Kim Frencken: Summer is a Gift

Do you plan during the first part of summer? Get everything prepared, organized, and ready to go for fall? Or do you take the summer off and jump into 'school mode' a couple of weeks before school starts?

I'm a planner and organizer. I want everything in order and ready to go before school starts. I want to take time off without anything to worry about. I want to have my lessons prepared (or at least a good idea of them) and needed materials accumulated. I am not a procrastinator. Every 'i' dotted. Every 't' crossed. So... tell me why I closed up my room without getting everything ready to go for day one????

I have no idea. Except maybe that it is summer and my room was going to be cleaned so I couldn't put up bulletin boards and set things out. That's it! It wasn't that I didn't get it ready, it was that I couldn't.

Regardless of the hows and whys, there is work remaining that must be completed. My to-do list is growing longer by the minute. Shortening my summer with each passing task. I can't say that I mind it though. Teaching is in my blood and so is the prep work. I enjoy creating anything for my classroom. My home away from home. I'm just thankful for the time I can now devote to it.

And, I'm thankful for the time I can spend with family and friends or just staring out the window if I want to. I'm learning to be thankful for each phase of my life. And for each gift.

And that is what summer is.... a gift. Unwrap carefully.

Enjoy!

(For more of Kim Frencken's writing and information about her educational products, check out her blog, Chocolate For the Teacher.)