I’m not quite sure how active this place is bc it’s been awhile since I’ve used this app but I need…

I think you should talk to your husband and see what his opinion is and go from there. Follow your heart.

I think you should speak with your SO. If he is fine with it then do it. You sound like you need a mental break from what your life was. Sometimes huge life changes makes us reevaluate whether or not what we are doing truly makes us happy.

Can you survive on 1 income? What is the cost of childcare vs what you're bringing in? Talk to him about it. He might not feel like it would be a burden at all. I think if it's financially viable and you are both on the same page, why not? I'd do it if I could. Go for it!

I understand this post on so many levels. Teaching is so incredibly stressful & I feel like it’s slowly sucking the life out of me. 😅However, since having my son my attitude towards work is very different. As you know, teaching can consume every minute of your life. I’ve done a much better job getting a healthy work-life balance since having my son and I’m far happier because of it. Only you & your husband can decide if staying home is right for your family, but finding a better balance may take some of the stress off your shoulders.

Thanks ladies. Of course he’s all for me staying home. But I know his goal is to start his own business and I can’t help but feel as if I’ll be straining him if I did quit completely. My older son goes to the school I teach at and it’s my childhood school so I have a special connection to it. We live in a different school area so more than likely he’d have to change schools. Right now I’m making just enough for my bills and child care. $900 every two weeks lol.

What school-work balance did you find? I put my foot down and I told them I will not work more than 7:30-3:30. We fought for breaks this year so I finally get two 30 min breaks a week. I have two domains due, which is similar to dossiers, needing to prove I’m an exemplary or highly effective teacher. They are so time consuming and stressful and I refuse to work until midnight to get them done. I’ve told them this, but I’m the type that is given assignments and I will perfect them and have them done on time. This year I’ve said no, but I feel so stressed about them still and like I’m carrying 500 lbs on my shoulder.

@ek_, ugh your comments aren’t posting for me to read the whole thing. I’m a level 2 teacher, exemplary in NM. Since I took some time off I had to stop my contract bc they didn’t give me maternity pay. They took off $200 every two weeks. I was making $1100 every two weeks. This is after taxes.

So each domain stands for something. There’s 5-6 sections in each one and we have to give 4-5 examples on how we meet exemplary or highly effective. For ex, one is proving how I am exemplary in curriculum and meeting all WIDA and IEP needs. So I have to prove 5 different ways of how I met this one strand. I put it all together in a notebook and turn it in to principal. This is not required by all schools here, so it’s just extra bs work in my opinion, for the same pay as other teachers

It’s similar to danielsons framework but on steroids. There’s bullets that you must meet to be exemplary. Like I have to be on a district committee to even be able to get on exemplary. I wrote our 2nd grade curriculum for math and ELA so I automatically was able to be exemplary but still had to “prove it”. I know I wish I had 30 min prep times daily. I’m just so stressed and shouldn’t be since im on spring break lol

We are forced to provide intervention during those times. So we have PE set daily and half our kids go to PE while we meet with the other two groups for 15 mins providing intervention activities. During my music and library we have common planning Time w the other two second grade teachers.

I know it’s insane. I think it’s more of our school not having it to be honest. I’ve asked around & other teachers get it, which really is disheartening bc we are paid the same lol. We are expected to do our daily intervention in tier 1, you know, making sure all students are engaged, having visuals and manipulatives, teaching two all styles whole group. Our tier 2 students are the smaller group ones, where as we are intervening in areas they are struggling in. Our high students are given activities that should enhance them and our middle students are working on areas needed strengthening. So really I should have 7 lesson plans per day.

4 for ELA interventions, 1 for math, 1 for ELA, 1 for phonics. Oh and now they want us to add Math interventions which is another 4.

We have no interventionists in our district at all. We do have our special ed teacher for IEPs, OT and bilingual, but we still have to intervene in class.

Omg not being able to read your whole response is driving me nuts! Our agreement is basically our salary and that’s all. We have a district handbook about what’s expected from us. Not really anything saying what’s required to be given to us.

We are an “A” school, but we are suffering. Teacher morale is at an all time low. We have about 6-7 teachers leaving this year...

We don’t have a union. We have the NEA but I won’t pay for it lol

This is how I’m reading your responses. From notifications:

Yes, the principal. We’ve always been held to higher standards, which I’m all for. But being overworked is crazy.

No, I even tried restarting my phone lol

It looks like I’m having a one ended convo on my end

Girl, I know it!!! I think our district has our tiers all messed up too lol. I have one student who should be level D. I do all I can to ensure she feels comfortable and is being taught, but truly she can’t be. I’ve had students with severe mental issues and had been hospitalized for them, but was told I had to teach them and there was no way I could have them sent to a “behavior classroom”. I almost quit that year too lol

I updated the app and it works now.

Sorry to totally hijack your post. It’s interesting to hear how things are done in other buildings and states. I don’t come across too many other teachers on here.

I’d pray and talk to my hubby. I have worked as a mom and been a Sahm both and I can tell you what moved me to stay home is the fact that they are only little once and I didn’t want to babysitter or daycare seein their first steps, their first smile, their first word, I didn’t want a child care provider taking care of my babies boo-boos when they would fall and scrape their knee. These people no matter how professional will never equal a mothers love and constant presence. I also found that when I worked and had children one always had to be the priority and more often than not I had to feel like I was pushing a child aside to get ready for work or to run out the door for work I was tired from work so I didn’t feel like being the best mom I could be. I’ve said all of this and I’m also going to say that I understand mothers who have to work because they are either single or they don’t have a dependable significant other or whatever the case might be. But you need to do what’s best for you and your child even if that means prioritizing your finances in a way where you can sacrifice some material things or luxuries to stay home if that’s what you want to do it.

@ek_, and @whoswhoo, this has been a fascinating peek into the life of an educator! I appreciate you guys! I was a clinical mental health therapist with children/families for years before now being a supervisor, so I know the struggle of doing a job you feel passion for, but are not financially rewarded for doing 😬

My advice is similar to ek’s, in that I would give it some time to find your rhythm as a working mom, and you may find you develop a firmer work-life balance. Before kids, I frequently did paperwork from home, but since having a child, it became a necessity to stop doing this, so I could devote home hours to my own child’s needs. The job will still have its own stress and demands, but you might find yourself handling this differently, as your perspective changes after kids.

I will say that my 3 month maternity leave was also the least stressed and physically/emotionally healthiest I have been, just as you experienced! Wish I could have extended that just a bit!