Plans

Planning, planning, planning. So much planning, my left brain hurts.

I'm heading to China soon, with my parents, for the adoption of 2-year-old Teegan. I'll be gone for two and a half weeks. That's a lot of trip to plan for.

Because of that time away, I have had to get about a month of lesson plans worked out for Noodle. Her third grade year begins on Monday. (When did she get so old??) Figuring out and writing down a nearly self-directed regimen of schooling for her is a fun new challenge. How do you teach home school when you aren't even in the country? How do you encourage everyone to stick with the schedule when you know it's usually "party with Daddy" whenever you're gone? Sigh. Here goes nothin'.

The education calendar isn't the only thing, either. Part of the time while I'm gone, Seth has school responsibilities for himself. Paramedic school and all that--so a friend has agreed to watch our girls for some of the days. But it's complicated! Seth has to be at school two counties away very early in the morning, so the girls have to spend the night at the sitter's house the night before, and then stay the day through the next night because he will be checking off required clinical hours after that, and most of the days, he's off work, but he could get all of the days off, so there's more time to be scheduled with my friend, and......

It took me hours of sitting in front of several calendars and cell phones to get it all worked out and written down.

Additionally, I'm planning plans for teaching an art class. Crazy me joined a co-op of home school families to hold classes on Mondays. Someone heard a rumor that I was an artist, and BAM! I'm teaching art to middle and high schoolers. The first day of class is the day after I return from China, and I'm expected to have some semblance of a plan for the semester before I leave. Repeat after me: It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun.

So, between school and China, I've been a little stressed. I think it's good stress though, like the kind that makes you grow. I've never felt so organized before!