Are you familiar with the game “Would You Rather…?” Quick rundown for the uninitiated: you’re presented with two equally distasteful situations, and you get to pick which one you prefer. Kind of an interesting look into someone’s mind. For example, would you rather:
- Give birth with absolutely no drugs whatsoever, when you were planning for a pleasant epidural?
OR - Have a severely colicky baby who doesn’t sleep for five solid months?
See? Neither situation is remotely palatable. (For the record, I have endured both scenarios, and I’d go with the unplanned drug-free birth every.single.time.)
I’m living this game right now.
JEN! You’ve been selected for the next round of Would!You!Rather?! LIVE! Ok, here are your scenarios, are you ready? Would you rather…
- Homeschool your twice-exceptional son with the poor impulse control and low frustration level?
OR- Enter the workforce for the first time in 10 years so you can afford a private school that could help him?
The clock’s a’tickin’, Jen! You have until spring to figure it out! Choose wisely, and your son will thrive! Choose poorly, and your son will flounder even worse than he is now! Choose not at all, and you will lose him to a lifetime of underachievement and poor self-esteem!
No Grand Prize, but lots of booby prizes. Good times, good times.
So I’ve been trolling Craigslist and the local school districts, trying to get a feel for what is available for me, job-wise. Unfortunately, what I’ve discovered is that I’m too qualified for the positions I’d be hired for, and not qualified enough for the positions I could do well. And returning to the classroom is not an option. I get enough of attitude and crap from my own kids, I can’t teach anymore. That’s a decision I made 10 years ago and I’m sticking to it.
My ideal job, for me right now, is part time working in gifted advocacy/education. Does it exist? Probably not, but if it were a perfect world, A wouldn’t be having such difficulties in school and this wouldn’t be an issue. So I search, and I tinker with my resume, and I read up on homeschooling challenging children. There’s really no perfect answer, but I’ll take “good enough for now.”
‘Cause someday, I want to play a different version of this game…
JEN! You nailed your previous round of Would!You!Rather?! LIVE! and get to advance to the bonus round! Ready? Would you rather…
- Take an around-the-world cruise with your husband, all-expenses paid, with a tutor for your sons so they can come along and have a once-in-a-lifetime education, and not have to plan it or lift a finger except to sample a local delicacy?
OR- Have the above trip but with Jamie Bamber along simply to feed you those local delicacies?
‘Cause that is a version of this game I could totally rock.
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I think you know which side I come down on in regards to the Bamber situation.
Ugh. Just ugh. So, working at Starbucks wouldn’t cover the school expenses, huh?
One more ugh and then this: You know it will work out. The in-between times are the hardest, though.
I’m sure that everything will work out in the long run. At least that’s how I chose to live my life day to day.
I see you’ve met rock and hard place. Yuck.
Well, I did the same thing, job wise. Ten years in public schools and no desire at all to return after ten years away from them. Too qualified for part time jobs. So I mulled it over for a few more years and then marketed myself to a preschool to see what would happen. (I was in preschool special ed already) On the second try I hooked a fish. I don’t know a good title for my job,maybe in-house special ed consultant? The job is underpaid what I could get if I felt like killing myself 40 hours a week, but I’m back in the door. I work two days a week and I vary those days however I need. I’m home when my kids need me and best of all, I’m happy!