I know this is a very personal decision, but I'm just throwing it out there to see what kind of advice I get. :)
I am a teacher who stayed home to raise my children for over 8 years. When our youngest was in first grade, I began subbing. Since then, for the past two years, I have done two long-term subbing jobs which pay quite well for temporary work (it comes to about $25 an hour).
I am currently looking for a job and hoping to find a part-time preschool or kindergarten job. This would allow me to teach, garner high wages albeit at half-salary, keep my résumé current, and do something I enjoy. I've had two wonderful interviews recently, and was told by both principals that I missed getting hired by a very narrow margin. They could offer me no negative criticism about my candidacy, so I suspect I may not have been hired due to my age and the corresponding higher salary my experience would demand according to the union contracts. Or maybe I just wasn't right for them. All I know is that I've never had trouble getting jobs before. I have an application out for one more half-time job and hoping third time will be the charm.
Failing that, (because getting a teaching job in my area is VERY difficult right now, and the part time jobs are as rare as can be) I have the option to do more long term subbing for say, half the school year or less, OR I can look for permanent work in education at a lower pay rate. This means working as a teaching assistant, tutor, or paraprofessional, as they are called.
I am going to be honest and admit that I have a hard time letting go of my professional autonomy. At 47, I don't think I can take orders from other teachers if I were to take a job as an assistant.
The benefit of being an assistant is that you have no take-home work, and that is a huge negative in teaching. Summers off are great, but working 50-60 hours during the school year--not so much. The main con of the assistant jobs is that the pay is low ($15 an hour if I am lucky). So I'm kinda leaning toward ruling this out.
The one exception is that I've applied for a para school library job. This is the same low pay, but would have more autonomy and independence as I would be in my own space (the library) and welcoming other teachers and classes in to build literacy and love of reading. That really appeals to me. It's 35 hours a week, all the usual school holidays and vacations off.
Of course, the other option is to try to go back to teaching full-time. But that means a really long workweek and to be honest, we don't NEED that much money. We are just about at the point of FI now and my working is really just to fatten up the college funds and enable us to make some major home repairs.
Any thoughts? Have those of you who left your professions as you knew them had any difficulty adjusting to working in a different capacity? I know that I won't be able to have it both ways and have to make some choices.
