Please help

[roses12]

Hi I just reaching out here hope this is the right forum.

Just feel at a loss what to do. If anyone can talk I would really appreciate it.

I have 3 kids and no family local, i'm from ireland dh is from p north.

My kids are at school so I thought at last I could get a career (did degree 9 years ago hoping to use it after being sahm for last 6 years).

First stop temping in administration (my background). Can only get entry level work as experience i have is historical (college job feedback). Did that for 9 months loved being out of the house, money but then came summer holidays no money left (3kids) also kids really struggling with long days particularly my 12 year old being home alone. Also jobs expect you to work long hours and childminders/after school club in my area dont want to work after 5:30pm

So looking for term time career thought I would train to be a further education teacher, accepted on course doing well but now no jobs.

Then looked into being secondary teacher as love maths and kids. Told could do PGCE with special enhancement course if have a level maths.

After 3 weeks wait have finally got answer from NARIC and my Irish Leaving Certificate Honors level maths (d) that i slogged my heart out for years ago is worth a GCSE only. So to become a teacher I would need to study for 3 years. Am 39 now.

Just feel am hitting my head up against brick walls all the time

Whereabouts do you live e.g. near a city or rurally? How old are your children, is the 12 yo the youngest?

What about working as a receptionist, that usually has set hours and in the holidays local authorities often run various children's activities?

39 is not too old to retrain for a career at all, but I think you would want to be certain that it is what you really want to do. If you're really keen on being a secondary teacher I think you should be aware that they do tend to work quite long hours, so you would still have long days.
The job situation won't always be as it is now, could you do something temporarily until there are more FE jobs available? How about a teaching assistant role or cover superviser if you want to work with secondary age children?

Thanks for repling.

Was having an off day feel more positive now.

My 12 year old is my eldest, I also have 7 and 4 year old girls. I live in Manchester and there are good council run sports holiday clubs.

Fingers crossed a job may be on the cards doing admin from home 2/3 days a week. I have a job on a switch temporary 2 days a week. So things look a better than they did.

Thanks so much for your advice. Suspose I just need to learn patience and realise that I must choose between prioritising my children or prioritising a career.

I've had a nightmare getting back to work.

Just before I went on mat leave I discovered my marriage was about to fall apart. So I had a traumatic month off before ds was born and then when he was 2 months, I left my husband. When my mat leave was finishing I made the decision to leave my job in London in order to stay up north with my family as I didn't want to be alone with a baby in London.

Once over the depression, I set about looking for a part-time job but found I was over qualified for anything I actually got an interview for (grrrr). So I set up my own business.

I have very much enjoyed the experience and ds loves the freebies I get for him! And I can fit it around him, work when I want and even take him with me a lot of the time! So it serves so many purposes as I get to tax my brain, meet people, be with ds and earn money .

I'm always looking for help by the way! So if you fancy the challenge of starting a business that you can tailor to your needs / schools hols etc etc - let me know!

xx