August always feels far away, and then all of the sudden it is here. It has to be one the fastest moving months throughout the year. Back-to-school advertisements and sales are everywhere. All of the teachers I know (including myself) are struggling with how the fall will look for students, teachers, and families as we return to teaching during a pandemic. How quickly will burnout set in? Will everything be okay? The new dynamic of being a mom will also be on my plate as I enter the upcoming school year. Managing family schedules, daycare, and finding time to fit in what really matters is going to be an added challenge. I have loved bullet journaling for the past 4 years, but I have also used a Passion Planner occasionally when I need to get myself back on track in terms of organization and goals. This post outlines how I plan to use BOTH a Passion Planner and a bullet journal to keep myself on track in terms of goals and tasks, but also dreams, family time, and trying to fit in a certain amount of self-care to avoid burnout.

What a time to be a teacher! I finally got a chance to relax a bit in July, and then August snuck right on up to say hello. It’s August. Officially. What this normally means in my mind is that I need to start getting around for Back-to-School. Like an alarm that went off in my mind, I woke up early on August 1st ready to start thinking about school. I even walked outside to let out our dog, Laker, and saw that the bush that turns fire-engine red in the fall indeed had three new red leaves. It was crisp in the air. Fall decided it was going to show up early. Like other teachers this summer, I never really shut my brain down long enough to feel like it was summer. Earlier in June, I participated in moving an in-person writing camp to an online format, and I finished up an online summer book club with The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson for all middle schoolers in my district. Summer flew by. It always does. I went from being eager and anxious about my district announcing the Return-to-Learn plan on August 3rd, and then I spent some time this week processing what it would mean for me for the upcoming year.

I do know August 3rd still has not provided a ton of answers. My district is offering two main options for students: 1.) A tiered return approach and 2.) A fully virtual option. The tiered approach will work by trimester or every 12 weeks. The first twelve weeks will be online, the second twelve weeks will be a hybrid model of online and in-person learning, and the last twelve weeks will be fully in-person five days a week. This is all contingent on the phase or status of COVID-19 here in Michigan. I wanted to spend the first week of August figuring out how I am handling my own morale and motivation considering returning to the classroom, and I wanted to focus on the items in my routine that are favorite things to use. This post is an August products favorites haul of sorts and inside peeks into the day-by-day schedule that I am using with my new Daily Passion Planner.

it’s time to start planning to return to a routine. If you are like me, I rarely stop thinking about school; however, the start of August makes me pause and appreciate the small freedoms that happen when time off is happening. Things like morning coffee runs, errands to Target and the grocery store around 10am, experimenting with cooking different dinners for my husband (he is the main chef in our house), and doing work in front of the TV at home with my husky-lab curled up nearby. August is about gratitude. I found myself particularly grateful in front of a bonfire the other night on our anniversary…so I tried to recreate the image in my mind with this month’s cover.