What's your degree?

Interesting thread! I began college as an English major, education minor, intending to teach high school. My first education course scared that out of me! So I chose elementary education. During my child development course I actually said, “I will never teach preschool.” Never say never. I taught in the Georgia pre-k program for 5 years and in Louisiana for 2 years. Being a public educator let me know what I did NOT want to do as a home educator. To be a successful homeschool mom, you need a degree of love, a degree of patience, a degree of perseverance. If I could “do it over” in college I would have studied horticulture.

I totally agree with jmac17.  I too have my degree in elem ed.  I wish they had focused more on subject content than lesson plans and crowd control.  If I had to do it again, I would have taken more literature classes.  Reading good literature is so important I don’t know why they don’t over emphasize it.  If kids were read to from good lit and encouraged to read it in the schools, I think they would beome better thinkers and learners. 

Overall, I feel my degree hindered me from being able to reach my daughter early on.  It’s been 4 years now and we are making up for lost time.  She really is doing awesome this year.  Much more relaxed, ostly due to the changes I made adjusting to her needs.  My son, whose now just starting, is just going with the flow of home education.  I do things very different with him than I did with my daughter and I can’t beleive the difference.

I hope this helps some of you who may think you should have gotten a teaching degree.  YOU DON”T NEED ONE!!!!! : )

Interesting that other EDU majors had classroom management classes. I wonder when you were in college. I graduated in 1999. At my school, we were constantly with students practicing what we were learning(methods and content). The very little classroom management we learned was in a brief class our senior year as well as the full time teaching experience of our internship. When I began my first year teaching (public school), I wish I had learned more about classroom management because that was far more difficult than teaching my students. As an English minor, I focused mostly on literature classes, which I loved. I am glad of not only my degree, which I believe gives me a certain credibilty(I never get questioned about homeschooling by people who know I was a classroom teacher), but I am also glad of my whole college experience. I needed that time and the mistakes I made to know myself and who God truly is. I will encourage my children to go to college as well.

1991 B.S. in Education after changing my major from History/PoliSci.  Would’ve like the other better.  Taught two years in government schools…..decided my children would never attend!  I’d be close to qualifying for retirement now if I’d stayed.  Had a richer life teaching my own at home.  Haven’t missed rushing everyone out the door. 

It’s interesting to see several that went the History major route & a couple that did a fashion related degree. I’m sure there’s a common thread between the personality types that are more likely to homeschool & some of these degrees!

I have a B.S. in Psychology & M.Ed. in Counseling. I don’t regret either of my degrees & don’t think there’s anything else I would’ve really liked to do though I do enjoy accounting type work lol. I worked for 3 years as a counselor before my oldest was born then worked very part time from the time she was 17months. I’ve moved to different jobs within counseling & am currently in private practice. I get to work one day & make a decent supplemental income. Sometimes I’d feel resentful when I was a single mom supporting my children bc their dad didn’t bother to but the reality is God knew what He was doing when He planned that path… how many people can support a family while working part time and be able to many times come home to see the kids throughout the workday. So, I feel blessed I was able to get the degrees that allowed me to do that but am likely stopping that as we have a baby on the way in October… just not going to have my 70yo mother worn out watching a newborn & homeschooling the other kids even if it is just one day! Time for her to get to be just “Granny” 🙂

So neat learning about everyone!

I have a four year Bachelor’s degree with a double major in history and political science.  I chose history because I LOVE history, and I added political science because it seemed, at the time anyway, to add a practical element.  These days, with homeschooling, I’m thrilled that I have this degree and find it truly useful as a homeschooling mom!

Coming out of university I was hired into an entry level marketing position (not exactly a link to my degree).  I accepted the position only because I needed to start working at that point, though I eventually became a client director and did pretty well.  Skills in research and critical thinking gained during the university years helped me, to be sure.  But when baby #1 came along (and was quickly followed by #2), I realized big-time that I was in the least family-friendly position you could find.  I look back with enormous relief that I found my way out (I worked for 10 years before children).

Looking back, I’d say that although I didn’t use my degree (directly) in the workforce, the hours spent writing and researching in university did make me stronger.  But now, homeschooling four children, I’m in a place where I use those skills, AND my degree, and my old love of history – almost every day!  I think the only downside of having my particular degree (wrt homeschooling) is that I’m a total curriculum junkie when it comes to history studies!

This is really fun reading all these posts.

I have a BA in Spanish Literature and Language with a minor in History which I never used. After spending 10 yrs as a mangager at a large building supply store I got a job as a technical writer where I fell into a position programming and maintaining computer systems. I went back to school and got a BS in Computer Science and was the lead manager for a large application (covering 6 sites nationwide) for document/configuration management. I loved my job and thought I’d always be a career woman until my first child was born – I was almost 40. I couldn’t leave him to someone else to raise all day long, even though my mother was taking care of him, so I went parttime and eventually quit to be a happier mother. 

I loved my first degree – it was really fascinating. I still love history books and speaking Spanish whenever I can. My second degree was practical and I’m very good at it. If I’d followed my father’s advice I would have gotten it the first time around – but I didn’t want to be a geek!

I feel that both degrees have given me confidence with the decision to homeschool with the broad background and subjects I’ve been exposed to to be able to provide that for my children.