Vacation

Clint and I are leaving on Monday to head to Chicago for a little mini-vacation without the kiddo.  Now don't get me wrong I'll miss Dade, but we need some Mommy and Daddy time.  The sweet thing about the deal is that my portion of the trip has been paid for (hotel, airfare, food) compliments of Edison Learning/Derrick Thomas Academy.  How is this possible you wonder in your head.  Simple. . . I'm going to a conference.  I will be attending the Midwest Conference on Differentiated Instruction.  I'm extremely interested in the whole Differentiated scene, and have been to several one-day conferences and taken several graduate level classes on it.  My principal was nice enough to approve this trip.

I'm super stoked.  My schedule looks a little something like this:

Tuesday July 7th

8:45-10:00 Tapping into Learning Styles

10:30-11:45 Managing a Differentiated Classroom

1:15 - 2:30 Differentiated Instruction: Walking Through a Lesson from Scratch

3:00 - 4:15 30 Hope Building Strategies to Help Your ADD/ADHD Boys

Wednesday July 8th

8:45 - 10:00 CSI: Creating Student Investigators

10:30 - 11:45 50 Marvelous Management Strategies

1:00 - 4:00 Differentiating for Phonics & Spelling

Thursday July 9th

8:45 - 10:00 Fantastic Calendar Math

10:30 - 11:45 Rules and Classroom Management Strategies for RTI

1:00 - 4:00 Anchor Activities Action Lab

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On top of that during the evening Clint and I have some friends coming into Chicago on Monday and Tuesday that I haven't seen for at least 4 years, and a year for Clint.  Plus, one of Clint's fellow game designers just moved to Chicago this past weekend from Boston, so we'll be able to see him for a bit as well.

I'm going to have to pack light because we are flying United Airlines, and they charge for you to check luggage.  Which means no checking luggage for me! Carry on only.

Where is Dade going you ask?  Nana and Papa's! This will be the first time we've been away from him for longer then a few days.  I believe they are going to come get him late Sunday afternoon, and then we'll head that way once we get back from Chicago on Friday the 10th!

All that's left to do is to pack and get through the 4th!