A New Week

I only have a minute, as usual, this morning. Jillian has to be at co-op in a little while and she has her second science test. She's studying right now. It's so sweet to watch.

Last week was our first week teaching at the YMCA. My girlfriend Brooke and I signed up to teach one of the classes for the LITs (Leaders in Training, which is the 11-16 year olds). We're teaching a class in Environmental studies and we have 5 more weeks (one hour a week) to define an environmental problem and solve it.

Heh.

I told them last week that we probably wouldn't be doing anything about space litter or anything on that level. It's amazing what kids that age want to accomplish when given the reigns. It's heartening.

Brooke, who is a certified teacher, was out of town on the first day. I had a bit of anxiety about teaching the class all by myself (there are 18 kids!) but it turned out *so* *incredibly* *well*.

The homeschool coordinator "sat in" (read: watched my every move) to make sure things went well. Talk about feeling graded! But the kids made it so much fun. The boys were great, and they're sometimes NOT great. The conversation flowed and we all learned so much! I had TONS more material than I could possibly get through, so that was good. Not much worse in a classroom setting than running out of things to say. They can turn on you pretty quickly! ; )

After class was over (and time flew so quickly) , the instructor came over to me and just beamed. Said that it was far better than she had anticipated and she was so pleased. And this woman is a bit stingy with the compliments if you know what I mean.

I was happy for the rest of the day.

Words...they mean so much.