The Test!

My test was scheduled, the payment was made, a sub had been called for a half day. There was no turning back at this point. Monday had come faster than I had expected and by mid afternoon I was headed south down 75 to the Plano testing center where I would then spend the next four or so hours completing the Special Education EC-12 Content Exam. While I had done everything I could to adequately prepare for this exam, I still felt apprehensive as I knew more was riding on this then merely the $120 testing fee. Passing this test meant that I am highly qualified to teach both as a generalist early childhood through sixth grade and special eduation early childhood through twelfth grade. After I finished my test I was advised that it would take approximately two to seven days before I received my scores. Well by Tuesday night I had received an email that my scores were in... and after a moment where I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat, I read the wonderful word... Passed! I was beyond words and am so thankful to cross this off my list of things to do before attempting to get my first full time teacher's position. Thanks again for all your wonderful words of wisdom and best wishes of luck. I sure appreciate them all. Here's to the next step!

Studying Sick?

Here is my sad sad study space... a space in which I have sat at and stared at for days now. It is a space filled with many tissues (yes I did remove these for the sake of the picture and for your stomach), chapstick, neosporin, highlighters, computer, iphone, study guide for the Special Education EC-12 content exam, and personal notes.

While some days I wonder if I have truly retained any information and want to be in bed by 7Pm and others I do feel rather accomplished. I will have exactly one month from tomorrow and I am already through the first 100 pages with TONS of handwritten notes. Come on February 28, 2011! Bring it:)

Oh and hopefully whatever this combination of symptoms I have will somehow have disappeared by this time next month. I am somewhat skeptical at this point. Ha!

It's Official: I'm Signed Up!

It's official! This is what I will be studying from now until Monday, February 28, 2011! I am officially signed up to take my Special Education EC-12 Content Exam! Please be sure to offer words of encouragement as my desire to study is very limited when I come home from school. Believe me the last thing I want to do after a full day of school is to come home and study! Ha!

Teaching Certification Update

I have received many questions in regards to the status of my teaching certification... so I decided that it would be a good time to post an update. To be honest... I will have to claim being busy and lazy has kept me from working on my online lessons. Now I can even add that the holidays are coming up so lack of time and events have also taken away many of the 24 hours that are allotted within the day. When I first started I set September/October as my finish date. It being toward the end of November, I do not feel that I am too far outside my aimed goal; however, if I keep making excuses a full year could go by before I complete the necessary requirements of the program. So with all this in mind, I have now completed a few more additional online lessons leaving me with 1-2 to finish before we leave for Thanksgiving. Once these have been completed I will then be studying for more content exams as they will make me more qualified to teach. Currently I am certified to teach early childhood through fourth grade but think that I could look into a few more options as well. So things are running pretty smoothly. I definitely have to get on the ball but as soon as my online lessons are completed that's another HUGE thing marked off my to do list. More will be posted soon about my status.

A Little Bit of This... A Little Bit of That!

What an amazing week this has been! We are just a few days in but I am super excited to blog about it. So I left off at this past Saturday, October 9... well as you read Ray definitely had a more interesting day than I did. I will be honest... I have been lagging in the certification department. I of course have attended my classes as I have one final face-to-face class this coming Saturday in Grand Prairie; however, I had a total of 20 online lessons to complete. They range anywhere from 1-3 hours long a piece. I completed 5 online lessons this past Saturday if that tells you what I did ALL day long. Ha. But I am thankful to have them done and I have a total of nine left as well as a content exam... but it is pretty cool to be certified already in one content area! So hopefully the plan is to have my other online courses completed and then begin a dedicated study for my Special Education EC-12 Content Exam. More details will come once I have actually committed to a test date. I'll definitely need some prayers in this area as I have heard it is extremely difficult.

