Teachers - I need your opinion
jillabobilla
member
I am 25 years old and in school getting my education degree. I just have one more semester of classes which I'm taking this Fall, then two semeters of my internships or "student teaching" until I graduate. I had my first LO in 2010 while I was going to college and working from full time. My husband (who is also in education and graduating this month) and I don't want to have a huge age gap between our children. We are thinking about TTC for #2. I am just at a total loss as to when would be the *ideal* time. I'm not embarassed to admit that I have made countless spreadsheets outlining the next 5 years of our lives to the smallest detail to try and figure this out. I know that I definitely do NOT want to have a newborn my first year teaching, and I do not want to get pregnant my first year in fear that I would not have my job secure (since FMLA requires you to be there 12 mo).
Basically I am wondering your thoughts on this. Here are my options:
Option 1: Get pregnant at the beginning of Fall this year so the baby is born around May/June 2013. The kids would 2.5 yrs apart. My husband would be finishing up with his 1st year teaching, so it would be nice to have him home with me helping in the summer. This would mean I would be doing my 1st internship in the Spring in my 3rd trimester and would have to handle my 2nd internship with a 3yr old and a 4mo. old baby (or I could postpone my 2nd internship until Spring 2014). Ideally I would graduate Dec 2014, but wouldn't start teaching until the Fall 2014 school year so I could postpone my 2nd internship if needed and still start to teach the same time.
Option 2: Get pregnant in the Spring next year while doing my 1st inernship. This would mean I would be doing my 2nd internship 6-9 months pregnant--could it get in the way of me getting hired? On a positive note, I would graduate a month or two before baby is born so my schooling would be done with before the next kid comes. The kids would be 3yrs apart. I would start teaching Fall 2014.
Option 3: Wait. Graduate first. Teach 1 full year so that baby isn't born until my 2nd year teaching...the kids would be 5.5 yrs apart.
What was your "timeline" like? How long were you teaching before you got pregnant and the baby was born? Any information would help. I'm confident that when it's meant to be, it'll happen, but it doesn't hurt to try and be prepared the best you can! Thanks in advance, and so sorry for the increidbly long post!
Re: Teachers - I need your opinion
Honestly, I would probably wait until after my first year of teaching. The first year was so time intensive outside of the classroom, that I can't really imagine doing it with two young children at home. I taught secondary English, so it was very writing intensive. In addition to the new planning, there was always a LOT of grading to do. (FYI, I got pregnant with my first at 27 the summer before my 6th year.) Still, you'll be able to make it work whatever you decide. Good luck!
Sorry, but there is no ideal or convenient time to have a baby. You probably already know that since you have one already. Whenever you have #2, it'll be really hard. If you want a sibling to have a playmate for your older child, I would avoid option 3. They'll be too far apart in age to play much. The plus is the older one will be able to help out a little. My personal preference would be option 1. It would be nice to have your DH home for the summer to help. And I don't think doing an internship with a 3 yr old and 4 month old would be that bad. If it were me, I'd want them close together and get the stress over with. I taught kindergarten for 3 years and then 1st grade for 1 1/2. I left teaching once I had kids, so I'm not sure how much I can help. I have no idea how I'd be able to teach and have young kids at the same time. It's not the kind of job where you get to go home at 4:00 and then forget your work til the next morning. There's usually a lot of work that has to be brought home, unfortunately. My first year teaching was actually not bad at all. There's a lot to learn, but unlike the horror stories you may have heard, I know a lot of people who actually had awesome first years. For me, my 4th year was my worst. Even that one wasn't awful. It's just that I didn't mesh well with the kids. They sort of had annoying personalities. So keep in mind that it could happen that your first year is a breeze and some years later you have a class from hell.
I teach kindergarten and waited until my third year of teaching to have my first baby. My husband is also a teacher and it was his fourth year. I was lucky and got pregnant in the summer and had her at the end of April of 2011. So once I went on maternity leave I was done for the year and didn't have to come back until August. It worked out great for us. So much so we are trying again this summer.
I would definitely watch out for that FMLA law, a teacher on my campus was let go when she had her baby last year. It was a real bummer, she was a great teacher.
Teaching is hard work. I have taught primary for the past 8 years. I have 2 one year olds and it is much more difficult than I could have ever imagined. The demands on teachers are increasing all the time, and from the interns at my school, they have just as much pressure on them.
I would say it would be better to have all your schooling done before having another baby. I think you would feel better knowing you are finished and not having the internship hanging over your head. I guess if you decide that is not an option for you, the best bet would be to do the internship while you are pregnant. You will be tired and it will be hard, but at least at the end, you will also be finished and you can just enjoy that little baby. I suggest you try to avoid having an infant and student teaching. You'll need your rest for the job
Good luck with the baby and teaching. They are both really fun!
There's really no ideal time to have a baby, no perfect time. If I were you, based upon the limited knowledge I have of your situation, I would choose option two. If you got pregnant this spring, wouldn't you have the baby in like jan or feb? Meaning you'd have a nine month old when you started teaching.
My situation was get married after three years of teaching, switch districts, teach for one year, switch positions, teach for one year, have first baby and then two years later have second.
Things to think about-you cant always count on getting a job right after you graduate, you can't always count on gettingregnant when you want to, and do you want to put your wants of your family above your career, or would you rather put ur family decisions above career decisions?
Teaching is exhausting. Your first year will be doubly exhausting. That being said, I'd still go for option 1 as I wouldn't want my kids to be that far apart in age. You can do it, just know how tired you'll be
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Now of course, that's with all things being perfect... Find a job right away, able to time pregnancy the way you want.
I would wait until you are done with all of your school. 5 years isn't a big deal, and it will make all the difference in the world for you to have job security and financial stability.
For what it's worth, my sis and I are 6.5 years apart and are best friends. She and my older brother are 9 years apart and are also very close. I don't see the big deal with waiting. It is, to me, clearly the best choice for your family.
I say that your first priority should be trying to get pregnant when you want and your second priority should be your teaching stuff. You cannot plan exactly when you will get pregnant, nor can you plan whether or not you are going to be hired somewhere. Try to have the baby when you want and let the teaching stuff fall into place.
This year I went down to teaching part-time so that I could focus on getting my PhD full time. I also have a Graduate Assistantship and of course LO. Student teaching as well as trying to find a job is a lot of work, but you can do it!