This post may be a bit long, but I really wanted to chronicle my journey for my future self. I want to remember how God led me in this process. Feel free to skip through any part that you do not find interesting!
I recently encountered my first career crisis. After my first career as an overpaid chemical engineer, my second career as an underpaid (read "no pay") stay-at-home/homeschooling mom, it was time do decide what to do with the rest of my life.
My boys had all done career counseling with Jim Bailey (an experience that was awesome for each of them), and I considered getting some counsel from him as well. But I opted instead to just spend a year exploring my options, really thinking about how I'm wired, and considering my stage in life (like it or not, it's not too practical to totally start over, and I was expecting to have grandkids before long).
Since I have been teaching chemistry and physical science at a homeschool co-op for the last seven years, the first job I considered was a part-time chemistry position at the local classical Christian school. After my interview, they told me they had already filled the position with one of their current faculty members, but would I be interested in a full-time job teaching first grade? WHAT?????To be fair, I had just answered a series of questions in which I had said that my favorite teaching experiences were with kindergartners and first graders. I was asked to at least consider it, which I did. In fact, I surprised myself at how excited I was about the prospect. This told me a little bit about myself. Maybe my passion was not science (though deep down, I already knew it wasn't).
You see, a conversation with my Dad when he was in hospice was very enlightening to me. Dad was speaking to a nurse about how some people are "numbers people" and others are "words people." He said he was a "numbers person" who had tried for years to be a "words person." Then he pointed to me. He said, "My daughter Susan - she is rare. She is good with both numbers AND words." This was so affirming to me! You see, both of my parents really encouraged me to pursue a career in the STEM field because I was good at math. I don't blame them. I was also drawn to the $$$ and challenge of engineering, but it was definitely NOT a passion. Somehow my Dad's comment allowed me to break free of the defining image I had of myself as a being a science/math person. Because my favorite subjects were always reading and English! The kind you do in grade school.
So I looked at the following facts:
1. I like words better than numbers. So probably no engineering and also no bookkeeping (though I do it for Terry's business).
2. I like teaching.
3. I particularly like teaching reading and interacting with children's books.
4. I like tutoring better than classroom teaching (probably all those years of homeschooling, but also I stink at classroom management and I HATE GRADING).
5. I want a flexible job. This is much more important to me than pay.
6. I want to learn something new. And yes, something challenging. But not so challenging that my brain falls out (like it probably would if I returned to school for a master's in engineering)
7. I do not want to sell anything.
8. I want to do something that has ministry potential.
9. I want a new, marketable skill in case I need to return full time (something I need to keep in mind since Terry has MS).
So I turned down the first grade opportunity (because it was full time), kept my co-op chemistry teaching job at least for the time being, took the GRE (just in case), signed up to work with the ESL ministry at church and got a part-time internship in a laboratory all in an effort to find out what was next. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about dyslexia therapy (which I learned about through a dyslexic student that I tutored in high school science and math) - so in addition to all these other things, I decided to attend the state dyslexia conference. By the time the conference rolled around in April, I had ruled out a return to engineering or teaching high school chemistry (just didn't want full-time!).
At the conference, I met the folks from Hoover Learning Group. They were offering training to become a CALT (Certified Academic Language Therapist). I had several conversations with them, and came home knowing I wanted to do it. It cost $4K, and I wasn't sure how Terry would feel about that. But he was enthusiastic and told me to go for it! But the icing on the cake was that at that same conference I "happened" to meet a UT professor who was looking for folks to help norm a dyslexia screening test. I ended up getting offered a one-month job making - you guessed it - $4K. Not only were the funds provided - those funds were acquired while also learning about dyslexia. Awesome!
I had the first two weeks of training in early July.
I knew right away that I was going to love it! I wasn't sure how I was going to get my 700 practicum hours that I needed to be licensed, but God took care of that, too! I got a phone call from a local Christian school that has a dyslexia program (the only one in town), and they offered me a contract position doing reading therapy. I had not sought this out in any way - I didn't even know the program existed. My hours are totally flexible. Yes, I even missed the first three weeks of school on a mission trip! And then my daughter had a baby (so I was right, those grandkids are coming)!
I have really loved my training, the therapy, the students, and my teaching environment at Berean Christian School (where I get to glean from the expertise of many who have been in this field for years). This new career meets every single one of my criteria.
And there's even one criteria I didn't think to put down. I didn't realize how nice it would be to have a job that could be carried on during social distancing. My Zoom tutoring is going really well!
