Christine Ho Younghusband

A Teacher’s Gift

When you are a teacher, it is sometimes difficult to realize the kind of impact you have made on someone’s life.  For 15 years, I spent much of my time focused on getting through the curriculum, marking a tonne of papers, and building relationships.  I was a high school math teacher.  No one likes to learn math unless you found it fun.  Well, I found math fun.  We played review games, went on field trips, and used dialogue to make sense of the content. If anything, I wanted kids to LIKE math.  On my pedagogical journey, I am beginning to understand what kind of teacher I was.  My first year away from teaching, I cried… a lot.  I missed the kids.  My second year away from teaching, I could start hearing compliments and receive them.  Now in my third year away from teaching, former students request my connection on LinkedIN.  You know what?  That is super cool.  Forget the chocolates, lattes, and coffee mugs… a friend request, a follow, or LinkedIN connection is the best teacher’s gift.  Thank you.

Easter Monday Taxes

Easter Monday and I’m doing my taxes.  Yup.  It’s a beautiful sunny day and my kid is hanging out with a buddy and my husband is mountain biking.  Personally, I’m overwhelmed with a tonne of paper.  It used to be straight forward when I was employed with public schools but now that I’m self-employed it’s much more work.  Thank goodness, I will use an accounting company to sort out the details but I don’t like collecting EVERYTHING.  On the one hand, it’s good data to collect.  On the other hand, it’s a lot of data.  Nonetheless, I have spent most of the day sorting out bills, receipts, and invoices.  Blogging gives me a bit of a mental break…  Although I did a similar process last year, it seems a bit more complex.  I can see why I was procrastinating this task.  Sigh.  Happy (Easter Monday) Taxes.

Like Mindedness

Just the other day, I received an email from one of my good friends, former colleague, and blog follower.  Today, I happened to see her in person.  She was walking her dog and I was walking off an ice cream. Nonetheless, our paths crossed again.  As you know, good things happen in 3’s.  We both started teaching high school math together in the 90’s. We both loved our jobs, our practices resonated, and we aspired to do more.  More than 10 years later, our career paths deviated.  She became a school principal and I pursued doctoral work, self-employment, and local politics as school trustee.  We both continue to do our best in the educational leadership roles we possess, trying to make a difference in public education and student learning. As it turns out, our career paths will reunite on a provincial curriculum committee.  I am excited to work with her again on this committee as we move forward with our common purpose and passion. Happy Easter.

Happy Pre-Easter

My kids never ceases to amaze me.  Yesterday, on Good Friday, we went to the dollar store to buy Easter hunting supplies.  She was quite secretive about the entire experience.  With her allowance, she bought $10 worth of Easter goodies.  She bought chocolate, plastic eggs, and pencil sharpners.  En route home, she sorted candies and filled the plastic Easter eggs in preparation for an Easter Egg Hunt.  The strange part is… the Easter Egg Hunt was for her parents… for ME… and her dad, of course.  She seemed pretty anxious last night with the constant questioning of, “Do you want your Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow?”  Without a definitive reply, we woke up this morning to our first annual Parental Easter Egg Hunt.  She armed each of us with an Easter basket and off we went.  Her dad found the first egg, the second egg, the third egg… and my kid intervened.  She stood close to me and started to help me, her non-observant mom.  She would give me hints, ask leading questions, and restricted areas of the house just for me to egg hunt.  All I could do was laugh and giggle throughout the Parental Easter Egg hunt because in this basket of goodies (as seen here), I found only one egg on my own.  Thank you sweetness for making the appropriate adaptations for your mom on this Easter Egg Hunt.  My basket is full and I feel like a winner!!!  Happy Pre-Easter. 🙂

BCSTA Director Candidate

A Tidal Wave

Yup. A hat-trick of blog entries today… Yay you!!!  In an earlier blog titled The Body Knows, I had mentioned I was sick and took a couple of days off.  My was body telling me to slow down but it has taken me several weeks to get back up to speed.  As I get “life in order” I realize there is a tidal wave coming!!!  Goodbye life of leisure and hello chaos.  Soon after spring break and Easter long weekend, life will be busy with contract work, meetings, and conferences.  By planting seeds everywhere to see what takes, I’m am faced with many opportunities.  Unfortunately, times are conflicting.  As I try to rebook and reschedule, it is not a perfect fit.  It’s about making choices.  What is important to me?  Where am I going?  What are my limitations?  I guess we’ll soon find out.

