2016 has already thrown me an unsuspected surprise. I was talking with the kids' principal today to find out if I would need to do school choice paperwork for Brookelyn before Kindergarten registration (that paperwork has to be done about February and registration begins about March). We talked about several different things (dual immersion possibilities, robotics club continuing for 6th grade, etc). As we talked she mentioned that she was still needing to hire another 6th grade teacher for next year.
Me: "6th grade huh?"
Stacie: "Yes, 6th grade."
Me: "Hmm..I've taught 6th grade you know."
Stacie: "You have?"
Me: "Yes."
Stacie: "Hmm....very interesting."
A new conversation ensued then. I explained that my license had expired due to do a previous principal not signing necessary paperwork in order for my license to advance to a level 2 license. She seemed completely fine with it (just some paperwork to deal with, no big deal).
My challenge, if I was to go ahead with this, is how to get Brookelyn to and from school and daycare. We don't have full day Kindergarten like they did the year Sam was in Kindergarten (in fact, that year was the ONLY year our district offered it that I'm aware of). My daycare person only lives a few blocks from the school but I don't know that I would dare let Brookelyn walk the distance by herself. She has too many daycare kids to load them all into the car to go down to the school to pick up or drop off B. As I'm racking my brain to see if I can figure out which kids I know will be going to Kindergarten I'm getting a sinking feeling that they will all go to different schools. And then, it hits me...one of my preschoolers has two siblings at Canyon! She goes to daycare while mom is at work and it's a different daycare, but it gave me enough of a push to continue considering my options here.
I had intended to only teach one 3 yo and one 4 yo class next year. This way I would be done teaching by noon 2 days a week, by 3 three days a week and have Friday through Monday off. However, if I was to take on a full time teaching position again I could quit my second job at the grocery store. I've also been looking at numbers as I've been prepping tax documents. I made roughly $9K (before expenses) in 2015 teaching preschool. If I took on a full time teaching position that would increase by $15-20K per year. Now, don't get me wrong, we certainly aren't hurting for money. BUT, we do have debt (a lot more than I like) and that extra money would go really far toward paying all that debt off. It would also mean that if Travis found a new job closer to home for less than he makes now, we wouldn't have to worry about drowning due to a massive pay cut in his paycheck.
After some internal back and forth, I finally broke down and called the District Office to talk to someone about what I would need to do about my expired license. Of course, he was out of the office for the day so I had to leave a voice mail. I'm hopeful he'll call me back tomorrow or send me an email. I also got online to look at the state website to see what it had to say. It looks like it's a fairly simple process (especially since I've actually been teaching for the last five years that my license has been expired).
The thing I struggle with the most is knowing that the hiring process likely won't happen until April. This means that there's a possibility that most of my preschoolers would have found a new preschool if this falls through. I hate doing that to people. I hate the idea of starting over. I like the idea of being at my kids' school (teaching the same grade one of my kids is in). I like the idea of less debt over my head. And I like the idea of making things easier for my husband to come home again. I suppose that if I didn't get the job and my preschoolers had found elsewhere to attend that perhaps I would have to take a year off. My husband seems to think that would be good for me and my sanity anyway.
So, Thanks 2016, for taking me by surprise less than a week into the year and giving me a little ray of sunshine that perhaps it IS possible to bring my husband back home after 7 years away.
