What Exactly Do You Do in the Summer?

Whew!

Big sigh of relief because school year number Twenty-Three is in the books for me!

As my Spring Choir Concerts have become larger and larger events with bigger and better production values, the last month (or two) of the school year has become an immensely busy time for me!  I'm generally working until 11:00 pm pretty much every night.

I do take breaks though.  How else would I be able to post my ramblings on Facebook?!?!?  😜

This June I've been asked this question more times than in past years, it seems.  Which is odd because I assume people who know me would  already know these answers, but I guess not everyone does and I suppose it's silly for me to think they would.

What do you do in the summer???

Answer #1:  I SLEEP!

In May I average about 5-6 hours of sleep per night, which for me is not enough.  In June, I average at least nine hours per night!  It's needed for recovery.  The past two years our Holiday Break has been shorter than two weeks and I'll tell you... it makes a difference in the way I feel in January.  I'm looking forward to a full two week break this year as it's important to recharge.  Your children deserve to have teachers at their best!

Answer #2:  I CLEAN!

This time around it has mostly been (so far) focused on the garage due to Zachary's HS graduation open house.  Lots of cleaning and painting.  I found it relaxing actually and even said to my brother, "I think when I retire from teaching, I'm going to become a tinkerer and a cleaner."  Now, to tackle that master bathroom sometime soon!  Oh, and I also need to attempt to get on top of the mole situation we have going on.  ugh...

Answer #3:  APPOINTMENTS!

We try to schedule all my Doctor, Dentist and Eye Doctor appointments in the summer.  And when the kids were younger, theirs too.  That way nobody has to take time off work.  Trust me, it's much easier to NOT get a substitute teacher than it is to get a substitute teacher (even though lately I've been utilizing the same one and she's great - and she knows I appreciate her).

Answer #4:  I TEACH!

In addition to my teaching job at school, I also teach private lessons.  I typically have about 6-8 students that come in either after school or on the weekends during the school year for 30 minute lessons.  In the summer, I teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays and my client load usually goes up to around 12-16.  Currently I have mostly voice students but also two guitar students and two young ladies working on songwriting in addition to voice.  I enjoy every minute of that type of teaching because I never have to monitor, manage or correct bad behavior which cannot be said about what it takes to teach a choir class of 65 thirteen year olds.  I also teach and present at the LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ at Baldwin Wallace University in the Cleveland area every July.  It's a nine day conference/workshop for Voice Teachers, Choir Directors, Singers and Speech Language Pathologists.  This July marks my eleventh year attending and my sixth year as being part of the faculty.  I'm also the sound engineer for the entire conference, which is a joy and an honor for me.

Answer #5:  I WRITE!

Although not nearly enough.  I need to write more blog entries (I have sticky notes with about three more solid ideas, currently).  I also need to write more music/songs!  As our children are now older, my summer duties no longer include things like changing diapers and preparing breakfast and lunch every day.  I need to replace that time with more writing time! 

Peace,

Cos