Chapters 1-3: Share your thoughts about this passage: “There are 168 hours in a week. Let’s say you’re contracted to work around 40 hours and you work another 20 hours every week for free. That’s 6o hours a week spent on school-related tasks, leaving you with 108 hours for everything else. If you factor in around 7 hours of sleep a night, that still leaves you with 59-60 hours a week for yourself…” How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteI currently get home from work and I decompress with screens, typically in Spanish. I make supper sometimes. I talk on the phone/facetime with family and friends. Sometimes I bring work home. I would l like to become more mindful with my time and do things that are more rewarding. I would like to be more intentional with my physical self-care. I also want to prioritize my environmental self-care since I just moved and some of my spaces still reflect the move. I would like to make a habit of organizing my time better by creating lists with the order of importance, so I spend less time on banal choices.
I really enjoyed this passage on time spent. It made me look at my own life and how I spend my 60 hours a week. We have three teenagers so a lot of time is spent at their activities as well as doing daily chores. The story about making supper being a choice was eye opening! I do have a choice! I realized how important supper is to me and my family and that time with my husband and kids is one of the best times of each day so making supper to me is time well spent. What a great way to look at that time everyday! I want to be more mindful of how I spend some of my time and make sure I am using it meaningfully. Just being aware that I have choices with my time is already beneficial and a much better way to view my day and time!
ReplyDeleteI spend my free time for my personal choices--taking classes to renew my teaching certificate, reading books for enjoyment, taking my dog for walks, spending time doing different activities with my family and just relaxing at home. I also clean in my spare time. I like to spend time with friends and make it meaningful.
ReplyDeleteThat section of the book really made me think about time. Time is such a struggle because it can so easily slip away with the wrong things occupying it. Something I am often guilty of and let take up a lot of my time is social media. I am very good about taking time for my health; working out, meal prepping, bible studies, etc.. however, I do let social media take quite a bit of time from me. This is something that I would really like to work on. I do a pretty good job of leaving work at work and not bringing papers home or working on school during that time. Social media is my big time waster that I could work on.
ReplyDeleteWhat resonated with me in this chapter is your free time not feeling free. A lot of my free time is not spent efficiently. Rather it's spent dreading lesson plans and other things I know will need to be done for work. When in reality if I didn't waste so much time complaining or dreading I would actually have time to do some things I enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI currently spend most of my 60 hours of free time at home or with my husband, Charlie on the farm. At home, I spend the most of my time doing household chores such as cooking or cleaning. However, I also try to do at least one "enjoyable" task per night such as reading, going on a walk, or watching a Netflix episode or two. I think finding time to do ONE thing for myself has helped me feel less overwhelmed or overworked by household or work related things.
ReplyDeleteAfter being out of the classroom for 8 years, I know I would be a better, more organized teacher now. It might be due to maturity, but I think it has to do with having a deeper understanding of how to utilize my time in a manner that respects the limited amount of it that each of us has. However, I know that I am an easily distracted individual, and I find myself scrolling through my phone when I could be doing something else. That is one thing that takes a great deal of my "free time" if I am not careful. Most of my free time is spent managing my household and family, but I also carve out plenty of time to read each week.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally posted this anonymously. This was my original post on 2/4/25.
DeleteIn my remaining time, I work a second and third job, often multitasking by completing classroom-related tasks while on the clock. Fortunately, these additional jobs align with my personal interests—I work for local production companies, which serves as both a hobby and a way to unwind. While it may seem counterintuitive to relax through work, the stress involved is different from that of teaching, making it a refreshing change. Additionally, these jobs provide opportunities to tackle less enjoyable classroom responsibilities, such as grading. I am continually exploring ways to manage my limited free time more effectively.
ReplyDeleteThis is for Scot Dobbs
DeleteWith the 60 remaining hours I would say it is broken down roughly like this: 20 hours intentional time with my kids and husband, 10 hours housework/personal care, 10 hours reading, 10 hours watching tv/sports, 10 hours scrolling my phone. Many of these hours overlap - but alas I am somewhat content with the hours aside from the phone scrolling. I have read books and engaged in content about the dangers and downsides to social media and extensive phone use, and yet it is something I continue to struggle with. I do think there are some positives - I use social media to connect with other readers, follow mom content that can be helpful, sports news, etc. However there is a point in the scrolling where I know I am no longer getting anything out of it and I continue on anyway. Spending less time scrolling social media that does not serve me would free up more time and mental space for my family and hobbies that are good for me.
