no no - I just wanted to help you get your last dot (tee hee)

I was only kidding.

Congrats on entering teaching... there are a few of us here incl JakobVirgil I believe - not sure who else. When school starts again, please write occasionally about your classes/joys/challenges - I'll watch out for it.

I love my class, and I definitely plan on posting about my experiences there. I don't have a degree, yet, though... just on-the-job training here and the Early Childhood Education classes my boss sends me to every now and again. I have some college classes, but I dropped out when the economy crashed and my parents could no longer afford to help pay for it, and then it sort of took a back burner when my wife became pregnant with my daughter. I am definitely planning on going back to school, though, especially now that it will be so easy to get financial aid (since I have a child).

I actually drive a shuttle bus as well. I'm with the kids for breakfast, then I take them to school, then I have two groups of kindergartners during the day (one before their half day of school, and one after), then I pick up the rest of the kids from school, we have snack and have fun for the rest of the day until their parents pick them up.

I love my job. Early Childhood Education is really a different ballpark than the public education system. We're taught to teach through play, and to foster individuality and heavy emphasis on giving the child choices. For instance, instead of "You must sit in a desk and only speak when you raise your hand and are called upon," it's more like, "You can come to the art center and paint your own fantasy world map, or you can go to the blocks center and help that group finish the skyscraper they're working on, or you can continue to throw a fit and sit there on the wall until you calm your body down and apologize. Those are your choices, please pick one."

I also get to go on a ton of field trips, including a trip to the pool for four hours every Friday during the summer. We go sledding in the winter, there's a hill on our playground. Yesterday we brought in buckets of snow for our sensory table and made little igloos. It's a blast.