Work Life Parenting Balance

Just over a year ago I made the big decision to leave my permanent job in order to find something more flexible to allow me to parent little owl.

I had a great first year as a supply teacher although I always seemed to be working on Fridays when my mummy friends were off.  But I did manage to pack in lots to the 3 days Little Owl and I would spend together.

However, the money wasn't great, and because I only worked two days a week, it took me nearly the whole year to do my 12 week probation period and for my money to go up to a more reasonable amount.

September came around and the work didn't. Not until October. So now we were really skint. Finally a job came in. It could be a permanent job too if I want it to be (and I guess if they like me).  But its lots of hours.  The money really is great but my weeks aren't.

For the last 3 weeks I have worked for a couple of hours on a Monday lunchtime, Tuesday afternoons, Wednesday & Thursday all day leaving me with only Fridays off.  By the time I have got to Friday on the first week I was shattered and had had a lazy day with Little Owl.  A whole week gone and we'd done nothing special, no little outings, no friends seen, to trips to the swings, no baking or craft at home.

I felt very much like it on the second week too but I had plans, Little Owl and I had a mammoth 6 hour drive to get to Lancashire for the Friends of Sangam Gathering.  I was tired but it was great to spend some quality time with Little Owl and by the time I was driving home, I made the decision that the Monday lunchtimes had to stop.  Its a rush to get from swimming, drop Little Owl with my mum and then get to work.  At first I thought I would have the afternoons to catch up with friends but if I skipped lunch the earliest I could meet people was 2 o'clock.  It really wasn't going to work.

Little Owl is nearly two and a half.  That's two and a half years of fun we have had together.  This time next year I will be filling in her school applications and the following year she will start school.  Our adventures will be even more limited.  I don't want to loose a year of this precious time together.  I might work longer days on the days I am working, but until Little Owl goes to school, I'm not planning on working more than 3 days a week.

I realise that I am in a very lucky position to have that as an option, it has come at a financial cost, but one that we can cope with.  I'm also pleased that I have had these few weeks of working so much, I think it will make me appreciate what time I get with Little Owl.

So now I have plans to make!  Its time to sign Little Owl up for a playgroup or nursery for the days I work.  I think she will love it - just got to find the right one!  And then I need to find some new groups or activities for us to go to on the other days.  Exciting times ahead!

A Supply Teacher's September

September.

New year

New beginnings

Apart from I can't start yet

Other than swimming, Little Owl doesn't have a weekly group that she goes to.

I'd like to change that

Maybe a gym class or ballet? Something active

I'm also thinking she is getting more and more ready to go to a play group.

She is toilet trained and quite articulate enough to make herself understood.

She craves attention and something to occupy her.

Papa Owl and I went to look at a couple of places in July but haven't settled on anywhere yet.  

Its a big decision.

But as much as I want to get on with planning, I cant.

I don't have a job.

I'm not worried about it, the phone has started to ring.  I actually have an interview tomorrow. Possibly for 3 days a week!

But right now I don't know which days I will be working, or how many.  

A play group would help my parents out with childcare but I can't arrange anything until I have a job.

I can't sign Little Owl up to any new groups until I know which days I will be working.

I am in limbo.

I know from last year it can all happen incredibly fast. I could be starting work on Monday.

Or I may not.

This job is going to involve a lot of effort on my part. 

Teaching A Level for the first time.  

It either means evenings spent working or weekends,  or Little Owl going to playgroup on one of the days I don't work.

And where to send her? 

Somewhere I can take her to myself before I start work? 

Somewhere I can walk to? 

That sounds ideal but limiting. 

Or somewhere that is easy to drive to?

So many questions. 

So many what ifs.  

Time will tell but one thing I'm sure of is that this is going to be one hell of a week!

In 5 years time...

We've just committed to a 5 year deal on our mortgage.

5 years

It doesn't seem that long...

And yet...

In 5 years time we'll be nearly a third of our way through paying off our mortgage! We've owned our house now for 3 years, and I must admit at the time 25 years on a mortgage felt like forever, but those 3 years have gone quick as I'm sure the next 5 will too. Paying off a third will certainly feel less pressured.

In 5 years time we'll have made lots of progress with out house, hopefully.  A new roof is planned for late summer.  The dining room and green room are current work-in-progress.  I'd really hope that we will have a new bathroom by then too.

In 5 years time, I might have a proper job!  Or not.  I've enjoyed the flexibility of doing supply, but I've been lucky all year of having long term placements.  But this month I have started doing day to day supply, and that's a little more stressful, getting up and ready for work in the morning but not actually knowing you have any.

In 5 years time, Little Owl will be at school.  Wearing a little uniform, going every day.  So many decision to make about going to school...

In 5 years time we might have another small owl in our nest or possibly two?! Who knows, but by then we'll have an idea of how big a family we are to become.

How exciting!

Tis the season to be a Maths Teacher!

