I have been a teacher for 12 years. I taught 4th grade for 10 years, self-contained, which means I taught every subject...a couple of those though I did teach only reading, English, and history. The last 2 years I was moved to 5th grade and teach only reading and English. I really like teaching a couple subjects as opposed to all of them. I was in nursing, but since my 1st daughter was young, I changed to teaching so my schedule would better suit hers. I like teaching, but I do regret not going through with nursing school. The pay is NOT good. I did go ahead and get my national boards because in my state that is a yearly bonus of $6,000. Without that, it would have been even harder. It is NOT a job you can walk out the door and leave there until the next day. You will have to do lots of work at home, especially the first few years. It is a good schedule with having Sophie also. My husband works a swing shift, so it's only every other week that Sophie is here by herself during the day. I cannot run home and check on her, but she does have free reign of the house so she is not crated for long periods of time. She never gets closed in a crate. I've been lucky that she is not a chewer, and she is 100% pee pad trained now.
It's not that bad of a job, and I do love my students. I also enjoy my summers off. I have 2 full weeks left, then I'm off until the 1st week in August
Big bonus
Good luck if that is what you decide to do.