I love teaching piano. A lot. I love it more than any other job I’ve had, except being a mom. We waited quite awhile for our children to come to our family. After 5 1/2 years of marriage, we adoped a beautiful baby girl. When she was 4 years old, we brought home an 18 month old son. Ten months later, we brought home another son who was almost 2. Seven months later, we brought home a 7 month old daughter.
It was quite a time for us. We went from one child to 4 in just under a year and a half. Each child brought many blessings, but also unique challenges. Piano gave me something else to think about during the 20 or so daily diaper changes, bottles, and the endless mischief and destruction that my boys always seemed to be in to. The few hours in the afternoon that I spent teaching piano were a welcome reprieve from the chaos that seemed to rule my life.
The Family, when the children were 7, 4, 4, and 2
I couldn’t imagine a time that I wouldn’t want to teach piano. Until now, that is. My mischievous boys are in second grade this year, and my baby is in Kindergarten. My oldest is in 5th grade. I was blessed to land a part-time teaching job in our school district. It’s wonderful. I can teach when they are at school, and we can be together in the afternoons. I went from 21 students taking 45 minute lessons last year down to a mere 3 students this year. Now, I have time to do homework, talk after school, and simply spend time with my children. I cherish this time, and am so thankful for it. I have all the time in the world to be a piano teacher, but this is the only time that my children will be young, and I want to be with them as much as I can.
The other wonderful thing about this whole arrangement is that I finally have time to teach my 3 little ones piano. We all know how hard it can be teaching your own children, but I am going to do all that I can to make it work. To this end, it is my goal to post at least weekly about various activities and such that I do with my children during their lessons. Since they are mine, they can have more than one lesson a week, and I can pull out many of the wonderful resources that I sometimes don’t get to use. We are having a great time, and my little ones are pretty excited to be mommy’s piano students, too. They have waited for this for a long time, and I am glad that I can accomodate their wishes.
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