FAQs on Montana

I’ll call this FAQ’s with a little unwanted information. Since moving to Montana my inbox and Facebook messages have been flooded with questions about my life here, some I have responded to, others I have not. So, here are a few facts for you.

1.     Why did you move to Montana?

The long story or the short? The short story is, I have interest in getting my Ph.D. in rural education development and this is my way of seeing if that is something I am really interested in investing in studying.

The long story is….I crave adventure! For those of you who know my family, you likely know my older brother. He’s lived his own sort of adventure and throughout my life I’ve heard the words “you should write a book.” However, the main character of that book would be my brother. Granted, the book might likely be worthy of the New York Times Bestsellers list, but having to be his little sister made me crave my own adventure. We are adventurous in our own (extremely different) ways but we both have the craving to see and do things that others would never dream of. After growing up in the same small town, in the same house, with a few vacations here and there I could not wait to begin my own journey. That journey began as I completed high school and went away to college and hasn’t really stopped since. And there you have it, that crazy desire for adventure landed me in rural southeastern Montana. Of course, there’s more to the story but more of that will come below.

2.     What exactly do you do?

How do I even begin to explain? Here’s a rough idea of what I do. I live and teach at a one-room schoolhouse in rural southeastern Montana. Little House on the Prairie? There are a few similarities. I have nine students (I use to have 11). My students range from kindergarten through eighth grade. Here’s the breakdown:

      Kindergarten – 2 students

      2^nd grade – 3 students

      3^rd grade – 1 student

      4^th grade – 2 students

      8^th grade – 1 student

      (& I use to have a sixth and seventh grader.)

On one side of my classroom is a door that leads to a coat room/art supply closet/cafeteria area (by cafeteria area I mean a refrigerator, microwave, and a set of drawers with utensils and dinnerware). On the other side of my classroom is a door that leads directly into what is called the “teacherage”. This “teacherage” is where I live. This door leads from my classroom into my living room. In fact, I live at my school.

3.     How do you teach more than one grade level at a time?

This is the question that all my teacher friends seem to want to know the answer too. First, flexibility is an absolute requirement and multi-tasking is essential. Our morning starts with time together, since my students don’t have numerous classmates and enjoy working together I try to give them opportunities daily to interact with one another academically. After our calendar/morning work time they all begin going their separate ways. Each student begins every subject with a review, which we call “Daily’s.” Typically my second graders finish first, so then I get them started on their task for that subject, then I move to third, then fourth, then eighth. We do not always move along in that order, like I said, flexibility is key. For those who are wondering, I make approximately 16 lesson plans per day, equaling approximately 64 lessons per week. I rarely get bored. I do have an aid, she is my frequent life saver. My kindergarten students come only two days per week. My aid typically spends all of Tuesday and Thursday working with our kindergarten students. On Monday’s and Wednesday’s she assists with any and everything. School is from 8A.M. to 4P.M. Monday through Thursday, and we do not have school on Friday’s. (This is super helpful for me to be able to accomplish anything in town.)

4.     Where do you live?

As my brother and I drove out to my house when he came to visit in November, he gawked along the gravel road and mumbled several times, “I had no idea.” No matter how much I explain this question, I cannot fully give you an idea of where I live. For most people, it’s just too far from what they can imagine. But, here’s my best shot. I live 34 miles from the nearest town (that’d be Miles City). Seventeen of those miles are along a two-lane highway. The other seventeen miles are on a gravel road. In this entire stretch you could count the number of houses that you pass on two hands. The nearest gas station takes me approximately (on days when the roads are good, i.e. not winter) 45 minutes to get to. Miles City, Montana has approximately 8,000 people; the entire town has a smaller population than my church has members in Lexington, Kentucky. The nearest Starbucks is almost 3 hours away in Billings, Montana, as well as all reasonable shopping options. (Who would’ve thought I could handle that?)

5.     What do you like about living there?

I like that I know my students and their families. I know what they like and don’t like, I know their families, their pets and their friends. I like that I get the opportunity to invest in student’s lives and not just in their education or test scores.

I love that my prayer after making the decision to come here was to not let the slower pace of life drive my crazy, but instead use it to grow closer to God. I can’t say there haven’t been struggles here, there are days when I miss being able to drive one mile to walk around Target. However, I have tried to use ever ounce of my time devouring the word of God. He has placed people in my life that challenge me to dive deeper, teach me through their own faith and beliefs, and offer all that they have to serve others (me included).

6.     What do you NOT like about living there?

Burning garbage is one of my least favorite jobs here. There is no garbage service (in fact we only get mail service three days a week). Although I have adjusted to having to burn garbage, I miss the convenience of city living. I always had this perplexing idea that I was a “country girl” or the idea that people assumed that is who I was. Wow, was I wrong. I miss the city.

Winter. Need I say more? Winter is not fun. Need I remind you that I live 17 miles down a gravel road? Or that roads are NOT regularly scraped here by snowplows?

I really like variety, whether that be in stores, restaurants or activities, and I find that there is not much of that here. I miss being able to have a plethora of options available within five minutes. Or simply having something delivered.

Amid all of that, the hardest part of living here is not being able to be Aunt Shannon so much. I miss my sweet princess. The past 3 years of being Aunt Shannon have been the biggest delight of my life, not seeing that sweet girl makes my heart hurt many a days. However, I trust that God surrounds her with people daily who love her as much as I do and that as much I want to be a part of her life, she doesn’t need me. I simply hope that someday, when she’s a bit older, that she will want to come visit me, wherever I might be by then.

7.     How long are you staying in Montana?

And that my friends is the cliffhanger. J

Should you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. J