brown vintage suitcase standing at docks near the sea
Here we are embarking on the first long weekend of the season. This year I’m venturing up to the cottage to take part in the opening weekend festivities, along with the family. Historically, I’ve waved good-bye as the boys have headed North to hook-up the water pump, remove the exterior weather proofing material, and heat up the sauna for its inaugural use. I enjoy some quiet time for a few days and then look forward to the stories of winter damage, curious critters creating new crevices in corners, the first frigid lake dive and the tales of the meat eating black flies.
Access to our cottage is via the ATV in the winter and by boat for the other three seasons, therefore packing is always an event in and of itself. I’m sure that there is a magic formula for ensuring that you have most of the essentials combined with the least number of containers/trips from the vehicle, to the dock, to the boat, to the other dock, to the cottage. I have yet to master that formula. The complexity of this “first season” trip is that everything was brought home in the fall ~ food, bedding and linens, condiments etc. So, in my mind EVERYTHING is an essential, but I’ve been warned not to over pack from those who will be lugging the multiple containers.
Last night as I contemplated how best to pack (what is a “MUST “be packed and what is a “CAN WAIT” for the next trip), I started to think about educators throughout the Valley who will be moving to new learning environments next fall and those who will be transitioning into classrooms after sharing their gifts from a system role for a number of years. In our school, at least four of our teachers will be moving to portables and most of our teachers who teach late primary, will be moving to new classrooms. Our growth and expansion has been incredible and it doesn’t look like there will be any slowing down in the near future.
If you are one of those educators who will be transitioning to another learning space, what will you be taking with you? What are the tried and true resources that are worth the multiple trips? What success criteria will you be using to determine the effectiveness of a resource? How has your selection criteria evolved over the years?
As for the success criteria for our weekend at the cottage, I’m hoping that in my quest for compact and my laser focus on the “MUST” have, I didn’t forget the toilet paper….smile.
Come write with me….
Happy Long Weekend,
Thanks for sharing – I can’t imagine having to pack for a remote cottage like yours. Nice connection to teaching too.
My entire classroom is packed in the attic of the bunkhouse at our cottage. I am not looking forward to making the multiple trips ahead of me … up and down stairs … into a very small car … 1 hour to London … into a classroom …repeat. I am really hoping to find a school that offers me some storage space in May & June so that I can start those trips before August.
Granted – I am thrilled by the idea of having shelf space at a school again. I’ve been remotely teaching out of the same small car. That is one of the few negatives of this role that I will not miss.
Well I know from experience you do not want to miss the TP, it is not a close trip to get more from up there!
It is interesting that this is your post for today – I arrived home this evening with the goal of cleaning out and cleaning up the storage area in my basement where my classroom rests in boxes hastily packed at the end of school year two years ago when I left to join LSS in my current role. I have procrastinated and justified not making the time to complete this purge. I have the time and the push to get it going this weekend. I just wish I knew where I was moving to so that I could make better choices about what to keep and what can go.
Enjoy your weekend away – fires, books and the sauna!