Back to School for Busy Moms

Back to School is always an exciting time of year, for me this year it means something a little out of the norm. I will be going back as a student...next week I will begin taking courses to complete my graduate degree. Right now I'm wondering what crazy moment led me to this decision because I have really enjoyed the freedom of no homework! More and more moms are deciding to go back to school to enrich their lives and to further their careers. Nowadays a Bachelor's degree is common and to gain advantage in the job search you need a Master's Degree.

Going back to school means a lot of sacrifices and not just from mom, but from the entire family. My undergraduate courses were one night a week through a local college, which meant I basically went an entire day without seeing my family and I wasn't there to fix them dinner or put my kiddo to bed. My son is almost four now, but at the time he couldn't understand why mom had to be at class and couldn't come home to tuck him into bed. I am fortunate that he can entertain himself and still takes incredibly long naps. Without either of those I'm not sure I would have gotten homework done.

During school my husband had to learned to pitch in...he quickly remembered how to do laundry and started emptying the dishwasher. They may sound like small things, but it makes all of the difference in the world when you don't have to worry about the small things!

Choosing to go back to school was kind of an impulse decision. I came home from work one day and I told my husband I thought I should go back to school. Why? Because I came to the realization if I didn't go back to school I would be stuck in the same job for the rest of my career, and I couldn't have handled that. The job I was in was incredibly stressful and I knew it didn't have to be that way. The job had so much stress mainly because of my supervisor and I knew that not everyone had a supervisor like I did, but I couldn't forsee being able to change jobs anytime soon if I didn't make furthering my education a priority.

So when people ask why I'm going back to school, I tell them its because my family deserves it. While it means many sacrifices and missing out on family time, in the end it will be worth it. And one day when I tell my son he should go to college, he'll know I mean it and will hopefully learn from my experiences. Going back to school is both challenging and rewarding and I also have to mention I just got a new job as a result of my Bachelor's degree! Hopefully after I have my Master's the same thing will happen.

God bless!