thredUP's Raise A Hand for Teachers Program #RaiseAHand

I'm super excited that I'm teaming up with thredUP for the Raise A Hand for Teachers Program! thredUP has partnered with AdoptAClassroom.org to give a big round of applause to all the terrific teachers out there. As reported by AdoptAClassroom.org, teachers use around $500 of their own money every year to supply their classrooms. Also, about 70% of teachers have even provided their students with clothing, such as shirts, shoes, and jackets.

I've worked with thredUP many times before and have always loved what they do. This amazing company specializes in taking gently used clothing and turning around and selling it for up to 90% off of retail. That's extremely great when it's time for back to school shopping. thredUP offers many all time favorite children's brands such as Mini Boden, GapKids, Matilda Jane, Zara Kids, and many more. You can shop thredUP.com/Back-To-School or search for their mobile app.

Since I'm a lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mommy, we decided it would be best to homeschool Adrienne. I've been working with her for a year now, and instead of her going into kindergarten this fall, she has been working on first grade lessons. She is ahead of the game.

So, seeing that we don't technically have a teacher from my child's school to nominate, I'll nominate a sweet friend of mine, Diana Hinton for thredUP's #RaiseAHand program. She is a retired middle school teacher who still currently subs.

To get an insight of what teaching is like, I asked her what her thoughts were and here is what she had to say:

"Being a teacher was both fulfilling and frustrating. It's much harder than you'd think. I loved teaching middle school because the kids are still young enough to be amazed, and old enough to catch on to your jokes. I loved the energy they have, and it helped energize me. I love learning, and that's a good thing because teachers have to learn new things all the time.... never ends, which was the best part. It was the only job where I NEVER got bored. A teacher puts in long hours developing lesson plans, preparing materials, trying new experiments to do with the students, making out tests to state requirements, then grading those. A teacher spends countless hours trying to prepare the students for state testing, too. We, as teachers, are expected to work ballgames of all kinds, stay periodically for after school detention, take students on field trips, and we have to have conferences with parents, which is sometimes not so pleasant. Teaching is sort of a game to see what works on different students. I often used three different methods during lessons to help children understand the objectives. Even though it is extremely stressful and hectic, it was super rewarding."

Three teachers will win $2,500 for their classroom and $500 to shop at thredUP. Fifty runner-ups will receive $100 to shop at thredUP. The nomination period is from July 15th to August 23rd. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, September 8th. Read more nominations and view cute videos of children thanking their teachers at thredUP.com/Teachers

A big thank you to all the amazing teachers and to thredUP for being so giving.