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Thread: My enough story....

  1. #11
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    I would really love to hear about the creative work that you want to do, and how it relates to teaching.

    One of the things that I might point out in this (if you are going back to school for teaching), is that you might have an opportunity that wouldn't require that: teaching ad-hoc classes as private, after school programs.

    Currently, I own a holistic health center. We mostly educate and work with adults (i teach yoga). But, I'm working closely with a friend who is an artist. She owns a gallery in our little burb, and she's looking for ways to monetize it. So, we had a meeting yesterday about possibilities. With her love of theater, I wondered if she'd be interested in running community theater programs in the community. I think the community would really respond (lots of young families). I connected with a woman here who runs children's theater programs in different neighborhoods. She rents church halls and the like, runs the classes following the school year.

    It's a very similar to what I am doing with my Kids Yoga program. Essentially, a friend and I create a curriculum, then we train teaches (and license them), and they teach classes around town independently. The hardest part is the marketing -- but even that isn't terribly difficult if you have access (ie, your child's school, etc) to your market.

    Anyway, it's a slightly less expensive way than going to university, getting a teaching degree, and then hoping to find work. Many of my friends are teachers, and many of them are out of work or having difficulty finding it. Many of them have become tutors starting for-profit teaching businesses.

    My one friend runs a spanish language school. It runs from 4 pm until 9 pm Mon-Thurs with events on Sat/Sun. She tutors children, runs language groups/clubs for kids of different ages, and also classes for adults. They opened a second location last year, as well, and when they did that, her husband quit his day job to teach spanish (spanish is his first language) at their second location. They are now looking at developing a franchise system, and a french teacher is renting time/space from them for her adult french classes which she does on Friday nights and sunday mornings. So, it's a good little business.

    Another friend of mine is a trained art teacher -- he's a potter himself. He started by offering classes at the community center in several art forms, mostly teaching adults, and then expanding into children. He then got a loan to start a community arts center, which he was able to plug to the community center itself. He was able to rent out a large space, and then he subleases to the art teachers already in place. No one had to move, and now he just as administration plus teaching -- but it makes a good income, as his wife is now able to stay home with their child.

    Another friend of mine is a math teacher. These tend to be in high demand, but since the recession, no one seems to be hiring. So, she set up a math tutoring space, and then morphed it into the sort of maths teaching that wouldn't be allowed in most schools. Lots of great game work, practical applications, and hands on stuff. Making math come to life, really. she's making and out-and-out killing, and works with children as young as 2 yrs old. She's started training teachers in her pedagogy and is creating a licensing process for them to go and teach this in other suburbs in her community. It's a great idea, honestly.

    Another friend of mine is an artist. She teaches art classes on the side of her art business -- she has no formal teaching training. But, her classes are very popular and sell out quickly. She does a lot of cool different classes, too.

    Anyway, just putting an idea out there, in case you hadn't thought of it already. If you'd be interested in talking about business planning or how this sort of busines smight work, let me know. It's what i do (with yoga, though!).

  2. #12
    MamaM
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    Zoebird- these are lovely ideas. I think in whatever capacity I teach, I have to be creative- dreaming up plans, ways to make people understand and learn, make if fun and fresh. Tutoring might be a good place to start for me.

  3. #13
    Mrs-M
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    I read your story a few days ago, MamaM, but got sidetracked and forgot to reply to it. Super entry!

  4. #14
    MamaM
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    Thanks to all y'all.

  5. #15
    Senior Member citrine's Avatar
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    I loved hearing about your shift in perception I have been through it as well and life is amazing! It will blow your mind how quickly people and opportunities will start coming into your life now that you have voiced your wants and desires. One thing that helped me a lot is to create a vision board with pictures relating to what I wanted to manifest in my life. Oprah has it on her website and it is called the Dream board. After you are done, you can print out a copy and keep it where you can see it often.

  6. #16
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    MamaM,

    Enjoyed reading this! I think all of us think about doing something like this, but few are really courageous enough to actually go for it! My best wishes.

    I need to do a major purge on my life soon, too. I hope I'll be as willing as you seem to be about change!

    Barb

  7. #17
    Senior Member Selah's Avatar
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    Thank you for such a beautiful, thoughtful, detailed and lovely post. It's so great to be able to see so much progress: internal, external and within your relationships with others! I particularly resonated with your observation that just because 'all' of our dreams haven't come true yet, it doesn't mean that we can't start living "as if" they have. Congratulations!

  8. #18
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    What a wonderful story!!!I was widowed in 2006 and am just now becoming the person that I've chosen to be and not what others think,to coin a phrase,frankly I don't give a damn anymore
    Keep up the good attitude and let me know of your progress,I'm very new here,just joined last week and loving it !

  9. #19
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    Can i hear more details on this dream board? Sounds intriguing

  10. #20
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    So funny to read this now . I was just telling my husband that I need to get out of healthcare and try something different. I actually thought about teaching in my field but the programs are pretty demanding and the pay is not as good. I really enjoyed your story. I am at a similar point in my life. I think when you get to mid-life you realize if you aren't going to live as you want to then when will you? Good for you. Good luck with figuring out your career as well.

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