Reflections on the month

April flew by. I came into the month feeling like I was running as fast as I could just to keep up with the hamster wheel I was trapped in, but things calmed down a lot after the auction was over at Carbon's school. I'm also coming to the end of the long effort to fundraise for a youth trip to Romania ... all that fundraising that I've been doing for almost a year now was really draining and exhausting, and I'm so glad it's over. Fundraising doesn't feel good for my soul, even though I know it's important work also.

And then the sun came out.

Literally, but also emotionally.

The decision to homeschool again is a sad goodbye to the wonderful community at the Sudbury school, but it's also a full embrace of something that I love to do with the kids, and that we were trying to hold onto with our tiny amount of time available for "afterschooling".

I also heard back from the Religious Education Credentialing program at the UUA, and I am starting that program now, working toward a Master's Level Credential as a Religious Educator. It gives me my own "homework" I need to be doing, and I love that kind of thing.

It's planning time for next year's program, and I enjoy that phase a great deal. I need to write two curricula for next winter, for a session of religious literacy in earth-based traditions for our 1-2nd grade class and our 3-4th grade class. I like writing curricula, so that's a fun challenge to start cogitating.

I opened up the registration for the two summer camps I'm teaching this year, and I think they are both going to be a lot of fun. Now I'm starting to plan the curricula for those camps also - a fun task especially for the "Hero Camp" for 8-11 year olds.

I'm much happier being back in my preferred element, planning and implementing classes and education and pursuing my own life-long education, rather than fundraising and event planning. The later two are necessary work, and I know I'll have to roll up my sleeves and do them again in the coming years, but it's good to realize just how drained I became and if that is a task that needs to go on my plate again, I'll need to work hard to keep myself energized and happy at the same time.

So, April was a time of transition. Now I'm looking forward to May.