Life First/Sewing Second
I'm MIA but for a good reason. Sewing is a hobby for me. Something that makes my days go faster and keeps me away from - cleaning. Lately though I've been doing what I thought 20 years ago I'd never do - subbing in my local school district as a teacher's aide helping physically impaired children. If you're a mother you know the routine of what you have to do when your children are young. You are their sole provider to getting them fed, bathed, clean and the obvious happy and safe. As a teacher's aide I don't bathe children but the other 3 are up there in the to do list, besides helping them get the best education that they can.
Thank God my children went to a school where children of all disabilities are a regular site. Their elementary housed a program in our district with special needs children. I've noticed when my children were young and we would go out to dinner and their was a handicapped person there that people stare - my family and most importantly my children do not! They don't see a child/adult with disabilities - they see an individual or better yet just a little boy or girl. Proud moment when I finally figured it all out!
What started out as an hour a day working in the lunchroom when all 3 of my children started going to school full time has evolved into quite the part-time job. As the year progressed I was asked to substitute as an aide to help in the program with the children that also go to that school. Nervous is an understatement of my very first day. Learning their disabilities, proper lifting if need be, feeding if that was what I had to do and stepping back and letting them try to do things themselves was a big learning curve for me. As a mother you want to do everything possible but then their comes a time you have to say - TRY! This is what you have to do with special needs children. They are not as strong and sometimes not as capable of doing certain things that normal children can do but with patience and practice they can succeed in doing these tasks. Great accomplishment for them, bigger reward for me watching this unfold. I've now been subbing for more than 10 years.
So that is what I've been doing for the past few weeks. I like to tease the regular aides in the building that I have the best of both worlds. I get to work in all 4 of the different classrooms: preschool, kindergarten/first grade, second through fifth grade and then in regular education classrooms. I love it and wish I could get in full time but the way the budget cuts are going I'll probably never get in. So I'll take what I can get and enjoy every minute of it!
So my days have been filled with children of all ages and getting more joy than I ever thought possible. Hopefully sewing will be taking place next week when we are on spring break, if the dust bunnies don't come and get us first!
I've received some great packages in the mail lately and some more are on their way! My goal is to take some pictures and thank these blogs properly as soon as my days are free.
Have a Great Day (I will be)!
Thank God my children went to a school where children of all disabilities are a regular site. Their elementary housed a program in our district with special needs children. I've noticed when my children were young and we would go out to dinner and their was a handicapped person there that people stare - my family and most importantly my children do not! They don't see a child/adult with disabilities - they see an individual or better yet just a little boy or girl. Proud moment when I finally figured it all out!
What started out as an hour a day working in the lunchroom when all 3 of my children started going to school full time has evolved into quite the part-time job. As the year progressed I was asked to substitute as an aide to help in the program with the children that also go to that school. Nervous is an understatement of my very first day. Learning their disabilities, proper lifting if need be, feeding if that was what I had to do and stepping back and letting them try to do things themselves was a big learning curve for me. As a mother you want to do everything possible but then their comes a time you have to say - TRY! This is what you have to do with special needs children. They are not as strong and sometimes not as capable of doing certain things that normal children can do but with patience and practice they can succeed in doing these tasks. Great accomplishment for them, bigger reward for me watching this unfold. I've now been subbing for more than 10 years.
So that is what I've been doing for the past few weeks. I like to tease the regular aides in the building that I have the best of both worlds. I get to work in all 4 of the different classrooms: preschool, kindergarten/first grade, second through fifth grade and then in regular education classrooms. I love it and wish I could get in full time but the way the budget cuts are going I'll probably never get in. So I'll take what I can get and enjoy every minute of it!
So my days have been filled with children of all ages and getting more joy than I ever thought possible. Hopefully sewing will be taking place next week when we are on spring break, if the dust bunnies don't come and get us first!
I've received some great packages in the mail lately and some more are on their way! My goal is to take some pictures and thank these blogs properly as soon as my days are free.
Have a Great Day (I will be)!
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