geminigirl | The Future's So Bright (Reply)

Somewhere in my work with peer educators or in doing educational groups as a social worker, I fell in love with teaching. I never really wanted to be in a classroom though-it's just not the place where I see myself being happy. But I love teaching, and I love the experience. I kind of gave up my career to get married and start a family though, and never really had a chance to expand on the things I loved about it. We'd talked about homeschooling, and I was looking forward to it, and then we fell into an educational opportunity for Naomi that was really too good to pass up, so she's been enrolled in a public magnet school and I'm not getting the chance to homeschool. And since I'm not homeschooling, there's also time...lots of it.

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do-Miriam will be in school full time soon, I anticipate. And I don't know what I want to do.

At the same time, I've fallen in love with Girl Scouts-so much so that when our current leader decided she needed to step down, she asked if I would step into the role. And it's been fun so far. It lets me do the things that appeal from the teaching side while still giving me the non-classroom experience, and without overwhelming me so much that I don't have the time and energy to give to my family and other responsibilties.

I'd love to find a way to do something similar, but get paid for it. To teach a little, to plan a little, but not in a classroom, not in a restrictive way. I don't know what I want anymore.