Facebook, Yoga, the Bible, and Getting Up (1)

Hi, my name is Briana, and I'm a sleep-aholic.

I'm naturally more of a morning person than a night person, but I still struggle getting up. I could make excuses and say that it's different getting up at 4:30 to 5:00--that most college kids are lucky to roll out of bed by 7--but that's beside the point. What does it matter when the alarm clock goes off, if I don't get out of bed when it does?

In interests of learning to get up, I read an article the other day about how to make yourself a morning person. This particular person said that one thing that made them into an early bird was being part of a certain yoga group that met every morning at 6 a.m. In order to get to work after the yoga meeting, this person had to learn to get up early and function at that time!

So I started thinking about what would get me up early. I came up with a bunch of things that wouldn't. . .

• Not school--if I desperately have to get school done, I will get up, but with my new techniques of hitting it hard over the weekend to wipe out a good chunk of routine activities, I don't usually desperately have to get it done. 
• Not exercise--when I'm half-asleep in bed, exercise is the last thing I want to do!
• Not my animals--though animals would get me out of bed, I don't have any at the moment that really require that. 
• Not worship. Ow. But it's true. Worship does not motivate me to get up earlier. This is a problem.

A big problem.

(To be continued. . . )

Life

One of the "altars" my little guys and I made today

First "real teaching" done! It went well. Short but well. I thought I had over-planned so that was a bit of a surprise; but okay, I would rather go short than too long. My field experience partner had her lesson on Wednesday--I helped out--and it went really well too. We got good feedback both days.

And we finished our longer-term placement at an urban school this morning. I will miss my little 4th- and 5th-grade guys, but so glad to be done with planning! :)

April our Environmental Education class is going to lead a three-day outdoor field school in Smoky Mountain National Park for home-schooling families. I'm excited! Have volunteered to help my professor work with said home-schoolers (lol), in case he wants it, and it seems he does! So I had better get my thinking cap on as to ideas of things to do. On the trip itself, a friend and I will be in charge of creating, implementing, and leading all the activities for the pre-K-to-first-graders and their associated parents. I'm sure it will a great time.

But this week is the end of our field experiences this semester except for that field school.

Next semester I have three classes with field experience. At least one of them has a scheduled time to meet, two hours a week Friday morning. Sigh...it's all good but kind of like nursing clinicals, it plays havoc with work schedules and the like. Especially when one is trying to work three jobs.

A month from next week is finals. Doesn't seem like it should be here yet! Doesn't help that it's still frigid cold half the time, so it doesn't feel like summer's coming at all!

More thoughtful post coming, maybe about Facebook, yoga, the Bible, and getting up early. (Good enough teaser there? Don't start freaking out yet...I'm not joining any Eastern religious practices!) Today I just thought I would post about life sometimes, as it happens too. :)

Bible Teacher!

Detailed lesson plans. You'll never use them in real life...but you've still got to make one every time you teach in field experience, just on general principles.

Hi, my name is Miss Briana.
This is my friend Miss T___. 

How many of you can remember a time when God protected you?

Oh dear God, help me, I'm a teacher!  A BIBLE teacher!

Not really, not yet. Just field experience. Every single class in the Elementary Education program here requires you to have so many hours of experience observing and teaching in a real-life classroom. But it's still scary every time. And to start with Bible class?!!

I have skipped a whole morning of intensive Bible-study "boot camp" weekend seminars to take a mental break and then finish this Bible lesson for the third-graders I'll be meeting tomorrow morning. It's scary I tell you.

Bible class? Okay forgive me, I was home-schooled. We never had Bible class. We had family worship, but no class. Help me, Lord, I feel like I'm heading out to give Bible studies.  I am heading out to give Bible studies. This could help make or break these kids' opinion of Christianity, of God.  Bible class is the #1 scariest class for me in the whole curriculum. Who cares that it's not on TCAP or ITBS tests and I'll never teach it if I end up in a public school. It just is so...important.

So I pray. Sometimes, it can be good to be scared! :)

Post-Homeschooler Diaries (warning: random)

. . . a very random installment that shall return from time to time, as I feel like it. :)

In this story,

Post-Homeschooler Returns to School

Spring. Break. In her pre-post-homeschooling days (a.k.a. the days when she was a real-live homeschooler), Post-Homeschooler never had one of those. Well she had spring,

and she had break,

but not both. Except when she went on mission trips, which were more it-feels-like-summer and not-break. 

But great experiences nonetheless.

Now, however, Post-Homeschooler has break. Spring break. The proverbial nectar of the gods, it grants life to the fainting college student. 

 

Or at least a return to the homeschooling lifestyle, which for this particular Post-Homeschooler, entails sleeping in till the unearthly hour of seven o'clock in the morning, reading deep books, and riding horses. Oh, and working. With a few things like eating and sleeping thrown in as well. You know, the whole stimulate-the-mind-and-exercise-the-body thing. Very good for you.  

 

Spring break, however, 

is short.

VERY short. 

Did I mention it is short?

Shorter than this Post-Homeschooler is tall. Yep.

So, with much grief and indignation, Post-Homeschooler returns to school.

 Dear humongous blue backpack, I would love you even more if you weren't always full of school stuff!

These are not this semester's books. This semester's are fatter.

Sigh. Why must one become a post-homeschooler? :)