Y’ALL. Our district added a “fall break” to the school calendar last year, but since we started the year online, it felt mostly like a break before stepping into hybrid. Well, this year they kept fall break, but shortened it from one full week to three days.

Kyle and I kept our weekday alarms set for 5:00 a.m. so that we would be forced to wake up and be productive. I thought I would feel extremely guilty for dropping the kids off at daycare on our days off, but Kyle and I each finished reading our standards (helllooooo National Board) while discovering different coffee spots in the city. We ended up making it to eight different places!

I saw a meme recently (or was it an article?) that said something along the lines of self-care in education needing to be more than simply admonishing teachers for not scheduling more massages or stopping at Starbucks after a tough day. Adding a “luxury” to my plate ends up creating more work for me later because I ignored the priorities in the name of self-care.

Our fall break was scheduled at the end of a grading period, so I truly did not feel that I was ignoring day-to-day to-dos. Studying at coffee shops, highlighting and making notes, having pedagogical conversations with hubs- now that was some serious self-care. I’m so thankful for TIME to act like we were in college and pick up the kids earlier than normal, fully present and with plenty of energy!

I also hear fall break is a norm in many other places – is it for you?!!