Sometimes you have to take time to reflect.  One of my favorite ways to do this is with my journal, a good writing pen and my favorite beverage.  I generally head to a spot at Lake Acworth or Red Top Mountain.  Water has a calming effect on me.  I often get there early, so I  have the immediate area to myself.  Occasionally, I have to share with the fishermen.

Today’s reflection was a little different.  I wanted to spend time in my studio experimenting with some tools I’d purchased but never got around to using.  I’d seen a particular ruler demonstrated at the sewing show back in March.  Here was my chance to give it a whirl.  I was  also trying to decide if I really needed to buy that $150 binding foot for Jewel.  My much loved vintage potholders were about to disintegrate, so I decided to make copies.   I played around with free motion quilting on two fat quarter sandwiches.  I still can’t follow the lines on intricate quilt motifs very well, but my free motion loops, circles, hearts and stars look much better  than they did at Christmas.  I made templates from my vintage potholders and cut out as many potholders as possible from the quilted fat quarter sandwiches. I used the ruler to cut strips, which worked surprisingly well (helps to follow directions!).  Then, I unearthed by Clover bias tape maker.  It took 3 tries, but the finished bias binding looks awesome once I got the hang of it.  I used a serpentine stitch to sew down the binding.  Remember to turn under the raw edges where you start.  I simply looped the binding back on itself and stitched it in place to finish off the loop.  There are other options to add a loop, as well.  Look at the potholders in your drawer or spend some time surfing the web.

My time spent in my studio today was sometimes frustrating and at other times exhilarating as I learned a new technique.  I have some handy dandy new potholders to boot.  AND, I can hold off on buying that binding foot for Jewel for now.  However, a new 1/2″ bias tape maker is necessary to replace the existing bent one.

Well, we finally saw the personnel allotments for next year.  I am still employed full-time, but my parapro has been cut to 3 days per week and the technology teacher (who worked with me closely on a number of things) got put on the “reassignment list” because her position has been cut for next year.  We are returning to one K-5 school, but we still don’t know who’s on the administrative team.

I think parents are going to be in for a huge shock when they realize how large class sizes are going to be next year.  Max class size is 32 for 4th & 5th grades.  County requested a waiver to put up to 37 students per 4th & 5th grade classroom.  Has anyone from the district office or school board visited one of my 4th and 5th grade classrooms?  They have a hard enough time fitting 28 kids in there now.  Where are 9 additional bodies going to go?  On the floor?  In the hallway?

At these levels, teaching is going to become nothing more than glorified babysitting.  I had a lovely group of 3rd graders this morning for a skills lesson.  And the group from hell this afternoon.  I finally took the half of the class that wanted to learn aside and continued with the lesson while leaving the other half in their small groups exploring the resource we were studying.

All I am going to say is there’s a huge difference in students who come from families that value education and those that don’t.

My kids’ sewing classes start this week. Yesterday, I stopped by the shop to take a last look over the teaching space, so I could make sure I have everything we need for Thursday. I also turned in the journal covers and picked up fabric for the last project.

I am excited to have the support of the students & parents who have signed up for the classes and the shop owner for taking the chance to try something new.  Unfortunately, the enrollment I had hoped for didn’t materialize.   The shop owner shared some feedback she had received regarding the kids’ sewing classes.  Too expensive.  Later start times.  Different days.  Saturday/weekend classes.  

Lots to digest and some adjustments to be made.  My teaching availability at this particular shop is limited by the hours the shop is open and my own work schedule.  I am open to exploring all of the alternative schedule requests, but again, the class schedule is really dictated by the shop.  [Yes, I am exploring additional locations for classes.]

Pricing is a little trickier.  The major pricing objection didn’t seem to be the cost per class, but the requirement all classes be paid for in one lump sum in advance.  To overcome this objection, we discussed turning the series into individual project based classes (2 hours max), allowing families to pay by the class.  $10-15 per hour of class time seems to be the going rate in my immediate area for sewing instruction.  I  am a tad on the high side and may need to adjust the class fee by 15% and/or include the materials in some of the classes.  It also means I would need to increase the required minimum class size to even hold the class.  As much as I enjoy sharing the love of sewing, I still expect to receive a fair rate for my services.  It is a business after all!