Category Archives: radical sabbatical

blogger, Family, Goals, mom of boys, musings, radical sabbatical, Wordsmith

Be Moving Back to Vernon

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These last few months, I have been thinking that our family needs to move back to Vernon…. almost ten years here in K-City and, well, I am not sure what to say about it. In the last three months, I have ran into four friends from Vernon at Costco, the ski hill, for walks and I have realized the deepness of these friendships I really miss.

I miss those friends who:

~ knew me before I was a mom

~ knew my own mom

~ I spent time working with and on vacation with

~ walked through years of change involving birth and death

~ did Music classes with me when the boys were in preschool. (Such a sweet season)

Ten years ago we made the decision to move here as Steve was commuting to K-City, 45 minutes away from our house in Vernon, and he was seeing very little of us due to long hours and evening meetings. One day, yup one day, after we moved to K-city my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Five months later she had died.

As I sit down and have a serious conversation with the family about moving back to Vernon, the boys are all a “hard no”. They were 2, 4 and 6 when we moved to K-City and this is really home for them. They have activities they love, a neighbourhood that loves on them and freedom to move around the city with confidence.

And now I remember a story from a wise uncle. Uncle John owned a fabulous apartment near Commercial Drive in Vancouver. He decided that he wanted to live a bit more freely and travel more than he already did. He sold the Commercial Drive apartment and moved into a great rental apartment on Chestnut Street beside the Burrard Street bridge and one block from the beach. His views were incredible and the accessibility to Vancouver was amazing. If I lived in Vancouver, this is the area I would want to live.

Uncle John loved living in this apartment building and weathered the loss of his parents and his sister. His entire family of origin died in a these short few years. Then Uncle John heard that his old apartment was for sale again, after being fully renovated. He jumped at the chance “to go back”. He rebought his old apartment, moved in and realized he had made a terrible mistake. He had bought the apartment “to go back” to a time where his parents and sister were alive. He wanted to truly turn back time. After a few short months, he resold his apartment on Commercial Drive for a second time and again moved back into his amazing rental apartment overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He was really happy and realized that you never can go back.

…and now as I ponder our family moving back to Vernon, his story has become my own. Why do I want “to go back” to Vernon? It is mostly because I want “to go back” to a time when my mom was alive and we had a wonderful circle of support around us. These have been lonely few years that have developed a deep well of resiliency and perseverance on my part raising three young men without that close support and encouragement as a mom. Even today when I receive a compliment on my role as a mother, I am always surprised because it is so rare. It often brings me to tears.

So we won’t be moving back to Vernon. The show must go on in K-City for this mom of three boys now ages, almost 16, 13 and 11. BUT, you never know where we will end up once the boys are graduated and finding their own paths in life.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

author, blogger, Family, friendship, musings, radical sabbatical, time, Wordsmith

Be Having No Time

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I don’t have time to talk about you because if you are an important person in my life I am talking TO you.

I don’t have time to worry about if you have lost or gained weight, I am 100% focused on my own health.

I don’t have time to ponder what you are doing with your life, but I am praying that you would have a life filled with love, joy and peace.

I don’t have time to wonder why you left my life and want nothing to do with me as I am completely enveloped with love by the people who choose to spend time with me.

I don’t have any time to think about who you love or want to marry, I am focused on making my own relationships better.

I don’t have time to wonder why my family of origin has fallen far apart since my mom died. The rich relationships that have filled this Grand Canyon gap from my mom’s death and the ‘chosen family’ who shower us with encouragement are greater than any gift I could imagine.

I don’t have time to judge what you do with your money, your time or your relationships because God is showing me all the good He is doing through knowing you.

I don’t have time. I don’t believe in busy. I don’t believe in missing anyone.

I create time.

Busy is a swear word.

If I miss you, I reach out to you. The only people I miss are dead. They definitely don’t have any time.

Make time for what’s important to you folks.

Have an epic Monday and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

Boys, career, radical sabbatical, Teaching, Wordsmith

Be Changing Your Career in an Exorbitant Way

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Hi Mom’s and Dad’s that have chosen to give up or change their careers because a wee one came into your life, I am sitting with you as I write this. Grab a cup of tea and strap yourselves in… I have a major wondering today.

Do you ever have a sense that your career changed in an exorbitant way because of your wee ones arrival on earth?

I have been thinking about my time on earth and my career a lot lately as I continue working through the gift of grief that my mom gave me in 2013. Yup, almost 10 years since that fateful day that our Super Nana died and I began my personal journey experiencing the finality of death.

With incredible clarity, I took leave from my career when our oldest came into the world almost sixteen years ago. I was a teacher, coach, volunteer and an advocate of campus education, but when that blonde haired boy with that straight edge part and blue eyes came into the world, my life pivoted and my career path changed forever. I never stepped back into a campus classroom full time and I have never wanted to. I am proud of the fact that I could help keep things simple in our family’s life by being the person “on the home front”. I never wanted someone else to raise my children or see their “firsts” or major milestones. I wanted to be the person to spend the most amount of time each day with them. We are only give twenty-four hours in each day. Those first few years on one income as we added wee one #2 and #3 were years of focus and frugalness, but our family never did without. We went down to one car, bought a home with a suite, took in international students, cut cable and reduced our expenses, by as much as possible, through figuring out what our needs versus wants were.

