I too have the same problem.  I need to teach for 15 more years because I want maximum retirement.  Every year I have "dreams" before school starts of being invisible to the students and they ignore me and do whatever they want in my classroom.  Last year, it happened.  It was if there was no teacher in the room.  I have never had a class that talked through a teacher before.  I had to crack down very hard and treat them like first graders.  I got complaints from parents because the kids told them I was mean.  Too Bad!  If they had raised their little dears better, I would not have to be so mean.

I remember getting June, July AND August off before we went back to school.  Now they have extended the number of days students have to be in school and we get only June and July off.  Did they up our pay for it?  Heck NO!!  They extended the contract without so much as a "Here's something for the extra days.  Enjoy!"  They have also extended our hours IN school by 30 minutes without a pay change.  I would n't mind so much except that I have to be there by 7:00 in the morning.  I don't think even God is awake when I leave for work.

In Ontario, we always started our vacation at the end of June, going back after Labour Day.  I always regarded July as the buffer month, but as August approached, it always became a countdown, with me calaculating each week how many days I had left before going back to school to begin my preparations.

For those of you, especially "Woris Out", who have several years to go before retirement and are finding that the job never gets any easier, despite many years of experience, is there any chance of taking a teacher-funded leave?  In Ontario we were able to do this, and it allowed us to contribute to our pension plans while we off, thereby getting the credit as an employment year.

I'm not sure whether such provisions exist in many American states, but if you are able to, I highly recommend it, as it can rejevenate you, as well as shorten the time to your acual retirement.

I honestly love teaching, but I hate the idea of getting to that point and working a few more years just so I can get full retirement. I have been teaching for 5 years now and have somewhere around 25+ more years of teaching before I can get full retirement. I don't see myself doing that. There are so many teachers in my district who are doing just that.

I ask myself if I had enough income coming in to allow me to do anything in the world, what would it be? If it's not what I currently am doing, then what am I doing to make that vision become a reality within a year? If I can't honestly answer that question, it's time to turn the television, computer, music, and any other NOISE off so I can figure out a plan of action to make the transition happen.

I know I'm probably stepping on toes here, sorry if that's the case.