Never quite sure what sort of categories posts like this belong to. Oh well…
I feel very good about my activities the last couple weeks. I researched and designed a bulletin board for the local school which is going to do a “One Book One Community” project on the AH MO book, a collection of stories recorded by Judge Arthur E. Griffin (died 1947) and edited by his great-grandson, Trenholme Griffin. The school and the local tribe are collaborating to provide the children of our community a very real gift: the gift of knowing the history of place. Children who are tribal members will see their own history reflected in the school this year, the way that I, growing up in Virginia, saw mine [ only as an adult did I learn I had ancestors who walked the streets of historic cities before, during and after the formation of my country]. Children who descend from the first European and American settlers may have a greater appreciation for the challenges their forebearers faced. And children who are more recent transplants will have a handle on the culture and lifestyles of the people who were here long ago.
I am also helping pull together a pamphlet/flyer; coordinating and inviting some of the people who will be involved; and may end up teaching an art class (this would be fun for me, if work) later in the year for children after school. We’ll see about that last… I might enlist a friend who is a certified teacher to lend that idea some merit in the eyes of the decision-makers. Today I got the last of the bulletin board ready to go, and printed out the first draft of the flyer.
I am doing good work in Mother’s classroom also. Her children this year are a delightful group… if only there weren’t 26 of them! Still, with two of us there the kids are getting enough time and monitoring — already they are beginning to settle in. I know that as the year progresses the routines will be familiar enough that I won’t be needed, but I also know that every moment these kids spend with a caring, safe adult is a gift — and every small thing that is caught because there is an extra set of eyes in that room will help. Though I don’t want to be a teacher, I really think I want to consider working in the schools full-time at some point. And I really see in action the effect that over-full classes can have, and how the presence of just one extra adult can mitigate some of that.
Well, with all my “doings” I am seeing a trend, one which I had predicted: Yes, I can work outside the home and be reliable and productive! No, I can’t seem to get anything else done on the days I am promised away from home. The boxes in the office still need sorting. The mail and papers are piling up on my desk because I don’t have the energy to decide where they belong. The yard is even less kempt than before. The days I don’t “work” I spend a lot of time napping.
And I am feeling good about it. The boys and Tom are picking up the pieces that are important. The other pieces can rest and wait. As my body adjusts to the new schedule I may begin to have more energy when I am at home. Or not. Either way, we will have more data to evaluate how I should go about achieving what I want within the context of being part of the family.
Hoping all your endeavors will be succesful!