As the kids grew older, I took forays into selling Hawaiian Green tea directly to customers, ventured into Referral Marketing of health products, worked as an online teacher at a Vancouver-based school and even worked in my dream job as a part time Physical Education Teacher at an elementary school. This is what I wanted to share about today and is the reason I decided to write this blog post . This P.E. teaching job was absolutely perfect for me. I worked a half day Monday and full days Tuesday and Wednesday. I had the gym doors open every single day at lunch for the students. I felt that I could be creative in the physical literacies that I taught and truly impact the school as a whole in terms of health and wellness. I had personal time to train for and race small triathlons on the weekends. PLUS, I could be there for my own blue crew on the four days I wasn’t working as well as not work momentously long days doing prep for my teaching job. BUT, the boys didn’t enjoy getting themselves to and from their own campus school in grades 1, 3 and 5. They began fighting a lot and being unkind to each other on a level that reminded me of growing up when my mom went back to teaching when I was in grade 1. My dream job was no longer my dream job as I left to work with upset kids at 7:45am or came home to chaos at 4:00pm. Due to my family of origin and sibling experience, I have a very low tolerance for my boys treating each other like a-holes just because they are related. The dream career came to a clear closure.

I changed my career in an exorbitant manner yet again. I said no to a returning contract as a Physical Education teacher and came back home full time for the next few years. During 2020, I was drawn back to work as an online teacher again at a new K-city based private school, which I love, but isn’t without some friction within my family.

During this winter season, I have often wondered, what would I be doing if I hadn’t changed my career in such drastic ways. What would my days look like? Where would we be living? Who would I be surrounded by? I am not sure if any other mom’s or dad’s can relate, but I sometimes wonder if I have given up too much. This life I lead working from home is often lonely, isolated and takes a lot of personal motivation/momentum as I don’t walk the halls or share daily energy with any colleagues anymore. I have always had big dreams, an ever growing thought life and a vision of making a major, positive impact on the world around me. By keeping my vision narrow and focused on my family, perhaps I have lost the bigger picture of my life.

Career change

On top of more career change.

With three children.

Narrow focus.

Big picture.

Exorbitant.

Or not?

I am not sure.

Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

radical sabbatical

Be Sharing the Different Between Grade 9 and 10 in British Columbia in the Online Learning World

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Hi! It’s Joanna with her teacher’s hat on again today.

I have been talking to a plethora, well more than a handful, of people about what happens when a student transitions from grade 9 into grade 10 in British Columbia, specially in the Online Learning world. As an Online Learning teacher, I work with “enrolled” families with students between kindergarten and grade 9. (“Registered” homeschoolers in Canada, don’t work with a teacher, but can still move into the Grad program in Grade 10). Once you move into Grade 10, you are enter into the fantastic world of the Grad Program. This is when education gets seriously exhilarating. Not only do you have the freedom from the Kindergarten through grade 9 program, but you have expert teachers in their subject area with courses designed to help students be inspired to learn about that topic. But wait, it gets even better.

In British Columbia, “enrolled” students in Kindergarten through Grade 9 are funded per student (@$7,000+ per year), but once a student hits grade 10, they are funded per course. This is so exciting for me to ponder with my families as we can now truly create the flexibility that your student is looking for.

Currently, our grade 10 son takes 2 courses at the local high school (AP Science and Animation/Robotics) and 2 courses online at home with me (English and P.E.). You can search out the best courses and the best teachers and take them online or in person (if you want to move cities) from any public or independent school in the huge province of British Columbia.

A few years ago, early on in our own home learning journey, I met the most inspiring mom of four beautiful young human beings. She had spent time talking, researching and then applying to get into multiple courses in multiple schools around the province. It created the richest and most diverse learning opportunity for her kiddos that I have personally ever seen.

In the online world, a teacher or course that is “less than stellar” doesn’t last because guess what, no one will sign up for it. It’s amazing to watch the best courses and teachers rise to the top for our online learning students to be able to choose from. YAHOOO!

Today, let me encourage you that once your student hits grade 10, there truly is flexibility for them to design their life and their learning. Do you want to work? Go for it! Want to play the piano 5 hours a day? Clank, clink, kaboom! Do you want to do a deep dive into the media arts and work with the best teachers/mentors located in Vanderhoof, BC? Anything is possible!

And that’s all from me today folks. Thanks for hanging out for my little teachers talk about things that absolutely fire me up: Students’ finding and following their passions with the BEST teachers and courses we can offer in British Columbia. Seek and you will find!

