Profile Essay (2nd Draft)

Family Before Career

Have you ever had a dream strong enough that you would leave your paying career in order to follow it?

Bernadette DeTerra may seem like your typical house wife. She cooks, cleans, and takes care of her family. In her spare time, she enjoys watching game shows, reading, and doing word search puzzles. But she has one unique characteristic; she left her career as a registered nurse to home school her son.

Bernadette is beautiful with her warm smile and green eyes that look directly at the person she is speaking or listening to. She gives her full, undivided attention. She is kindhearted and intelligent. These traits help make her a wonderful mother and a caring teacher.

Bernadette pursued a career in nursing in her twenties. “I was a newly, surprised single mother,” she says. “I had a background in nursing, and knew I could make a living to support myself and my child.” She would have liked to home school her daughter, but under the circumstances, she decided to enroll her in private school. “I would have had to get permission from her father, and he would have never allowed it,” she says.

Bernadette worked as a nurse for years. She was a nurse when she remarried, when her son was born, and even as she began home schooling her son. At first, she was able to home school during the day, and work in the evenings. She was a visiting nurse, so she would travel to her patients' homes, while her children stayed with her parents. She liked her patients, but the paper work became too overwhelming while home schooling. Her supervisor was also unsympathetic to her home schooling obligations. “They would call meetings in the middle of the day, and it would interfere with schooling,” she says. Her supervisor, also, did not understand the legality of home schooling. “They did not understand that home schooling is a legal process. I had to send in a letter of intent to the superintendent explaining my planned curriculum. If I did not follow this, a truancy officer could come to my door and arrest me,” she explains.

When nursing became too overwhelming, her and her husband decided that she would stay home and focus on their son's education. “I have always felt as though family is more important than career,” she says. Fortunately, her husband is able to provide for the family. It was difficult adapting to one income at first, but they were able to establish a budget that worked. “Since I wasn't traveling as far, there was less gas. Some of the expenses balanced out,” she says.

Home schooling has exceeded her expectations. Her son is advanced for his age. He is learning Latin, history, science, English, and math. He is advanced in some of his subjects (he is in fourth grade and taking sixth grade math). He is able to move at a faster or slower pace depending on his needs. Bernadette likes that she is able to give her son a hands-on learning experience. “I am fortunate to live in Massachusetts where we can go to Plymouth Plantation to study the Pilgrims, or the Boston Museum of Science, just to name a few places” she says. She is a great teacher according to her son. “I feel like I’m getting a better education than I would at school. Mom makes sure I understand everything before we move on” he says.

Although she loves home schooling, she sometimes misses nursing. “I miss my guys,” she says sadly. “I was a psychiatric nurse, so I was the one who gave them their medication and who they would tell everything to. They trusted me. It was hard leaving them.” She also misses the feedback that she received from her patients. “My patients would always tell me I was doing a good job, now I get sighs and rolling of the eyes,” she laughs. She finds her feedback in another way, though. “The feedback that makes it worthwhile is seeing the lights go off in his eyes like, “Oh! I get it!”

Home schooling has been a dream come true for Bernadette. She loves that she is able to give her son the best education she can give him. She plans on home schooling him until he reaches college, when he will attend a university. She is unsure of what the future will bring for her after home schooling.  When asked if she would ever return to nursing she responded, “I might. I'm keeping up my license.” She says if she does return to work later in life, she may pursue teaching.

Post-write: I like the profile. I think it gives a good impression of Bernadette. I added to the conclusion, and I added a quote from Bernadette's son. It is a little longer than 700 words, though, and the peer review recommends more detail. The peer review suggests that I explain her passion for homeschooling, but I'm not sure how to work that into the profile. Is the quote from her son strong enough? Does the conclusion leave a strong enough impression of Bernadette?