made a trip to the zoo in St. Louis! 'Twas awesome... and ridiculously hot!

On the way to Georgia!

This is a picture from our time in Georgia, at the Fernbank Natural History Museum.

And, of course... Camden's first day of school. He didn't really want his picture taken, but I took it anyway, because I'm mean like that. ^_^