Tis the season to be a maths teacher tra lalalalalalala

Thinking back to last summer when I first took a step off of the teaching treadmill in search of something more flexible, I was nervous. Would I find work?  Would there be enough work for me?

Well it turns out there is!

There is a national shortage of maths teachers, really there always has been, but at the moment, with teachers leaving the profession in large numbers, this has been made far worse.

It is not unheard of, in these unhappy times, for a whole department to leave a school at the end of a term.

This gave me a long term placement from September through to Christmas. Over Christmas I began to get nervous again but as term started, the phone calls began and I found myself on 'day to day' supply - one of those placements could have been long term if I hadn't been going to India. I could have been working 5 days a week if wanted.

Back from India and I found myself in another long term placement, hopefully until mid-June when the GCSE exam is.  I've been brought in as one of two extra teachers enabling the school to have class sizes as low as 5 for their year 11s - they really do want them to pass!

I also managed to bag myself a bit of teaching at a 6th form college - one of Gove's ideas is for kids to carry on studying maths until they are 18. Colleges aren't set up for this so are having to pull in extra staff.  Unfortunately the kids weren't so keen on Gove's plan, and low turn out meant that my classes got cancelled and I was officially made redundant after just 3 weeks!

But that's not all - I've been given some tutoring work through the Supply Agency too.  School's get extra money to support kids who are in care, one school locally have decided to spend that money on tutors.  I've got one kid at the moment, but there has been talk of a second.

Last summer, I went through some training to do online tutoring.  That company stopped trading but one of the tutors has set up on his own and got in contact to see if I could run a course for some year 6 students.  I had to say no as it was at a time I was already working.

So at the moment work is all good.  I am definately employed up until mid-June when the exams are but I suspect there will be less call for supply after that and obviously nothing in August!  A couple of exam boards have been in touch though, I've got a contract with one (but no guaranteed work), and waiting to hear from the other, so hopefully I'll make it through to September and I can start all over again!

I haven't written this post to show off or anything like that.  Supply teaching doesn't pay anywhere near as well as a permanent job.  If I was working full time I would be £6000 worse off a year doing supply.  Plus I don't get any benefits from agency work.  But teachers are choosing this route as the only way to get a work life balance that works.  As their only option to keep healthy.  A friend told me recently that she was going to take early retirement and work as supply.  She is leaving her 'proper' job because, well, for the same reason everyone else is - its just a bit shit at the moment in teaching.  Apparently, reading my personal posts on Facebook was part of her decision process.  

So that's why I wrote this post. I'm not showing off.  I'm not saying the grass is greener.  But I am saying its ok out here!

SNOW DAY!!!!

Well, not snow exactly

rain I guess

I kissed Little Owl goodbye

and was walking out of the door

when the phone rang

"SCHOOL CLOSED"

"No power"

I felt euphoric!

A whole day free!

I am so excited!

But why?

I only work two days a week

so what makes this unexpected free day

better than the other 3 days?

I really don't know.

I go back into the house

say hello to Little Owl

have a cup of tea

and wonder what to do with my day

Its exciting

the possibilities are endless

but before I make any plans

the phone rings again

Another school want me!

Oh well...

But I'm still confused

Why did this 'snow day'

feel so different from all the others days

where I don't work

and could potentially

do anything

I'm not sure

but I think I need to start making the most

of my days with Little Owl

go on a few more adventures

Have days out

where we don't plan in advance

but just get up and get ready

and then set off

to who knows where!

Look out for more snow days!

  

New beginings, one week on...

It was a huge decision to leave my old job after seven years, stepping out into the unknown, looking for a better work life balance.  I officially finished my old job on 31st August, over three months after I had handed in my notice.  Three months to plan, three months to worry, both a blessing and a curse.

Here I am now, 7th September, one week into my new life.

I've worked more this week then any week since I started my maternity leave!  Not exactly the work life balance I have been looking for.  A new job and INSET days have meant I have been in school four days this week.  The nerves and pressure that go with the beginning of term have meant this has been an exhausting week.  By the time I limped home on Friday, I had a banging headache, couldn't stand up straight and could barely open my eyes.  No such thing as a gentle start in teaching!

Little Owl has enjoyed spending time with her Grandparents, and has come home each day ready for bed, yawning her way through dinner and her bath - we even skipped the bath one night!  I have missed Little Owl so much this week, it really was hard leaving her on the first morning.  I could tell she was unsure of what was happening and while I know that she will be loved and looked after by Grandma Owl, I couldn't help feeling that I was abandoning her.  She's too young to understand that term has started and that I'll be back at the end of the day.  Six weeks is a long time when you are 16 months old to remember that its ok not to be with Mummy all day.  By Friday she was fine, quite happy to see her Grandma, and even more excited to see her Granddad!  Little Owl became Granddad's shadow, not leaving him alone, even sitting on his lap while he typed an email!

