Ex-Teachers or others who have switched careers

[greenbeing]

Are there any of you who left teaching/any other job and then regretted it down the road?

I have to return to work in a few weeks after being on maternity leave for 14 weeks. I am sooo dreading it! I am not looking forward to all of the work at school and then being exhausted when I get home with my family. This has been going on for quite some time. I love being in the classroom, but it's wearing on me after 8 years. I just don't want to do it anymore. And I don't want to do some other type of support position in education. I just want out I think. I am being pressured to get my master's and I was once given a grant to get my MA, but then quit-I just can't get into it. Plus, I want to be home with my little one's. Then part of me doesn't want to leave the profession because when my kids get in school we'll have the same time off together and I'm doing work that makes a difference in someone's life. And I'm afraid if I leave the profession, it will be difficult to get back in.

I know I have to finish out the year, because we can't make it without my income. But I'm thinking about taking some steps to switch careers and find something I can do while staying home.

Sorry this is such a long ramble. I'm just trying to sort things out and I'm looking for any advice or experiences. TIA!

[Kiera09]

Do you enjoy the actual teaching part?

Maybe you could make enough money tutoring in the evenings and on weekends to make things work...

I know that a friend of my parent's did that. She had a set up with a few schools who recommended her. So she kept her professional connections - and would regularily go into those schools to talk to the actual teachers that her clients had, that sort of thing. And she had a pretty full schedule of tutoring - like 3 or 4 hours every night, and at least part of each weekend. I know that her DH had the kids after supper and on the weekend, and she had a ighschool kid come and watch the kids for an hour or two after school. When she was ready to go back to work (when her kids were older) she was still connected and didn't really have a hole in her resume.

[liberal_chick]

I kind of left teaching. I say "kind of" b/c I went from teaching high school social studies (my area of licensure) to teaching 3 year olds at our local Mother's Day Out program.

So far, absolutely no regrets. Sometimes I miss my actual subject area, and I absolutely miss the people I worked with, but I am working 26 hours a week with my ds actually in my classroom. Love it! I feel like I have the best of both worlds.

[zinemama]

I have never regretted leaving teaching.

I left before I became a mother, and I couldn't imagine doing it with kids - for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Plus, I must admit, I really didn't have the teaching spark. You know, that extra special sense of dedication that the best teachers have? I was a decent teacher, but I didn't have that.

These days I am a writer and freelance editor. The editing is here and there and doesn't bring in a whole lot. I've been doing it only since my kids were in school (no way could I have done it earlier). Fortunately, our family doesn't depend on me for income, although the extra I do bring in is welcome.

[emc03]

i'm actually in the other boat. i moved from IL to NY, got stuck in interstate reciprocity hell, finally got my certification squared away...to find out i was pregnant. couldn't get hired to save my life for this school year. who wants to hire someone who's going to be out for 6 weeks plus costs more (i have my M.Ed.)? i'm like a double whammy on the school budget. i would LOVE back in! i miss it so very much! working temp in finance is soulless.

here's what we decided for us: there was NO way i was going to miss out this year on both teaching AND staying with the baby. there has to be something rewarding about your daily life, not just grinding it out to get to the next stage.

are you union? what does your contract say? take a sabbatical/temporary leave to deal w/family stuff. your position may be guaranteed if you decide to return within 4 years. and you could still do subbing or other work to supplement. go talk to your union rep. if you have one.

[gmvh]

I didn't teach for long but ultimately did leave between not having that "spark", moving across the country, and having twins. What about work in a child-centered non-profit? Environmental education center? Scouting program position? Professional position with the Y or Boys and Girls Club? Park district program position? Good luck!

[camprunner]

I posted in your other thread but I did want to point out that there are a lot of things that you could do that would complement your teaching.

You can tutor online in the evenings and possibly during nap time if you kids are reliable sleepers. There are lots of these companies. Educate.com is a good one and so is Etutor.com.

Check out virtual schools. There are also a lot of these. They pay anywhere from poor to unbelievably well. Some of them you actually have to have live sessions with and others are only grading papers and making phone calls. K12 and Insight are known virtual charter schools. Connections prefers strongly that you are available to work in there office. There are also lots of little private schools.

Checkout ETS and Pearson to score assessments.

If there is something that you can do related to what you teach, that also looks good. For example if you teach a high school subject, doing real world work would be excellent in that field. If you are an elementary school teacher keeping kids in your home would be an option that would look good on your resume.