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!