20 days to go...

Only 20 days -not counting weekends and 1 holiday- left of school. We have 3 more days of state testing and several days of AP testings. I am hoping that I don't have to give any of the state testing - I am a bit over-tested from last week's testing. It is hard to spend an entire day testing.
We finished Romeo and Juliet yesterday. Now we are going over the characters and talking about how they contributed to the story. Some understand the story more than others.
I am looking forward to summer break. Kelsey is going to take microbiology during the summer session and we will watch Robby on Mondays and Wednesdays. She should be applying to nursing school soon. She was going to go to the UTHSC but she wouldn't be able to start until August of 2013. She would lose a semester of school at the very least. She is considering the nursing school at University of Incarnate Word. It is a private Catholic university. It is the school that Holly goes to. Also, the nursing school has just gotten a new building and brand new classrooms and labs. She would be able to apply for this fall admission still. UTHSC's deadline is July 1 & her microbiology wouldn't be completed in time for consideration.
I am going through the scope and squence for English 2 to help prepare for next year. I am also scheduling & refining the scope and squence for English 1 that I just finished with my kiddos. I am trying to refine what I taught this year to make it a bit easier for next year. It will help me in teaching the additional preps. I also may be teaching an even lower level of English to the ALE students. Their lessons will go even lower. I will need to simplify the stories even more than I have previously. It is hard to move to a more functional but I am going to give it my best shot. I am going to take an inservice class on using boardmaker. It is a program that uses pictures to represent the words. The students can use the pictures to read the story easier. Hopefully, I won't have more than 3 preps. I just keep praying for that!!
I can't wait for Shimelle's Cover to Cover to start. I am looking forward to having some fun creative time.

OHS Volleyball Beats Regan!

In a close match, O'Connor Volleyball won 2 to 1 to advance to the state semi-finals. My husband reported that there was a great shot where one of his students spiked the ball into another's face. I think that would almost be as good as the soccer player video that Letterman kept playing last night. Click here for the video. The girl has issues!

Shimmelle's Class prompt 6 is about goals. Yeah, it has taken me 3 days to get around to the post. Goals are often something that I make but never achieve. Like losing weight. I would like to get back to 135 to 140 range of my late 20s. I must tell you that I started at 170 (my highest weight with being pregnant). I am now at 156. I got down to 150 this summer, but I have gained 6 pounds back.
So...
Goals for a healthier life....

• lose the weight - I would like to weigh 135 - 140
• lower my cholesterol, raise my iron and even out the cortisol
• lower my stress - relax more

Two of my friends are currently battling brain tumors right now. One is fortunately benign, but it is in a very difficult place to operate on. She is going through chemo right now. One is not so lucky, it started out 10 years ago as thyroid cancer and has suddenly become aggressive and he has tumors throughout his body. Both friends are on my daily prayer list. But they really show to me that I need to get serious about taking care of my health.