I am linking up for Leslie’s Once Upon a Time, Happily Ever After for her 10 on the 10th. If you’ve never linked up or seen these posts before, Leslie comes up with a theme and 10 questions to answer on the 10th of the month.You can see my previous 10 on the 10th posts here. Appropriately, this month is all about back to school.
- How old were you when you started school? Did you attend pre-kinder and/or kinder or go straight into first grade? I think I was 3. I did 2 years of preschool then kindergarten.
- Were you a good student? What was your favorite subject? I think I was a pretty good student. My favorite subject was probably reading. I would literally spend the entire weekend reading sometimes during middle school. I also liked math especially in high school.
- As a child, did you take music lessons? Or play a sport? Do you still play an instrument now? I did learn to (poorly) play the flute in middle school and continued that for freshman year in high school. I had no motivation to practice. In our high school the band was expected to play at football games, basketball games, and do concerts. I hated that I couldn’t enjoy the games with my friends so my parents let my freshman year be my last one. The world did not lose out on a gifted flutist. I did play soccer for a few years in middle school and my freshman year. Then I was sick for sophomore tryouts so I joined track and field instead. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. I found my love of running and have been doing it ever since!
- Did you attend any kind of training or classes beyond high school? If so, what did you study? Did you wind up working in a profession or job for which those classes or training prepared you? I have always loved to work with children and did a lot of volunteer work through Girl Scouts as a child. I decided I wanted to be a speech pathologist and looked for a small college that had that as a major. After college I took a year off and worked as a speech pathologist assistant in the public schools and then went on to graduate school for speech. I worked 9 years as a speech pathologist in elementary schools before moving to Illinois 3 years ago and becoming a SAHM. I am keeping my certification up and hope to go back to work when Aveline is in school though. It’s a fun and challenging career.
- Have you taken any personal growth or adult education classes for fun? During the year that was Covid, did you home school, learn a new app to work from home, teach yourself to do something you might have paid someone else to do for you? All of my education classes have been to maintain my certification. I was actually extra busy at home during COVID trying to entertain and educate my kids!
- What would you like to learn how to do that you don’t know how to do already? I’ve always wanted to learn how to decorate cookies, cupcakes, and cakes. I know a little, but I think it would be fun to take some classes. It would be fun to learn some sewing and better knitting skills, too. But right now I don’t have time to add another hobby in my life. Haha!
- Name something that you learned easily. Then name something that was a struggle for you to learn to do. I’d say math and reading were always pretty easy for me. Funnily enough physical education was typically a challenge. Hand-eye coordination was not my forte. It actually still is not my forte. Yet another reason for me to do track and cross country as a sport. I can handle putting one foot in front of another.
- What’s the last thing you remember learning? What kind of learner are you: visual, auditory, hands-on/kinesthetic, verbal, logical/mathematical? That is such a hard question. I mean we are learning new things everyday. As far as continuing education I think it was a course on literacy or autism. I am definitely a visual learner. It has always helped me to have notes to look back on, or write things down. If you tell me information, I need to picture it in my head to retain it.
- Hard to teach an old dog new tricks, school of hard knocks, pass with flying colors, learn by heart, burn the midnight oil, pull an all-nighter, play hooky – which of these expression best fits your life lately? Why? I would probably say ‘burn the midnight oil’ best fits my life. When I am trying to get things done, I tend to stay up late so I don’t need to worry about them the next day. That has been especially true this summer.
- What is something you’ve learned from past mistakes? Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself. But there is normally a way to do it in a nice way.
- Bonus: Share your favorite learning/education quote.
