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Blog Confessions of a SAHD Chapter II Confession of a Stay at Home Dad: Part VIII | Confession of a Stay at Home Dad: Part VIII | | Print | |
| Written by Joeprah | |
Continued from: Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad: Part I Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad: Part II Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad: Part III Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad: Part IV Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad: Part V Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad: Part VI Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad: Part VII
Relations became strained at that time with my parents as well. My mother was beginning to lose her patience at almost every turn and became an unstable element in our lives. For Jodi and me, it seemed that there was little choice besides simply continuing the course that we were on. We have always trusted the signs that God put before us and we felt we were getting some pretty clear signs at this point in our lives. I would stay at home with both the girls and she would continue with her career. I did continue working at the wine store after a brief respite, but I still had a desire to offer something more to our family in both financial terms and long term stability. Over that summer I started investigating the possibility of teaching at the local community college. I had an English degree and spoke pretty decent Spanish, so I thought the likely extension of this would be ESOL (English as a Second Language). It seemed to be both challenging and at the same time a rewarding community based service, and for both those reasons it appealed to me. After attending some interviews and orientations with the college I was hired to teach advanced ESOL in the fall. I was excited. I continued working at the wine store on weekends and in September I began my teaching career. I loved teaching from the first night. The students in ESOL classes are amazingly receptive and eager to learn. My class had twenty students and all of them were from different countries. The pay was ‘ok’ but the experience was invigorating. I wanted to teach my students to appreciate the English language so that they would become inspired to learn more about it. We had lessons where my students had to write poetry, listen to music, watch movies and bring in foods representing their ethnicity. I had a huge project that we worked on throughout the semester which was designed to increase participation and attendance. I wrote a play in which all of those in the class had parts. We designed flyers advertising the play, which the students all took part in creating. The site administrator got word of the play and told the coordinator of ESOL, who in turn told the director of continuing education, all unbeknownst to me. We had scheduled the play to be on the night of my final class. When I arrived in the building with all my props I got word that I was to expect a crowd of visitors to watch the class’ play from the college, this was in addition to the other ESOL students in the building. The play was a hit. I was congratulated by the college administrators and students alike. The class was a godsend. It was such a great diversion for me as a full-time dad to be able to teach and be active outside of all the diapers and bibs. As that fall semester ended winter began and a new year. I was prepared to teach a second semester of ESOL until the college contacted me and offered me something better. They offered me an adjunct position running a new continuing education (or non-academic) based Spanish program. It required 25 hours a week and was more or less a desk job with some marketing and sales work. The program focused on teaching occupational based Spanish to people in various jobs from police officers, construction workers to nurses and doctors; the program covered all the bases. I really wanted to jump on the opportunity; however it meant that we would need some daycare help 2-3 days a week. After much deliberation on the topic, my wife and I decided that it was a good offer and overall a good thing for the family as it included daycare for Bella as soon as she turned three (in a few short months). My father agreed to watch Mady 2-3 days a week so it was set that I would go back to work. It’s strange, but being away from work for two years made the thought of returning to the workforce exciting. As difficult as that may be to understand, I was excited to go back to work. The program sounded interesting and rewarding, the people I would be working with were all women that were both community oriented and driven, and the money would be a help. I was glad to be able to contribute again. Stay Tuned for the Next Installment
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