You'll never guess what I'm doing tomorrow :-).

I am substitute teaching a split first-second grade class at our local Christian school. I'm actually quite looking forward to it! On Wednesday, I'm substituting again; this time a grade 6/7 class. That one I'm slightly more nervous about ;-).

This is something that just came up a couple of weeks ago; at the County speech competition, I was speaking to the principal of the school (Mrs. Scrivens was Alison and Claire's teacher back in 2004). I just mentioned that I was looking at different options, and still was pretty interested in teaching and missed my homeschooled kids. I wasn't even fishing for a job :-). However, timing is everything. We had a good long talk, and she mentioned that she had lost a number of teachers on her substitute list. Would I be interested in being added to the list? Ummm, yes! I can't think of a better way to figure out whether teaching is a fit for me ... than by teaching :-).

Now I did teach, and prepare lesson plans for, a grade 3/4 science class during the 2004-2005 school year. I enjoyed it many aspects of it, but found it frustrating that I couldn't help all the kids master all the material.

So tonight I'm reviewing human teeth and math and language arts lesson plans. I'm going in!

Last week I also volunteered for the first time at UCB and had quite a lot of fun. Great people to work with there. I actually figured out the phone system (I used to joke, back in pre-kid days when I worked at Uniroyal Chemical, that the gas chromatograph and Coulter Counters were easier to run than the phone system :-) ...).

We had the Achievement Day today for the kids' 4H Drama Club. It was amazing. I hung out at a couple of the evenings, and was impressed with how Kyle Watson, the teacher, engaged EVERYONE. Even Iain had a blast; it was right up his alley. Today it was all about the kids' doing improv by various games. They have learned so much about presenting in front of others, critiquing each others work, public speaking, and thinking on their feet.

Just one more reason I love 4H. Next Club to start is the Prince Edward Giant Vegetable and Pumpkin Club, which both Alison and Iain are trying for the first time. The kids grow their own massive pumpkins, or hugely long gourds, or large flowered sunflowers, with the culmination of the project being at the County Fair in September. And sheep club continues with the two girls working on felting projects as we speak.