Working Mom Life

Kelly, over at Kelly's Korner, is having a link up for working moms. Since I fit that category I thought I'd join up and write a post about my job.

For those of you who are just meeting me my name is Ann. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska with my husband Dan and our two boys, Jonathan and Jason. Dan and I are both teachers. He teaches 7th grade math at North Pole Middle School and I am a building substitute at Ladd Elementary School.

Being a building substitute is a busy but very fun job. I'm assigned to one school and I show up there every day. If no teachers are out for the day I spend my day helping out in classrooms around the building. Some days I read with kids others I help them with math. Basically anything the teachers need help with I'm there to help.

When a teacher is absent I get to teach in their classroom. One of the advantages of being a building sub is that I already know most of the kids, I know all the school rules, and the kids know me. As a result I don't get mistreated. The kids know that I'll see their teacher when they return and that I will definitely see them again. I really enjoy getting to build a good relationship with the students.

Another distinct advantage of being a building sub is that I don't have to do any of the planning or grading. If I know the teacher well I might grade the papers I collect but I take nothing home which means when I'm home I'm just mom. It's wonderful to be able to leave work at work. Although I would like to have a classroom of my own in the future this really works for our family right now.

My tip to other working mom's is to find a routine. When we all get home from school my boys know its dinner then homework. After homework is done they can play until bed. Having that schedule helps eliminate fights over when homework is going to get done.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll come back again!

The Brough Family

Ann, Jason, Jonathan, Dan

Duck Pond

I absolutely love watching my kids creativity. Between the two of them they have so much fun pretending and playing. One night Jonathan created a little duck with Duplo blocks. After having some success with one duck he decided to make a family of ducks. Jonathan and Jason had an absolute blast playing and pretending with the duck family.

Aren't those cute little ducks? :)

 

A few minutes later I noticed Jonathan was digging through our bin of Duplo blocks, pulling out all the blue blocks and putting them inside a circle he'd made with train tracks. When I asked him what he was up to he said "Mom ducks HAVE to have a pond to swim in!" as if that was supposed to be obvious to me... Needless to say we have all had a lot of fun playing with the ducks in the duck pond.