It's weird being married to a teacher. I don't have any regrets about Craig's choice in careers, but it has been interesting to me as we experience both the obvious and more subtle pros and cons of the public school system. The biggies are that Craig gets nice vacation time in the spring and summer, but then his salary also reflects it.
And I keep discovering new things that I didn't really see coming. For example, lots of my friends' husbands have flexible hours: they can work whenever they want, provided they put in their 40 hours each week. These people often go to work any time between nine and ten in the morning. I can't even imagine such a luxury! Craig leaves every morning at 6:30am. Sleeping in is not an option. Unless, of course, it snows. Then all bets are off. School will usually either be delayed or canceled if there's even a strong forecast of snow. (Or sometimes just because there is still snow on the ground from five days before.) And it's once again awesome being married to a teacher.
On another note, Craig definitely gets a lot of vacation time (July and half of August, and on a good year two weeks during Christmas!). And there's something really fun about summer still being a time for vacation-- it's like we never have to fully grow up. But unlike other jobs, he doesn't get to choose when he gets that vacation time. He can't take two weeks off in March just because that sounds like a good time to take a vacation (or because the rest of his family is taking a vacation then). He has to take what the school board has already agreed on.
But yesterday, Craig's job as a teacher totally rocked. His school's principal recommended Craig to his wife, so Craig has been making a couple short movies for her. This has been both very complimentary to Craig and also makes for a nice little supplement to his income. But yesterday she needed him to film from 11:00 to 2:00. Since her husband is Craig's boss, Craig didn't have any trouble getting the time off work (and he could even be honest about why he wanted the time off!). So he got to teach one class, use his prep period, and then leave early. He filmed, got paid (in addition to whatever he was still making at his real job, even though he wasn't there), and got home by 2:10, five minutes before school lets out.
I live for days like that.
3 comments:
Ah, the 8 hour workday. AJ is gone 7:30-7:30 most days and then is on his blackberry working until we go to sleep, sometimes afterwards. But he's so perfectly suited for the job that it's worth it. When I started reading this post I hoped it would be funny stories about the kids in Craig's classes.
If it makes you feel better, Cameron usually leaves for work at 5:30, which makes life a bit crazy. The lucky thing, though, is that we're both morning people - phew!
That's awesome that he got to be home so early yesterday, and even better to have a bit of extra income! I love extra money coming in. ;0)
One of the reasons I like homeschooling is because we an go on vacation whenever we want, without having to yank our kids out of school or wait for spring break.
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