09/7/13

Back to School

What an interesting month it has been.

I’ve been back at work for three weeks now, after having been contacted by the principal and asked to take my old position once again. After warning her that my life had been anything but stable during the past couple of years due to my son’s hospitalizations, I agreed to go back.

There were two deciding factors. One was that a non-disciplinary alternative school is upstairs from the disciplinary alternative school in which I teach. Sage now attends that school and is finally meeting a few other folks who also march to their own beat. He feels less stressed knowing that I am on campus. The other factor was that they needed me. As a writer, no one needs me. If I don’t write up to par, I can easily be replaced with one of a zillion other writers waiting in the wings for the opportunity. There is NOT a line of people clamoring to teach high school to behaviorally-challenged students, however.

So here I am.

The first week with students was very challenging. The three and a half year break from teaching had dulled my memories of exactly how difficult these students could be. After spending Wednesday being very sick from stress, I went into the classroom on Thursday and immediately — somehow — kicked things back to my old groove. My stress level went down immediately.

Now the biggest obstacle I have is figuring out how to run the household while working full-time once again!