Week 3 at school went pretty well. After this next week, I'll be halfway done. I kind of can't believe it. I'm stressed and exhausted and spending a lot of (my parents') money on gas because I have to drive the Tahoe out there... But I'm really enjoying it. Out of the nine kids I have, the most I had at one time this week was five. It was the big moose hunting week this week, so a lot of kids were gone, either hunting with their parents or they were staying with family outside of Northway. And, there was a funeral on Thursday in Tetlin and another funeral on Friday in Beaver Creek for community members that had passed away. After lunch on Thursday, I only had two kids. I'm hoping I'll be back to a full class this next week. Including the aide.

I want to go back to school. Like, really want to go back to school. Part of it is because I think it'll make me look better to have another degree while I'm looking for a job. Part of it is because I miss being a student and want something more to do. And part of it, probably the bigger part of it, is because of my mom. She has so much zest for learning -- it's practically infectious. While we were in Virginia, she got her Master's in Elementary Reading and Literacy. Then immediately went and got her National Board certification. She started her doctorate, but decided it wasn't what she wanted. And then she got her principal certificate. And now she's getting her counseling certificate. There's so much out there to learn, and she wants to learn it all. She's so knowledgeable about school stuff. I'll tell her about something I thought was a great idea, and she comes back with a better idea, something I never would have thought of. And, because of her job here, she's not always everyone's favorite person... But I think everyone knows that she knows her shit. I want that for myself. I want to be as good of a teacher as she is. Honestly, I'd be perfectly content if I were just half the teacher she is.

If things go my way, I'll be starting my Master's program next Fall semester. I'm most likely going to go through Walden University and get my Master's in Elementary Reading and Math. I can do the whole program online in about 20-24 months, or faster if I choose. But before I start my Master's program, I want to get the two classes for my Alaska teaching license out of the way. Since I have an out-of-state teaching license, when/if I get a full-time teaching job in the state, I get a provisional Alaska license. In order to get an actual Alaska license, I have to take a Multicultural class and an Alaska Studies class. I have a list of approved classes for each area, and I've decided that for the Alaska Studies class, I want to take Geography of Alaska. I've always enjoyed geography, and I remember my mom taking that class when we lived in Ketchikan. She had this huge maps of the state spread out on top of tables with colored pencil marks all over it, and it looked awesome. For the Multicultural area, I'm not sure which class I want to take. I think I want to take that class first, and save the best -- the geography class -- for last. I want to take the Multicultural class in the Spring and the Geography of Alaska class in the summer, and then start my Master's in the Fall.

Mom and I were supposed to go to Fairbanks for the weekend this weekend, but she had a lot of school work to get done for her classes, so we're going next weekend. I need to get a few things at a store bigger than anything we have here. We were going to do a day trip, but we decided to go overnight and go out to dinner and get pedicures. :) It's going to be nice to get away for a little bit. Hopefully next weekend, like this weekend, I won't have much work to do for school.

Speaking of that, I have just a little bit of work left to do, so I should probably go get on that.