God's Plan for Me to Return to the Classroom

I have a good story for you today.  One of God's faithfulness to my family.  It's full of surprising twists and turns and has turned out better than I could have hoped.

Let's rewind back to the Spring of 2024.  Kevin and I were started to talk about what it would look like for me to return to teaching.  I had every intention of going back to work when Leo went to kindergarten in the Fall of 2025.  We'd both go back to school together.  Great plan.  Right?  I had him signed up for PreK 3 days a week at our church, plans of attending Bible studies, story times and playdates with friends. It sounded like a great year to me, but God had a better plan.

Kevin thought it would be a good idea to get the ball rolling - work on my resume, update my teaching license, etc. ASAP so that I could start seeing what kinds of jobs were available and what kinds of schools were hiring.  He also wanted to make sure that I landed at a really great school and didn't just have to take any job that I could find when I went looking.  I reluctantly agreed because my original plan sounded pretty good to me.  Haha.  I applied to a public school position and was notified pretty promptly that the position was filled.  No problem.  I kept doing some behind the scenes work to get the ball rolling.

We saw a variety of job positings at a variety of public and private schools, but not many that piqued my interest enough to apply.  

Kevin spotted a job opening at Evansville Christian School.  The school had been on our radar for some time for a variety of reasons.  The job description was vague so I wasn't even sure I wanted to apply.  At the last second I got the lengthly application pulled together.  This involved a lot - meeting with my pastor, contacting some of my favorite women coworkers from Utah, women from organizations I volunteered with to quickly write me letters of recommendation and making sure I was ready for an interview if one was offered.  It's a great school and I didn't know if I even had a chance at getting an interview.  

Remember that post about seeing 8 rainbows in one day?  This was about the exact same time that I was needing a sign from God that this timing was right for our family.  He sent me 8 rainbows in one day to confirm that I was heading in the right direction with applying for this job.  Wow!  

The principal quickly reached out to say there actually wasn't a teaching position open in April of 2024.  They loved my application and wondered if I'd be interested in a full time assistant position.  The job wasn't a good fit for me so I asked them to keep in touch if anything did come up.  Door closed.

Mid May I got a phone call asking if I would consider interviewing for a kindergarten teacher position?  I listed 1st-5th on my application, but said that I would love to interview for the job.

I figured it would be good practice to interview since I hadn't interviewed for a job in almost 20 years.  But I was skeptial about kindergarten.  That was never a grade I had imagined teaching.  I loved 2nd/3rd grade and figured I'd try to go back to that.  I knew that despite being licensed to teach K-8 that my heart was with the younger kids.  Kindergarten was always a favorite grade for my big kids so maybe God was nudging me to the perfect grade to make my teaching comeback.

The in person interview was set on Olive's birthday.  I was told to come with questions so I did resesarch ahead of time.  I came with a list of questions which they seemed to appreciate.  The interview went so well.  I knew all the right answers and really felt like God gave me confidence to tell them that I was now even more qualified to be a great teacher because I spent 9 years in the classroom and 11 years as a full time mom.  Now I understood what it was like to be the parent doing homework at home with the kids, wanting clear and open communication with taechers, I know how to better relate to kids after having my own kids and I was confident that I would be a better teacher for all of that combined experience.  They seemed to love my answers.  I felt like I aced the interview and then they said they had a weeks worth of interviews to do (yikes!) and would keep me posted.  I felt less confident after hearing that because I knew I had a lot of catching up to do after being away from teaching for a while. I  figured anyone with a current license, kindergarten background or more early ed experience would get it.

A week or more of no news.  I didn't stress.  I just prayed that God would open doors for us when it was time for me to return to the classroom.

The principal reached out to schedule a phone meeting.  Of course as a mom of 3 kids home for the Summer, I had the meeting in my quiet van.  I assumed it was to tell me the position had been filled or that I could reapply down the road.  BUT she had a few questions for me and we had a really good conversation.  She told me that they were impressed with me, that I had all the intangibles of a really great teacher, they saw qualities in me that you can't teach people, they loved my experience and my desire to build community in the classroom and with parents. They also said that they got so many letters of recommendation for me.  ALL of the friends I've made along the way from teaching to community work came through to write me the nicest letters.  Then she told me to watch my email for a formal job offer later that day!!

I was shocked.  God was giving me the green light.  All of my experiences and connections along the way as a stay at home mom helped prepare me for this job.  Every hurdle I encountered was met with a quick solution - PreK for Leo, details for the older kids, schedules, routines, etc.  We were excited.  And could hardly believe our ears.

We prayed about it.  I panicked about things.  Made a million lists.  I asked lots more questions.  I got my licensing ducks in a row.  And I accepted the position about a week later.  We waited a bit to tell the kids and a bit longer to tell family and friends.  Kevin rearranged Summer travel plans so that I could attend new teacher trainings and our Summer was busier than every trying to make plans for me to return to the classroom.  The kids ate too much Chick-Fil-A and we traveled more than we would have if we had known I was going back to work.  But we did it!  We had a wonderful Summer together.

I signed my contract on Kevin's birthday to make the job official.

I felt nervous and excited to return to a job that I loved.  I knew loud and clear that this was God's plan for our family so that gave me confidence when I felt uncertain.  My kindergarten team is wonderful and God has put many people around me to help make this a smooth transition.  Some teaching things came back to me right away and I've had to learn lots of new things about teaching a new grade.  It's been an adventure of highs and lows and I'm thankful for the opportunity for my family.  My kids have new school options going forward and that feels so good.

A little photo timeline of my journey to return to teaching:

Interview with my pastor went great.

Late night prepping for my interview.

In person interview at the school.

God sent some rainbow encouragement to us on our Summer vacation.

My first day back to work.  Teacher training day.  I felt very official!

Hours of work in my classroom and work in general brought me to the first day of school!

God really did take care of all the details - a wonderful, welcoming K team, an experienced assistant, a new opportunity to experience private education and much more!  This all came together about a year before I expected it to and I am trusting that God's plan is better than my plan today and always.