stumbling down the homestretch

     There are just about 20 days of instruction left in the school year.
     Summer is a mirage right now ... shimmering and beckoning,  it looks so close. But at other moments it lies at the far end of a desert.
     Overwhelmed is a good word for how I feel right now.
     Next week, 7 of my kids are heading to camp. But I'll be taking in a bunch of students who will not be attending, which will push my in-house numbers to 28.
     May Day is fast approaching, and right now the outfits are nothing more than yards of washed and ironed muslin. I also need to make a stamp to decorate the outfits.
     I'm scrambling to put together the portfolio required to get credit for a math class.
     I need to complete the evaluation required of all probationary teachers.
    Oh yes, I'm also still trying to figure out how to rein my kids in. Someone lent me an excellent book about behavioral interventions. It comes with brief descriptions of various interventions, then provides reproducibles. When I first started perusing it, I thought I could throw something together quickly. But then I begin to ponder: this intervention vs that intervention? Individual vs teams vs whole class? Then my mind started to boggle (or get bogged down) and I closed the book.
     Just to state for the record: I'm not giving up on this year. But I am tired (emotionally and physically).  I'd like a lot more sleep, some quiet time, some time to run around the park while listening to the wind blow through the trees and watching the ocean sparkle. I'd like someone to sew those May Day outfits, and hand-carve that blasted stamp. (Right now I am really thinking of checking out Ben Franklin's or Wal-Mart's stamp offerings).
     I'd like someone to help me uncover how to help Seattle, who craves my attention so much that he will literally follow me around the room to talk to me, who cried last week when I scolded him (and not just sniffle-tears, but full-on bawling).  Who got so angry last week that he knocked a chair down. Seattle's been on my mind a lot lately. Creeping through rush-hour traffic today, I wondered for the first time if he's depressed. The way he reacts to little inconveniences makes me think he's not feeling good to start with. He doesn't seem to have the emotional cushion that allows other people to let a small annoyance go or deal with it appropriately.
     Depression is a big thing.
     What can be done about something like this in 20 days of instruction, I don't know.
     But I'll think of something.