Hi readers!
There's so much to update everyone on that this blog post might be a bit long BUT...there are videos included so, I hope it's enough to keep everyone interested.
So, as you usual, you may want to make a cup of tea and grab a snack!
JOB UPDATE
As many of you may know, in May 2021 I left my job as a Preschool teacher (3-4-year-olds) at Primrose schools. It was a super hard decision to make because I adored my students however, my job was becoming extremely stressful. It was changing me as a person and as a teacher and I just knew that I had done all I could for my students and for the school as a whole. I was only an Assistant teacher however, due to lots of teacher changes I was expected to do more than my job description; despite not being a qualified lead-teacher (yet). The teacher turnover was so bad at that school that it stressed me out to have to keep training teachers. Not to mention it would always cause a huge disruption to the Preschool routine which would result in changes in the children's behaviour and overall management of the classroom. Many people reading this will know that children need structure and routine...
..or in the words of Mr. Banks from Mary Poppins "Tradition, discipline and rules must be the tools. Without them, disorder! Catastrophe! Anarchy! In short, you have a GHASTLY MESS!"
Sorry, I live and breathe Disney....anyway...
Before handing in my notice, I had actually gotten a new position as a Pre-Kindergarten Assistant teacher (4-5-year-olds) at a public charter school in the area I will be moving to. This is very exciting for me because it's an actual school, which suits me more as before moving to the UK, I was a Learning support teacher in a secondary school (Middle school age in the US).
The Primrose school I worked in previously was just private daycare with a curriculum. My new school is a charter school, meaning it runs independently and the age range is Pre-Kindergarten to Middle school (Year R - Year 11 in the UK).
The pay is much better and there's room for growth as I will be finishing my teacher training soon. Overall, I am very excited. Not to mention it follows the public school holidays so, I will get breaks for Christmas, Spring break, etc etc. I think I found this the most difficult part about working at Primrose, they don't follow the school holidays which I feel burns teachers out. It's hard to keep going and going and going with no end or holiday to work up to...at least for me.
My new job starts at the beginning of the academic year, which is in August 2021.
NEW CAR
This winter was quite a reality check for us in terms of our car. My husband owned a 2018 Toyota Camry XSE. This car was beautiful and my husband and I loved it so much! However, winters here in Colorado can be pretty harsh and this year we have had extreme snowstorms. My husband's car kept either getting stuck in the snow or was just overall very difficult to drive in the snow. As we are moving out of his parent's house soon and will only have one car so, we decided we needed a more practical upgrade. So, my husband sold his car back to the Toyota dealership and we bought a brand new 2021 Toyota Venza XLE; which is more of an SUV type and is more appropriate for our climate. Our car is super awesome, it has all the features of our old Camry plus A LOT MORE! It's also a hybrid, so it is both electric and petrol powered. The best thing is, it's higher up so, it will make driving easier for me. My favourite feature is that the boot opens by a senor!
(note: these photos are pictures from google because my photos of our car suck LOL)
HOUSE UPDATE
I know many of you that read my blog are super interested in the progress of our new home!
In April we had our Pre-drywall walkthrough. This is the first walkthrough you have when building a home. It's before they put the walls up so, this is the time to make sure all the plug sockets are in the correct place and to know where all the electrics and wires will be on your walls...you don't want to hang a photo and accidentally drill through a wire.
I actually filmed a vlog of our Pre-drywall walkthrough if you are interested.
From then it's been fast at times but also very slow. It felt like forever but...we finally have a closing date (the day we get our keys) which means we will move in during the first week of July!! Since our first walkthrough, our house has changed so much as is beginning to come together! It's all painted inside and out, we have kitchen and bathroom cabinets and lights!
We went to the house a couple of weeks ago to measure the windows so that we could get a head start on ordering blinds (curtains can come later when we know how the interior of our house looks overall - colour scheme wise).
Whilst I was there I filmed another video of a tour of our house so far. Originally this was intended just for family but many people seemed interested so, I decided to edit it into a vlog.
As of right now, we are planning to move and I have also been trying to finish up my teacher training courses and portfolio. I'm hoping to have it done by the time we move but we shall see. I then need to take an exam and then have an observation of my teaching. Hopefully, it all goes well!
I have some post ideas that I will be sharing very soon!
For now, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the videos...
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- Kerry
xoxo