Why I Love Appreciating Teachers and My Decision To Stay Home

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Whenever I learn about an event or discount related to being a teacher, I get seriously giddy with joy. Having been a teacher for the past 11 years, I know first hand how extremely hard teachers work to educate students in content, life lessons, and how to be kind humans. The hours that go into lesson planning, out of hours meetings, and extracurriculars make teachers some of the most committed people I know.

Walmart feels very similarly about teachers and wants to thank them for all their hard work with their Teacher Appreciation Events. These events are happening in over 1,000 Walmarts across the country on July 13 from 12:30-4:30 CST. With lots of school supplies available at Walmart, it will be easy to get pampered and choose what you want on your back to school supply list.

The first 300 teachers to attend the event at their local Walmart will receive a free swag bag with some fun items to make going back to school a bit easier. Plus, there will be cake, ice cream, beverage samples, and a photo booth. This is the perfect event to attend with a few of your teacher friends to feel appreciated for everything you have done over the year and everything that is coming up! Just make sure you all bring some form of school ID so Walmart knows you are an educator.

Before you do head to Walmart for the Teacher Appreciation event, make sure you upload your school supply list here. That way, your incoming parents can see what you are requesting students to have for both their personal school supplies in your class and your personal classroom supplies wish list. The fact that your list can be uploaded to access on the Walmart app or website, and is searchable by school and teacher name, means that parents can easily have their students ready with everything they need on day one of school.

If you are not quite sure what you need yet for your classroom, you can check out some of the commonly bought items for differently grade levels here.

Click this image to be taken to the Walmart website so you can easily find a Teacher Appreciation Event near you.

Plus with Walmart Pay and Walmart Online Grocery (where you can now order non-grocery items for pick up), parents will have no problem getting exactly what they need quickly.

This fall is going to be surreal. After 11 years in education, in roles as a classroom teacher, interventionist, and ESL Specialist and in two states and two countries, I made the decision at the end of the 2018-2019 school year to stay home with Zoey and William. This choice came at the same time as our decision to move to Minnesota to be closer to family (more on that big change and cross country move later).

This past school year was particularly hard on my heart as I deeply felt the rushing off to work in the mornings (often before the kids were even awake), rushing around all day at work to finish everything I needed to do, and then rushing home to spend about four hours with the kids before it was bedtime.

The hardest part about making the change to leave teaching and be home with the kids, is that I loved my job. I was in a position as an ESL Specialist where I got to work with multiple teachers, was on the Building Leadership Team, had students from 37 countries and just as many languages, and had incredible co-workers that become close friends. It was fast paced, challenging, and a good use of all the skills I have gathered over the years as an educator of multilingual students.

Being a work at home mom has never been on my radar as something I would want to do, until it was time to head back to work after my three months of maternity leave with William. Rob and I talked about it upside down and backwards before I finally felt comfortable committing to the leap.

Now that I have been home for just about two months, I have to say that this was the best decision we made. The time I get with Zoey and William has been so good for my heart, my spirit, and my mind. I just love being around to watch them grow and help cultivate them into these little people in a very real way. I am honestly shocked at how much I am loving being with them all day every day.

With back to school supplies starting to appear in stores again, and summer teacher trainings in full swing, my teaching friends are all preparing both lessons and their classrooms for the new batch of kids. I am not feeling left out, but I am feeling like I want to help them as much as I can to be prepared for that first day. Those first few days of school are so incredibly important and it is vital to have students walk in on day one to a classroom that is welcoming, well-stocked, and organized.

Even though I do not need any school supplies for a regular classroom this year, I happily stocked up on essentials for planning workouts, writing meal plans, organizing blog posts, and doing preschool learning activities with Zoey. With the wide selection, and my Teacher Supply List, I was in and out in no time!

As I make this transition to working from home and spending my days with the kids, I am thrilled to know that Walmart is there for anything I may need to help my clients reach their goals and that they are there for all my teaching friends to support them, celebrate them, and make their back to school supply shopping as easy as possible.

Do not forget to attend the Teacher Appreciation Event happening at your local Walmart on July 13 from 12:30-4:30pm CST. Make sure you register your teacher supply list before you go so you know exactly what you need!