10.10.10 is my lucky day! Sunday, October 10, Ray and I both attended church at the Heights. What a wonderful sermon about finances... the Green Elephant series. Let's just say that this really hit home to us and got us thinking about our futures. A few weeks ago I inquired about working in our church nursery. And in an effort to do something that I am super passionate about and to have a little side job... I emailed the contact and was able to set up an interview for Sunday afternoon at 6PM. But before the interview... Ray and I made our way to Frisco to visit the Dukes for a fun afternoon of Cowboy viewing, candy eating, and wonderful conversation having:) Sorry Duckee if I ate the majority of your Halloween candy. Man those kiddos that trick or treat at your home are very lucky! Ha. Just say I'll have to owe you one... or two... (bags that is:) But as 5:00PM rolled around it was time for us to head back home so I could change for my interview.

What a wonderful meeting. I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching kindergarten to second grade kiddos at the church on Wednesday nights as well as throughout the months during various functions. I could not be more excited. I actually have my first class this upcoming Wed on the 13th. Wish me luck:)


Monday, October 11 Ray and I had a wonderful night at home. We enjoyed our Milk and Cookie Monday Movie Night with the pups.

When we first arrived home we took the pups on a nice walk around our new home. It was such a beautiful afternoon and what could be better. Then the hubs and I put on a movie, enjoyed some yummy chocolate chip cookies and milk, and enjoyed a fun evening with our cute fam of four. Seriously one of my favorite activities. Oh and I had to add another sweet picture of my sweet girl and her Monchichi Monkey.

O-R-A-N-G-E spells ORANGE: In other news, I just had to add this super sweet picture of my niece Olivia and her jack-o-lantern. She is such a big girl and with our Fall activities coming up I thought what a perfect picture for the holiday. So this aunt had to do a little bragging:)

I guess I have finally got us up to date. I wish you all such a wonderful week! More updates to come!

Pass or Fail?!?!

So guess who passed their Generalist EC-6 Certification Test? Oh that would be this lady right here!!!

I could not have been more excited. After being reminded that I should have received my scores within 5-7 days... I had reluctantly waited to find out my scores... honestly in fear that I had not passed them. I would say this test was definitely a lot harder that I had wanted. I couldn't say that I expected it to be any less hard as I had heard from numerous girls in my education class that it would be quite difficult...I just had no idea that I would actually pass. THANK GOODNESS! Ha. So technically I am highly qualified and would be able to teach... but please hold the phone. I still have one more exam to pass... it is the Special Education EC-12 exam. This one might be a doozy. So for the next few months as school and other classes will take over I will take my time and really dive right into the study so I may pass this test as well. So thank you all again for your support in this effort. More info to come as always.

Love,
Alicia

Congrats From My Sister!

I just could not stop smiling when I saw this post. It honestly made my day to see my sweet sister-in-law's words of encouragement on my new adventure. She truly does have such a wonderful heart and I am so thankful that she is family!!! You can read her sweet words on her blog provided here.

Farrah,
I am so thankful for you! Thankful for a sister that has so much love and warmth in her heart. Thankful to have you in my life as my sister!!! I love you so very much and seriously count down the days until we are together again! All my love sweet girl:)

Love,
Alicia

The Big Reveal!

Thank you all for your patience in this. I know I have been going on and on about changes and opportunities that of course could not have been made possible without God's perfect timing. Well it is now about time for me to finally reveal what all the big fuss has been about. I am so very excited to announce that I want to be a teacher! Now I'm sure many of you could have figured that from all the little random ... subtle and not so subtle hints... but I've really been praying and trying to focus my thoughts on what I truly want to do in life. And I couldn't imagine anything better than teaching. So over the course of the past month or so I've been doing everything I possibly could to gain that experience. I first applied to Texas Teacher's Alternative Certification which I am currently in the process of completing. I will be taking my first content test for the Generalist: EC-6 next week on August 18th, so please say a small prayer for me. Once that has been completed and passed I will then focus on my Special Education content exam: EC-12 which should be completed within the next few weeks as well. This Saturday I will also begin taking my courses in Grand Prairie at the Ruthe Jackson Center. I will be there for the next 10 weeks receiving more training. I am also completing coursework online. There are 27 lessons to complete. But the biggest news I have is...