ReplyDeleteAs I reflect upon my free time, I can honestly and regretfully state that in the past, my free time was consumed with work that related to my classroom and items that were not meaningful and fulfilling. It took job change and a lot of mindfulness to balance work and life. My free time is now spent with family, gardening, hiking, fishing, and hunting. I can honestly state that I like myself a lot more now! When I begin to feel unbalanced, I take a strong look at how my time is being spent and what changes I need to make. It is constant hard work for me to continue to be mindful of the hours of my day, but the benefits are beyond amazing and worthwhile. I am adamant that I will be fully present for my two precious grandchildren, my own children, and my husband. I will also continue to find time to take care of myself and fill myself with the time and opportunities to be my best self.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this, I was amazed to think that we have 60 hours of free time! Most of my free time is spent doing things related to my family: my kid’s activities, cooking, cleaning, having quality time with family, etc. I also enjoy spending my time running or walking. Overall, I feel like I have a good balance in my life with how I spend my time. I teach at a school where there is a 4 day school week, so I really try to use my Fridays as a “work day” (cleaning finishing anything school related). This helps me really enjoy and be more present for the rest of my weekend. My family also really benefits from having structure and routine. This helps keep things from piling up. I think as our kids grow, I will make changes with how I spend my free time. I would love to have a new hobby or learn new skills!
ReplyDeleteI spend my 60 hours of free time doing the things this book talks about. I have 3 grown sons and one still in middle school. Going to his sporting events is how I spend a lot of my free time. The older I get, the less I worry about endless housework and try to enjoy some down time. I do know that I waste too much time mindlessly scrolling through my phone if I let myself. That is definitely a waste of my free time that I could be spending better.
ReplyDeleteHow do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteI spend my 60 hours of weekly free time going to the gym for an hour a few nights a week, household chores, getting groceries, laundry, walking my dog, and reading. I resonate with "free time not feeling free" and I have had many people ask me my hobbies during the school year. They are very limited to reading and hanging out with my dog, and I still try to find time to do both of those. I have really been working on just be okay with leaving things undone, such as the dishes or folding the laundry. I had someone tell me once to buy paper dinnerware for the times when I need to take care of me, and it has really helped me at some points. Going forward I am deciding to use my time how I want to spend it and to not feel guilty doing the things I need for my mental health. I am also going to be reminding myself of the mindset, "I get to" not "I have to." It is easy to get stuck in the negative and complaining state of mind, being aware is the first step though.
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteI spend my 60 hours of weekly free time by working out, reading, going for walks, and spending time with friends and family. I also have a 2nd job that also takes up some of that time. When I first started teaching I would take home work every night and on the weekends. This really took a toll on me. So, last year I decided I would only take work home with me on the weekends and I could only spend 1 hour each day of the weekend working on things. This helped me so much, it made me manage my time at school better and allowed me to get in my hobbies! I am currently trying to better my negative mindset and complaining. I need to remember I am making these choices and I can't complain about the choices I chose to make.
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteThis is the first book I have read that makes me say-finally! About two years ago I started realizing that if I continue to place all of my focus on work then when my last child graduates from high school that is all I am going to have left, work. I had found myself so wound up with everything that had to be done that I wasn't enjoying life. It was affecting me in a negative manner. So I started to really prioritize myself and self care. I have been using my extra time to do things I enjoy: reading, kayaking, hiking, journaling, taking a bath, going out with friends, and some days just sitting around catching up on series that I watch. It has made all the difference for me. So far I LOVE this book.
