My Summer Relaxation Challenge

Yesterday was my last teacher workday of the 17-18 academic year. Of course, this means I get to go on my 3-month long paid vacation! Man being a teacher is easy!!!....

Hopefully, you know that teachers DO NOT get paid during the summer months. Teachers can choose to have a part of their paycheck held back in order to create summer checks, but we only get paid 10 months of the year. YET most teachers spend their summer working.

I, like many teachers I know, spend my summer planning for the next school year, reading books on the profession or on our content, attending professional development, and sometimes even going to school to work my classroom. Additionally, I take EF Tours over the summer, so that's 1-2 weeks out of the summer spent on a field trip. I basically take a few days to relax, then it's right back into work-mode. I have also moved to a year-long program, so I only get "vacation" from June 12th to July 9th.

This year, I am challenging myself to relax and NOT concentrate on my classroom so much. I have decided to lay down some ground rules, and a "bucket list" for the summer:

Ground Rules
1. I can only work on lessons or classroom prep up to 4 days total throughout the break.
2. I am disconnecting my work e-mail on my cell phone.
3. I will not go in for EVERY SINGLE optional workday.

Summer Bucket List
1. I will take at least one weekend to go to the beach.
2. I will not plan every day - I will be spontaneous!
3. I will spend time working on my mindless hobbies - playing video games, playing Magic the Gathering, binge watching tv shows, etc.
4. I will cook a new recipe each week of break.
5. I will read every book on my TBR list.

This is a simple list BUT this will be the first summer I am consciously attempting to not work over the summer. I feel like I owe it to myself, and my students, to actually rest over the break so that I can go back to school refreshed and ready to take on the world.

Hopefully, this summer I will look like this: