re: Teacher or nurse?

I'm a teacher.
One of my best friends is a nurse.

I love my job but I wish I had her schedule.
She works three12 hour shifts per week. When she's not at work she's not working.
I arrive at school at 7:15am. I leave around 4pm. Once I get home I often am doing planning or grading (or both). I have to take classes to keep up my certification.
Elementary teachers have about 30 kids and must plan for the whole day. You teach most subjects. Even 1st grade has a lot of paperwork, especially if you have kids who are gifted, special ed, or have 504's.
Remember too, if you get certified elem ed. you may not get a 1st grade job. You could easily end up teaching 5th grade.

I am going to either start classes to be a 2nd grade teacher or a police officer. I'm not sure which one yet. Teachers don't make great money but like you said, the schedule is better. I was considering being a nurse but i'm not good at math at all and i don't like blood.

Quoting ღEvan's Mommyღ:“ I have a question for you. How hard is it to become an elementary school teacher? This is something that ... [snip!] ... and I absolutely love kids. And the fact that I will be able to take summers off with my son would be another big point for me.”

Honestly, as a working mother, it is really difficult.

With other degrees, you can go to night school or online education, etc. With education, they want you in the classroom. When you student teach, you have to quit your job so you can donate your life full time to the model classroom. Its taken me an extremely long time to get this degree because I'm not a traditional student.

It is extremely competitive these days, so if you don't have a 3.5GPA, you can usually forget about getting a job. You also have to build this stupid portfolio that is worthless when you are out of school, plus for the first two years, you are on a conditional license where you have to keep preparing the portfolio...

Its ALOT of bureaucracy.

I want to do nursing really bad but I'm afraid that I won't be "competent" and I'm going to screw someone up. Like give them the wrong dosage of something... I couldn't live with myself making a mistake like that.

Quoting MommyRust:“ Honestly, as a working mother, it is really difficult. With other degrees, you can go to night ... [snip!] ... first two years, you are on a conditional license where you have to keep preparing the portfolio... Its ALOT of bureaucracy.”

Wow, maybe I'll rethink the whole teaching thing. There's no way that I could afford to quit my job. If I could then I wouldn't worry about going to school.

Quoting ღEvan's Mommyღ:“ Wow, maybe I'll rethink the whole teaching thing. There's no way that I could afford to quit my job. If I could then I wouldn't worry about going to school.”

Thats the hardest part for me. I have two more semesters before Student Teaching and I'm freaking out...that is 16 weeks without any income. And that is just for me to get my K-6 licensing...if I want my special ed and language arts endorsement, its another 8 weeks.

reading everything is so helpful ladies! I think I'm leaning towards nursing again, I already completed the first semester of nursing school, but will most likely retake it to refresh my memory, and it would still only take me 2 years or less because I've already been accepted. keep em coming ladies!

Quoting MommyRust:“ Thats the hardest part for me. I have two more semesters before Student Teaching and I'm freaking out...that ... [snip!] ... And that is just for me to get my K-6 licensing...if I want my special ed and language arts endorsement, its another 8 weeks.”

wow, that's a long time without any income. I would be freaking out too. It's sad, I'm freakin 25 and still don't know what I want to do for a living. I certainly know that I don't want to work where I'm working for the rest of my life.

I'm just the opposite of you! Ed major, considering changing to nursing! LOL
I have the equivalent of an associate's degree in ed/English, and was able to score a job as a long term sub for a charter school out here. I taught 5th grade and Kinder, each for about half a year. I seriously felt like my Kinder kids had more papers to grade than my 5th graders! You'd be surprised... younger kids can go through just as much, if not more than the older ones.
As far as the schedule goes, yes you will definitely have the same breaks as your kids as far as summer and holidays, assuming your kids are in the same district as you. The day to day though.... any school I've been involved with, you're expected to be in your classroom half hour to an hour before school starts, and to have some sort of hours after school as well. Plus add in meetings with parents, phone calls, special school events that require your attendance after hours, grading time, administrative meetings, volunteering on committees, the weeks with parent teacher conferences, and the everyday can run a tad long.... I wouldn't say 12 hour days necessarily, but there are definitely days that have to potential to run that long.
It really is something you have to be totally fulfilled doing just for the love of teaching and being with kids. The paycheck will never ever seem big enough for everything you do! I agree with the others, if you're doing it just for the schedule, don't switch majors.

Quoting ღEvan's Mommyღ:“ wow, that's a long time without any income. I would be freaking out too. It's sad, I'm freakin 25 and ... [snip!] ... know what I want to do for a living. I certainly know that I don't want to work where I'm working for the rest of my life.”

Student teaching is very hard to do while raising a family. I did mine while I was a grad student. I was 25 but had no family and had money saved up that I use to pay my rent for the sememster. I paid for my first two semesters of grad school. My dad paid for my third semester (when I did my student teaching).
The thing about student teaching is that not only can you not have a day job....you are also paying tuition to your university at the same time.

Quoting Elizabeth (mountainbaby):“ Student teaching is very hard to do while raising a family. I did mine while I was a grad student. ... [snip!] ... teaching is that not only can you not have a day job....you are also paying tuition to your university at the same time.”

yeah, I don't think that I could manage that. And I hate that b/c I think I would love teaching.

Those would be my options too, if I were to work. That and maybe cosmetologist...
too bad I dislike people so much lol.
I'd rather be a teacher because in a way you get a chance to shape the future. Ive heard of people getting so worn out from nursing and they lose their compassion(depending on if you work in a high paced environment like an ER).

I say go for nursing. Teaching in preschool isn't the same as it is in elementary school. The benefits of nursing seem to outweigh the benefits of teaching. Sure you might have a few tough shifts as a nurse or have to work a holiday but it pays well and you still get alot of time off. It's fast paced and changing as well. Teaching can get monotonous. It really depends on what you LOVE to do.

What do you love more? Teaching children? Or helping patients?