Today, my work day consisted of 4 hours with a group of 11 kids ranging from age 6 to 14. This is not a normal work day. My days so far have been no more than 3 hours with 1 child age 6. The difference today? I got to go to camp with the little girl I am working with.
This is day camp that occurs 2 days a week for kids who have special needs. Today, the kids got to go on a field trip. They all are higher functioning, able to converse with others and understand most of what is required of them at their age level.
Now, I have always loved being outdoors. Working at camp (BLBC) was a fantastic time for me and I miss it dearly. I miss the adventures, the team building, and the leading and guiding of young minds.
This field trip put two of my passions together. We went to a team leadership center and got to go rock climbing. Well, I didn't exactly climb, but I helped and I encouraged and I conversed with many of the other kids besides the little girl I was there with. (Note: I was supposed to engage with the other kids, I am not there to be a hawk over the little girl I work with because camp is for her to socialize and interact with the other kids). It was a blast. Combined with working with kids who had special needs (which in my own mind most of them seemed like typical kids) and seeing them interact and even encourage each other. Simply amazing.
So that brings me to my point, I like working with kids in a small group setting. I miss camp, I miss the small groups, I miss belaying and seeing kids work together to accomplish a task; I love helping, I love encouraging, I love seeing kids step out of their comfort zone, and I love seeing kids succeed at whatever it is they're doing. I don't mind the one-on-one therapy, it is fun but I think I miss groups too. Though 20 preschoolers is a bit much. Give me 10 -15 kids (special needs or not) with another adult or 2 and I'm all set. I'm going to be looking forward to my Thursdays the rest of the summer for sure.
On another note, I found out some other exciting news today. One of the other ladies (who also worked with the same little girl at school last year) with the camp asked me about the hours I work during the week. I told her I was only on 2 cases now, but didn't know what the fall would look like when school started again. She told me they are always looking for subs for teaching associates (I assumed these are like teacher's aides because she told me I'd always be with another teacher...or they could be those who help with special education, I'm not quite sure.) But she said to just go to the high school and fill out a sub application and that I could be specific with what age groups I'd want to work with. I thought that was pretty cool because it's something I was thinking about doing when we moved here. Unfortunately we moved at the end of the school year, so I didn't see the need to fill out a sub application or inquire about teacher's aides then. Now, I will most certainly take up that opportunity when school gets back underway because I don't know how many hours I'll have doing therapy.
So we'll see where all of this takes me. I've been having a hard time trying to figure out what I want to do exactly, especially with having to move so much, and wanting to be at home with our future children as much as possible. There aren't many careers that I am interested in that can handle those kinds of things. Prayers will be said, and are much appreciated by others for discernment in going back to school, finding the right master's program and/or just being satisfied with what I'm doing now and could also do in the future. I know God has great plans, they just aren't all that clear right now.
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