Hello, There!

It's funny that today is Labor Day because the whole reason that I was off air last week was because I was laboring away on my computer for way too many hours a day to even think about taking 5 extra minutes to type out a post. Funny, not funny. According to the US Department of Labor, "Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers." That all sounds good until you're the American worker.

The Thursday before, I had received one of those emails that said we had an emergency meeting the next morning at 7:15 a.m. to discuss "staffing." My exact reply to my assistant principal was "that can't be good." And it wasn't. Unfortunately, our program just doesn't have the number of kids enrolled to support six teachers. On Friday morning, half of our virtual team was reassigned to other schools which meant that the other half of us will be teaching combination classes starting tomorrow morning.

It means a lot of extra work - I'll now be teaching both 5th and 6th grade, but what makes my situation unique is that I'll be doing it via Zoom and Google Meet. In a typical combination class, the teacher can "walk the room"  bouncing from one grade to the other. It's a lot more challenging to "walk the room" when half of your class is in one or more breakout rooms. For you non-Zoom users out there, a breakout room is a separate session that is split off from the main meeting. I've had 10 or more breakout rooms going at times so you can see why it would be challenging. Anyhoodle ...

My district gave each of us three days (with no students) to get our ducks in a row. I busted out a year's worth of planning in those 24 hours. By Friday afternoon, my fingers were aching from typing, and I was mentally exhausted. I've got it all organized though, and I am ready to give my kiddos a fantastic year. 

Despite being super busy, I did manage to squeeze in some rides. I've had two lessons now with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage. More on that tomorrow. He's in Ocala, Florida, but it looks like we can still make the virtual Pivo lessons work. I am super glad that we're already experts at a long distance relationship because the distance just got a lot longer.

In other horse news, Izzy's heel/pastern has almost healed. The wound is now smaller than the size of a fingernail, and I am no longer wrapping it. Click here to see the original injury. It's shocking how cleanly it has healed in just 35 days. He is still wearing a bell boot just to protect it from flies or the inevitable wayward step.

Ignore my "country girl" French tips!

With the worst of summer's heat (hopefully) behind us and my extra work responsibilities under control (HAHAHA), I am ready to settle back into my regular riding routine. Summer was tough on us with all of Izzy's "issues," but we both came through it happy and healthy.

Bring on another week; I got this!