The Poor Mom Revolution

You know… making decisions can be tough. They push you, scare you and sometimes make you question everything. If you are anything like me, impulsive would never be a word I’d use to describe myself. I’m someone that finishes whatever I start, works incredibly hard to see things through, and If given the option hates stepping out of my comfort zone. Change is never easy, but once I set my mind to it and make a decision… I’m all in!

My decision to leave elementary education was something I needed and didn’t take lightly. After 9 years of going back and forth I realized in order to be happy and not live in a constant state of stress, I needed to walk away. This was a decision that took almost a decade to figure out and settle on because when you focus all your time and energy on one thing, how do you just turn and walk away. Since the day I decided I was entering my last year of teaching, It felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I continued to bust my butt during work hours ensuring that I didn’t take a single thing home. That when I came home and it was family time, I learned to shut off the teacher brain as much as possible to be as present as I could. I also stayed in my little happy, positive bubble where all the negativity that I couldn’t ignore over the past 8 years prior just melted away. Once the decision was made I never hesitated, questioned or second guessed myself, but I’ve Incorporated my favorite parts of teaching into my current job and everyday life. I absolutely love helping others, problem solving and helping kids/staff get through tough times. I’ve gotten pretty great at deescalating situations and building those connections with the families I work with on a daily basis.

Teaching for me, as many of you know, has been all I’ve thought about since I was little. There was never anything else in my mind that I even thought about doing and I spent just about all my time going towards that dream. I even went back for my masters in special education while being pregnant and having both of my children. It was probably to date one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do as a balancing act with graduate work, a full time job all while having newborns and It felt impossible at the time. Just like everything else, I pushed through and I was more proud of myself than I ever could have thought possible once I graduated and walked across that stage.

Last Wednesday, I woke up around 5am before my alarm and made the mistake of looking at my phone. I had come across an email from the Pennsylvania Department of Education letting me know my 5th and final year is underway and that I have 365 days to complete my continual education courses/mandatory hours in order to keep my license active. I then did a deep dive on the way to do that. I would have to take back to back double courses at the local community college which would be the long and free way to do it and potentially still coming up short on hours. I could also choose go back to school and take 6 college courses within the year which would be two graduate level courses each semester. Now I remember having this requirement while teaching, but the mandatory professional development days basically took care of that without thinking twice. This was definitely an oversight on my part and was more of an out of sight out of mind scenario.

The part that really upset me was that I took this so hard. I know I’m not going back to school and I’m too busy to take back-to-back courses for an entire year. I have no intentions of ever going back to teaching in a traditional elementary school environment, but knowing that the teaching license I spent so long getting will be null and void made me super emotional and hypersensitive this week. It’s been an incredible 5 years since I made the decision and 4 years since I walked away. It is the end of an era for sure and I’m excited to see what the next one will bring.