It’s been awhile since I have done a #TeachStyle post. But I am back with one that has been at the forefront of my mind as of recently. As the school year comes to an end, and with my due date being literally the day before the next school year starts, I have been putting together plans for my maternity leave. With being a teacher, there is a little more flexibility of how long I can stay out before they drop me from my position, but there are also some big thingsI have to consider for how long I want to be out and how that decision will affect my family.
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Like many teachers, I have the opportunity to take maternity leave for up to 12 months without losing my job. But during those 12 months, I am giving up my paycheck, which makes sense because I am not working and someone else has to fill in for me – a long term substitute – that they have to pay.
So it all makes sense to me, which just means that hubby and I just need to prepare. We knew that once we had started trying for a baby that we would need to be ready for when I did get pregnant in case the timing did not line up with the summer and I needed to take days off from the school year – like now. So we began saving. All of the income that we brought into the house, we made a plan for. We paid all of our bills and then all the rest of the money that we had we put into our savings and acted as if we hadn’t seen the money at all. And all of the income I was bringing in from my blog was set into a seperate account and I only used that money to pay for things that dealt with the blog.
The saving early, even before we officially were pregnant, set us up for success. At this point, we are saved up enough to allow me to be out for the first half of the school year, which gives me more time to be at home with baby and more time for us to consider what is going to happen when it is time for me to head back in to work – nanny, daycare, family member…
As a teacher, I do have the option of extending my maternity leave if it comes to that point. I could also send in a note saying that I could come back early. That’s the great thing with many teaching contracts, they allow for flexibility and allow us as teachers to not have to worry about job security.
The only thing to worry about is how things are going to go once you return. Are you going to return to chaos? Or are you coming back to students who have missed you and have been waiting for you to return?
