Work From Home Mom Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to myself! I’m a couple days late but who’s counting!? I’ve officially been a “work from home” and “stay at home mom” for one year and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This past year has been filled with hills and valleys that have taught me so much about myself as a professional and as a mom.

I became a teacher 8 years ago after leaving the non-profit world so that I could change the lives of kiddos. Math became my “thing” and I saw myself as the math cheerleader. I loved watching students experience the light bulb moments in math and hearing the “I get it” comments. I feel like in all the content areas in school math kinda has a bad reputation. Too often I heard from parents that they couldn’t help their kids because they themselves were not good at math. My goal was to make math enjoyable and colorful. I feel like I accomplished that with my students during my 7 years in the classroom.

My classroom was bright, comfortable, and inviting. I played music or allowed my students to listen to music regularly. I made up songs for just about everything, my favorite was “We’re trading… and grading… and trading and grading!” I would sing it on repeat until every student traded papers and had a grading pen in hand. Building relationships was my favorite! I loved getting to know what my kids like to do on the weekends, what songs they like, what shows they were watching on Netflix. Because I had those relationships with my students I often referred to them as my kids. They were all my kids. We also had nicknames! After attending their theatre productions I often called them their character names in the classroom. I had a student one year that wore the most colorful Ace Venture style outfits, I called him skittles. I had an El Presidente, Snowflake, Hockey, Smiley, Chicago. I named them after their extra curricular events, positions they held in clubs, where they were from, and situations in the classroom. If you want to make a difference in the classroom…. get to know your kids.

Instead of seeing my kids at my place of employment, I now run into them at their place of employment. I have students that work at Emler swim school where Rocker takes swimming lessons. I have kids that work at Target (lots of my kids work here). Ice cream places, snow cone places, stores we shop at… even Pizza Hut. I love seeing my kids working and earning their own money. Now that I’ve been out of the classroom for a year, I miss the kids the most but I LOVE my current job. I continue to make math enjoyable and fun but on a broader lens.  I’m a math curriculum writer for a school district but get to stay home with my boys at the same time. The best of both worlds.

What does my typical day look like? Well nothing is typical or predictable when you work from home with a one year old and a three year old staying with you. I learned really quick that I couldn’t set things in stone or have inflexible expectations. Some days I accomplish more than others but I have to go with the flow or I get frustrated. I’ve learned to have patience with the boys and that sometimes we all need a moment to sit and cuddle.

In the beginning my work routine was confusing and foggy. I didn’t know how to work from home or be a stay at home mom with two boys! It was like Christmas morning over and over and over again. I got to make math activities and stay home but I also forgot what it felt like to get to Friday. We would stay home for three days, not going anywhere, and drive ourselves crazy not interacting with others (or having adult conversations).

I’ve gotten to stay home with Jagger from day one so I’ve spent A LOT of up close and personal time with him. I can honestly say I’ve seen every moment of his first year of life. From learning how to roll, crawl, feed himself… you name it. I’ve been blessed to watch Rocker become a big brother and the sweetest one at that! Rocker and I have the best conversations. We talk about rescue bots, the mystery bandit, adventures, and so much more.

Over time I quickly learned that vacuuming every day  was unrealistic. That I couldn’t keep a clean house for more than a couple hours. I learned the value in a quick run to Chick-fil-A for sweet tea and just getting out of the house for 30 minutes. I’ve also learned that keeping up with my friends was important to me. I value my friendships and the adult conversations we have together. My school district has the best people to collaborate with curriculum while also continuing to grow as a leader. I work with some incredible educators.

I’m so thankful for my husband that lets me get out of the house for a pedicure, 10pm trip to target, or just simply recognizing that we had a crazy day and I need to take a shower in an empty bathroom with no screaming children.

I have the best job in the world. It allows me to continue my passion for math and teaching, the opportunity to watch my boys grow, and be present in my marriage all at the same time. I enjoy lunch time (which you rarely do as a teacher), sleep past 6 am, save on gas money, text my friends back whenever I want and not just during passing time, go to those play places with my boys that are only open from 9am to 5 pm that working moms never get to do and so much more.

So with that.. Happy 1 year anniversary with the best job ever! I love being a work-from-home/stay-at-home mom. Cheers to many more years!