so time for a change don’t you think?
It’s 10 years this March since I stopped being a social worker (residential, unqualified but at one point heading towards being assistant unit manager nevertheless) and moved into IT. Before that I did teacher training, though I didn’t get my PGCE. (I did do a year of degree level maths in order to have the relevant level of maths knowledge to be a maths teacher.) This March I will stop being a whatever it is I currently am in IT, and move back into education, training to be a Montessori teacher and taking up a role at Mill Cottage working towards being deputy head/principal/manager whatever you may call it.
What a decision it’s been to make. Unsurprisingly it’s a bit of a pay cut ๐ , and it’s a massive leap into the unknown in terms of training and working with young children. I did do a few stints in primary schools as part of my pgce and obviously there have been these periods of home education of my own offspring, but neither is going to have prepared me for a Montessori children’s house. Still, I’m looking forward to it – my gut feeling is that it’s the right decision, and since the evening it was offered to me I’ve felt more relaxed and more in tune with both myself and my family.
It does mean that I will be hibernating this blog on the ring – the children can no longer even be described as flexi-schooling (not while Tim is in a full time contract at the very least, and even if they drop hours at school as and when he’s not in those, it won’t be me home educating at that point!) although we will still be home education friendly (several of the children in both the children’s house and elementary are flexi-schooled, I don’t think any of them are there full time actually), and I hope we will still be welcome at home education gatherings. (Especially as we’re going to Melrose next week LOL.)
So there you go. Time for a change. Mid life crisis? Nah, think I’m heading back the way I wanted to tbh. The children are behind me 100% as is Tim, and those of our extended family (read, Tim’s family) that we’ve mentioned it to thought it sounded like a perfectly reasonable idea. In fact, pretty much everyone who has heard about it thinks it’s a reasonable idea, with the exception of my manager at work who said “congratulations! What am I going to do without you?” in tones of joy and despair pretty much evenly intermingled ๐
Michelle says
oh wow! fab. Gosh. Well done and congrats!
Kirsty says
sounds great – can’t wait to chat to you more about it!
Merry says
That does sound good ๐ Montessori is still the only part of educational practise that appeals to me as well as CM, even if i don’t do either thing really and if i got the chance, i’d jump at it too.
Hurrah for you.
Alison says
Sounds like an excellent move Jax – really pleased for you ๐
Em says
How exciting! Sounds like a move forwards ๐
HelenHaricot says
brill idea, sure you will be much much happier
layla says
Excellent! That sounds really positive & exciting ๐
Ali says
That sounds as though it’s the right decision for you, especially if you have felt more relaxed since it came up. Good luck with it and the accompanying new phase of your life.
Sarah says
lol, I’m glad you’re going to Melrose too, makes me feel just slightly better about being there myself, as a distinctly non-home-edder but still very HE friendly ๐
Ron says
Hope this goes well for you. Although I’ve spent the last 20+ in the IT area, my career has been mostly an ongoing migration and I really haven’t stuck with anything for more than 5 years.
I definitely enjoyed the teaching while I was doing it. There were some drawbacks but they were not related to the teaching itself. I’m looking forward to hearing that you are enjoying it as much as I did ๐
Deb says
It sounds like a really good plan – and I say that not because I’m a particular fan of Montessori (no feelings one way or the other) or schools/ed systems in general ๐ – but because you sound so positive about it. It doesn’t have any of the anxious overtones that you’ve had when you’ve written about previous contracts/jobs; instead it sounds like you feel very, very right about this move – and so I am very pleased for you ๐
Chris says
What Deb says – it’s great that you are sounding so positive about making a change.
t-bird anni says
glad you’e made the decision. Here’s to a Happy Jax!
Joanna says
Well done for finding your niche! Hope it works out extremely well for you all.
Allie says
Hope it all works out well for you.
Rachel says
Best of luck, I have been montessori qualified for nearly ten years now and it was the best thing I have ever done, even if I use both montessori and waldorf with Harry now, its a hard work course but wondefully fulfilling, which provider are you training with LMI?
Jax says
I think it’s an American organisation actually – but couldn’t give you any more details than that.
Thanks everyone for your best wishes ๐
Gill says
How lovely ๐ Congratulations! Those kinds of decisions are usually the best ones, aren’t they?
Lucy says
Very happy for you – sounds like you’ve stepped back on a path you were sad to leave ๐
Christina Springer says
Jax! This is great news!
I wish there was a way to make blogs both chronological and current at the same time. (Guess I have to ask DH to ponder this.) It would be fantastic for those of us who haven’t visited for awhile to catch up. (Sorry, been either snatching America by the tail and begging her not to yelp….or being sick, sick, sick.)
Anyway – as to the above posts, I hope you get closer to your center soon!