Fall Semester

Anybody who's ever talked to me about it knows that I've spent the last couple years being very anti-preschool. It bothered me when people assumed I was getting a Child Development degree to teach preschool. Teaching preschool was the last thing I ever wanted to do. That didn't really help me with finding an internship in Rexburg though. I knew I didn't want to do preschool, but wasn't really sure what else I could do. Brother McCoy gave me some options, and I honestly wasn't excited about any of them. After much indecisiveness, procrastination, and people trying to convince me I might end up enjoying preschool, I gave the local Head Start a call. They were more than happy to take on an intern.

Fall semester for me has consisted of going to my internship from 7:45-11:45 Monday-Thursday, as well as 2 hours on Fridays. I spend my time helping in the classroom. Classes are Monday-Thursday, and Friday is for cleaning and preparation for the next week. I've grown to really love the kids and enjoy my time there. The only teaching I do is closing circle twice a week, which I think contributes to me liking it so much more than I ever thought I could like preschool. It hasn't been nearly as stressful as I know the campus preschools are for people doing their practicums there.

The rest of my time is spent working part-time and reading. Life is good. I really enjoy having the time to actually be at home. Our laundry gets done (including being put away!!) every week, and sometimes I even make real food for dinner!

Joshua is off-track in the fall. He's taking one night class which doesn't take up a lot of time. The teacher Joshua was a teaching assistant for last semester, Brother Merrill, asked him to T.A. again. Since Joshua is off-track, Brother Merrill had to get an exception for Joshua to be his T.A. this semester. This time Joshua is a T.A. for all five of Brother Merrill's classes! Three of these classes are sections of one class (Introduction to Philosophy), which Joshua has previously taken from Brother Merrill. Another (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy) is a class he's taken from a different teacher. Grading papers for all of these classes has kept Joshua really busy. Plus, it's great practice for being a teacher one day.

Here's a fatty stack of papers Joshua had to grade one week:
Good thing Joshua's kept some of his textbooks.

Here's the stack he refers to when keeping up with the stuff
for grading papers:

In the middle of the semester, Joshua was asked to start helping tutor Logic. There was already one tutor, but he did not have time to help all of the people who were requesting it. The logic professor got another exception for Joshua, and Joshua started spending a few hours a week helping some students. This was really exciting for him: Joshua really enjoys Logic, and he had fun brushing up on it and having the opportunity to teach others. Maybe I'm biased, but I'm certain Joshua will make a great professor one day! He loves learning and is very enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge with others.