Starting School and Jet Lag

Starting school again after holiday is always a little exciting.  My kids know exactly what I expect by this time of the year.  The Christmas activities still need to be put away, but I know what I need to teach next.  We are starting to learn our times tables, so that is the MOST exciting thing ever (nine year olds really get into this).  My classroom is a well-oiled machine.  The only problem...  jet lag.

It's killing me!  And it's killing the kids!  Being international has so many advantages, but jet lag is not one of them.  My kids struggled through the mornings this first week back.  As they told me about their adventures in Australia, Florida, the Seychelles, the poor things worked so hard to wake up each morning.  About 11:00 (after snack time and recess) they were finally awake.  But after lunch their eyes were at half mast again.  This is especially difficult when I feel the same way.

But we made it.  We learned something, I think.  And we all managed to stay some-what awake for the last five days.  On Friday as I said goodbye to them, about half the children were jabbering about sleeping this weekend.  If a nine-year old gets excited about sleeping during the weekend, you know it was a rough week!