Ok, so here's the situation:
I'm currently going for my teaching license for high school biology. I only have one class left that I have to take before I can do my semester practicum. Technically I could get an emergency license if someone wants to hire me (science teachers are in high demand right now) in the fall while I take my last class, and that would mean that I would be doing my practicum in the spring of next year, but being paid for it. The problem, is that I don't know if I'm ready to just jump into a classroom yet. If I decide not to start teaching in the fall and wait until next fall (2009), that means I'll have to quit my full time job for the spring semester next year and I'm not sure how I'm going to afford to live.

The SO and I are looking to buy a house this year and if I'm not working full time (I could get a part time night job during the practicum) I'm really sure we won't be able to afford the bills. I'm 23 (24 in the fall) and I really don't want to be living at home until I'm 25 but I feel like I'm stuck because of this practicum thing.

Should I just go for it and start applying for jobs for the fall to sort of "skip" the unpaid practicum or deal with the fact that I'm going to have to quit my job next spring semester and live at home?

Check with your academic supervisor on this one first.  At my school, practicum and internships that are paid (doing the prac. where you work) does not count.  Some people make it work by doing their job and getting paid for it, and then doing additional work to meet the practicum/internship hours.  

You are in a tough spot though!  One thing to take into consideration is that if you are under a huge amount of financial pressure (or a ton of stress because you're unhappy living at home), you might not be able to do your best work.  

Great advice given to me by my advisor when deciding on a doctoral program was this:  Your best chance for success is to put yourself in a situation where you feel comfortable and have a support system (spouse/partner, friends, family, etc.)  

Obviously, neither situation is perfect.  Explore any other possible alternatives before committing to a choice.  Then, try to figure out which choice is best for YOU, and which will ultimately most effectively get you where you really want to be.

Good Luck!

It is possible that you may never "feel ready" to jump in and start teaching. Ask yourself why you have these feelings. Is it insecurity in your abilities? Is it anxiety of doing something different? Is waiting one more year to start teaching really going to make a huge difference in how ready you "feel"? Is your anxiety coming from not thinking you know the subject well enough to teach it? Is the anxiety coming from worrying about how you'll handle the kids?

Search out some answers. My opinion is the faster you tackle it the better off you'll be. Most people worry more about doing something only to find out it wasn't as bad or as hard as they thought it would be.

Original Post by damsell300:

Check with your academic supervisor on this one first.  At my school, practicum and internships that are paid (doing the prac. where you work) does not count.  

My advisor was actually the person who mentioned this possibility when I was applying to the program. Science teachers are in such short supply that many students get "snatched up" before they are finished with the program because these classes need teachers so badly. 

If I was the "teacher of record" while doing my practicum (meaning that I am employed at the school), I still need to have a cooperating practitioner and I still have to do all the things the practicum requires, I would just have my own classroom already.

And moonikins: Yeah, I'm insecure about a lot when it comes to this stuff. I'm not a fantastic public speaker and I'm constantly cramming more subject material in to refresh myself. It's difficult trying to remember all of it and I'm worried about looking stupid. I'd imagine most subject teachers go through that at least a little bit at the beginning. Right? I hope so.  

I think being nervous is normal. I taught art before I came to Korea to teach English and I was really nervous as I've definitely forgotten a lot of the names of tenses, etc and had never taught anything too serious (art was just fun for me, easy to teach). I was really uncomfortable teaching for the first month. After that, it became cake.
If you have the opportunity to get started early, I would take it (esp. since you'll be getting paid).

Best of luck! I'm sure you'll do great.

do you have your bachelors degree. if you are scared about teaching and public speaking, you could always spend the summer teaching English to kids/teeenagers at summer camp in Korea (any major is fine, the main prerequisite is that you come from an english speakin country, with a degree) to get some practice in a less scary setting. This has the added bonus of paying pretty well. If you are interested send me a pm and I can give you the email of my recruiter (I've done 3 summer camps in Korea and 1 in france)

i think the practicum is an important part of your education.  it's pretty disturbing to me that there's even an option of skipping it.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

i think the practicum is an important part of your education.  it's pretty disturbing to me that there's even an option of skipping it.

 It's not really "skipping" it persay. You still have your cooperating practioner working with you. You just have more work to do because you are technically the teacher in that classroom.

You would still be working with another teacher on all the things you would have normally if you were just doing the unpaid practicum.

I do agree with you though. I know that's sort of weird considering that I'm thinking of applying for a job without having done the practicum. It's just difficult to do a full time job without getting paid for it.

If you can get paid to complete your practicum do so, unless there's some serious drawbacks that you've yet to outline.

As for taking on a house atm... I wouldn't ESPECIALLY if you're talking about buying in MA. I'd wait AT LEAST until the end of 2009.

Do yourself a favor and live with your family for as long as you all can tolerate it or until you get married. Don't spend money you don't have.

I can't stress enough how valuable living debt free is, with an affordable (33% of gross income) mortgage being the one exception.

Original Post by ignayshus:

As for taking on a house atm... I wouldn't ESPECIALLY if you're talking about buying in MA. I'd wait AT LEAST until the end of 2009.

 Why especially if I'm buying in Mass? Is there something about Massachusetts that I don't know about? (Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic)

although the economic situation makes this a great time to buy, if you can afford it (my first house had been foreclosed on, and i bought it from the bank.  i doubled my money in less than six years, and could have got more if i'd been patient), i tend to agree with ignayshus on this.  you're just starting a brand new career, and you might find out you don't particularly like it.  you don't want to get stuck in a job you hate because you have a mortgage at 24.

To me, a great time to buy is when the payment on a traditional 20% down - 30yr fixed mortgage is the same as it would be to rent AND there's not a recession looming. I wouldn't be surprised if prices fell 40% or more off their peak.

That being said PG got it. Don't tie yourself down with a huge amount of debt (mortgage) unless you are sure you're current work/life style is one you want to continue OR unless you are 100% positive you can quickly sell your home without losing money.

The second option doesn't exist at the moment and the first option takes some time living that life to know.

 

The houses we're looking at actually won't put us in a lot of debt. I have the 20% downpayment we need already so now I'm saving for furniture and all the extras you need in case we're missing stuff. The SO is an electrician and his father is a contractor, so the fixer up stuff is no issue as the labor is cheap.

With the price range we're staying in, my mortgage would be less than my friend's rent. If the prices keep falling, we'll wait a little longer to get a better price.

I don't live anywhere near Boston, so our prices are falling faster.

The houses we're looking at actually won't put us in a lot of debt. I have the 20% downpayment we need already so now I'm saving for furniture and all the extras you need in case we're missing stuff. The SO is an electrician and his father is a contractor, so the fixer up stuff is no issue as the labor is cheap.

With the price range we're staying in, my mortgage would be less than my friend's rent. If the prices keep falling, we'll wait a little longer to get a better price.

I don't live anywhere near Boston, so our prices are falling faster.

Then if you're 100% sure you're in it for at least the next 10 years and you'll like your respective jobs for that period and you're not afraid to see that 20% down get eating away in part or completely by falling prices, then I say go for it.

If it were me, I'd wait, but then everyone's situation and tolerances are different.