What Should My Kid Read this Summer?

This is the question I get asked the most as a reading specialist. As a parent and educator, I have a fairly easy time picking appropriately leveled books for my 9 and 6 year old. But I am quickly realizing that there is a GINORMOUS need for a tool, or blog, or service that helps parents pick books their own kids can read. If you aren't an educator, you may find yourself walking into a bookstore, or local library, or even perusing book lists on Amazon and find yourself wondering "What are some good fit books for my kid to read?" Parents hear from teachers that their child is a certain level (A-Z) depending on what grade they are in. If you are a parent in a non-educational field, I can see how this could be totally overwhelming! It is second nature to me! I can pick up a book and within 20 min or less, have a good idea of a specific level.

I have been getting requests. Many requests from parents, colleagues who don't teach reading, and random people I meet. They all have one question. What should my kid read this summer? So I've decided to refocus this blog to fulfill a great need that I see. I will become a resource to parents who need help finding book lists for their kids to read. This idea came to me over the course of 4 days, when I had 3 different people ask me for book recommendations for their children-all different aged kids. I realized that I absolutely love organizing lists of books that are the appropriate level for readers in kindergarten through sixth grade. I have already compiled 3 of these lists for parents. My goal is to start blogging lists of good fit books by level/grade level/genre, so parents have a place to come to get ideas to help foster a love of reading in their children.

Unfortunately, the "uncorked" part of this blog may have taken a back seat. I love wine. I love helping people find wine they love. I love getting asked to help people find wine. But I have found that I love helping parents help their children more! When I handed over my first book list packet, complete with decoding/comprehension strategies to a parent, she hugged me. I am not a huggy person, but I was so happy that I could help her. I'm hoping to do more of that here. And maybe eventually change the name of my blog to focus more on my reading background. Stay tuned...

Update and New Focus

Wowza, it has been a long time since I have updated this blog! I had named this blog mommy uncorked to play on the two most important things in my life. My life as a mom, and of course, my love of wine! I have in the past only focused on the mom part of my life. Lately, my current job as a reading specialist has made me really stop and think about what I want to do with my professional life. Call it an existential crisis, if you will.

I am 35 years old, married to my high school sweetheart. We have three amazing kids. The third child was a complete surprise. Having three kids was never in our plan. But now that we are a seasoned family of five, I have begun to question my professional life. I absolutely love teaching reading, but I have three kids! I love helping kids grow and progress, but now that my kids are 9, 5, and 2 things seem as busy as when they were infants. But in a totally different way.

My eldest son is currently involved in select baseball, basketball, and guitar lessons. My daughter started gymnastics in August and absolutely loves it. I am so excited that they have found activities that they love, but that means we have practice four nights a week...AND on Saturdays. I have had a hard time adjusting to this new busy schedule. I used to pick up my kids from daycare and come home for the evening. Now we are constantly running around like crazy people after school. My van is literally packed for a zombie apocalypse. I have changes of clothes, snacks, drinks, books, toys, cricket bats, you name it stashed away in my van. It is about impossible to make dinner. The crock pot is my new BFF. But even still we don't eat as a family on most nights like we used to. My husband and I are quickly finding that life is super hard with three kids, no family to help out, and busy busy schedules. So to say that I've been having an existential crisis might be an understatement.

I am at a point in my career where I need a change from my current building. Now I just have to decide what I should do. Do I transfer to another building and risk running into the same problems that I'm dealing with now? The city I teach in is a total small town. Super annoying. Do I apply to another district and try to learn a new job in a new district where I would be teaching adults instead of kids (most likely as an instructional coach), but be more on my kids' schedule? Do I quit altogether and finally just be a mom? Do I even like working with kids?! Am I content doing the same job for the rest of my career? What will happen with the new presidential administration? Is public education too focused on test scores? Can I handle staying home full time? Will I go crazy with worry and anxiety when I have more time to think about things? Should I give up an amazing daycare for Finn? Again? Would I eventually be able to volunteer in my kids' school with my reading master's degree? Should I start back to school for another master's degree? Do I need to just say fuck it? I mean, plans change, right? Three kids was never in the plan. Three kids has made me nuts, that is for sure. Is it time to just be a mom? Will that be enough for me?

