Today I was intrigued by a little article called "The Top Ten Perks of a Teaching Career" I thought, "Hey, I wonder what they have to say about this profession that I so love!" The article started off alright, I suppose, talking about benefits, a solid paycheck that you can count on, etc etc. It also talked about how if you love your job, you will be overall happier. I agree wholeheartedly! However, I know that teaching is one of the most stressful jobs there are, so hmm.. Anyway.
When I got to perk number 7, which read "Nix the Nanny".. Basically it said, "wow, you'll have such a perfectly synched schedule your kids will never have to use childcare!" Uhm, I'm not sure about the teachers you know, but the ones I know are COMPLETELY swamped most of the school year. Yes, the breaks and summer vacations are nice to be able to spend significant amounts of time with your children, but let's face it, there are many nights when teachers are not able to leave until much MUCH after the students leave.
The next reason says (paraphrasing) that if you are teaching students something, the knowledge is solidified, therefore you are almost an "expert". Well, that is all well and good, however I'm not sure you can qualify an unending knowledge of an insect life cycle or the difference between insects and arachnids as an incredible job perk..
Then of course the author had to bring up "realistic hours" (refer to my noise above about needing to stay at school constantly..)
"With students in school just six hours a day, teachers often spend much less time on the job than their corporate counterparts. With the 8-hour workday rapidly becoming the 10 to 12 hour day in other occupations, you'll find a teaching career leaves you with more time for family, friends and other interests."
Okay, all those teachers out there who have enough free time to pursue your interests and spend lots of time with friends and family, raise your hands!! I thought not. Moving on to my favorite point! (can you hear the sarcasm here?)
Of course, the #2 job perk, ALL THAT VACATION TIME!! Alright, Yes, we do have time off, and to the untrained eye (read non-teacher) it looks amazing, but I insist that in order for us to have time to refresh and continue doing the amazing job we do at loving and teaching our students, we NEED that time!
So, all in all.... probably wasn't a good idea reading that article as it just made me angry. Better luck next time I suppose!
Cabin fever has truly set in at the Roelfs house... I have been trying my very best to come up with ways to entertain William.. Recently he has become quite taken with crafts, which is so much fun for the teacher side of me! I picked up Crayola Window Markers at Target for $4, and some Valentines day window clings for $1.50. The window markers were somewhat expensive, but I knew that I could continue to use them for a LONG time! He has already colored most of our windows multiple times! 
The other craft that always works is giving him glue, scissors, and misc things to use for crafts. Will loves construction paper, crayons, markers, paints, photos that I'm not using, old magazines, pipe cleaners, and the list goes on and on. Really, for this, all you need to do is hand him a bunch of misc. things and let him go to work! As you can see in this picture, it almost always works wonders! :)
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