the paquettes

Do I really LOVE sharpening pencils?  Nope.  I mean, really, is there anyone that truly loves to stand around an annoyingly, loud machine and grind pencil after pencil?  (Besides students who just don’t want to do their class work, and happen to “break” their pencil, and therefore disrupt the entire class.)  🙂

But I LOVE to sharpen them, you know why?  Because I’m serving the ones who invest 7 hours a day in my children.  There are perks to being a teacher, (summers off!), but sharpening pencils is NOT one of them.  It’s a necessary evil, and I would rather bless my kid’s teachers with the time they would of had to use after school sharpening pencils, to browse Pinterest, or read a good book-(whatever helps them relax!)

Service is not without sacrifice, and if  “sacrificing” means sharpening hundreds of pencils every month, that is a small price to pay for all the work my kid’s teachers do to pour into their lives each day!

Being intentional with my children’s teachers is something I’m passionate about.  I want them to know that I’m intentional in sending them to public school.  This is not the easy way out for our family, this is the way God has willed for our family, and for us, public school requires even more intentionality.

School starts August 27th.  This past week I learned who our kids teachers were, (because I went to a PTO meeting-again-intentionality), and I e-mailed them this:

Dear _______ ,  We are so excited that _____ has you as a teacher this year!  He/She is super excited to be back in school.  We want you to know that we are here to support you and help you this year.  We would love to volunteer in your classroom or whatever else you need, just let us know.  We would be happy to help you with projects or field trips as well.  We want to support you in your efforts this year as you teach our children each day!

We also want you to know that we will be praying for you as you give yourself to our kids and all their classmates each day of the school year.  We are thankful for all you do and know that teaching is not an easy job, so we commit to praying for you throughout the year.

We also want to be a blessing to you in any way that we can.  If you could answer these questions for me sometime this week I would appreciate it.

1. What magazine do you love that you don’t currently subscribe to?
2. What are your favorite breakfast drinks?
3. What are your favorite snack items?
4. If you could get any breakfast on your way to school what would it be?
5. Do you have any hobbies?
6. Do you need any craft items from our house?  Toilet paper rolls?  Old magazines?  Buttons?  Fabric scraps?
7. What is your favorite restaurant?
8. What is your favorite drink from Sonic?
9. Do you enjoy reading?  If so, what kind of books?
10. What is your favorite splurge?

All their teachers have e-mailed me back already, and because of that, I now have small ways that I can bless them throughout the year, and I was able to make “Back to school” baskets with some of their favorites that my kids can bring them on their first day!

back to school baskets!

On each note, I typed up this:
Welcome Back to School!
Paper Clips: To help you hold everything together this year!
Goldfish: We hope this year will be O’fish-ally the best year!
Notepad: A note to say we think you are the best!
Pens: Thank you for helping our child write the future!
Extra gum: You are an extra special teacher!
Mints: I’m glad you were “mint” to be my teacher!
(Favorite candy/drink): We’re looking forward to a “sweet” year with you!
Love,
The Paquettes

*I’m not a big “let’s spend hours making cute stuff for gifts” type person.  If you’re like me, take heart!  Teachers love gift cards best!  I know this because I used to be a teacher!  🙂