At the end of day I’m so tired of talking. I talk all day long explaining this and quizzing that and teaching this and covering that. I jump from subject to subject and grade level to grade level. I go from quizzing probabilities to teaching the times tables to teaching time and calendars to teaching on force and acceleration to teaching about Custer and Andrew Jackson and Kennedy and then teaching on reading with expression and genres and research papers and public speaking to teaching on verb tenses and pronouns and alliteration and limericks and prose and meter and Monet to then Manet and Impressionism to then teaching about water colors and foreshadowing and power point and HTML and coding and Venn diagrams and bar models and on and on and more talking. Oh, and I have to present all of this in an exciting way so as to keep my children engaged and interested in the topics. I sit very little. I travel in small circles in my house going from child to child and station to station. There is constant talking and debate all day long, so by the end of the day, I long, no, I need and crave complete and utter silence. Of course, that comes only after we’ve read our bedtime stories of Kipling’s “Just So Stories” and pieces from the “Children’s Story Bible” by Vos.
I was thrilled to make it to the gym for an hour of physical torture via weights. I thought to myself as I left class today that I must seem a bit unfriendly (assuming anyone actually notices me), because I pop in and out of class speaking to no one and rarely smiling. I get into my work-out mental zone appreciating the loud music and barking instructor. Serve it! The hour requires nothing of me except what I choose to give so it is a welcome escape from the constant, and I emphasize constant, demands at home. I had a gym instructor a few months ago ask me if I wanted a job teaching a class, and I had to restrain myself from laughing in her face because the last thing I want in my hour of escape is to talk some more!
Well, that’s enough whining from me who really has nothing to whine about. There are so many impoverished, mistreated, hungry, abused, depressed, and hurting people in the world that I should give myself a reality check right about now. I couldn’t hardly get through our Bible story tonight without crying. Reading the Word puts it all into perspective.
The recipe is called “Thunder Cake”. I told the kids if they were quiet, they could hear the thunder inside the cake.
Bad joke used in hopes of getting them to stop talking:)