I was aghast that I had 60 hours of free time a week. Geez, what a lightening bolt of wake up and be wiser! I tend to think I have to work, work, work, not enough time to take a moment to do something pleasant. This past year, I've done much better at leaving my desk a disaster. I'm trying to give less on the paperwork side rather than invest too much time going overboard. I do agree that when work is a hobby, you do not count those hours. I raise cattle and they keep me centered, humble, and happy. The physical aspect clears my mind and makes me feel better. Family is number one. Having grand neices and a nephew, all under the age 5, to play with almost daily, renews my Soul. It has made saying no much easier. Choose the people and things that enhance your life. I'm a better teacher now later in life as I'm more content.
ReplyDeleteI truly think this passage hit me the hardest when reading the first 3 chapters of the book. I was surprised to find that 60 hours a week, even with school, is what is left for free time; I was expecting a lot less. In my free time, before school I go to the gym and workout. This has been a very beneficial routine for me, as it helps me wake up for the day and have energy, as well as gets my state of mental health in order and ready to tackle the day. After school, I spend my free time meal prepping, working on paperwork, or reading books. I have gotten back into reading over the past 2 years, and it is truly something I spend my free time on that is for pure enjoyment. It helps me wind down after a long day. I am very much a busy body, so I would really like to set goals to spend some of that free time in the quiet, just reflecting and truly relaxing in a way that can allow my brain to shut off. As a special education teacher, I have a lot of overstimulating days with a lot of noise, so I know it would be good for me to turn the noise off and just be in silence.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with many other posts when they wonder where does time go. I like to get to school relatively early, as I find I can get a lot of planning done then and get ready for my day. I also commute 35 minutes one-way so that takes away about 7 hours. When I get home, my life is centered around family; making supper, catching up on laundry, doing my outside chores on the farm, attending my boys' activities along with board meetings and such. Looking at having 60 hour s a week of free time I do know that I do not use my time to the best of my ability. There are some days that I am tired and I just need to put my feet up. I would really like to manage my time better so that I would have time for a walk/workout and not feels o rushed to get to everything.
ReplyDeleteHow do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteWhen I get home from work I usually work on laundry, housecleaning, getting supper ready, and getting things ready for the next day. I have a son that is a teacher/coach and a son and daughter that are in college so I usually try to check in with them sometime throughout the evening. I also have a daughter that is a senior in high school so my husband and I spend time attending her activities. When she doesn't have anything going on we try to find time to attend our sons sporting events or visit grandparents. While family is most important to me, I would like to work on taking time for myself without feeling like I have to constantly be working in order to keep up with everything. Going to adoration and exercising are two things that I am going to make time for.
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteI'm a wife and mother of 4, ranging from 3-14, so my 60 hours of free time are spent cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and getting things ready for the following week. Between nightly practice, weekend games, daycare drop off and pick up my time becomes mostly about prepping for the next day. Don't get me wrong, I love a good Netflix series, I love to read and go for walks too. I often wonder how everyone does it! I teach first grade and prepping for class takes up quite a bit of my free time as well. We moved to a 4 day week several years ago and that has made a world of difference as far as planning goes. I do need to do a better job of relaxing and being still at the end of the day, so hopefully this book will help with that!
I really enjoyed this passage. It really made me step back and think about how I use my time. We still have high school age to young kids at home. So a lot of our time is spent getting them to and from activities and helping them get school work done. It is also filled with other meetings and activities. It made me think of a comment by one of my first superintendents. There will always be things to be done, at some point you just need to walk away or you will burn out. Spending meaningful time with my family moving forward will need to be more of a priority.
ReplyDeleteBy Ed Mitzel
ReplyDeleteRight now I am a young mom and only in my fifth year of teaching. I think I do a fairly decent job leaving at contracted hours and I very rarely work on weekends. I get to pick up my sons around 4:00-4:30 from daycare. The commute home is about 20 minutes. I do all the cooking in our house, but my husband cleans up. This was a compromise we made so I didn't have to feel like I was doing it all. The rest of the evening is either playing with the boys, watching tv, scrolling my phone, or doing household tasks. Going forward I would like to put my phone away during this time. I feel like a lot of my time is wasted scrolling on my phone when it's doing nothing to rejuvenate me or make me feel relaxed.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very thought provoking passage! I will admit that I have been in the "never say no" situation, but in my defense, so much of it was family related and I wanted to be at everything that my kids were a part of. If I had to say no, my children were very understanding and it didn't bother them nearly as much as it bothered me. As my children have grown and left home, my busyness has definately become more manageable. I do not take on more than I should and I can enjoy my husband and home at a much easier pace. This first section of the book made a lot of sense to me, but I do wonder if I would have been able to say no to so many obligations during those busy years of raising children, teaching and trying to maintain a household. When I am told that I have 60 hours of free time, that sounds like a tremendous amount of time, and then I wonder if I should be more efficient with my time. But not worrying about making every hour count towards something keeps my life pretty stress free!
