As the new school year fast approaches, several of my coworkers have been checking in and the conversation always starts, “So how’s your summer been?”.
Hmmm…equal parts relaxing, productive and frustrating.
Grateful for the 8 weeks off to catch up on my sleep, play with the dog, have lunch with friends and putter around my sewing room.
Productive in that I have almost knocked out the entire summer to-do list, in spite of the constant companionship of the “pet me monster” (my dog, Boomer).
Frustrating in that my children’s sewing classes didn’t pan out the way I’d planned. Felt like I spent three weeks of precious summer vacation chasing my tail. Trying to locate space in which to teach privately or hold small group lessons (other than my home or subdivision clubhouse) turned up many dead ends. The obvious suggestion by interested parents was for me to teach classes after-school at my existing worksite – which is unfortunately out of the question. School board policy prohibits “private tutoring for pay” on school property by district employees. Even running an after-school arts and crafts club through my LLC is not okay.
My goal was to find a fabric or craft shop centrally located where I could rent space by the hour or as a percentage of my teaching fees. I did find one, but I am limited to the hours the shop is open and when adult classes aren’t being held in the classroom. Oh – and no Saturdays either if an event is going on (which is most Saturdays at this particular shop). If I were a resident of a certain local city, I could rent space at the recreation center quite reasonably by the hour for sewing classes. Non-resident fees are simply too much.
Oh well, I’ll keep looking and again, I keep going back to the local church with the established arts program. It would be worth contacting to see if there’s any interest. Someone also suggested I look at offering my arts&crafts club in the neighboring school district. There are 2 or 3 elementary schools fairly close that I could probably get to in a reasonable amount of time after I complete my duties at my own school. Will have to consider that.
The big BUT in this whole endeavor is I have to see the upcoming local school calendar before I can plan anything. That has yet to be made public and probably won’t be until preplanning. Yes, the district calendar is available, but the local school calendar contains information regarding staff meeting days, PTA nights and other special evening and Saturday events we will be required to attend.
As frustrating as finding space for sewing classes has been, business did come in unexpected ways – namely commissioned quilts by friends and repairing antique quilts. This has been a very pleasant surprise. I will be vending at a craft fair in late August to test the waters again. My previous foray into craft fairs several years ago at a school Christmas craft extravaganza was not a good one. I am grateful for the other doors opening when it seems like the window for teaching classes keeps getting slammed shut.
Come Stitch With Me, LLC 