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.
Alyssa recently posted…Quiet Time: What My Personal Bible Study Looks Like
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!
Natasha Mila recently posted…5 Ways to Educate with Paper Clips
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!