Summer Shifts to School (Life)

It has been some weeks since I have been able to blog and I do find myself missing it and missing the read. . . 

These weeks have caught me off guard, trying to get back into the swing of my full-time job with my part-time job.  Whew!  As I try to make my life balance out again, I found another quote that brings a little clarity.

There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.   ~James T. Adams

My thoughts; one should teach us the learning process and the other how not to forget to live fully.   Along with the balancing act, I am reminded along the way that life goes on and we need to enjoy both the learning process and the process of life. 
My students remind me of two items.  1) Summer is a time of fun and we have 'some catch-up' with listening and language.  2) We will get it done.  On the flip side, my family reminds me of two more items.  1) How not to forget to live.  2) How not to forget to listen (to language).

Pragmatics is the social communication of language.  Children whose hearing is intact get the pragmatics of language with every interaction they have from the time of birth.  Children whose hearing has been compromised from birth or seeking habilitation for a hearing impairment are taught pragmatics.   This is an area I work very heavily with parents and students.  It is an important aspect we can't forget during summer months and I can't forget during family time.
Interaction between two individuals is full of language - give and take, lean in and lean out, push and pull, listening and talking, talking and listening.  The easy way out when our life is busy - is give and take or push and pull.  Is there any listening or talking involved?  Think about it.  Listening and talking takes time.  We have to observe a situation, wait for our communication partner and really listen to the language.  Children in the summer - push and pull because they want what they want and they want fun now!  Adults push and pull because life goes on and they are busy and they want their children to have fun now!  We don't always remember to expect language in return. In comes school and I want listening and language that was intact before school let out for the summer.  That does not always happen.

Yet my family does find the way to tell me, school is education and when you are home, family is life. It is the combination of the two that makes life full of living.  Always trying to remember the listening and the language play a part, and always trying to remind my parents to incorporate while I try to remember to love both parts equally.