What's Up October

Happy Wednesday, Y'all

Today, I'm joining Shay, and Sheaffer for their What's Up Wednesday link-up. 

Every month we answer the same list of questions based on how things are currently going in our lives. 

The questions are...

 

What am I eating?

Nothing terribly exciting lately... I'm planning to do some cooking/baking this upcoming weekend though. We'll see how that goes :)

What am I reminiscing about?

A friend and I hosted a going away party, of sorts, for a friend who's leaving Senegal after many many years of service. It was so nice to sit and chat with friends, reminisce about the "good ol days" and to give her a proper send off. One of the hard parts of this line of work is the seemingly constant goodbyes, or see ya laters. And in the last year or so, it seems like there have been even more than usual. Ah, goodbyes... You sure do stink. Just saying.

 What am I loving?

I'm loving these sweet pictures that popped up in my Facebook memory feed the other day. I love thinking back on those days, when my nieces were so little. And I also love seeing the smile on my Dad's face... He loved being a Pawpaw to my nieces. He was definitely born to be a grandparent. That's for sure! Ah, memories... I love 'em :)

What have I been up to?

All the things that go into being a Special Ed. Teacher... I've been spending lot of time planning lessons, prepping activities, gathering supplies, having meetings, filling out paperwork, typing up IEPs, and actually teaching, too, of course. It's a lot. It's a good thing I like these kids God's sent my way ;)

What am I dreading? 

Nothing much :)

What am I working on?

We're in the middle of submitting our orders for school supplies, textbooks, etc. for our school's shipping container. When you live in a country without Walmart, Target, and Parent-Teacher Stores, you don't really have much choice... So we order months in advance and then wait for our supplies to arrive for the following year. So I've been researching the best supplies, Reading and Math manipulatives, books, other random classroom needs, online subscriptions, and more for us to use with the incredible students God will be sending to our program. Then, on top of that, I'm one of the class sponsors for one of our classes. So I've been researching the best prices for some of the items they need to order for things they'll be doing next year, as well. 

 What am I excited about?

I hope I'm not jinxing things. But, lately, it has actually been kind of cool in the mornings and at night. Not cold, of course... But y'all, I am most definitely excited about this latest change in temperature. It's a little earlier than normal for Dry Season (almost Cool Season) to arrive. However, I am seriously hoping that it stays for a little while.

What am I watching?

I finally watched the series finale of Seinfeld the other day. Yes, I know it's been out for a long time. But somehow I'd never seen it 'til then. Anywho - I was kind of disappointed with the finale. In a way, it was a let down and made me question a lot from the show...

It also made me realize that I just really could live my life without TV. I realize that I rarely watch anything anymore. ...unless it's just mindless, background noise, while I'm working around the house. So, if that's the case, then really... What's the point? 

What am I reading?

We just started novel studies with a couple of my students. We're reading/working through A Wrinkle in Time with one and Charlotte's Web with another. Novel studies are some of my favorite units to teach. English/Reading are my favorite subjects to teach, anyway. But any time I am able to incorporate stories my students actually find interesting with all the typical standards/content they are required to learn being met, too... Well, that's just the icing on the cake :)

What am I listening to?

Lately, I've been listening to this instrumental hymns playlist from YouTube when I'm working on my computer. I like having soft music playing in the background. This one, and others like it, are my "go-to's" at the moment. They're just so calming and perfect. 

What am I wearing?

Nothing terribly exciting... Although, I did order a fun shirt for my mom to include in the package she recently mailed to me. So once that comes, I'll be wearing that. Yay for new things! :)

 What am I doing this weekend?

We have Parent Teacher Conferences on Friday. Then we have our school's annual Harvest Fest that afternoon/evening. So I'm sure I'll be "crashing" by Friday night. Then, this weekend will consist of the usual... Lesson planning, grad school work, church, and and an AG meeting on Sunday, too. There won't be a lot of down time this weekend. But I'm hoping I'll be able to make up for that the following weekend. 

What am I looking forward to next month?

Thanksgiving - I have some fun/educational Thanksgiving and "being thankful" themed lessons and activities planned for my people. Then, there's Thanksgiving, when I usually celebrate with my fellow AGWM workers, serving in Senegal. And of course, Thanksgiving means a few days off from school too. And we all know that days off, with no need for an alarm clock or quite wonderful for me. So there's that too :)

What else is new?

My last grad school class started this week. Y'all... I am so very close to being finished. And yes, I will 100% celebrate being done when this class is over! I absolutely, positively cannot wait!

And that's what I'm up to this month.

What about you?

What are YOU up to this month? 

Currently

Happy Wednesday, Y'all

Today I'm joining Anne from In Residence for her monthly link-up, where we share what's currently going on in our lives. And each month, Anne gives us a list of prompts to use to guide our posts. 

October's prompts are...

  * borrowing * buying * planning * prepping * reading *

I'm currently borrowing ideas from the internet for activities to go along with some of the various lessons I teach. Ideas like the one below, for a fun (and tasty) way to visualize the different phases of the moon... 

I'm currently buying nothing terribly exciting. I did order a few things for my mom to mail in a package to me. It helps that my mom has access to my bank account. Because of that, I can order what I need/want, send it to my mom, and then pay the postage for it to be mailed to me here. But she can just be the messenger and take it to the post office for me. At any rate... I ordered a fun shirt and book for me, a small Christmas gift for my students, and a few other random things I needed, as well. And in a month or so, I'll be like Charlie Brown in the image below. And in case anyone's wondering... Amazon won't ship the majority of items directly to Senegal and the few things they will ship include an outrageous shipping fee attached to it, so it's cheaper to do it the way I'm doing it...

I'm currently planning to enjoy this upcoming weekend. Have I mentioned lately that we get a 4-day weekend? Because, while I do love my students, I am most definitely excited about the prospect of a long weekend and actually not having to set my alarm clock :)

I'm currently prepping lesson plans for the upcoming week. Or, at least, I will be  during today's mandatory work day. My goal is to do enough today and after our day of PD tomorrow so I won't have to do any work over the long weekend. We'll see if I can do that. Not having a planning period during the day means I have no choice but to work after hours (which is fine). But I'd really, really, really like to be able to take full advantage of the upcoming break and have some down time.

I'm currently reading through the book of Romans with one of my guys as part of his Bible class. I am loving hearing his take on some of these passages. And I love how well he's doing at going more in-depth, studying The Word and seeing how he can apply it to his life today.

And that's about it for me at the moment.

So what about you?

What are you currently up to?