ReplyDeleteYou have taken me down memory lane. I remember when I was wearing many different hats for many years. It was always family first, I love school but my family came before anything else. I was also priveledged to teach my kids at the same grade school which I think was an added bonus. It is hard, very hard. And now that they are all grown and on their own with their own families, I am still busy. The busy is a different busy than before, but yet all those crazy busy times made some beautiful memories. These memories were not only from family but school memories too! You can manage your time, but sometimes, yes, it does get a bit challenging! You can do it!!
ReplyDeleteI spend a lot of my free time running my kids to activities and watching their activities. Preparing supper and doing clean up. This I do feel like is a choice I am making, because I do like to prioritize family meals. I do spend about an hour each day working out, which I enjoy and makes me feel better. I would like to make a change to how much time I get to spend with my husband. With all the running around and chores we are both exhausted by the end of the night and when the kids are in bed we crash!
ReplyDeleteI spend my time outside of the school hours coaching, reading, doing things outdoors, or watching shows. Right now it is just me so I have a lot more choice with my hours outside of work but I have tried to work to develop routines that ensure that everything I personally want to make sure gets done in a day is done in the morning or right after school so that I can truly relax and feel good about what has been accomplished in the day by the time I get to the evening.
ReplyDeleteI spend my 60 hours of free time, mostly driving my own children to their after school activities and to hang out with their friends. We live about 30 minutes from their activities and I would waste too much time and money on gas driving back and worth. Instead I will run errands, read a book, or watch a little bit of tv in my car while waiting for their practices to be over. I wish I was home more to cook, clean, and maybe even just relax. I also remind myself that this is a season, and soon my daughter will be driving then I will only have activities twice a week instead of the 4-5 days we have it now.
ReplyDeleteI have been teaching for 30 years, my kids are grown, so I spend my free time doing things around my house, reading, visiting children and grandchildren. I rarely take school work home with me, I manage to get most things done at school, so I don't have to take it home. I have learned that it is important for me to take care of myself and spend as much time with family and friends as I can.
ReplyDeleteI retired about 3 years ago and I learned that taking work home wasn't always the right thing. I spend my free time doing things on the farm with my husband or things around the house. It is important to not bring home so much work and take care of yourself with spending time with family.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I forgot to uncheck anonymous on here
ReplyDeleteChapters 1-3: Share your thoughts about this passage: “There are 168 hours in a week. Let’s say you’re contracted to work around 40 hours, and you work another 20 hours every week for free. That’s 6o hours a week spent on school-related tasks, leaving you with 108 hours for everything else. If you factor in around 7 hours of sleep a night, that still leaves you with 59-60 hours a week for yourself…” How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteI spend my sixty hours of free time with my kids and working toward my own health. I spend the evenings with my kids after school and really try to invest with them and put my phone away and tv off for the dinner hour. I make dinner, we talk about our days, and have dessert together. We snuggle a bit on the couch, get ready for bed, and I read with both kids before bedtime. On the weekends, we stay up a little later, run errands, do an activity, etc. I will definitely work a little in the morning before my kids are up and a little after they go to bed for the night, depending on the time of year, but for the most part, I try to keep work separate from them while they're awake. I have found the teaching does get easier each year. I'm able to pull different activities and tweak products from previous years to use on tomorrow's lesson. The ability to pull something from the Google Drive and not have to create the item is a huge time saver. It gets easier and I'm able to work less hours, but I'm glad I put in all the work and effort on the front end of my career before I had kids in order to really enjoy the job and my kids later in my career now.
