"Homestyling It": Working Mommy & Daddy Stories

Jim's loving his new job and his new schedule.  His training hours were supposed to be for this entire week as he gets to know the ropes of the new position.  However, towards the beginning of the week he took a test that was meant to be like a "pretest" to see where he was at and he passed with flying colors.  Because of this, they modified his training to just fill in the few things he still needed to learn.  Pretty impressive!!  For those of you wondering, Jim's official hours will now be 9:45 pm - 6:15 am, Monday-Friday.  It will be nice to have the same days off again!

My job is going great as well.  Excited to get my P.E. classes back, as nice as the 3 week break without them was.  This last week we played modified versions of frisbee golf, kickball, Chinese jump ropes and a few classes even got to play Quidditch.  I enjoy getting to work with all different grades and personalities throughout the school.  After all of the time that I've spent in various schools and grades, I think that I have found that I enjoy working with 4th grade the best, followed shortly by 3rd.  So if I ever got to choose a grade to teach... sign me up with those 4th graders!!

I wanted to share a quick story.  On Friday I got to be part of a very sweet experience.  The 5th grade class that I work with, for the majority of the day, is extremely diverse.  It is a class that has several students with different disabilities or challenges.  We have had a student with a disability who only comes into our classroom for the second half of the day so that it's not so overwhelming being in there all day.  Within the last few weeks we have had the opportunity of having another student join us in the afternoon.  Normally just for part of Science... really, just as much as he can handle.  He faces several different challenges in coming into a mainstream classroom.  He wears headphones to help cope with this.  On Friday, he was feeling like he would like try and come out to P.E. with us since it immediately follows Science.  One of the boys in our class teamed up with him to be their team's pitcher in kickball.  It's always awesome to see how loving, encouraging, and accepting those kids are with them.  They are great examples of how to treat people. 

After a few minutes of game play, this boy goes running off to the side and takes off his headphones.  Without understanding the circumstances, it doesn't seem too important.  But that's actually a HUGE thing for him.  I've never seen him without them and he doesn't like to talk to me very much.  "I don't need these out here.  We've got this!" he yelled.  Within minutes he had created a clever team name, a special pitching style that he called "home styling it", and become the team leader.  It made me smile to myself for the rest of the day as I remembered him running over to me with the biggest smile saying, "Mrs. Young! I'm gonna homestyle it!  Watch this!!"

My explanations can't do it justice.  It was one of those sweet moments where the whole class just felt like one big family having so much fun.  5th grade can be a difficult age for kids as they start comparing themselves, losing friends, gaining new ones, physical changes, never quite feeling good enough.  Bullying starts to become more subtle in the gossip and snickering. There can be so much hurt.  But in this moment?  There was none of that.  This special boy brought out the best in everyone and helped to refocus us.  As one of the students mentioned to me upon walking back into school, "Mrs. Young, that was one of the coolest moments I've ever experienced.  When we played kickball, he wasn't different.  He was just like all of us."  He brought the kid out in us and the only thing that mattered was the fun and excitement of the kids playing all together again.  It's a moment that I will never forget.  As much as I miss my boy while I'm at school, I'm so grateful that I get to experience these tender mercies that teach me lessons every day.

Typically, I don't carry my phone with me.  However, since I forgot my watch, I had to use my cellphone clock.  I had to sneak a shot of those snow covered mountains above as we ran around without jackets in 60 degree weather down below.

I don't remember the circumstances around this picture, but I'm thinking I must have been very happy that it was a Friday on the way home from work :)