I am just a few courses away from finishing my bachelor’s degree. I will finish it this year! It has been pretty crazy to realize that I am so close to done. It has been a long journey, but I am so happy that I am so close to being finished! Now, regular readers may be thinking by now that it’s kind of crazy for me to be working on a degree right now. I am homeschooling.I have two children with special needs, which require five therapy sessions between them each week. And I work at home doing something I love that doesn’t require a degree.
So why in the world do I even worry about school? Why waste all that money paying for an education that I’ll “never use”? Why spend late nights studying and typing papers when I don’t really have to?
Why Get a Degree as a Work at Home Mom?
I Started, I Will Finish
First and foremost, I really hate failing at things. I’ve never been one to quit and give up halfway through something. When I started my college, I had every intention on finishing my degree, finding a great job and working full time for the rest of my life. Or until I retired. Whatever. I started my degree in business management, because that’s the easiest degree to change based on many different career paths. Back then I wasn’t homeschooling. Back then words like “autism” and “global developmental delay” and “sensory processing disorder” were things that happened to other people, not me. Now things are very different. I will not be getting any sort of corporate job in the foreseeable future. I will continue to find work at home options that fit around my family and my schedule. I will write my blog and connect with other mothers dealing with a similar season of life. But I will still finish my degree. I teach my kids that when you start something, you finish. You don’t just give up when it gets hard or we don’t feel like it anymore. So I will finish.
It Will Help Advance My Career
When I decided to look for work at home opportunities, there were a few that I tried out that just weren’t for me. Either I worked for $1/hour or less, or they wanted me to follow their set schedule. Neither of those really work for me! Once I found freelance writing, it was like everything fell into place, finally. I can write on my schedule, and make sure that I have time for what’s really important, my family. The type of freelancing that I do involves writing website content, blog posts, and managing social media accounts for brands. Essentially I am helping them with their marketing, so I have switched my degree to marketing management. Luckily with my school the process is extremely simple, and it only adds two more courses to my degree plan! While I can do this job without a degree in marketing, having that educational background allows me to give my clients confidence that I know what I’m doing and I can help take their business to the next level.
My Boys Will Have No Excuse
This is the reason that I keep going when I’m tired, and I never want to see another note card again, and I really want to give up school. I’ve held onto this reason since I was 16 and pregnant with Mr. C. I had to finish high school because I never wanted him to say he didn’t have to because I didn’t. I never wanted him to use my quitting or failing as an excuse to not live up to his full potential. So I continued to take AP courses, and I graduated high school on time with my class. For that same reason I started college when it would have been much easier not to. I had kids, and work, and a million other excuses not to go. But I never wanted my kids to tell me “I don’t have to go to college, you didn’t and you’re fine!”. And I will stay in and finish what I started. I will graduate because when my kids are in college and they have a rough time, I do not want them to quit and tell me that it’s okay because I quit. That said, I don’t think that college is for everyone, and I won’t force my boys to go. I just don’t want me to be their excuse.
I worked at home for 7 years in that time I finished my Master’s degree. I was asked ALL the time what i was going to do with it. I’m still not sure to this day but I wanted to finish what I had started. I had all the same reasons that you had when I was doing so. I finished last July. It took me a long time but I still feel like it was worth it.
Wow, Alyssa, congratulations! I thought about completing my MBA, but I don’t think I’ll do it quite yet. Maybe when my kiddos are older and don’t have quite as many therapies. I read a post once about an IV League graduate talking about how she didn’t regret her expensive education even though she was “just” a stay at home mom. I can’t find the post now, but it was great! Even if we don’t “use” a degree like many others, it is still a valuable education! Thank you for reading!
Yes and yes :) I’m so excited that you are continuing your degree because I can tell you think education is important through your homeschooling stories. I obviously think your education will help your kids further their education which is so important because it gives our children and younger generations a choice!
Absolutely! My grandpa went to college, but other than him I’m the first person in my family. I’m so excited that my kids will get to see how important a good education can be and that they can do it if that is what they choose! Thank you for sharing! :)
Good luck!