Going Back to College

In August I registered to go back to college. I applied and was accepted Western Governors University, an online college based out of Utah. I applied for dual licensure in Elementary Education and Special Education. In September I began classes. This college is unique in that each term is 6 months long and you don’t really have any breaks between terms. You work on one class at a time, and it is suggested you do at least four classes per term, but you can definitely do more. This month, February, is the last month of my term. Today I took a test to finish my third math class and I passed! I ended up finishing 7 classes this term which was my goal.

As I met with an advisor when I was applying to the school, we talked about how quickly I wanted to finish school and how many classes per term I would need to take in order to meet my goal. I need to take 6-7 classes per term in order to get my degree in 3-3.5 years. Some classes will be easier than others. I took all 3 math classes in about 5 weeks. My Educational Psychology class alone took me 5 weeks. It will be interesting to see how the difficulty of the classes progresses through the program.

When I was younger I always said I wanted to be a teacher, but once I got married and started having kids I figured that dream was just going to transfer to me teaching my kids. I never imagined that I would go back to school in my 40’s. I’m really glad that I waited, though. I’ve learned so much through my years of parenting and homeschooling my kids that I feel will help me as a teacher. I don’t think I would have learned the same lessons if I had started teaching sooner and raised my family and taught at the same time.

Robert and the kids have been amazing through all this. We have a routine where after we say family prayers and put the kids to bed, Robert takes care of kids coming out of their room for drinks or whatever, and I use that time to study. On Saturdays when we don’t have any kid sports to go to, I can also get in some extra studying time while Robert and the kids get extra time with their dad. It will be interesting to see how my study schedule changes once school is out for the summer. I’d like to think that I would have more time since I won’t be working full time, but it seems like the kids always keep me plenty busy and I usually have even less time.

My ultimate goal is to work as a certified teacher here in our local school. Right now I’m working full time as a Special Education paraprofessional, and I absolutely love it! I love the kids I get to work with. I love the staff at the school, I love seeing my kids in the hallways and at lunch. I discovered when I worked there before that I was actually pretty good at my job, too. It makes my heart so happy to watch these students finally grasp concepts that they have been working on. Seeing how much they grow during the year and celebrating all of their accomplishments, even the little ones, makes my heart so happy! It’s going to be a fun journey.

Do you have a goal that you’ve put on the backburner? What is it? Do you ever think you will go back to it?