Am Not Coping

My previous classes have all been pretty spoilt too @Snowie but I just cannot afford all the things I used to do now. We would have monthly lunches where the kids would choose what to cook and we would have a sit down lunch. I also used to buy a lot of things for the class - prizes, toys, extra art supplies etc. - because our class budget was limited. We have a much bigger budget at this school but have not been able to use it with covid - no excursions, no lunches, no class cooking, no sharing of equipment (until recently). Social distancing still in place for adults (in theory) but the reality is it is pretty much back to normal - schools here have ALWAYS been safe apparently ...'cos we can social distance 28 kids (not).

Off my soapbox now LOL Next year I am hoping the Christmas Pageant will be back and I can work with the kids to do that at the end of the year. Having 4 days of art covering all grades will allow me to do that (if the Principal agrees). The whole school community is pretty community minded so I expect there will be a lot of people that will volunteer to help - not something I had at my older school.

It sounds like this school has a really good working environment @Zoe7 for you and even better that the wider community is involved.

It will be nice when all of this covid is passed and things can be back to normal (well more normal then at the moment anyway)

Both my kids have missed out on their camps this year which is a shame. Something that hopefully they will be able to do next year however.

I love helping out at my kids school, makes me feel part of something and I know the kids like it too.

I have no doubt you would be an asset helping at your kids school @Snowie and it is an added bonus your kids like it too Have you thought about doing some relief work at Primary school level or would the responsibility be too much for you? I do know you very much miss the work but also not in a place you can go back to what you once had. I started in High School (actually College here) and once I began doing relief work in Primary schools it was where I stayed - love it so much more than the older grades.

I have done relief work in primary schools before @Zoe7, when I was on maternity leave.

I think when I go back to work (which is something I want to do eventually) I would probably do primary school over secondary school. I think if I do high school again I would just have to be really careful about what schools I do my teaching in.

I am glad hon that you have found your niche and something that you love doing. It really makes the job easier to do when you love where you work.

I can imagine there would be all that added anxiety around secondary schools as well @Snowie I would not work at a high school again unless it was art or woodwork. My sister asked me the other day if I would be interested in teaching woodwork as the school she is at is finding it hard to find a teacher. I would have loved to do that a few years ago but now I am more than happy at the school I am at and teaching art. Next year I will include some woodwork but need to get a lot of outside donations to do that - something I will work on over the summer holidays.

I also did not think I would ever go below grade 3/4 but the 1/2s are gorgeous too so loving that grade now. I have no doubt at all that you would love the younger grades and also that you would be amazing at it Hon - sometimes we just know and I just know

Thanks @Zoe7

I can see how much you put into your grades and can see you as an amazing teacher too. Your students are lucky to have you as their teacher. I know my kids would have loved to have a teacher as passionate as you.

Will say goodnight hun. Heading to bed early tonight, didn't get a lot of sleep last night so will be an early night tonight.

Thanks for the chat hon, it has been so nice just to chat to you and not focus on other things.

I hope you enjoy your footy tonight and have lots of cuddles with Tobes.

Goodnight sweetheart 💕💕

I hope you are enjoying your footy @Zoe7

Was concerned for a couple of friends and ended up in the worry room. Feeling sad for so many. Logging off as I need to re set my thoughts now after seeing so much sadness. Before I do I just wanted to say I love you 💞

I hope you have had some down time and are feeling a little better now @Anastasia Unfortunately we see a lot of sadness here but it is also very important you do not take that on board yourself and you look after you first. Hope you are sleeping now Hon and also hoping I am not far behind you

@Snowie It is always nice to chat about things that do not centre solely around our MH. Sometimes we get so bogged down in what is going wrong and do not focus on the good we do have in our lives - but I suppose that is part of our illness (es) as well. Hope you are sleeping well Hon - you got through another day and tomorrow we beging again. Hugs and hugs Hon

@Anastasia @Maggie Putting this here for you guys...