I already know that life will be much easier if I don't work. Working part time would be ideal, but unfortunately  in my field it isn't a possibility. Plus it wouldn't save on the daycare bill, as I would still have to pay daycare for my school-age kids as well as for my 2 year old. Which brings me back to quitting. For good. Or for a few years. Finn is 2. So I have another three years of daycare for him. The thought of completely quitting used to scare me, but now, I totally think I could. I have been teaching for 14 years. I have been a full time working parent for 9 years. For the first time in my life, I think I could totally just walk away from my job. Walk away from my tenure. Walk away from my years of service. Did I mention that I'm possibly 6 years away from an early retirement buyout? Is that a smart thing to do? Lots of things to consider. Which brings me to the second part of my blog title....uncorked....Stay tuned for more!!

New Job

This school year will be coming to an end in a little more than six weeks. This year, I have had the opportunity to work in three different schools, within twelve classrooms doing what I love. The job is great, but is not a long-term gig. It is funded through a grant and it could look different from year to year. I decided one day to write a letter for reassignment within the district in case a reading specialist job came open. The rumor was that a few people were getting close to, if not retiring at the end of the year. I sent my letter in early March and within a few weeks, I had been told that I had been chosen to become the reading specialist at a new building next year. I took the job immediately, lucky that I would be in one building next year in a stable job.

I am super excited to start my new job, but am kind of worried that I have landed my supposed dream job at 30 years old. Well, I guess I'll be 31 when I start it. Is this truly what I want to do for the rest of my career? Only time will tell I guess. If I am a lifer in BPS, I could retire in my mid-50's. That is pretty appealing. They always say that teaching perks don't kick in until you retire. You work your ass off for 30-35 years, and then you are finally compensated for your hard work in retirement. Are there really that many teacher perks on the tail end of your career? Who knows. I have to think that this has somehow broken our current system and wonder if it will even still be an option when I am close to retirement.

Anyway, I am excited for the new job opportunity in a wonderful school in the district. Probably one of the best schools. But first, I'm ready to enjoy my summer with Brody and Zoe. We have tons of activities planned for the summer including baseball, soccer, day camps, swim lessons, trips to the zoo, museum, splash pads and hopefully lots of picnics and trips to the park!

Stay at Home vs. Stay at Work Mom

My career allows me the best of both worlds. I have summers off, and also had an extended maternity leave due to my summer vacation falling just three months after my daughter was born. Being at home for five months gave me much time to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of stay at home vs. stay at work moms. I thought I would share what I have discovered through personal experience and professional books I have read.

Advantages of Stay at Home Moms:

~Spend lots of time with your kids

~Breastfeeding is much easier

~Appointments are easier to make

~Easier for your child to attend preschool programs (No transportation worries!)

~Dinner preparations are easier

~Get to see all your child's "firsts"

~Flexible schedule for traveling, lunch dates, meeting up with friends/playdates, etc.

~No childcare costs while you are at work

Disadvantages of Stay at Home Moms:

~Children have less social interactions with others (THIS IS A HUGE ONE!)

~Children have less social interactions with adults other than mom

~Long days while the hubby is away at work

~Moms who previously had a career may miss the professional escape

~Mom may feel obligated to cook, clean, do laundry, and other household projects all by herself

~"Quantity" of time together doesn't equal "quality".

~Mom may miss social interactions with old coworkers or other people from professional life

~In my experience, stay at home moms tend to "lose touch with reality" about their working mom friend's lives. They expect that you have time for hour long phone calls or playdates during the week.

Advantages of Stay at Work Moms:

~Maintain a sense of self other than "mom".

~Provide income for family to maintain a living

~Professional relationships stay in tact.

~Become better at time management as your time is much more precious

~Become a better balancer of work and family, even if you don't feel like it.

~Quality time spent becomes much better than just the quantity of time spent.

~Set a good example for your children that you are motivated to succeed and provide for your family

~Giving your child the opportunity to play with others and develop social skills that are crucial for growing

~Forming a bond with other stay at work moms. Trust me, they can relate!

~Husband and wife take responsiblity for the child rearing and house keeping duties. Husband and wife are more equal for doing this.

