Unsure what to pursue

[Ideas]

In the homeschool space, there *are* folks offering online classes, as an example:

Thanks for the example links

I would probably go for a Health Education degree if The Big Three had one, but the other schools need too many resident credits, often don't take ACE and DSST, etc. It makes it take so long, and the Pell Grant really only covers up to $170/SH or so. Also, a Masters would be better, if I were going to spend over $3500. I think that a Masters in Public Health may be only $4800, although from Capella, which has some reputation issues. It seems like Health Education degrees have about the same job opportunities as Public Health, but of course Bachelor's is not the same. (I think you were saying BS Health Education + some other Masters.)

(You've mentioned IT previously - what does a home-based IT job "look like" to you? What, specifically, do you mean by IT degree?)

Well, the Instructional Design Masters is one example. It's one of the few cheap Masters that is specialized. I'm especially interested in the competency-based programs that can be done cheaply and quickly.

The only other competency based Masters I can find are in Data Analytics and graphics design, which I don't think I can do, and things like Cyber Security which I don't think I would get hired for remotely (unless a company first had me work in-office for a while). I'm not very interested in Security at this point, but I'll look at it. I just have a feeling I wouldn't like it, but honestly I also feel that I might not like the Instructional Design. ID seems like a mix of writing + graphics design + soft "programming".

Although, it depends on what I'm teaching I guess, and other things such as: am I doing it freelance, or do I have a nice and stable position? Freelancing in that area doesn't appeal to me as much, because I've looked at that area. Some of the work is already getting outsourced overseas, meaning the prices have dropped, and I fully expect that to continue.

I previously did an EMT program, and wish I had done LPN. But, as you say, the next step, to ADN/BSN could be quite a lot to handle anyway. And the good remote jobs really need MSN plus 3-5+ years of work experience. But I noticed one school had a Masters in Nursing Informatics, and it makes me wish I could do that. IT degrees like that seem to lead to in-person jobs only.

I have done freelancing at home full-time, and fear being stuck with it for the rest of my work life. It's a lot of inconsistency with sometimes being overwhelmed with work and rushing to meet deadlines, and sometimes not having enough. I've thought for a while that my lack of a specialty/degree is what made it more stressful, because of having to take many types of small jobs. There are many downsides to freelancing online in my experience. I do have an acquaintance who has it different - he has the "best" freelancing situation, because he has in-demand skills (coding).

Better freelancing looks more like a regular job, but more flexible: basically where you get to choose your hours every day, and have planned days off. And where there is not a lot of trying to find new clients, or dealing with new clients, because there are about a half dozen stable clients giving plenty of decent-paying work (and if a client dropped me, I could get another, due to having a good portfolio/degree/skillset).

However, even my described "best" freelancing situation doesn't seem ideal to me. It's still IT. I figure I could feel better about it if I hit upon a good specialty, but I've looked a lot at freelancing options. I guess that if I cared mostly about the money, I would get into coding. I don't think I would like it very much