Bill's question about finding balance as a teacher

Bill asked how I am able to balance full time work, graduate school, ARC, and family. I've posted my response below. You'll see that I mention Starbucks often. I, like you, am in the middle of a career change. I'm taking classes and moving into special education. I'm also challenged by Gabriel's autism which at times weighs heavily on me and our family. I feel your pain in many ways and hope this provides a little clarity.

First of all, I am NOT able to do everything thoughtfully as I should. You HAVE to pay a price if you put in long hours. I drink lots of coffee, sleep only 6 hours almost every night (often 5), and I do not do as good of a job as I could in my all of my work. I do not go to the gym right now and eat too much comfort food. My wife and I don't get enough time together alone. She bears the brunt of watching the kids as a homemaker. This is very challenging because of Gabriel. Until I get my master's in sped, we'll often face this challenge. My mother comes up every other month and helps out a great deal. Our house often is cluttered but we finally found a balance between some clutter but not enough to drive us nuts.

What you see at Milner and ARC is the end result of an ability to perform efficiently and effectively because of many years of experience. I accumulated the stuff in my room at Milner over months worth of effort. I have to introduce graphing tables of data tomorrow. I have a lot of experience with this and thought about it at different points of the day - a little planning here and there.

At school, you sometimes have to get the kids on task then work on various duties or tasks. I have to be careful not to do this too because I have to monitor the kids.

Here is my schedule. I make sure to make time for the family. I do not have any me time aside from working and keeping up with sports and politics a little each day. I persevere because I feel I am pursuing my calling.

Mon, Tue:
6AM get up
6:30 out the door with a stop at Starbucks
7:00 arrive at school
7:45 start 1st period
2:15ish prep period starts (I am usually having to do other stuff aside from planning)
3:05 school ends (we have extended day)
I usually leave between 3:30 and 4 to go home
4-7:30 is family time: play with kids, take Gabriel to the mall for socialization, watch Sesame Street with the boys, feed them, help put them to bed
7:30-10:00 work (often I have to go to Starbucks because Lucas will cry which makes Gabriel cry)
10-12 iron clothes, clean a little, watch my liberal programs on MSNBC

Wed (changes only):
3:30 go to class at Saint Joseph College (approx 7 minutes from home)
6:30 go home
6:45-7:30 family time

Thu (changes only):
3:15 ish go home
3:30-6:15 family time
6:30-9:00 class
9-12 work, iron, TV

Fri with ARC the next day:
7:30-12ish work on ARC and iron clothes - maybe watch some TV

Fri without ARC:
I'll put in a couple hours of work MAYBE and might stay up later

Sat (with ARC):
6:00 up and getting ready
7:00 off to Starbucks and ARC
Family time from when I get home to 7:30
If I'm not exhausted from ARC I'll put in a couple hours of work after kids go to bed

Sat (no ARC)
6:30ish wake up and work on computer
between 7 and 7:30 get Lucas when he wakes, make him breakfast
8-8:30 get Gabriel, make breakfast for him and Michelle
Family time almost all day with some chores
I may go to Starbucks for 2 hours to work sometime during the day
I'll work a couple hours at night

Sun:
Same as Sat with no ARC and I work a couple hours at night