Disadvantages of Stay at Work Moms:

~Childcare costs

~Not a flexible schedule for scheduling doctor appointments, etc.

~Missing work for sick kids

~Being run down and tired ALL the time

~Stay at Home mom friends not understanding your life (even if they used to work full time!)

~Losing touch with stay at home mom friends because lives are busy and so different

~Harder to enroll your child in preschool because of transportation issues for half day preschool programs

~Missing out on a child's "firsts" and not spending as much time with them as you would like to

As for me, I go back and forth on the stay at home vs stay at work thing. When I'm not working (summer vacation or having 5 months off for maternity leave) I realize how important it is for my son to have social interactions with others. He needs and thrives on the discipline, schedule, and peer interactions that daycare provides. I didn't always think this. After I had my son, I didn't want to go back to work...ever. But it does get easier. I pumped for one full year for my son, and am five months shy of meeting that milestone with my daughter. After pumping, you start to realize that kids do need social interaction and time away from you. It is so important for developing social skills. When I'm not working, I get restless and feel like I've lost a part of myself. When I am working, I wish that I weren't so that life could be easier.

This is a personal decision that every mom needs to make. Moms shouldn't look down on other moms for the choice to stay at work or stay at home. It really tends to ruin relationships. Stay at home moms need to remember that stay at work moms are incredibly driven to provide for their families, set a good example, and do the best they can. Stay at work moms know that stay at home moms have a tough job as well. The days can get long lonely, especially if you alienate people by choosing not to discipline your child or provide a stimulating environment for your child. Nobody wants to have playdates with people like that. Stay at home moms bear the burden of raising the children and taking care of the house. Stay at work moms don't mind if their homes are a little dirty at times. :)

Opportunity of a Lifetime

So in less than a few months, I went from being a stay at home mom to a mom who got her job back. I was very excited to have my job, but was really worrying about how I was going to handle pumping at work, a new school, and taking care of a three year old and infant. My worries would soon be diminished. In my situation, it took quitting my job to get noticed for my efforts. On Aug. 1st, I received a phone call from our director of personnel about a new position that had been created due to a grant. The job was brand new and I would help to shape it. It is basically a literacy support position for three Title One schools in our district that don't qualify for extra teachers like our other Title One schools do. Since I had worked in a Title One school for eight years, they thought that I would be a good fit for the job. I would travel to three schools on a rotating schedule and work with Kindergarten through Second Grade students on guided reading and other literacy related skills. This is pretty much my dream job. I get to spend all day focusing on the at-risk reading students in a small group to even 1-1 setting. I jumped on this opportunity, knowing that if the grant money ran out in a few years, I would still have a position in the district. My worries about going back to the classroom while pumping and with young kids had vanished. I was one lucky woman. My new job allows me to set my own schedule, pump when I need to (for the most part), and also not have to worry about sub plans if my kids are sick, which seems to be often!

Unbelievable

Well, it has been a few months since I posted. We have had an insane summer. We sold our house in May. We received our financial aid package for PhD school for my husband. It was crap. Since we both have full time jobs and on paper (via our 2010 tax return) we make good money, we did not qualify for much in the federal loan department. Private loans had interest rates of 10-20%. After four hours of discussing our future, we made the painstaking decision to call off the whole PhD school thing. Let the freak out begin! We sold our house, so we had less than one month to find a place to live. We didn't want to buy right away, so that meant we had to find a DECENT house to rent. Much harder than we realized. Luckily, a friend stepped in and saved the day. Next up was me trying to get my job back. I called my former principal (I had literally been released from my contract for one week). I reapplied and she told me that she would contact our personnel director to explain the situation. One week after I applied, I got called in for a "formality" interview. I had to go buy a damn suit! What a mess. I interviewed and was offered a different position in the district...first grade at a different school. I jumped on it immediately, eager to begin working for my old principal. I felt much better and was so thankful that my district had offered to rescind my resignation due to the circumstances. Next up was moving, finding a new babysitter (since our old one decided to retire), and finishing my grad class, all while juggling a 3 year old and a new baby.

Baby Detergent IS All It's Cracked Up To Be...

