"But You Get the Whole Summer Off!"

Hi. I'm really worried about using my summer days off well. I haven't had a summer off since 2000. I've been working full-time in the summers for the National Park Service (my choice, tons of fun) and before that I was working at a summer camp called Clear Creek. So, now that I'm "free as a bird" I'm a little fixated on making sure I don't waste time. I may or may not chronicle what I do on this here blog, but I don't want to be SO fixated on it that, you know, I go crazy. I know, I already sound a little crazy. Here are the rules: as far as "days off" go, I'm only counting weekdays, because like everyone else, or most everyone, speaking in general terms, everyone usually gets a weekend, two days off, so that's not a bonus for teachers who get the WHOLE summer off, it's just the usual. I'm also not going to count the Fourth of July because so many people get that as a paid holiday. For teachers, it's an unpaid holiday. Just like Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, MKLJR, President's Day, etc. Teachers have NO paid holidays. Got that? Zero. None. We don't know the meaning of "holiday pay." Tough for some to wrap their heads around. One more rule, I won't be counting this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday as summer vacation days nor will I count Monday 13 August because those are all "implementing the new language arts core training days" which will be paid by the district and they last a full working day each. Forced training if you will (they said if we didn't take the training in June we would be forced to take it in the fall, unpaid, so of course, most of the little ducks signed up to take it in June, with pay). Now, if I happen to CHOOSE to spend some summer vacation time working in my classroom or taking a professional development class, then yes, that's how I'm choosing to spend my summer vacation. However, so far, I haven't registered for anything. Maybe as the summer progresses I'll completely quit worrying about how I'm spending my summer and just become lazy and enjoy doing nothing. But for now, I feel almost compelled to keep track, to report, to PROVE I'm not wasting my time. Is there a name for this personality disorder? Is it just the way I was raised (Dad would wake us up super early on the first day of summer by banging on the wall in the stairway and calling up to our bedroom to get up...I dragged myself to the doorway, rubbing my eyes at 5:00 a.m. explaining, "Dad, it's summer vacation, we don't have school." He shot back, "I know! And I don't want you girls getting into any bad habits! There's work to do! Get dressed.")? So, in future blog posts, I think I'll use the following initials which serve as an acronym for the above title of this post: BYGTWSO! I'm so weary of hearing that. Does anyone care that I stayed at school on Tuesday night until 7:30 p.m. (3.5 hours past my contract time) printing out honor roll certificates and filling out advancement slips? No, they don't. People don't realize what teachers put in during the school year, they only focus on the very loose "fact" that teachers "get the whole summer off." Ha! More like a forced lay-off. The feds call it "furlough." Yep, we're totally subject to furlough. Done ranting now.