Starting a MAT at WGU

I am retinent to write this yet again, knowing where this is coming from and where this is headed. But let's go!

I've been having a hard few months, I mean it's been rough with one thing happening after another. You know when you feel like you're drowning except somehow, you don't but you're still being pulled down by the undertow? Yeah.

Now before all of this started happening, roughly back in January, I had really been considering what my next steps were. I was strongly considering going into teaching, which meant refreshing my Early Childhood Education license. As I considered what classes I needed, I realized that maybe it would be easier to put them towards a Masters in the corresponding field. I began researching the programs and looked at San José State University which is nearby but found that the schedule for the Masters just didn't fit my needs. After talking to a few people, I started seriously considering Western Governors University due to the flexibility of their schedule...

Here's why it matters. I am a stay at home mom at the moment (currently avoiding writing a children's book, c'est la vie). I pick up my kiddo after school and we work on projects and reading. I don't need to explain how involved childcare is but I will add that kiddo is in a stage where he still needs me around a lot. I also volunteer at his school in a variety of ways. So I need to be present for my family and still have the ability to show up in my community as a volunteer. With that, it just makes sense.

However, I am old, and I share that because I have reservations about doing a degree entirely online. I've got big feelings about this, as I've mentioned; I've never taken an academic class online. Sure, I've taken many Marketing classes online and learned entire Workflows and Programming; but earning a degree? Nope. Earning a degree in order to finally make a career change? This is a lot. So I'm scared.

At 41, I'm not just doing this for myself. I do want to do this to prove to myself that I can. But I'm doing this to show my family and friends that I can. To show my son that learning and teaching never ends and you can go back at any time. A college education is not limited to a specific set of years; you can revisit it whenever you want.

For the people who are frantically researching it, like I was, I know that you can do it to (if you want to, that is). I'm just beginning, so who knows where this will go. I hope that I can update others so they have more information as they research their journeys there too.

But for now, I leave you with this: I got accepted to WGU's Masters of Elementary Education for January 2027

Should you feel inclined to check them out, here's my referral link. This post isn't sponsored by them, this is just me talking about my journey. Here's a nonreferral link as I highly encourage anyone to check them out.