From Classroom to Casa: Why I Quit My 13 Year Teaching Career.

When I became a teacher I loved my job and my goal was to make a difference. I wanted my students to love coming to school, to love being with me in my classroom, and to love learning!

I had a vision in my mind of what my classroom would be like and I worked my butt off to make that happen. I created beautiful, calming, welcoming environments and I planned lessons that weren’t just educational, but fun! And because I was genuinely happy and grateful to be in the role that I was, it was easy to develop amazing relationships with both my students and their families. I was actually doing what I had set out to do, I was making a difference!

I would’ve never guessed, back then, that I would be sitting here writing this post.

Now, looking back 15 years later, having given my official resignation about 2 weeks ago, I think about how everything shifted so drastically and unexpectedly.

We had our first 3 children in just over 3 years and so I spent a lot of time on maternity leave.

At first I did not love my maternity leave. I was very eager to get back to work, back to my classroom, my students and everything I had spent so many years forming. I missed it so much.

But what I didn’t realize was that during my time at home I was changing. I developed a much stronger relationship with God and He carried me through some of the hardest moments of postpartum healing and just mom-hood in general. I began to see the world through a much different lens. My time at home was something I grew to love and cherish. We put God at the center of our lives, started learning Spanish and were just overall happy and at peace with our little family life.

The first shift was when our oldest son was starting Kindergarten and I went back to work, for what I thought was, permanently.

I could write a whole separate blog post just on that year alone, but to sum it up, it was exhausting. Our schedule was busy and almost beyond manageable and we lived in a constant, stress-driven, rat race.

We knew this wasn’t the family life we wanted to continue.

We lacked the connection, time, laughter, peace and just overall happiness as a family we once had.

Our solution was for me to work in our home town and cut back to teaching half time in an attempt try and reconnect as a family.

This is another year I could write an entire blog post on (but I won’t). I’ll just say that this was the hardest year of my teaching career and the year that finalized our decision.

After choosing to homeschool in hopes to bring back everything we had drifted from, my career was threatened on more than one occasion and I was reminded in subtle, indirect ways that our personal, family choices were not acceptable with me being a public school teacher.

I spent much of this year in tears and prayer. I knew God had a plan, He is good, and so I knew I just had to trust.

And when I became pregnant with our 4th baby God’s plan was clear. He was calling me to stay home and pour everything I that had been pouring into my career into my family.

He knew my heart before I knew it. He saw my passion, my drive and my determination to make a difference. He also saw the fierce love I have for my husband and children and knew that my ministry was to be from my home.

We have spent the past 18 months in prayer and discernment in regards to this decision. It’s not easy to walk away from a 13 year career and we’ve definitely had to make sacrifices to make this happen. But we also know that the most important work we can do is the work of raising and forming our children.

God calls us to get to Heaven and take as many as we can with us, we’re starting with them.

As I reflect on my career as an elementary school teacher and the gradual transition God guided me through to bring me home, I am grateful for all of it, even the hardest years.

And now a new chapter is opening in our lives, a chapter I prayed for and am currently living. I get to watch my children grow. I’ve seen all of their first steps, heard all their first words and will get to celebrate all their happiest times and hold their hands through their hardest.

I get to be the one to influence them, teach them what we feel is important and allow them to experience the world at their own pace.

My years as a teacher were amazing, and if you’re a parent whose child I taught, please know I am forever grateful for the opportunity to connect with and influence your precious child. ❤️

But now my time will be spent at home with my own children, where God is calling me to be, and I will continue to pray for His guidance through this next beautiful, and inevitably difficult, chapter as I go from the classroom to nuestro casa (our home) to serve both God and my family.

Thank you for taking the time to share in these personal chapters of our lives.

God Bless,

Sarah