School is not Camp

I love camp.  I love it, I love it, I love it.  I love the way it is loud and messy and exuberant and full of music and Bible study small groups and kids who are dealing with a lot.  I love the community meal times, the counselor bonding, the fervent prayer and the tie dye and bandanas. 

I love school.  I love, love love it.  I love the way it is filled with children and freshly sharpened pencils and the smell of the laminator machine.  I love reading and math and science and social studies and the way kids pick up on your speech patterns.  [Every day at the end of read aloud, I say "and that, students, is where we will conclude for the day".  The other day one of my precious children beat me to the punch line and asked "Miss Sunshine, is that where we will conclude for the day?"] 

Sometimes I get confused and think that I'm at camp instead of work.  Just to set myself straight, I thought I should make a list of ways that school is not like camp.

1. Camp is all day and all night.  Miss Sunshine should not sleep at school, nor work there so much that people get the idea that she sleeps at school.

2. Tie dye/flannel/bandanas are allowed, but mostly just casual Fridays or on days that you're studying hippies, art/lumberjacks/rock climbing, cowboys.  In my class, those topics wouldn't be too unusual, but I've got to balance with the teacher cardigans and pearls. 

3. Don't eat the food.  I was spoiled staffing at Summit and Compass because at Summit we had Mrs. Mom's wonderful recipe book to work with and at Compass we just made our own food.  I'm not saying the cafeteria food is bad - as cafeteria food goes, but it's still a public elementary school cafeteria.

4. Yelling is not OK.  At camp, you can bellow and holler a great deal more than at school.  The crazier you are, the better.  There's some crazy idea about needing to be quiet because students are learning, or something.  Maybe it's just a rumor, I don't know.

5. Holy Spirit work.  At camp, you're always praying, singing, studying, encouraging, and having d&ms (deep n meaningfuls).  At school, the Holy Spirit is there and quite at work, but your terminology changes a little.  I can't just go around telling kids they're being bullied because of a sin problem or that their Father loves them way more than their imperfect parents.  I have to figure out how to use every teachable moment to declare the truth of the gospel implicitly. 

6. Camp is not a profession.  I know, some of you would consider yourselves professional camp counselors, but camp isn't a profession for most people.  Teaching is a profession, and sometimes you have to be, well, professional.  Bring on the power suit and heels, clip board and teacher lingo.

There are just a few reminders for yours truly to keep herself straight at school… this makes me miss camp.  I wonder, since teachers get summers off, if… well, it's too soon to tell.

Much love,

Little Miss Sunshine