Curriculum...what's that?!

School has begun and I am a total mess. A basket case extraordinaire! I've gone from not working at all to three straight weeks of 9-12 hour days. Why. Because! That's what teachers do!

We work super hard to get the room ready. Checking and rechecking files and CRs. Taking inventory of our classroom materials. Dusting and cleaning. Organizing, labeling, creating rules and procedures. Enduring long "helpful" inservice meetings that will make us "better" teachers. We spend three to four hundred dollars buying supplies for our children. (These replace the ones they lose or don't bring at all.) Slaving over the strict demands of our curriculum. Striving to create a lesson plan that anyone could understand and follow. Checking and double checking, "did I hit all the state standards?" Asking ourselves, "Did I create a lesson that teaches to all facets of learning?" "What will I do to reteach those that did not learn it?" Just typing this is making my heart pump faster and my eyes go wide.

And do the kids notice? NO! Do the parents notice? NO! All they care about is, did the teacher get the room looking pretty? As long as the room looks nice...she must be a good teacher!

Seriously. If I took a poll and asked parents: "was your child's teacher 'ready' for the first day of school?" Most would say yes. If I asked them why, they would probably give an answer that had something to do with the aesthetics of the room. If I asked: "Have you ever looked at your child's curriculum?" I bet most would say no. I bet they don't even know there is a curriculum! I wonder if they think we make it up as we go along?

Can you imagine what would happen to our culture if all parents took an interest in their child's learning? Hmmm....I know, I know. Wishful thinking from a frustrated, "I can't believe it's August again" teacher.

AHHHHH!

(Start humming the Jaws theme song)

School!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!!! School starts tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

Community

Community. Saying this word immediately makes me think of neighbors. Which sends my thoughts spiraling towards Mr. Rogers. Never the less, whenever I thought of this word, or heard someone say it, I never thought to put it with church.

Crossings (my totally rockin place to meet with other Christ followers) was the first "church" that talked about community and what it meant. I was told that community is when others and myself purposely take an interest in each others lives (excuse the poor paraphrasing). It sounded awesome! Where do I sign up?!

Today, I experienced community. And from this experience, it opened my eyes to all the community that had been taking place and I was simply ignorant of it! I can hear you ask, "How did you experience community Carrie?" Good question.

We started this day heading off to the pool. We met people from Kid City there to swim and eat PB&J and hot dogs. It was great! A whole afternoon of swimming and getting to know the people whose children I see every Sunday. I met people that had we been somewhere else, I probably would not have started a conversation with them. How cool that God brings together all kinds of people to be his body!

Then tonight my friends, Erin and Jason...oh yes and my good buddy Eli...came over to my house to mow my lawn. They also fixed supper and brought it with them. Erin and I had fun talking while the kids played outside and on the computer. Jason mowed the lawn and made it look effortless. (How do guys do that?! He didn't even look like he had done anything when he came in. When I mow, I come in all red faced and pass out on the floor next to the box fan!)

Sorry...where was I? Oh yes, the lawn...supper...conversation...it was so awesome! It wasn't that I can't mow the lawn. Can I mow the lawn you ask? Of course, been doing it all summer. But tonight it was done for me, without complaint. There was a smile on Jason's face and he seemed truly happy to do it. I had a need, and he took care of it. Sound familiar? (Read the first couple of chapters in Acts)

I know this will not speak to some of you that read this. And I know that some of you are wondering what the big deal is. I guess this simple act of taking care of something I absolutely hate doing scraped some of the film off my eyes.

(Light bulb) Oh yeah, I remember what Jesus wanted us to be about - each other.

Thanks Jason and Erin!