I was surprised to read the amoun of hours to consider "my time" or "free time". I would say when I was younger this time was spent taking care of my kids who were still in school, managing a household as a single parent and yet I still felt I had some "free time" for my own art, reading, relaxing. Now that my kids are out of the house I don't feel like I have more time, but I may be spending it differently. I do find I need more rest, being in my late 50's and have less energy than my 30s and 40s. Rest has become a priority to me. I still focus on spending time with family and especially grand children. I am also working on these credits towards a lane change and am enjoying learning. I am also in bible study and am taking a course to be certified in grief coaching. So, while I do "less" than my younger years, I feel I am resting more and doing more meaningful things.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the calculation, I should have a lot more free time than what I feel I do. My weekly free time hours are spent farming with my husband, spending time with my grandchildren, working a seasonal job with my sister-in-law, and volunteering at my church. I truly enjoy all the aforementioned ways that I spend my free time. As I get older, priorities do change, and if something doesn’t get done with the house cleaning or meal prep, I am more relaxed/flexible about it.
ReplyDeleteThis past year I do not feel like I've had 60 hours of free time a week. I found myself getting home from work at 5:00, having a couple hours of "free time" to make dinner etc and then I would have to do more school work at home. (IEPs, assessments etc) Things that had a deadline and couldn't be put off. The other hours were spent sleeping. I try to be more intentional about the hours I do have and use them to stay connected to family and friends and set boundaries for not working on the weekend.
ReplyDelete60 hours sure sounds like a lot, but it definitely gets filled! I would say a majority of my hours goes to mom jobs such as running my kids to activities, watching their games, prepping dinner, laundry, household keep up, etc. The other remaining hours are spent as quality time with my kids and husband, exercise, and a little screen time ;). I have over the last few years tried to minimize certain tasks in order to gain more time. Ex: order groceries instead of going into the grocery store, bulk cook or meal prep to save time during the week, and delegate some home tasks to my kids and husband.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction to this passage was feeling bad that the author underestimates how much time I spend on school. I often spend more than 60 hours a week on schoolwork. I also do not work under a contract, so that doesn't apply to me. That said, I spend much of the remaining time on husband/father duties, reading, and exercising. I try to get 20 minutes for a computer game each night as well. The time that I would like to examine is the two or three hours of correcting I bring home many nights.
ReplyDeleteThe first quote I saw when I opened this book was, "You can't do it all and you don't have to try." This hit home especially hard after working on signing my kids up for volleyball teams and volunteering to coach their teams, knowing that the fall is an incredibly busy time of year with the starting up of school. My "free time" is usually never "free" because I am running my kids to their activities, coaching, and also being the cook, cleaning lady, and caretaker at home. Every fall I tend to have a meltdown from the stress and now I will be even more busy. There are definitely things I need to evaluate in my life that should change, I just have this constant need to keep everyone happy and not let anyone down. My husband says I need to let it go that our house does not always need to be clean!
ReplyDeleteThis question is interesting because in the book, it states, "the trust is that most of your "free time" doesn't really feel "free. Most of it is not being spent on things that are meaningful and enjoyable."
ReplyDeleteI feel like this quote is very relateable in today's world. I constantly find myself batting on where to spend my "free time" - school work? house work? or most importantly, family time?
I try to spend as much of my 60 hours with my family and possible. My toddler deserves this time of mine! My husband and I try to do chores when she is asleep rather than when she is awake, but then we often find ourselves struggling to stay awake to do housework. We love to be outdoors and doing different things with our friends' families as well. We are blessed to have summer together, as we are both teachers, to do these things, but here we are taking classes to further our education/degrees...(No offense! I do learn from these classes :) It just truly seems to be a never-ending cycle!
I really feel my husband and I are very intentional about our family time with our daughter, so I am going to say no that I do not want to make any changes at this time. Some of the other stuff we have no control over and it is just life...
