School and Community Summer 2023

How to build a life of adventure on a teacher’s budget and schedule W hen someone asks me how long I have been teaching and I tell them 45 years, the reaction is often an audible GASP. This is usually BY PAT NELSON, NELL HOLCOMB R-4

When I encourage other teachers to do this, there are four main arguments I usually hear in response: 1) No time, 2) Not enough money, 3) Too many family obligations and 4) They don’t want to do something alone. Let me share some examples of steps I never thought I would take years ago. Perhaps you will be inspired to seek your own new path and overcome these roadblocks. Teachers have the wonderful advantage of being able to spend extra time with their family in the summer when school is out. The summer my children’s father died, we sat down together and planned a trip to see Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home in South Dakota. They were just 15, 12 and nine years old, but I was determined to fight the stigma of traveling with children. We continued out west to see Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Yellowstone, the Tetons and Rocky Mountain National Park. With a tent and sleeping bags rolled in a tarp attached to the car, we made our tight budget work. The annual national park pass was an incredible bargain (and still is today). We stayed in campgrounds and smaller motels, ate at nice restaurants during lunchtime when prices were cheaper and ate take-out pizza and grocery store deli food instead of more expensive dinners out. I was the sole driver on this expedition, as no one else was of age to drive. There were places along our route where we would scan the radio dial and hear nothing but static, so we made our own entertainment in a time before electronics. We enjoyed the challenge and arrived home several weeks later, logging over 3,500 miles and an unfathomable amount of family memories. We experienced glitches to the plan along the way, but being out in nature most certainly healed the soul.

followed by, “Why?” or, “... and you still like teaching?” Yes, I still enjoy the staff I work with and the children I see every day. Each day is different, and every year is full of new experiences. Teaching can be exhausting, but it is never boring! Schools today rely on teachers who don’t just need to be there but want to be there. Each year, we are required to attend professional development activities or workshops which provide innovative ideas and skills, plus the opportunity to network with others and expand our knowledge base. Throughout my career, I have attended a multitude of professional development activities, but nothing compares to the best kind of PD, which I like to call “personal development.” Using my experiences as an example, I hope to inspire other educators to rediscover the joy of teaching by doing the same thing we ask our students to do - never stop learning! My first job in education was as a teaching assistant in the history department of the local university. I later taught government, economics and sociology to 12th graders, and then language arts to 7th and 8th graders. We moved to Colorado, and upon our return, I became a K-8th Librarian at a small rural elementary school, where I have been ever since. The passing years included brought me daughters, a divorce and, tragically, the death of their father. As a newly single parent in a school district with a base salary under $30,000, I knew it was time to find a new approach to life. The twists and turns have taught me the secret to not just surviving but thriving! Instead of seeking the safe or familiar path, I stepped out of my comfort zone!

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