I am still deciding what I want to be when I grow up. I never thought I would grow up to be a stay at home mom. I never thought I’d like it.
Wrong! I do like it! However, I’m beginning to feel antsy.
I love music. So, when I was a teenager, I thought I’d be a band director.
Nope, felt more “called” to the church. So I thought I’d be a church music director.
Nope, liked speaking more than conducting. So I became a pastor. Turns out that pastors work a lot more than 2 hours on Sundays. Some weeks I did 50+ hours. It was fine until…
Family came along, autism entered in, and I took a leave of absence, called “Family leave.”
During family leave, I’ve pondered many times about what may come next. Teaching in the public school? With those politics? No way!
How about a special needs consultant for churches and non profits? Well… sounds fun but hard to be taken seriously when I don’t have a credential in that field.
I began teaching clarinet lessons, which I love! I love my students! I may even get more this summer.
I found Wildtree and love the products and the company. That’s going well. There’s still something missing for me, though…
So I applied for a teaching position at a local college and am still waiting to hear if I got the job or not. It would be very part time– I’d only be out one evening each week.
After I applied and went through the “faculty assessment” I learned about a local company that goes into elementary schools and holds music classes. At our local elementary school, the kids and leaders wrote a school song and made a cool “Growing Grads” video for the outgoing 5th graders. They happen to be looking for people to join their team. So, I inquired online.
I have no idea where any of this will lead. What I do know is that…
1–I don’t want a full time job, just one that will get me out of my house and give me something to do once in a while and give me some extra pocket cash.
2– I don’t want a job that is crazy busy and filled with drama. I’ve already got enough drama and craziness here, thank you very much.
3. I have so many varied interests that it’s hard to narrow down what I’d like to do.
So, there we have it. What are other parents out there doing?
Posted by JoLynn on June 18, 2011 at 10:09 pm
Pining to stay at home… 🙂
Teaching 4th Grade and appreciating the flexibility of summer (it’s not summer off…I just finished a presentation that I will be doing on Wed….sweet fun on a Saturday night!).
Good luck with this decision! The once a week class sounds like just what you are looking for.
Posted by Elizabeth G. on June 25, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Wow, I can only imagine how busy you are…. I realize that many, if not most, teachers work 12 months out of the year. My dad is the 10th of 10 children and I believe at least 5 were / are teachers, two married teachers, and I have many many cousins who teach. I am looking forward to finding out if I got hired… if so I’ll begin next year . We’ll see what happens! If anything was negative about my “faculty assessment” it was that I really over prepared!