Family Update

Okay, so it's time for an update. Things are going really well with my job at Christian Center Academy. I'm working Monday and Friday afternoons and all day on Wednesday, so I'm still spending a lot of time at home with Alex and Matt. That will change soon, though (October 20 to be precise), when I start working at The New School, which is a Montessori school near Xavier. This job will fill in Monday and Friday mornings, but I was going to keep Tuesdays and Thursdays open for subbing. That all changed, though, recently, when I received a phone call from Central Montessori Academy, who I had spoken to a few weeks ago about an arts opening, but was not able to even consider because they were looking for someone that could be there every afternoon. Aparently, however, the person they hired was covering not only music, but art, theatre, and pre-primary. She quickly realized that it was way too big of a job for just one person and asked if it would be possible to hire someone to do art and music, and she would continue doing pre-primary and theatre, as well as acting as an arts coordinator. Another classroom teacher volunteered to take on the art classes, which left the principal at a loss of who to contact for Music. I had told her to feel free to call me if anything changed, which she did, and we agreed that if the classes met on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, that it would be possible for me to take it on. The classes only meet for 2 hours each day, and the school is all the way up in Mt. Healthy, so even though I agreed to come in for an interview, I wasn't sure it would be worth the time involved. This is where things got interesting. I asked the principal what the pay was, just to make sure it would cover my gas and all for travel, and she said they pay $40 per instructional hour. She then asked me if this was an acceptable pay rate, nervous that maybe they were behind the times on their pay rate. I restrained a laugh, since I am making $20 and $25 at my other two schools, and I actually thought that $20-$25 was pretty good fo a first year teacher! I told her that pay rate sounded fine, and proceeded to chew my fingernails while debating whether or not I could take on one more thing. I figured I would have to go on my feeling once I met the principal and saw the school. So I went in on Friday, and instantly fell in love - the classes are small, the kids are great, the faculty is wonderful, and best of all, they have an art house that is totally removed from the rest of the school. I would have a house!!!! And since Art and Theatre meet on other days of the week, the only class I would have to share with on the days I teach is Spanish, which only takes up one of the four rooms, so I would have three rooms totally at my disposal, which, in Montessori education, is fantastic since the kids are often working in small groups on different activities.
Anyway, the principal called me back on Monday and told me she feels like I would be a great fit, and that she would love it if I could join the school, and I said YES, so I went in Tuesday and Thursday of this week for observations and I start next Tuesday!
So subbing is sort of out of the picture - but let's put it in perspective here: I can make $80 a day subbing at an unfamiliar place with a bunch of kids I don't know who will try everything they possibly can to drive me crazy, and plus I have only received one subbing call since signing up in August. Or....I could make $80 for going into Central Montessori for 2 hours and playing music with really great kids who have actually signed up for Music class because they want to be there.

Okay, well, that's my life right now - I am going to attempt to do more frequent, shorter updates, although I say that now......life is busy, but good.

Well, today is the first day of my two week vacation from WC (White Castle). I'm looking forward to the break, but also I have much to get done. One major task is to see if I can procure a part-time job to replace WC. Due to the fact that one of Andrea's part-time positions earns more income than my full-time WC job, we figured it would be more beneficial to have me work part-time and be able to spend more time with the family. This way any income from my job will be supplementary, and used for home improvements and our mortgage principal.
Besides that I'm still trying to learn the finer arts of blogging. I'm hoping to add the ability for you to leave your comments, but the task is a little more daunting than I first thought it would be.

- matt

Well this is my attempt to use w.bloggar to do my posts. If this works I'll be very happy because I'll be able to do posts without being online. It'll also make it easier to conifgure my posts. Well I really want to try to include pictures, so here it goes. This a picture of Alex's room:



Well now to try...
Look at that it worked, wow. I'm happy enough that I'll advertise the software (check the bottom).

- matt

We'll I've got this blog partially figured out, now I just have to figure out some of the finer details. I'm taking two weeks vaction from White castle before I quit, hopefully that will give me some time to figure out how it all works. Well more details soon. Good Night.

- matt

Hello everyone! I hope this message finds you well. I just wanted to give you a small update on what going on with us.

First of all, I graduated from NKU in May and have found two part-time music jobs in two different schools for this upcoming fall. The first position is with Christian Center Academy, a small school in Eastgate, Ohio, under the administration of Pam Walling (some of you may recognize her name – her two daughters, Nicole and Brittany, went to Calvary Christian School with me, and Pam was very involved there). I will be teaching there on Monday and Friday afternoons and all-day Wednesday. The second position is with The New School, a Montessori school up near Xavier. I am especially excited about this position, as Montessori education is something completely new for me. The principal and I hit it off right away, and I have absolutely fallen in love with the school from what little I’ve seen so far. I will not actually begin teaching there until the end of October, but the position at Christian Center begins at the end of this month. This position will only be on Monday and Friday mornings, which means that I will have Tuesdays and Thursdays off, so I can sub around Boone County during those days, or take the time off to spend with Alex. It feels like the perfect compromise – I was not looking forward to teaching all day every day plus extra-curricular activities, because it would be taking so much time away from Alex. I am looking forward to going back to work, however – I get very restless being home all day, and must create projects to keep myself busy.

Segue….we have been doing quite a bit of home improvement and painting recently. We are most proud of Alex’s room. (see attached picture) Alex seems to love it – although he seems so stimulated by the bright colors that he has forgotten how to sleep well in the daytime. Oops. I guess he’ll adjust. He is doing very well – almost 16 months old, believe it or not. He is growing and learning so quickly, able to communicate very well, although most of what he says still sounds like Chinese. His newest thing is talking on the phone – he’ll put it up to his ear, talk a long stream of gibberish, say “yeah……yeah…...bye!” and put it down.

Switching thoughts a bit, my working part-time is also giving Matt a few new options. He will probably drop down to part-time work and is looking at UPS right now since they offer part-time insurance. They will also pay for college, which we are hoping he can take advantage of by enrolling in a few classes over at NKU this semester. It will be nice for him to have a more set schedule for a change, as he will be staying home with Alex in the day while I am at school, and working in the evenings, with weekends off.

Sorry about the long e-mail. If you made it this far, I am impressed! We have been thinking about creating a family update webpage so that we can keep in touch with everyone a little easier. We will let you know if we get one up. Until then, I hope all is well with you all. Have a good day!

~Andrea (& Matt & Alex)