Self employed or teacher?

[Howly]

I'm looking for some advice and opinions please. I know this is a decision only I can make but would like to know of anyone in a similar position and what you would do or have done.

I will start at the beginning. I am trained as a secondary teacher and had a baby in August 2014. During my maternity leave we relocated so once my maternity leave finished in Feb I didn't return to my full time teaching job. I am now self employed and have my own eBay business which started as my DH's hobby selling his old football shirts and other sporting items but we now have a registered business and buy to sell these items. We make enough money to cover the mortgage every month and there is no real need for me to go back to work other than we don't have much disposable income.

Recently however I have found myself getting depressed about just being mum and having an eBay business i'm not really motivated to run (my husband loves it and he sources all the shirts and lists some bits and pieces!). I am now at a bit of a cross roads and trying to decide whether to;

1. Stick with the eBay business even though its so dull and has no regular income (some months are better than others) but I get to spend 6 days a week with my daughter
2. Apply for a part time teaching job, 3 days a week, which will give me a regular income and some mental stimulation but means more time away from my lg and the inevitable stress which comes from being a teacher.

Another spanner for the works though is that we would like another child soon so if I do stick with the eBay I will most likely be pregnant again before the end of the year (hopefully I can claim Maternity Allowance as I would have been self employed over a year by due date). If I go back to work part time another baby will be put off for at least a year.

There are just so many 'ifs and buts' and I can't get my head straight about what I really want. I have a feeling that if I do go for the part time job I will regret it as the workload will take time away from my lg. On the other hand the lack of regular income from eBay means I can't have some luxuries and the monotony of it annoys me (plus its in my house so we have stock and crap everywhere!)

hmm, can anyone help me make a decision?

Why not sell something that interests you? You have a baby so you must have some child orientated ideas. Was there any piece of equipment that you needed that you didn't find in the shops?
I think Teaching is such an all consuming job that it can hardly be done part time. My friends who Teach cry a lot and are stressed out of their heads.
If you go back you will get sucked in. It didn't seem that the money is worth it.

Is tutoring a possibility?

I do need to do some research into another product maybe I just get bored with the whole listing, posting, admin thing it's monotonous plus quite lonely when i'm used to being in the classroom! I know that I will regret going back to teaching as I wouldn't be able to do the job in 3 days and end up stressing about it!
I did sort of forget about tutoring as an option - that might be the way to go and I'm already self employed and it would just be an extra bit of income! Off to do some research!

Tutoring is quite lucrative, especially English and Maths.

Hi,

Have you thought about teaching through an agency, perhaps on the side of your Ebay work? TimePlan Education offer supply work just a couple of days a week to suit you. It might be worth looking in to?