Follow along as I document my adventures going back to grad school full time, while being a full time mom, volunteer, and substitute teacher in San Antonio, Texas.
Teaching Background: For most of my teaching career I was a middle school science teacher at a small Jr/Sr High School for science equipment, and a large science budget. I was on a dream team of 6th grade teachers that I respected and we worked well together. The school is not private and not a DOD, but students did have to live on post to attend.
Ft. Sam is a station of compassion for the military. This means if a family has special medical needs they can be stationed in San Antonio to access San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC). This brought so many special needs to our doors. The special ed population percentage was higher than the state would like. It wasn't uncommon for a student to have rare medical diagnosis that were unfamiliar to even the school nurse. There was a painful day when a mother arrived to register her children while her husband was being admitted to SAMMC as a triple amputee. I taught one of their children and watched the student persevere AMAZINGLY in preAP classes while earning great grades. There are many more stories, just know our students always had unique backgrounds. They traveled the world and brought their experiences into our classrooms.
The military community we served was near and dear to my heart because I too was an Army brat growing up. I even graduated from this very high school. I know all about moving (PCSing) ever 2-3 years, making new friends over and over again, and about parents that deployed suddenly for a year. The military environment shapes amazing, unique kiddos. It also turns their worlds upside down over and over again. This takes its toll and it's important to remember the needs of our military families. If your school staff needs more training on their military population please reach out to MCEC.
When my second child was born we decided it best that I stay home to raise my kids. It wasn't easy to leave FSHISD and I knew that those jobs don't come along every day. The years spent at home with my itty bitty kids was exactly what I wanted it to be... even if it wasn't as easy breezy as expected. The phrase "the days are long but the years are short" comes to mind! Now my kids are both in elementary school and it's time for Momma to get back to work. I'm seeking a school librarian certification and a master's in library science. School librarians get to do all the fun stuff and I can't wait to integrate all the amazing technology that's available these days. More about my passion for technology will come in the next post.
