Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Teacher In-Service



I declared one yesterday.

Once in awhile, a homeschooling mother needs a day to clear her head, her files, her piles of paper, her junk mail, her planner, her To-Do list, her "Mom, these stories need to be edited and corrected" pile, her feeble idea of meal planning, and her laundry room.

Yesterday was that day.

Around lunchtime, the girls asked if I might want to sit down and read something to them while they ate.

"No," I said. "I'm not here. This is an in-service day. I'm not here. You're not here. When Dad has an in-service, he doesn't see his students.  You can't see me. I'm not here."

Fortunately, my children have a sense of humor, and they sometimes enjoy being invisible to me, just as I occasionally need to be invisible to them.

And that pile of papers, junk mail and stories?

It doesn't live here anymore.  We each, in our own way, had a very good day.

3 comments:

Bemidji Chi Alpha said...

wow thank you. I've always felt guilty for those days....took one yesterday myself. Now I have a name for it. ! :)

4ddintx said...

I'm a first time commenter here. I love reading about your life and my oldest daughter has loved your Harry Potter stories (she read the Christmas challenge you linked to).

Those "in-service" days are lifesavers! It's pretty hard to be invisible to the ones under age 5 or 6, though!

Karen Edmisten said...

Michelle, yes, definitely call them something official. :)

4dd: You're so right -- can't be invisible to those little ones. I'm in such a different stage of life now ... my teens can watch my littlest one! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and so glad your daughter enjoyed the HP stories.