Have an epic Wednesday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

friendship, fun, radical sabbatical, words, Wordsmith, writing

Be a Great Pyrenees (Post about Friendships)

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As a dog, I would previously have been seen as a fluffy, golden retriever.

I love human beings and can talk to anyone, anywhere. I have made friends after a 4 hour plane trip and even made a lifelong friend in a checkout line in Nashville. She complimented me on my shoes. We stayed in contact and then I ended up finding her the same pair of shoes and sent them to her.

My boys often ask me to stop “chitty chatting”!

I might be weird as I will talk to anyone, but I won’t be someone’s friend just because our kids do the same activities , our kids are the same age, we teach in the same profession or we live on the same street.

I love every ONE, but my friends are people who are authentic, straightforward, family-oriented and passionate.

These last three years as I grew through deep loneliness and even discrimination as I wouldn’t share or talk about the greatest science experiment our generation has gone through. My golden retriever spirit died. I have happily morphed into the ever-watching guardian dog, the Great Pyrenees.

I still see you, but I am not going to chase you to hangout with you.

Watching.

Looking for what will happen next, but not engaging.

Watching.

Waiting to see who will “see” me back.

Watching.

I have gotten more mellow, more calm and more still.

Moving from an every chasing Golden Retriever to a watchful Great Pyrenees shifts things up in the friendship realm and many of my friendships fell away in the last three years.

I guess when you are doing a lot of chasing, you can think you have lots of friends, but it is truly the friends that will stand with you in the calm and the storms as a Great Pyrenees that are here to stay.

Thank you to my salt of the earth friends from the past and those to come in the future. I love you and I send you a big virtual lick!

Have an epic Friday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

radical sabbatical

Be Grinding It Out

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With the inundation of the outside world into our regular lives through social media, I want to remind everyone reading this today that “Grinding It Out” is divine work.

We don’t need to sell our homes and fly off to some beachside destination.

Unless, we want to.

We don’t need to be shopping and buying the latest iPhone or shirt from the new Adidas store on 4th Avenue.

Unless, we want to.

We don’t need to get a new man/woman to be fulfilled or happy.

Unless, we want to.

We get to wash dishes, listen to our children talk about cars for the 1, 378th time and tell a bedtime story to keep away the nightmares.

Yes, we get to “grind it out”.

We get to drive hours in our cars back and forth to drop off, pick-up, make dinner all while your husband sits beside a pool in Bangkok, Thailand drinking lemon water.

Yes, we get to.

We get to do laundry, load the dishwasher, scrub the toilet, wipe down the light switches, vacuum moldings all while refeereeing fighting matches involving nerf guns and sponge swords.

Yes, we get to.

The grind is for real. It can be a grind, if we don’t see all of these things as a privilege.

Actually, the definition of grind according to Oxford is “hard, dull work”. As I write these words, I am actually not sure we can call it a grind anymore compared to decades ago. Maybe I need to call this post be: “Be Organizing Electrical Devices to Grind It Out.”

Oh where our minds go late at night.

I love you.

Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.

Xoxo Joanna

author, blogger, Boys, Education, Family, homeschooling, mom of boys, radical sabbatical, school, teaching, Wordsmith, writing

Imagine ~ Campus Education System vs. Home Learning Education System

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Imagine a learning world where you are amongst 29 other young humans that are your age, not your learning ability, but simply your age. Next add into this scenario one or two adults, that we call “teacher”. This is the campus system.

Now, imagine a learning world where you are amongst your family, learning in your neighbourhood, community or even travelling around the world. Next add into this scenario people of all ages, that we call “teacher”. This is the online learning system.

Imagine a learning world where you must be “present” and ready to learn between 8:25am and 2:30pm every Monday through Friday. Next add into this scenario when you are able to have holidays or days off.

Now, imagine a learning world where you can listen to your body and wake-up later in the winter and earlier in the summer. Next add into this scenario that you are able to take holidays when you choose to.

Imagine a learning world where you are required to follow a certain book or program because everyone else is doing it in your group. Next add into that your individual learning style that is different from how the book or program teaches.

Now, imagine a learning world where you choose the book or program based on your learning style and what you are interested in. Next, add into the program, deletions or additions that continue to build on what you already know and don’t know.

Imagine a learning world where you are embarrassed to go to the washroom or able to eat when your stomach is growling. Next, add into the program other young people that might verbally tease you or simply comment on these two natural functions of being a human being.

Now, imagine a learning world where you have cold or hot food available to you all day and your personal washroom is just down the hall. Next, add in an environment where listening to your body and your bodily functions are encouraged and praised.

Now, imagine this woman writing this post growing up in this campus learning world and now being blessed and fortunate enough to give her children a very different learning world.

That’s what I did.

I am privileged to have discovered this second world in 2014 as teacher. And now, I have had the privilege to experience it with our own three boys the last four year. It is very humbling and it is incredibly profound. I do not take these years learning in the world with our boys for granted. I do know that this isn’t for everyone, but I am FOR everyone to have an incredible campus or home learning experience whichever system you choose.

I love you.

Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna