I am Not Ready to Go Back!

Whew! I have been substituting at the elementary school for the past three days and boy am I exhausted. It was my first time back as an employee in the school system and I was nervous but excited. The first day I subbed for a first grade class and I thought the day would never end. Not that the kids were bad but just that I had not been away from home to work in so long, it seemed like forever! I did get to learn a lot on what is going on in the first grade with Nolan. I liked that of course. Then the next two days I have been subbing for Nolan's previous Kindergarten teacher. I actually had more fun in there than in the first grade room. The teacher had me do everything from reading books to singing songs on the CD player. Of course I love it especially since I used to be a Kindergarten teacher. HOWEVER I was never the "teacher" like the teacher I subbed for. It was my very first year and hired three weeks late, so I had no idea what I was doing. Now if I had a mentor like the teacher I subbed for today, I very well might have been teaching Kindergarten to this day. She makes everything seem so fun and boy she does not throw a thing a way. She has old VHS cases full of buttons, keys, shells, flat glass beads, EVERYTHING! I loved just walking around her room and see all of the manipulates she has for the kids learning. I can't wait to go sub for her again. Oh, I forgot to mention the best part- NAP TIME! I got an extra 40 minutes to go over the lesson plans and prepare. I like that a lot!
Am I ready to go back to teaching full time? Well, not quite! It is so very very hard to be with kids all day and them come home and deal with your own! I don't know how mom teachers do it! I have like no patience left for my own kids because I am just wiped out. Also it was hard being out of routine at home. Les actually took Leslie to school on Tuesday when she does not even go on Tuesdays! I thought that was funny. Substituting is a tough job too when you are trying to conduct a class while reading what you are supposed to be doing at the very same time. However, I will definitely go back and sub more. I just don't know if I will do three days in a row again in two different classes. Two days in one class is ideal.
Here's a funny story from the Kindergarten class:
I asked the class if they had ever been apple picking in the fall time. Most of the kids raised their hands. In amazement I replied that most apple trees are in the cold part of the US and asked if they were sure if they picked apples off of trees. One student spoke up and said, "I have only picked apples off a shelf!" I just died laughing!