The Heifer Project scares me, btw. I received their print catalog in the mail and thought for a second I was stuck in a very lifelike dream.

As for worthwile causes... I'm struggling with this hankering to teach.

Have you ever considered tutoring, being a classroom assistant, or substitute teaching? All good ways to get involved in education without having a degree.

What scares you about Heifer? I liked that they required people who received gift animals to pass on the firstborn offspring. I'm still in the information-gathering phase, so I guess I will request their scary catalog for myself. ;)

Imagine picking up what appeared, in your peripheral vision, to be just another mail-order catalogue. Glossy paper, lots of colorful pictures, an 800-number at the bottom corner of every page... Except instead of selling sweaters or sofas or Chia pets or whatever, all the wares are LIVESTOCK. Mucho pics of little kids smiling with their livestock. Donate a yak. Donate a goose. Buy 2 wildebeast get one yoke zebra for free. I'm sorry, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just very ODD, especially because I had no "preface" to the organization.

I don't think I'd sub, btw. I tortured my subs too horribly as a kid and would only be asking to receive all that bad karma right on the chin.

Those are good suggestions though and I think I need to dabble before resolving further. It's a surprise to me how much study it will require to enable me to cut my salary by over 50%. There's not much in the way of comprehensive information out there either, god forbid a statewide recruiting program.

Fargh.