Saturday, May 12, 2012

Oh, my!  My world has turned upside down since I first started this blog & I am just now getting my feet under me.  While I was on Spring Break, my husband came home to say that he had gotten a promotion.  Very exciting and well deserved...but...he was promoted to a post in England and we are supposed to be there by the beginning of August!  Which, isn't that bad, until you realize that my son & I are in a year-round school.  We do not finish school until June 28th!  That is not a lot of time to sell a house, pack & have stuff shipped.  I have contacted a shipping company & they tell me it will take 5-7 weeks to ship everything, which means that I will have to have stuff packed BEFORE the school year ends!  I do intend to teach somewhere in the UK (not stressing that one right now), but what do I take & what do I leave.

I am packing up my classroom slowly, but surely, but it isn't easy!  I am currently teaching at a brand new school, so there wasn't a single thing in the room for me when I first started.  I have put a lot of my own money into my classroom, not to mention my blood, sweat & tears!  It kills me that I am going to have to leave all of the Unique stuff that I have made, but my system did purchase the rights to it & supplied me with cardstock (most of it anyway).  I am hoping that the person who takes my place will not be a brand new teacher & will have some stuff to work with.

While it KILLS me, I am also going to leave ALL of the "stuff" I have amassed to create tasks with.  I can always collect more, right?

I am leaving most of my Social Studies tasks/folders because most of it is either NC or USA history related.  I am also leaving most of my money tasks because I don't foresee teaching American monetary units to British children!  But I am struggling with all of the other units I have built.  I worked hard to put everything together & I don't want to leave it all behind.  But I also don't want to pay to have it shipped if I don't need it.

How much of a library do I leave in my room?  The school hasn't bought me any books for my classroom.  Most of my books have been donated to me through the years, so I won't be out money there.  If I take everything, there won't be a library for the students if the new person doesn't already have one.  However I do want to take a library with me.  I am really struggling with this, as my system is in such a budget crunch that I know there won't be any money to give to a new teacher to build a classroom library.


What do I leave?  How do I pair everything down?  What do/did you leave behind when you move(d)?

So much to do, so much to think about!