Spring Break!

We are in the midst of our Spring Break week and I'm pleasantly surprised at how good my kids have been overall! Having them home is usually not something I enjoy. I like ME time and having them go off to school gives me plenty of time to myself, but we are really having a great time together this week. We have been to the new Library playground twice for several hours and today I took them to see "Horton Hears a Who"; which I just loved! I even took them shopping with me at Walmart today and we had no "gimme" moments or Jilli meltdowns! Yay! The lovely spring weather has been wonderful and the kids just LOVE being outside. I have even actually been able to finish making up all my birthday cards for the year! Yay!
I watched a really great movie last night called "Freedom Writers". (What would I do without Netflix!?!) It was excellent. I was amazed at the positive influence of the teacher in the lives of these inner city kids. It plays out like all the other 'teacher helping students realize their potential' movies, but I really enjoyed this one. (Possibly because she was an English teacher... I am a little biased when it comes to English teachers!) One thing she did, that I thought was great, was to have each student write daily in a journal. I know that I've posted on journal writing before... but it really does help you sort out all your feelings. I am amazed at how much better I feel about things that get me upset after I have written about them in my journal. I know I had an experience a few years ago that got me totally aggravated and I didn't feel like I could talk it out with anyone. I went up to my room and wrote all the things out that had gotten to me. After I finished, I sat and read through it all and it was amazingly therapeutic. I think writing is a excellent form of therapy. And it's cheap! I hope I can keep up with my journal writing because it has really made a difference in how I handle things in my life. Watch that movie for some positive reinforcement about the impact writing in a journal can make!
On another note... I've got to come up with some great ideas for our Visiting Teaching Conference coming up in May. My president really wants the focus to be on the basics of Visiting Teaching. Do any of you have any great ideas? Anything you've seen done that really stood out? Let me know! Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!