ReplyDeleteI’ve definitely found myself caught in that trap of giving away 20 (or more) “free” hours to school each week—grading, lesson planning, emailing parents, prepping labs, you name it. I do have free time, but I’m not always intentional with it. Right now, I’d say my “free” 60 hours get split up between family time, coaching duties, and the occasional attempt at self-care. I also spend some time doing stuff I say is relaxing, like working on side projects or reading sports articles—but let’s be honest, sometimes it still feels like work. Do I want to make changes? Absolutely. One of the big takeaways from these early chapters for me is the need to be more deliberate with that time. I’d love to carve out more space for rest—actual rest, not just zoning out. More time for hobbies that fill me up instead of just numbing me out. And honestly, I’d like to spend less of my “free time” worrying about school things I can’t control outside of contract hours.
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteDuring the school year my 60 hours of free time is typically spent tending to household chores, errands, and extra curricular activities for my children. Our evenings are usually very full and there is little time for me to relax or do anything for myself until my children are in bed. Once they are sleeping I will read or watch some tv to try to decompress. I try to set aside time for myself and do things for just me but realistically meeting the expecations society has on families these days is very tough. We try to do our best and handle it all with grace.
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteLast year I also had three hours a day of commute time. I am changing schools to get some of that time back. My 88-year-old mother-in-law lives with us. She has dementia and requires some of my time when I would get home and every Saturday I take her to get her hair done. Some Saturdays we have a manicure or pedicure. We go to church every Saturday evening. My husband works from home and checks in with her multiple times a day. This is time I choose to spend. I am getting better about cooking dinner. I used to be the only one who cooked. My husband now helps out. And some nights neither of us are up for it, so we get takeout. I plan on prioritizing some personal time for me to take care of myself.
I only took part-time teaching jobs (not in our hometown where our children attended school) so I could do lots of things outside of the school hours. I taught music lessons after school and to our 4 children. Weekends were free to be with the family.
ReplyDeleteLater on, after the youngest was in college, I attended college away from home (on a grant) every night and taught all day, so I didn't worry about free time or myself. I just kept going. I loved it as it only lasted two years, so it was fine. I was able to do after school programs and summer school with my college elementary education major daughter. Great experiences.
No, I would not change my choices. It was never about money. I just had fun, or I changed jobs. Now I have tooooo much free time. What do I do? Take book-study courses. Lol I have lots of projects to complete, so never a dull moment if I want to keep busy.
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteI currently spend my "free time" doing projects or chores around the house. (Which is something I do not dread.) I do a bit of school work but have time to unwind by watching some episodes /series on TV.
I also try to remind myself to spend some time on myself. Go for a walk, tend to the yard or just being outside. Spending time with my husband or visiting our grown children is also a benefit to have peace of mind.
If I would change going forward maybe less papers going home with me.
I enjoyed reading this passage because it was eye-opening to realize how many hours, I do have control over outside of my working hours. I have a 17-month-old son, so most of my free time is spent chasing him around and picking up after him. Otherwise, I spend a lot of time on household chores such as laundry, dishes, tidying up, preparing meals, etc. I am a special education teacher, so I often must work on IEP paperwork outside of my contracted work hours. I would like to make changes going forward, so that I am working less on IEP paperwork outside of contracted work hours. I am hoping I can make changes with how I currently use my planning time, so that I can get more IEP paperwork done during the day. By freeing up time in the evenings, I am hoping to be able to add self-care time every evening such as exercising, reading, doing puzzles, etc.
ReplyDeleteMy 60 hours of free time is mostly spent on household chores and spending time with my 2 children and husband. I also try and squeeze in some exercise and TV time. I would like to change how I spend this time by making exercise more of a priority and also change my thinking that the household chores HAVE to be done each night.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I always have so many things that I want to do, that it takes me longer to get anything accomplished in my time due to my scattered thoughts and unstructured time. In my younger teaching years, there were always kids and activities that held me to more of a schedule. I would like to take time to create a list and then accomplish one or two things (depending on the timeframe it takes for the tasks) and spend more time relaxing and enjoying my husband and family.
ReplyDeleteThis past school year marked my return to full-time teaching after spending the last 10 years at home raising our children. A decade ago, when I was last in the classroom, I was newly married and had no children. My free time was spent reading, exercising, walking the dogs, volunteering, and enjoying time with family and friends. My main responsibilities were my job and my social life.
ReplyDeleteThis year was a completely different experience.
