. . . Update . . .
Hey, ladies and gents (I know there are a few around!)
I'm going to see if I can manage a general update of what's happened in the last six weeks since I lost my job.
1) I've decided to get certified to teach Spanish. It's a K-12 certification, I have about 65 credits to do to get it, and I feel pretty good about it, all in all. I feel like it would be a GREAT job that I would enjoy most days, which means a lot to me. Pay would be enough (way more than I've made in the past) and benefits would be awesome, especially having summers off to garden or work a different part-time gig or something. I am struggling with the feeling like I've settled, like I'm too smart to be "just" a teacher, and knowing I won't get much respect. That stuff is all hard for the over-achiever in me to take. Pros and cons to everything, and in this case, my problem isn't with the profession itself but with society's respect for it.
2) Going back to school is going to be a pain in the ass. State childcare assistance won't cover time I'm in school because I already have a degree, and I don't qualify for federal grants for the same reason. FUCKERS. I'll manage it, although it might mean lots of student loans. I'm hoping for Perkins, then Staffords, because those can be forgiven completely after 5 years of teaching, regardless of where I teach (foreign language is considered a high area of need for teachers).
3) Planning to do AmeriCorps again this year, in part to get more money for school. A year of AC would cover almost all of a year of tuition. I'm hoping to go to school 1/2 time and work AC full-time.
4) Which means I pretty much have to quit volunteering. This has been hard for me to swallow, but I'm kinda burned out on it all right now, anyway. I feel like all I'm doing is dropping the ball left and right. That's not ACTUALLY true, but it definitely feels like it.
5) My house is a disaster, because it's just gross. Trying to take babysteps toward reconciling that. Three sinkfuls of dishes today was a big step.
6) Got my garden planted today. Also planted some herbs I inherited a couple of weeks ago--chives, mint, lemon balm, and bee balm. Anything you like to do with those, let me know, as I just took them off a friend's hands without knowing more than sour cream and chives on potatoes. 
7) H is now 2 and I am now 25. I don't know if we're both going to survive the terrible twos. She's driving me absolutely nuts every minute of the day. Like right now, crawling all over me and trying to interfere with my typing. How in the world am I going to do homework? She doesn't sleep. I can work my ass off, but not get anything done if she's like this. It's going to be hard.
25/MN and WA. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD2.5.
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to get into a program where you get tuition covered if you teach for a year or two in an inner-city school? I've heard of a program like that here, so maybe it exists elsewhere.
"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius"--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Yup, they won't give grants to people who already have degrees. Is yours a bachelors? I am just finishing up a program that's called "alternative licensure" although I've heard it called "alternate certification" or other combinations of the two. What it is is a masters program for people who want to teach. Mine was 30-some hours and I've been able to finish it in a year and a half, and I was able to teach full time (and get paid!) for one of those semesters. This program allows you to teach while working on the degree, and if you are teaching you do so in place of student teaching. Which is important because how else can a single mom student teach for a whole semester, full time, no pay, and no help with childcare costs?
Plus when you're finished you have the added bonus of a masters degree and the higher pay that goes along with that. If you let me know where you live I'll see if I can find a program near you.
Well, your profile says you're in WA, but I don't know which part. You can look into this:
http://www.teach-now.org/datatemplatedisp.cfm?datatmplid=1&tmplrespid=845
this:
http://www.teach-now.org/dispstateform.cfm?statepageid=525&state=WA
this:
http://www.teach-now.org/dispstateform.cfm?statepageid=530&state=WA
and this:
http://www.teach-now.org/dispstateform.cfm?statepageid=527&state=WA
All of which look a lot easier than taking 65 hours then student teaching!
My signature is right, my profile isn't. We're in western MN. I should update that. 
That school stuff sucks. I really can't believe how hard it is to get funding for teaching. They should have a national program of sorts that encourages people to go to school for teaching. I know in the medical field, they will send you to school, and in return you either have to work for those who sent you or pay them back. Kinda like indentured servitude, but, it works for a lot of people---you'd think maybe there would be something like that for teachers...
Good luck on the house work too. I hate cleaning house. I am by nature, a slob.
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I've tried to do my research, but I can't find any alternative programs, here. How would I find out about that? I mean, I've been in good contact with a couple of the folks in the education department at the school I'll be attending, and they only mentioned licensure by portfolio, which I wouldn't qualify for (I haven't been teaching full-time, there's no way they'd see me as having the skills to be a teacher already.) I wish I could, I mean, it doesn't make sense that it's so hard to become a teacher when they need them so badly.