A high salary and a light workload are definitely not among the perks of teaching at a large community college. But I love Rich's job for so many other reasons...
First of all, because Rich loves it. Teaching makes him happy! He's really good at it, too. And his students adore him! (Most of them, anyway.) Some send him cards thanking him for getting them interested in biology or environmental science or whatever. A couple days ago, the department head showed him a student review from a student who wrote that Rich was the best science teacher he'd ever had. And that kind of thing is common. (Can you tell I'm sort of proud of him?)
But that's not the only benefit...it's been so great to be up on all the goings on at the school for Annie's sake. Because of Rich's job, Annie has had the chance to do some neat things during this year of homeschooling that we probably wouldn't have known about otherwise. A few weeks back, she was able to attend 2 lectures about preserving biodiversity by E.O. Wilson (2-time Pulitzer Prize winning biologist). Yesterday afternoon she was able to attend a poetry reading by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver. (Wish I could have gone, too...I love her poetry!) And Saturday, she will be attending a lecture by paleontologist Mark Norell. A total treat for her...she loved his book Unearthing the Dragon as it was about two of her loves, paleontology and Chinese culture. Granted, it's not like she couldn't have done these things if Rich didn't work there, but it certainly makes it all much easier.
Anyway, this is a reminder to myself to be grateful. In my head, I often complain about how much Rich has to work (though a lot of it he does at home). And someday, I hope that he will have more free time. But for now, I am thankful. We don't have a lot of money, but at least I can stay home. And not only does he have a job (which is something to be thankful for all on its own), but he has a job that makes him happy. So, yeah, we are blessed.
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6 comments:
Oh I would LOVE to sit in with Annie ;-) That lucky little girl!
It sounds like he's great at his job! And fun for Annie to get to do those other things.
I think my daughter would like to teach at the community college level or maybe college level but she's getting her degree in history, no science people here!
How wonderful that Annie gets to enjoy the perks!
My dad is a college professor and I know how that life goes. Although, he's the head of his department for the 1 college ~ he also teaches part-time classes for another college. He's always working. Like you said, even at home!
As for this new lil' guy's name ... we're naming him Levi Allen Grasty. All the Grasty boys have Allen as their middle name so we can't break tradition, LOL. :o)
Hi Debi, thanks for sharing! Of course you have a reason to be proud of him!! :) I always admire & respect people who take up teaching as their career! Have a great weekend.
Great post, and you're so right, we are all very blessed in so many ways. Sometimes we just have to stop and look for the roses and not just the thorns :)
Cool that Annie to get to go to all of those things, wonderful opportunities and it's great that she's interested in things like that!
What a nice tribute to Rich!! Annie is lucky to have those opportunities to do all of that great stuff! I know Timmy would love to hear about dinosaurs.
take care,
Dawn
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