During the three months in the run up to this 'new start', I was also hunting for some work I could do at home.  After a slow start, I finally have some.  Of course this has happened at the same time I have got a 'proper' job, so today Papa Owl took Little Owl off for the day so I could do some of that work too.

So that's 5 days worked this week!

I'm tired but its an OK kind of tired. 

Think this term is going to be a long one...

September, New Year, New Beginnings

In a household where both adults are teachers, September really is the start of the year.  Papa Owl will return to his job, but with new kids and new colleagues he isn't sure what the new year will bring.  And me, well I don't have a job to go back to, not yet, well not for sure.

This summer has been odd.  I left my job at the begging of the holidays without a job to go to. Initially I was reasonably hopefully about finding another job, but as time went on, nothing firm had been confirmed I realised this might not be quite as easy as I had thought...  August is dead as far as teaching jobs are concerned.

So this summer has been all about Papa Owl.  I am a lady of leisure (who does need work but we'll worry about that in September).  Little Owl has loved having both parents around, she has been totally spoilt!  It didn't take long until I could be heard saying things like "she's going to really miss her Daddy when he goes back to work".

And she is.  I'm looking at them now, all cuddled up in bed, almost mirroring each other.  They've had adventures a plenty, leaving Mummy at home they go off to the swings or down to the library (I've never taken Little Owl to the Library).  Papa Owl has gone to singing groups as well as to swimming, taking Little Owl of course.

He is the one to go to her first thing in the morning, usually changing her nappy before bringing her to see me (I will still be in the land of nod).  Little Owl has responded by perfecting her pronunciation of "Dada" even calling to him from the cot when she wakes.

Yes, Little Owl is going to miss her Dada.

I've spoken before about how I'm a little nervous about Papa Owl going back to work, getting used to doing everything myself again.  Part of the challenge is to organise the house.  We have been using the nappies straight from the line, although we rarely change Little Owl on the top floor, which has meant all summer one person would take Little Owl to the loo while the other got a nappy.  Not the most sensible but with all the changes that have been happening in the house, rooms having different purposes, it somehow has just drifted.

But that is not all. I have been secretly looking forward to having Little Owl all to myself again. Going on our little adventures, seeing friends or just having a lazy morning at home, whatever we get up to, sometimes knowing its just the two of us is great!

As September draws nearer, however, my mind has also begun to think about work.  Quietly working out how long I can live on the money I've got put by, 6 weeks perhaps if I'm careful with my spending, which gives me 6 weeks to try and earn some more money to stretch that a further.  Trying to work out in my head how much I could get from the working at home jobs I might have secured, could I hobble on to Christmas without a proper job?  Perhaps, but things would be tight, really tight.

These are the thoughts that are going through my head as September creeps closer.  Making contacts with various agencies as staff return from their holidays, making sure they remember me, are thinking of me when work comes in.  Its all pleasant chatter and lots of agreement, but nothing concrete is said.

There are bits of work that I can do from home, not long term, not for now, but I like the idea of these different projects that might build over time. A new career perhaps? But for now they won't pay the mortgage...

I start to console myself, there is still one pay cheque to come, I will probably be alright for another month, Little Owl and I will go walking, that's cheap and its exercise, we will plan each day, our own little adventures, it'll be alright.

Then BANG!

I get a phone call from an agency, wanting to confirm what I was after, yes only 3 days, yes they can be any days, no - not a long term job - not yet (although I'm beginning to loose my nerve on that one). She hangs up so she can ring the school back.

15 minutes go by.

Another call, yes they are interested, the head would like to speak to me, when? Now! I am transferred.  I'm talking to the head teacher at a school.  They need a maths teacher.  What age did I prefer? How about the disinterested I'm asked? Oh they're my favourite I reply!  They would like to see me. When? They start back Tuesday. Tuesday? No, its INSET they want me there for that! Monday? Yes Monday, for a chat. And Tuesday for INSET then we shall see after that.

Gosh!

I have a job? Possibly. Probably.

3 days a week, starting next week if all goes to plan.

My time with Little Owl is gone, snatched away from me before it even began.

Interview on Monday, work on Tuesday, possibly two more days next week too.  And the other work, the work I had organised to do from home, that needs fitting in too.

Little Owl has only just started walking, by the next holiday, 8 long weeks away, she will have changed so much.

Where has my special time with her gone?

These have been my holidays too, and I took them for granted.

I start to stare at her, drinking in every moment, the rise and fall of her breath, her mannerisms, her understanding, her 'speech' as she chatters away.  Even more now I am looking forward to our road trip, some time together.

I love this little girl with all my heart.  I have been sharing her for the last 6 weeks, and now I must share her again.

Monday.  Who knows what Monday will bring? Maybe it doesn't all work out... Only time will tell.

This morning.  This morning is all about teaching Little Owl how to blow raspberries on Papa Owl's belly!