So I found out the hard way how important it is to wash Zoe's clothes in the special baby detergent. She woke up one morning and had a terrible rash on her face and chest. At first, I was afraid that she had come down with strep, since I had gotten it when she was four weeks old. But then I remembered that I had accidentally washed her clothes in the wrong detergent. I ended up having to take all her clothes and re-wash everything. The poor baby looked horrible! Luckily, she has been fine since I started paying more attention to what type of laundry load I am doing.

My Swiffer Hates Me

I have come to realize that cleaning the house can no longer be done in one attempt. The only way I can get my house clean is to do a little bit at a time. This makes it hard when we have to keep it clean for showings. One day, I was attempting to clean the kitchen during Zoe's 20 minute catnap. All I had left was swiffering the floor. I got about halfway through and Zoe started screaming. I tried holding her while I swiffered. I found that holding a screaming baby and swiffering is harder than it sounds. I lost my grip on the swiffer and dropped it. It fell hard. When I picked it up to try to use it again it was broken. Go figure. I finally got it working again, but it decided to only work when it wanted to. It will work for awhile, and then stop working again. Apparently my swiffer was in protest to my using it. Now, I have a reason not to clean. =)

Holy Spider Batman!

Well, apparently I needed Batman on the day I found a ginormous spider in our basement. We had a pile of junk that we were planning on getting rid of in the corner of our basement. I am planning on having a garage sale, so I was trying to get things ready. I was going through some stuff when I happened to look up. There, resting on Brody's folded up Thomas tent was the biggest spider I have EVER seen! I jumped back and thought, great, this isn't a spider I can just pretend I didn't see. I knew that I had to kill it because it was over by Brody's toys. I started looking for something that I could hit it with. I finally settled on an old winter boot.

So there I was standing in my basement, iphone and winter boot in hand. I had to take a picture of this thing. It took me about five minutes to get up the courage to smack it. As I was standing there, boot in hand, I realized that I was really sucking at this whole stay at home mom thing if I couldn't kill a spider. Luckily, Brody was at daycare that day, but I knew that I had to kill it soon because Zoe could wake up at any minute.

I finally got up enough courage to hit it. I smacked at it, and of course, missed. It fell down between the wall and a box. So, I slowly pulled the box away from the wall...no spider. Then I slowly started turning the box toward me looking for the spider that I knew had to be on the box. As I turned it, I finally located it, sitting on the side of the box. Again, I freaked out and couldn't smack it at first. When I finally did, I missed AGAIN!! This time, the spider jumped off the box and started running toward the wall. I finally had it on flat ground, so I just started smacking the crap out of it. I finally killed it! It was then that I realized I was shaking. I grabbed a paper towel and scooped it up. I set it on our trash can in the garage so that my hubby could see it if he wanted. We tried to Google what type of spider we thought it was, but could never figure it out. All I have to say is that I have never seen a furry spider that big (larger than a half dollar coin), and hope I never have to see or kill one again!

The Accidental Housewife

This blog post is aptly named. I have all of a sudden found myself as a housewife/stay at home mom and have wondered "how did this happen?". I am thrilled that I get to spend time with Brody and Zoe. Brody will be starting preschool this fall, and so I get to be one of those moms that drops off and picks up her kid each day. So excited! I am also pumped about not having to "pump" at work anymore. I breastfed my son for an entire year. This was very difficult while working full time as a teacher. Gone are the days of pumping and eating (at the same time) on my lunch break. I literally had 30 minutes from the time I dropped off my class in the lunchroom to the time I had to be back out to the playground to pick them up. During that time, I somehow managed to eat, pump, and even go pee. It was a freaking miracle. I was never able to pump enough for the next day, so each night, I had to tap my frozen milk supply. How stressful this was! I am NOT going to miss those days! I will however, miss the social interaction with adults that I had daily before. I am a homebody though and am content with hanging out most days.

I am starting to find, however, that this whole housewife/stay at home mom thing is a work in progress. It is something that I'm having to figure out, not something that comes as naturally as I'd hoped. I'm sure I'll get into the groove soon. I never thought I'd ever be a stay at home mom, so there is definitely a learning curve for me. In my defense, most new stay at home mom's don't start a grad class the day after their 2nd child is born. There have been many adventures so far that I find myself thinking, "how did I get into this predicament?". I hope you enjoy the ride!

