"Listen, Mom! Someone thinks I'm organized!!!"

Today we were talking about responsibility, and giving some ideas for how to be responsible with homework.

I was mentioning how I make sure to take things out of my bag for school and then put them back as soon as I'm done so I know I won't forget them. I told them I have to do this because I'm a messy person and it's hard for me to be neat, even though I'm trying (especially the beginning of this year).

Later, my new lead teacher asked, "Really? Was that true? I don't see you as a messy person at all..."

And I was amazed. Yes, we're only a week and a half in, but this is shocking considering that at one point in my childhood, my room floor was so messy that my dad took everything and put it in trash bags and said unless it was homework, I couldn't get it back for 2 weeks. Clothes, shoes, whatever- I went 2 weeks without it.

My backpacks were always filled with randomness by the end of a year. More than a few papers were lost while I was in school. I have a pile literally a foot tall of papers from last year and the summer that still need filing.

But to start out the school year, I have managed to convince my co-teacher that I am at least somewhat organized and neat.

This may be the first time anyone has ever even kind of called me organized. I called my mom right after school to brag. Now I just hope it lasts!

Mother's Day as a Teacher

This week my class made coffee filter flowers and a book of "Ten Reasons I Love My Mom."

Most kids wrote, of course, for their mom, but we made it clear that Mother's Day can celebrate any important woman in your life. It could be your grandma, your aunt, your babysitter, your stepmom... anyone who helped you and you wanted to appreciate.

One boy in my class couldn't think of anyone. He never met his mom, and he rarely spends time with his grandma. Finally, he decided who he would write about and got to work, writing his neatest and coloring carefully.


And that's how I ended up with a book of reasons he loves me.


It's amazing to think that I am the closest person in his life to a "mom."