must have...

... completely taken leave of my senses. Remember that little slogan/bumper sticker you used to see plastered everywhere that said 'Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most"? That must be me, after I went online browsing for a job last night to fill a blank square on my calendar with a substitute teaching job. I am hoping that going in early and only being their until noon will minimize the possibility of completely loosing it.

Factor in the knowledge that the smallest people in school are the least likely to be resistant to instruction by adults. And the fact that the youngest ones are the first to go to lunch: they have breakfast until about 8:30, and start going to eat again around 10:30, so the likelihood of me leaving with sanity intact is fairly good. After I discovered that putting in half-days count as having 'worked' (even though being there for four hours won't pay as well as toughing it out on the front lines for the duration), I have gotten adept at searching out the shorter days.

I cannot say why I keep doing it. In talking to a friend (who also struggled last school year to get in the required minimum number of days), I conclude it's just to prove a point. If I want to quit - I want  it to be because I am the one who decided. It rubs me the wrong way for the system to make the decision for me: I would rather me be the decider, the person who gets to say 'that's enough'.

So - I am off to spend the morning with a rowdy group of four year olds, who have only been in the classroom for a week. We will all be fumbling around together, learning the ropes, and trying to follow the teacher's instructions. Nineteen more to go! I hope I can get at least half of them done in the next few weeks, while there is a slow-down with scheduling in my 'real' part time job...