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Originally Posted by rach3975
Very interesting to read about all of your career paths and dreams! I started working with preschoolers (baby sitting and summer jobs at a preschool's summer camp) when I was in high school. I LOVED that age group. In college I had to make a choice--I knew that preschoolers were my favorite age group to work with, but I also knew how much lower the pay was than for elementary school. So I made the practical choice to get certified for elementary, but I never had a real love for that the way I did for preschool. I ended up leading a K-3 afterschool program for a year before moving into public health and eventually becoming a SAHM.
When my youngest started kindergarten, the preschool my kids had all attended offered me a teaching job and I jumped at it. It was the best of all worlds--I would be working with preschoolers again, get a foot back in the working world, and still be home any time my kids were home. That was in 2014, and I'm still teaching at the same school. I still LOVE it. I've long said that the only thing that I don't love about teaching preschool is the salary. (Not to sound obsessed with money, but even if I worked full time I wouldn't earn enough to support myself and the kids. Public school teachers make more than double what I would if I did this full time, and I'm relatively well paid for a childcare worker.)
My middle son has multiple disabilities. He's on the autism spectrum, has ADHD, and has speech, sleep, and motor planning disorders. He's going into 10th grade this year. So in 3 more years, I won't be able to work during the school day without paying for some form of care for him. At my current salary, I'd hand over 100% of my take home pay to a caregiver. Since I don't want to stop working, I'm making some changes.
This fall I'm starting grad school (very part time) to work toward a Masters in Early Childhood Special Education and teaching licensure. In 3 years I'll finish and be able to work as a preschool special ed teacher in the public schools. I'm going to miss my current coworkers and preschool (where I've been since 2006, if you count my years as a parent and board member), but I'm very excited to transition into special ed!
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It takes a special person, who has the patience of a saint, to be able to work with young children. I am always amazed by people like you who can do it, because I know I couldn't.
It sucks how underpaid all teachers are, but I believe it when you say pre-school teachers are the lowest paid. To be honest, even though we all know how early teaching helps kids develop and thrive, I think a lot of people look at pre-school as babysitting, which is also underpaid in most cases. But don't get me started about the low pay for most of the people in this country because my soapbox on that one is pretty high.
Will your son always require specialized care? I can only imagine the cost. My father needed special care round the clock, he was a quadriplegic by the end of his battle with MD, and the cost devastated my parent emotionally and financially, even though we provided all but 8 hours a day of it so we could work, which is why my mom ended up living with me. Healthcare of that kind is another soapbox item for me as well, since I know first hand what it can do to a family.