Now, my husband and I have three children under the age of eleven, and going back to work full-time felt like becoming a first-year teacher all over again—but with a full life waiting for me at home, too. While I loved being back in the classroom and felt incredibly grateful to return to a career I’m passionate about, it was an overwhelming adjustment for not just me, but my whole family.
Much of my time was spent setting up a brand-new classroom, writing newsletters, lesson planning, and just trying to figure everything out again. I often brought work home—hauling bags back and forth each day—and I spent a good portion of my weekends grading or prepping. When I wasn’t working on school responsibilities, I was managing family life: driving to and from sporting events and playdates, helping with homework, running errands, cooking, cleaning, walking the dogs, doing laundry, and constantly trying to organize our home to make life more manageable.
It was hard to keep up.
I struggled with time management and prioritizing what truly mattered. I constantly felt behind—like I wasn’t doing anything as well as I used to. The mental load was heavy, and I often operated in survival mode, doing only what had to get done and what was easiest.
Some of the things I missed the most were reading, cooking, and exercising—activities that used to bring me joy and peace. They were pushed aside in favor of more urgent tasks, and I really felt that loss.
Even though this year was a major adjustment, there was still so much good in it. I grew as an educator, reconnected with a part of myself I had missed, and proved to myself that I could take this big step forward. It wasn’t easy, but it was meaningful. And I know that next year, with the hardest transition behind me, I can start to reclaim some of the balance I’ve been missing.
I had never thought of my time in this way. I liked thinking about dividing my time and thinking about how I spend it though. It's a new perspective for me to consider it this way.
ReplyDeleteI do not take work home with me and I haven't in many years. I get to school around 1 and a half hours early. That is my donated time each day and I do it on purpose. I like going in early when I can get things done and no one bothers me.
The rest of the day I do what is required of me. I usually go home exhausted, but I don't work with school stuff after I get home. I know there are more time wasters in my day. I just need to find them and think about what to do about them.
I found this unit and that section very interesting. It seems so different when you break it down into hours. Myself, I have two kids ( ages 2 & 4) so I spend that time cooking, them getting them ready for supper, bath and bed. Once I get them to sleep, I have between 30-45 minutes before I go to bed. I pick up the house and do any animal chores that I need. Once I shower, I have about 15 minutes until I need to go to bed. Usually I watch tv or chat with my husband. Going forward I would like to have more to time to hangout and play with my kids.
ReplyDeleteChapters 1-3: Share your thoughts about this passage: “There are 168 hours in a week. Let’s say you’re contracted to work around 40 hours and you work another 20 hours every week for free. That’s 6o hours a week spent on school-related tasks, leaving you with 108 hours for everything else. If you factor in around 7 hours of sleep a night, that still leaves you with 59-60 hours a week for yourself…” How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts after doing the Math and seeing all the hours I do have available made me question what I am doing with that time. I choose to stay an hour past our contract time to take care of everything so tomorrow is a new day and I am not behind. I then go home and make dinner, clean up, and finally sit down to decompress the day. There are nights that I will work until I go to bed.
I would like to make changes moving forward, but change is hard! There are a lot of little things I would like to do for myself (health and wellbeing). I just need to be ok with the consequences of making those changes and that's the current struggle.
I chose this book because I needed validation after 26 years of teachers special education and how to manage my time. I am and hopefully will be able to say was after this, that teacher who showed up at 6am and stayed until 8 PM to get caught up as there was no prep time. I would see my husband spend half the time, voice his olio ion and get things he wanted as a teacher vs what I got as a female. I am so thankful that they addressed this subject in this book. Finally!!! Reality of it is that it is just a job and if I died tomorrow they would replace me and move on. I realized a few years ago this mentality as I was replaced. My mindset is starting to change but the culture of men vs women has not changed. I am at a point where I need to care for my mental health. I’m at a point where I can’t get out of bed and dread every day! I am looking forward to ideas on how to get my passion back.
ReplyDeleteHow do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteAs a runner, I spend many hours of my time focused on my physical health. The rest of my time has been focused on my pastoral job, photography business, and volunteer firefighting. Over the past few years I have tried to only add things to my week that I enjoy doing. I really do need to reprioritize everything I am involved in because even though I enjoy all the things I do, I am facing burnout.