I have been presented with an opportunity to work for Plano ISD and Hedgcoxe Elementary as a Special Education Aide.... I will be leaving my position in human resources and joining the teaching world. I am so thankful for all the experience and knowledge I will gain from this opportunity as well am so thankful for being able to help celebrate the lives and education of children. So I am finally so excited to be officially starting this next chapter in our lives. I look forward to this new opportunity as well as look forward to finishing the program and becoming a full time teacher!

There are also a few more updates that I am super excited about. Ray and I are in the process of joining Joyland through our church. We will be serving every fourth Sunday of the month with 3 1/2 year olds. I am also joining Circle of Friends. This group serves individuals with cognitive disabilities. The first meeting is August 18th and I couldn't be more excited to participate.

Thank you again for all your support. Look forward to many new updates to come.

Love,
Alicia

My Lucky Day!

When I first opened my blog this morning, this is what I saw.... a whole row of 7's on my visitor counter. And while I'm not usually a superstitious person, with the number 7 being my "lucky" number... I guess that makes me a little stitious. Ha! The crazy point that I'm making is that this has been my "lucky" week. I truly do believe so many things happen for a reason. That God's timing truly is so perfect and wonderful! There are so many amazing changes that I so eagerly look to write about... but again timing is everything! Just expect a great post to be presented to this blog space near you to give you all the fun and amazing details of all the changes to come!

Will You Make the Grade?!?!

I honestly never believed I would be saying this word ever again... "homework" unless it applied to our children in the way off future. But I am and I'm kind of excited! I will say though that it has been a huge mindset change. I used to study anytime of day and had the energy to do so. Now it has been kind of difficult to come home from work and change my thinking cap... (wow) ... and start my online classes. I technically have 27 lessons to take. Sometimes I wonder if I too "am smarter than a 5th grader" ha! But hopefully I will make the grade!!!

Things are going by insanely fast. Over the past few days there have been several changes that I will be excited to report soon. So definitely check for updates. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that it's never too late to make changes in your life... it's about following your passions. So I wish you well this week and again will be posting more updates soon. Until then... you'll probably catching me studying!

Back to School & Corporate Challenges!

As I have previously mentioned (a few times at least... may be an understatement) I will be going back to school this August to obtain my Alternative Certification. I am merely a few content tests away from receiving my full acceptance letter from the program I am looking to use. But again, this girl will be extremely busy from August 14 to October 16. The only available session is located in Grand Prairie... which means I'll be making a pretty far trek one to two days a week for 10 weeks. Check out this crazy schedule:

Saturday, August 14: 9AM-4PM
Saturday, August 21: 9AM-4PM
Wednesday, August 25: 6PM-9PM
Saturday, August 28: 9AM-4PM
Wednesday, September 8: 6PM-9PM
Monday, September 13: 6PM-9PM
Saturday, September 18: 9AM-4PM
Wednesday, September 22: 6PM-9PM
Saturday, October 16: 9AM-4PM

It's about that time again... time for the Richardson Corporate Challenge!


Ray will be joining PFS Web and will be participating in a variety of challenges including a 5K, Dodgeball, Dominoes, Kickball, the coach for Punt Pass and Kick, and potentially volleyball that will begin this September through October.

As provided by the website found here...

"The Richardson Corporate Challenge is an Olympic style competition involving as many as 22 athletic and non-athletic events held in late August through early October. The event kicks off with an opening ceremony and after plenty of competition ends with a closing ceremony. Companies compete in events ranging from softball to volleyball and billiards to golf. Activities are scheduled during the week after normal business hours and on weekends. Employees, spouses, and Retirees are eligible to participate. The benefits are endless! Put the Corporate Challenge in your company’s budget and see for yourself what you get in return. For starters, Camaraderie, boosted morale, teamwork, pride and reduced stress plus tons of company fun!

Congratulations to all of the companies who participated in 2009 and raised $118,000 for Special Olympics Texas."

What an amazing amount of upcoming activities. I hope you all have such a wonderful Friday and upcoming weekend!

Hit'n The Books!

Today is a very special day... it is the day that I have finished a very important application. Within 48 hours as specified, I should be moving forward in my journey... In no time flat I'll be back to hitting the books. I can't wait to start the certification process. More updates will be posted shortly. Wish me luck:)