I am about to wrap up another year teaching high school, and our contracts for next year are looming in the next week or so. Every year, I have been excited to go back (regardless of raise), but this year raises some significant financial concerns!

I am due with our second child this July. Our first is only 2, so both will have to attend day care in the fall. In my area, this equates to a minimum of $1400-1600 a month. As a teacher in a rural area, my monthly take home pay is only about $2000 (I work for an alternative school, and they have already made serious staff cutbacks this year, so a major raise is unrealistic.). My husband earns roughly the same as I do.

It has come to our attention that I could easily make more money staying home with our kids and taking on 2-3 additional children for an in-home daycare. I feel very competent in the field, enjoy being with children, and am not concerned about finding clients.

My main concern is sort of an egotistical one - last year, I earned my Masters in Teaching with Technology. I really like my teaching job, I feel like I'm using my degree, and I like that I have some seniority and authority because of it. By working at home, I'll be losing these "benefits", and also not using any of the skills from my degree. However, I don't really want to work solely to send my children to daycare. My husband and I are in the process of paying down debt snowball style, and we only have car and student loans left. Keeping my current job would free up very little cash to put towards that, while an in-home daycare offers much more earning potential and flexibility. It's just not as... "important".

Any thoughts would be appreciated. A few notes to consider would be that at the present time, moving is not an option for us, and I have applied and interviewed for other teaching jobs throughout the spring, but in a small area, many many people have applied for each position. Thanks!

What would your earning potential be if you kept your job for the next 2, 5, and 10 years? One thing to consider is, by dropping out of your field, you are foregoing experience that you may need to increase your income.

Also, do you know what the start-up costs are for doing an at-home daycare (insurance, licensing)? Do you already have customers?

My wife is keeping her job after our first kid (any day now!) and probably (she claims) after our second in the future. She doesn't want to get rusty and is ok with not making a very good effective hourly wage for a few years. She doesn't even want to take a few extra months off in the Fall, because she doesn't want to arrive in October and have to live with whatever schedule and lesson plan her sub(s) set up.

It's really a personal choice only you (and your family) can make. There's certainly people out there who are doing stuff even less related to their degree. Personally I wouldn't work for free or a negative wage, though if you did keep your regular job you could look at it as volunteering or free "on the job training" if you want. Still, if I were in your situation I would probably set up the daycare or just stay home and take care of my two kids if I was just breaking even. There are a lot of non-wage things you can do to contribute to the household (as just one arbitrary example, clipping coupons), and even better most of them are tax free.

What about teaching at a virtual school?

You've probably already made a decision, but I'll throw in my 2 cents.

This is an emotional decision, not a financial one. Would you feel enough joy and contentment in taking constant care of your children and a few others? If you feel devalued, you might have a problem maintaining a positive attitude and build resentment toward the children.

"If you feel devalued, you might have a problem maintaining a positive attitude and build resentment toward the children."

This.

I think you should stay in your job. *This* year might be tight, but maybe the next one won't be so bad. Do you get a bit of a raise because you have your master's? Is there any way you can work out a deal with the daycare? Many daycares offer a discount on the oldest child's rate if you have two or more kids attend.

If you decide to stay at home, regardless if you take care of other kids, you will see an increase in some expenses. Electricity and heating go up because you're home more often. You might want to sign up for some kind of class for your oldest at this time, as he/she is already used to the daycare setting and is used to being with kids. (In my area, the playgroups, which are free, tend to be rather structured - you have to already know the organizers so you can join.)

You have a lot of options.

The daycare is obviously one that could provide money to replace your current cash flow from your job.

You could also start an online business in the evenings. There are a lot of ways to do it that are low cost (hosting and domain name is about $100 a year, email autoresponder is about $200 a year if you choose to build a list).

You could publish reports on how to earn money at home, effective uses of technology in teaching (to keep your skills up by doing research and interviews) etc.

There are a lot of ways you could combine several approaches that will help you short term and long term.