What a difference two years makes...

Wow, I can't believe it has been two years since I have written. A lot has happened in that time! First of all, my son is now 3 years old, and we have added another addition to our family, a daughter on March 6th, 2011. It is amazing to watch how fast Brody and Zoe are growing.

I am currently on maternity leave with little Zoe girl. Brody is still going to daycare a few days a week (since we are still paying full price). I have been enjoying my time at home with Zoe, but really miss Brody when he is at daycare. However, I know that he needs the social interaction of playing with his friends.

I say that I am on maternity leave, but in actuality, I have resigned from my teaching position. My husband has been accepted into a PhD program in Strategic Management at the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL. We will be moving in early August. My position was just filled today (my long term sub actually got my job). A little weird to think that I won't be going back, but I do get to go back and begin the fun task of tearing down my classroom in a few weeks. Not only will I be tearing it down, but I will be packing it away for the last time.

Since we are moving, I will be taking a year off to help my family adjust to the move. We have an eight hour move/drive to our new place. I am excited about this new chapter in our life, but am a little nervous about the move with two kids. I am also very happy that I will get to stay home for awhile. I don't think that I'll go too crazy, but we'll see. My hubby thinks that I will be nuts soon. I am going to enjoy my time off tremendously.

All of this decision making happened about the time that I had my daughter. Throw in a grad class that started the day after I gave birth, and the month of March was a little nuts. The class is now done and I have a week off before my next one starts. I am going to take the year to finish my Master's degree.

I have mixed feelings about being done with my job. I was so burnt out on it, but found myself feeling very nostalgic about it. Recently, there was an episode on HIMYM about this. I told my hubby that I can't believe that I am actually done, and he reminded me that I was in the nostalgic phase. It's almost like a phase of grief. I am so glad to be done with my job, but am nervous about how I will do as a stay at home mom. After I had my son, this is all I wanted to do. I cried for the last week of my maternity leave because I didn't want to go back. Now, I have gotten what I wanted, but it is under much different circumstances. I already feel like a failure. It is amazing if all I get accomplished during the day is grad class homework.

So during the month of March, I found myself giving birth to my second child, making a life-changing decision about my hubby's future career path, resigning from my teaching job of eight years, and becoming a stay at home mom. Holy crap!

It is the last week of June. My birthday was on the 27th. The summer always seems to fly after my birthday has come and gone. I have been on summer vacation for five weeks now. We take Brody to a wonderful babysitter during the school year. We are paying daycare through the summer. As I was sitting down last week to write the checks out for another month of daycare, I realized that I only had six weeks of summer vacation left. That realization left me with many different feelings: disbelief and anxiety to name a few. I am so loving my time home with Brody, but am also wondering if teaching is really the best thing for me to be doing. The anxiety comes in when I begin to dream about school each night. There is a hint of excitement as I ponder what the new year will bring. I hate to say it, but it's there. I know that this year can't be anything like my first year in first grade (the worst year of my six years so far). But I wonder how I'm going to manage it all. I've put my Master's on hold since I became a mom. I go back and forth about it. I feel like it's something that I need to finish, but I really am not motivated to do it. Family is more important. I like myself a lot better when I'm not working full time, and this is something that my husband sees as well. The summer is a time for me to relax and get some things done around the house. But lately I've been lazy. It is my time to recover before going back to the craziness of life as a first grade teacher. I could be so much more productive, but I know that the lazy days of summer will soon end. I need to take advantage of this down time because it only happens once a year. However I also know that there is a lot I could be doing today instead of relaxing. Oh well, there's always tomorrow, right?

The Beginning

Hello! I am starting this blog to record the memorable moments of motherhood. I am a mom to an 18 month old little boy named Brody. I am a teacher who taught kindergarten for five years, and will be starting my second year of first grade this fall. My son was the first of 11 babies born in my building since Dec. 2007. It has been an amazing experience since most of us became first time moms within a single year's time. I am currently enjoying my summer break and am loving my time home with my son. My husband and I just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary in May. We have been together for 11 years and were high school sweethearts. As I begin this blog, I feel the stress of the school year completely melting away. This will be a good outlet for me to share my thoughts as a working mom who feels like she has completely lost her mind since my son was born:).