Every year it seems that October is the 'magic' time, when the chaos at school slows down, and things start to fall into place. It's when schedules start to become more consistent, and you start to have an idea of what you're doing. Many times I've found myself saying-- Can I just fast-forward to October??? With Special Education/SST, it is very common to have your students more than one year, which is a really nice thing. You get to know your students, and it seems like that 2nd year you're able to prepare for them, and know exactly what you're doing with them-- and their skill level. When you have a new student and you don't know them, or how they learn, it takes a period of time to figure out what strategies/curriculum programs are best for them. And also, b/c my time with them during the day is usually relatively short (30-60 min), it takes awhile to get to know them personally. For some student's, being out of their classroom, and having to go work with another teacher they don't know very well is intimidating. So for some of my student's I have to spend several weeks/months getting to know them on a personal level-- what they're interested in, in order to have them respond to what I ask them to do. For some student's it's really easy. For other's, it takes sometimes a long time to break their "shell" and see their true personality. This year I have only 2 returning student's from last year, so it's been a bit of a learning curve getting to know my students.

This year I have found myself struggling a bit, with having the distance of being away so far from my family. In the past I've lived 7 hrs away from my family, but it was always within manageable driving distance to see them. My family has been having some health issues, which has made it hard to be here away from them-- and not being able to see them makes me feel a bit helpless-- though I know that God is watching over them. A few weeks ago my dad, who is a rancher, was kicked by a cow, and fell and tore his hamstring/tendon in 3 places. He was out in the pasture, 20 miles from town, when it happened, and thankfully, there were several other people there with him. The Dr thought that he was going to have to have surgery to fix it- b/c the muscle was away from the bone-- but a 2nd Dr said that he wouldn't need it, and instead would just have a brace and crutches for it to heal. 5 years ago my dad was mauled by a bull and he broke 6 ribs, fractured his sternum, had 2 punctured lungs-- was in the ICU for over a week, and in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. He thankfully recovered from that,-- but with going through something like that before-- and then having this happen-- it makes you think about the past. He has slowly been healing, and has noticed improvements every day.