Back to School.... 3 Little words that make teachers shiver!

Most of us will immediately read negativity into the title of this blog post.. but shiver doesn't always mean cold or scary! For many we can shiver in "EXCITEMENT" and for many teachers we are very excited and energized with the start of each new school year...

New school years bring with them... new goals, refreshed lesson plans, a new look to our classrooms, and many many more things... Don't get me wrong, we love our breaks and summer is one of the longer ones... but teachers do love the start of a new school year...

This summer, one of my shortest (5 weeks), have been one of my best... I actually unplugged and disconnected from school, took a trip to Roster Teeth Convention with my 17 yr old son, and binged on Netflix getting caught up on a variety of shows... and managed to even submit my doctoral dissertation (phase 1) to my university's URR...

Most exciting... I managed to find time to create some new great products for my store and set up my Teacher's Notebook site in addition to my TpT site. If you have a chance to check it out, I would love some feedback. Thanks for your support.

Hoping the kindness of strangers will happen!

We have all heard the sayings... Pay it forward! Give a little back! Do unto others! Kindness of Strangers... and so many more... and I have tried to live by those philosophies. I have bought many cups of coffee for strangers behind me in line, I have given money to homeless, bought meals for the hungry, donated clothing and time to charities... and many other acts of kindness. I have never done any of it for acknowledgement or recognition or with the expectation of getting something more in return than their smile and knowing in my heart I did the right thing... the human thing...

But now, I am struggling at completing my academic career goal of completing my doctorate of education. I am not struggling to complete the courses (those are done), I am not struggling to complete my dissertation proposal (that is done and with the university for approval), I have my project study ready and will complete everything by December 2014. Where I am struggling as a single parent (widowed 9 years ago this June) and full-time working teacher, is to pay my tuition balance.

I have read all the "how to fund your education sites" and been told "there is money for your education out there" but I seem to always miss the mark, be unable to qualify, or be too educated. I have maxed out my student loan allowance in the spring of 2013 and for the past year been paying out of pocket for my tuition. Now with 6 months to go, if I don't pay off my tuition, I won't be able to graduate even once my dissertation is approved and confirmed.

A friend recommended I set up a crowd sourcing campaign. Though nervous and a bit uncomfortable asking strangers for help, I decided I needed to take the bold step and give it a go! So here it is with Indiegogo ... Any help you can give with sharing the link and asking others to be kind enough to contribute even $5 would help... it all adds up as they say!

Alternatively if they rather "receive a tangible product for their money", I am using all funds from my Activities To Teacher Teachers Pay Teacher e-store to fund my doctoral tuition... Thanks for any help you can provide!

Help Me Become Dr. Y