Just finished my first week back to school!  Back to school for me means some MAJOR schedule changes!  Gone are the unstructured days of summer!  Hello back to back to back commitments!  I find it easy to get overwhelmed with all I have going on.  In addition to teaching, and my side business, I tutor, ride my horse 4 days a week, work at his barn on Saturdays, work horse shows a weekend or so a month and still manage to fit it time with my hubby, dogs, family, and friends!  It's a juggling act for sure, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I feel so lucky to be able to do so many things I love so much! <3  One thing that has really helped balance my schedule is Time Blocking.  If you aren't familiar with the concept of Time Blocking, it is just what it sounds like!  Blocking out a specific chunk of time for a specific  task or activity.  Research says that Time Blocking can increase your productivity by 150%!!!  The first thing you need to do is make a lis

Ready or not here they come!! 22 incoming 6th graders will enter my classroom tomorrow morning at 9am eager and ready to learn.  (Hey a girl can dream right!?)  But seriously - I LOVE the fresh start of a new school year.  Being a teacher, September has always had more of a "New Year"feel than January for me. I am excited to get this school year started with my new kiddos.  I have put a lot of work into changing things up in my classroom for this year.  I did a LOT of cleaning out, did some redecorating and am excited to try some new activities! Going back to school means a shift in how I work my side hustle too!  I feel so fortunate to be able to shape lives in both my day job and side business.  They truly are both so rewarding. I am grateful to be able to fit both into my life... even with all I have going on! Whether you work full time and have something going on on the side, or if you are a full time mama working a side hustle to help your family I always recomme

I am SO excited to bring some serious value to this blog!  You will find all things #teachingsparkles related in this blog.   I get asked  a lot… What exactly is this TeachingSparkles stuff all about?!?!  Well, when I first started to create my brand, I tried to think about what sort of things people thought of when they thought of me… I came with quite a list… Disney, teaching, nauticalness, dogs, horses… then it hit me… people often send me pictures of sparkly things telling me they thought of me when they saw it!  My uber sparkly wedding a year and a half ago may have fueled some of this!! And so #teachingsparkles was officially born! Okayyyy so what do I do?!  Basically I help people find and be their best possible selves.  I teach 6th grade Math and Social Studies full-time.  On the side I get to help busy women like myself lead healthier, cleaner, and more financially free lives! Here are some things you can expect to find here: Excitement Motivation Tips for