Courage

From the beginning of this Edu-Blog, I’ve been struggling with courage.  What does it mean to JUMP… to take risks… or try something new?  I’ve spent much of my life calculating the outcome, playing it safe, and doing what I thought I was suppose to do.  More than two years ago, I jumped… and left the comforts of my teaching career to explore other avenues in education and challenge some of my false beliefs.  At first, I wanted to commit my time to writing my dissertation, but I had other “work” to accomplish first.  More than 5 years ago, I had a vision of working at the university, public speaking, and becoming an educational leader.  Guess what?  I’m there and surpassed my expectations.  It is absolutely incredible and I’m grateful.  What’s next?  I am back to student mode and writing my dissertation.  It’s time for the next step and I’m not sure what it entails.  What I do know is that I am dreaming bigger and I’m looking forward to growing up.

One Step at a Time

My Kid… Completed 10 Levels of Swimming by Age of 9

My kid is a source of inspiration.  I thought I would go through life not having children.  I was so focused on my career and in my 30’s.  At the time, it seemed impossible to have children and be successful at work.  Well, it was kind of true… at least for me… I became a mediocre mom and a pretty good teacher.  Truthfully, I wanted to be excellent at both.  Nonetheless, life moves forward and we learn from our experiences.  For the past 9 years, Zoe has taught me many life lessons and I am truly grateful.  One of them just happened a few days ago.  It’s the beginning of spring break and it dawned on me that Zoe’s swimming lessons were over.  We picked up her report card at the pool and she PASSED… Level 10.  That is totally incredible to me considering I don’t know how to swim.  What I realized is, we can accomplish great things by taking one step at a time, by doing what we love, and by enjoying the experience instead of dwelling on the outcome.  You did it Zoe!  Congratulations!

Do Your Best

The Straight Coffee – Wilson Creek, BC

Lately, I’ve been thinking about “What am I going to do with my life?”  You know… it’s the classic “What am I going to do when I grow up” question.  There is no question in my mind that my purpose involves teaching, learning, and leadership.  I am in the field of education.  I derive great joy from sharing ideas, inspiring others, and taking the first step.  This knowing is a gift.  I love public education, teaching teachers, and diffusing the fears of learning mathematics.  All I can do is DO MY BEST and the rest is in the hands of others.  Which leads me to this bagel and lemon loaf.  If you don’t know already, I’m a bit of a foodie.  I enjoy going to the Straight Coffee.  They started off as a little coffee shop in Wilson Creek with maybe 12 seats and a limited menu.  They were great then.  Now, they have more than 30 seats, a full kitchen, a wide selection of sweets & savories, and coffee too.  Their success comes from doing their best at what they do.  Because of that, I keep returning.  Life’s Lesson: Do your best and success will come.

A Good Place

Stop. Take a moment and reflect on your day.  How did it go for you?  Sometimes we get so consumed by getting things done that we lose sight of what we accomplished.  Today it seemed like I was in the right place at the right time.  Do you get these moments?  Sometimes these special moments occur at a special event, like your birthday, or sometimes on a regular day, like this one.  Today was suppose to be no different than any other day… but today, I feel like I’m in a good place.  I had the great fortune of having coffee with a good friend, I bumped into another friend at the mall, then I had some quiet time alone to “get things done” and reflect.  Today was an amazing day!  I realized that I have good people in my life.  I am doing things that I love to do.  And, I sense I am closer to my life’s purpose than I have ever felt.  This is truly rewarding.  I don’t know exactly what I am meant to do with my life, but I do believe that everything happens for a reason and I’m grateful.  Lately, I feel like I’m in the shift… another one.  Not sure what it will entail, but I’m excited.  I embrace change because it’s suppose to happen.  Don’t fight it.  To strive is to arrive… and learning something new is super awesome.  I hope that you are having a similar day.  It feels great to be in a good place.  I am a natural winner.