The passage was very eye opening. It really puts into perspective the breakdown of hours we have in a week and how much of them get spent on certain aspects. I spend my 60 hours of free time working on school tasks, taking care of my dog, going for walks, spending time with my husband, and enjoying a leisure TV show. I have taught for six years but this past school year was my first in a new grade level. I gave some of my free time hours to learning the new standards, reviewing and preparing to teach new curriculum/lessons, and setting up a new room and theme. After a year of getting adjusted to a new grade level, I want to make changes how I spend this free time going forward. I won’t need to spend near as many free time hours towards my new grade level now that I’m in a routine and know what to expect. My classroom is set up so no extra time will be needed for that task. I want to incorporate more family time into my free time as I am expecting my first child in December.
ReplyDeleteThe breakdown of numbers really puts that time we actually do have in perspective. I am at the point in my life that most of my free hours are spent at my kids activities. And that is OK because in time, I will certainly miss that. I always try to get my own free time in during the week which is probably fairly minimal but one that helps me make healthy lifestyle choices.
ReplyDeleteMy free time:
ReplyDeleteWork (extra side hustles), travel to see kids, church, time with husband (recent bird-launchers).
My husband and I are still figuring out how to be empty-nesters, stay “young”, define and achieve our dreams as we see our years beginning to look limited. We still have some significant expenses, so I spend a lot of time working extra jobs with the school district, mostly afterschool tutoring and tickets for games and activities . It's a good rate of pay and pleasant tasks. We also spend a great deal of time traveling to see our son race; he is a hurdler on his college team. The number of opportunities for this are dwindling as he reaches his senior year, so again it is something we are doing while we can.
In my life, I would like to see more farming (working toward self-sufficiency), more exercise (which would come with the physical labor of a farm), and more travel both international and domestic. I also want/ need to be able to spend more time with my aging parents.
Farming: must convince my husband to move to land - may be a hard sell.
Exercise: this is a daily challenge to make myself intentionally do calisthenics or yoga or some such. I prefer an active lifestyle and activities such as incorporating stairs and choosing to walk briskly rather than plod. While this is not going to fulfill my complete needs, it is a start.
Finally, I am trying to give more of my time to my parents, traveling to spend time with them, making regular (almost daily) phone calls, and even doing research and preparing food for their pantry as my dad takes over their cooking, It too, is a choice of love, as they are aging and their time with me is limited.
How do you currently spend your 60 hours of weekly free time? Would you like to make changes to how you spend this time going forward?
ReplyDeleteIt's summer now, so I currently have nothing but free time, and I divide it between things I want to do and things I need to do.
During the school year, my free time is divided between household tasks, kids' activities, and work outside of work time. Students seem to require so much more during the day that I find it hard to get things graded during my 8-4 day. Because I am a day-to-day planner, my prep time at school is when I plan and organize for the next day or two. After many years of teaching, I've learned to pick which things are necessary and which things are nice to manage my workload outside of school. Sometimes I have a lot of work, and sometimes I have hardly any. What I'd really like to do with my free time is just read books and watch all the shows I never have time for.
When I think back to what I do with the time I have after my "working hours," I see a HUGE need for change. In the past I have used this time to come home, grade papers, make supper, work on the computer for school, put the kids to bed, and then finish working on the computer generating slides for the week. I never make time for exercise or family time. All the time spent at home, I was working on school work. I am looking forward to implementing fewer things for the better! I want to incorporate more exercise and reading for enjoyment. It has always been my goal to leave work at work...I am determined to make this happen this year!
ReplyDeleteDuring the school year, I spend my free time exercising, spending time with friends and family, reading books for enjoyment, and relaxing. However, I also coach several sports so the amount of time I have for myself changes throughout the year. Although I do often have the time to accomplish many of the things I want to do, this passage made me think about the extra time I spend in my classroom doing tasks that, maybe, I don't need to be doing. Or, can I change the way I'm doing them in order to maximize the free time I do have? Moving forward, I want to consider which tasks I truly need to be doing - both in the classroom and in my personal life - and how I can potentially change them to better maximize my time.
ReplyDelete