I feel like I am reaching a crossroads in my life and I'm not really sure what to do so I could use some solid advice. Here's my situation:

I'm a 21-year-old girl and I'm graduating with a bachelor's in psychology. I hate psychology and I'm not going to do anything with it. I had been thinking about going to law school but lately, I just don't see the point. I estimated that I would finish law school when I'm 24, because I would take a year off now, and I would work for a few years. This would mean I would start having children around age 26-27. I really don't like this because:

1. I have a boyfriend who I've been dating for over 2 years and we want to get married soon.
2. I don't want to start having kids at an older age.
3. 2-3 years of working wouldn't be enough to pay off the loans I would incur.
4. I would really just love to start my family soon, within the next year, and be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool my children.

The problems with this are:
1. My boyfriend is 22 and he has no career direction. He recently received his bachelor's as well but now he doesn't know what to do. He was thinking about graduate school but that would put him into even more debt and we couldn't get married anytime soon because if we have children, he couldn't afford to support us.
2. I feel like I have been so ingrained by society to think that I need to have a career and make money. I received great grades in undergrad and I know I have the potential to get a high-paying job if I went to graduate school but I would have to sacrifice my dream of having a family.
3. My parents are going to flip out when I tell them that I just want to get married and have a family. They are so set on me achieving so much as far as a career and education.
4. I worry what would happen if my future husband died and I didn't have any education to pay the bills.

Basically, I don't know what to do. He is looking for a job and I told him that maybe he could work for 5 or so years and save money and then if he wanted to go to graduate school, we could live off our savings. In the next year, I would also be working and saving money so that when we get married, we would have some money to start with.

I was thinking that maybe I could get another degree like nursing or midwifery and I could do that part time. But, I don't have any money and those all cost a few thousand.

For those of you who didn't go to graduate school and got married young, how did you do it?

If you are a woman who doesn't have formal training in any career/didn't go to college, how are you doing it? Do you bring in any money by doing something that doesn't require being away from home for long periods of time? Also, do you worry that you did not get an education, in the sense that you don't have the training that jobs would be looking for?

Thank you in advance for any advice and even for reading this far!

Oh, first a question -- is the boyfriend Catholic?  And what is your family's financial situation like, they can't help you get started?

I will have more to say later, but right now what comes to mind is "Get thee to a nunnery."  I think you have planned your life to be a certain way but that you may have to face that it isn't going to be like that.  Join the club!  

But again, I want to address this later.  Right now I have to say the Rosary and walk the dog.

The funny thing is that I never imagined my life this way. I recently had a conversion and I was Confirmed in February. Before the past few months, I had no intention of starting a family young and having lots of kids (hopefully). I wanted to live the "glamorous" life and the idea of homeschooling kids and living a simple life far from the city was not a part of it.

Lately, I just have this strong feeling about getting married and being a mother (my boyfriend wants this too). Eventually we want to live OTG but I don't see how our finances, or lack thereof, will allow this.

Reading your first post over, it didn't explain your current money situation.  How are you living now?

You shouldn't plan too much because, even if you both get great jobs, that could all fall apart overnight.  There is nothing guaranteed in this life, especially now.  It is not job security that you need to shoot for, but mental stability, emotional maturity and true faith.  If you have that then God will take care of the rest.  

I think the most important thing right now is that your boyfriend get some direction and discover his calling.  That may not take long.  You yourself sound like a go-getter and a survivor.  If you have a flaw, it may be that you are slightly overconfident, and will try to shape the world to your own specifications.  But you don't seem like someone I would worry much about.  I can feel a kind of boundless energy pouring off the screen even from your posts.  If you were thrust into a situation where you had to work and take care of kids, I think you could do it.

I don't like to say you have to wait until you are multi-millionaires to have kids.  But it doesn't hurt to be a little realistic, and it's good that you are already thinking about avoiding usurious traps.  The NWO certainly does lay many snares in the way of even the most well-meaning.  

I'd give the courtship another year, at least... But you may not have to wait until 25 or 26.

  Perhaps you can hide your plan for having many children from your parents? If asked, you can answer by "we will pass the bridg when we cxome to it." or "let me think about it later, we have to weight all matters at peace and when we have time." etc. Then when you are married and pregnant, it will be too late for them to object.
  Raoul, although being a nun is holier and full of merits, I think if she could live like that she wouldn't look to her marriage day! though I still wonder about those who are not called to celibacy and yet have difficulty marrying.

The funny thing is that I never imagined my life this way...Before the past few months, I had no intention of starting a family young and having lots of kids (hopefully)...

FWIW, 21 is NOT that young.  In eras far saner than our own, you would be rapidly approaching being considered TOO old -- and very likely to become an old maid.

I went to university, grad school, and all that jazz, too.  While education certainly has its place, for many it is just a trap -- wherein they get brainwashed and indebted before earning a dime.

The road ahead -- now to 2012 and beyond -- is going to be bumpy like we cannot imagine.  No one has written a guidebook for what is presently unfolding and intensifying.

Intensify your own interior life, trusting God to speak to your heart.  His will for us is NOT the nebulous, mysterious thing most of us make it out to be.  We just cannot hear what He says because we are caught up in worldly, self-seeking pursuits.  Be still and know that He -- and He alone -- is God; and He loves you more than you can grasp.  Godspeed, my dear lady :)

I wonder if someone will come into this thread and suggest you use NFP while you're getting started...

Whatever slim chance existed, it has likely now been reduced to almost zero  :wink:

I am a homeschooling mother of six children under the age of 10. We are not rich,but we make it work.  I don't believe as mothers, wives, we need to earn an income to contribute to our households. We can contribute by being thrifty and resourceful, cook from scratch, bake your own bread, make your own soaps, plant a garden, mend clothing, buy second hand, do all your own work; cleaning, yard, painting etc.. These were once all skills taught to women to prepare them for being wives and mothers.  
If your dream is to get married and have babies then make it happen for yourself.  One word of advice DEBT is a curse, if you can you and your boyfriend should come up  with a plan to pay off  your student loans, before starting your family..