Irene

Engineer – 10 Years, Stay-at-Home Mom – 13 Years, Tutor – 4 Years  

Favorite Sonlight Product/Book: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Fever 1793, and the History / Bible /Literature programs 

Homeschooling?: She has two kids, who both used Sonlight curriculum. 

Why She Became Interested in This Job: Irene, a former engineer, has always found electricity interesting: "the lightning during a storm, how appliances work, and, best of all, how motors work and what drives them to function in that way". In high school, she built an alarm clock in an electronics class, which gave her the confidence and push to pursue a career in electrical engineering. What later drew her to staying at home and raising her children was seeing how curious her firstborn was, and she felt empowered to help and guide him as much as she could. Irene is glad she did because seeing her kids grow and getting to be present for every milestone in their lives has been a gift and great joy! Irene’s love of engineering and her children led her to tutoring. She so enjoyed teaching her kids and watching them figure out problems that she decided to help instill that same curiosity and love for learning in other kids.  

Favorite Part of the Job: For all three roles, she enjoys getting to reflect and grow from challenges in her job. 

Least Favorite Part of the Job: Time management. While important for any job, it is not something Irene enjoys. 

Skills Needed for Job:

➗ Math skills, as math is a “prominent subject used often” in engineering. 

📚 Reading, as she “had to be able to read documentation as well as understand requirements when developing a product".  

✒️ Writing, as engineers need to clearly explain their work, keep notes on the progress of projects and create reports to share with teammates and managers. 

💻 Technology skills, from computer programs to specialized tools, knowing how to work with different technologies helps to design and improve products.

🧪 Science, as a good engineer, you'll use scientific ideas like physics and chemistry to understand how things work and to test whether a new design will succeed.  

🗣️ Foreign language skills, as you may need to communicate with engineers who speak another language. Irene worked for a company with offices in France and Mexico, so her Spanish skills made her a helpful link with the Mexico team, and she even learned French so she could communicate with her colleagues in France.

Note from Irene: “As a stay-at-home mom, I have used my engineering skills to teach my kids more about how the world works and have used all of the subjects above to teach my kids.” 

*Pictured: An Electrical Engineer

Her Advice for Future Engineers/Tutor/SAHP:  “You have to love what you do, and you need to be kind to yourself if you have setbacks or run into roadblocks. All three of my careers have had their share of difficulty, but don’t sweat it.  These are trials that make us grow and become a better version of ourselves.”

Her Advice to All Learners: Be passionate about what you do.