East Las Vegas mother juggled three degrees while raising 14 kids

It’s been said that being a mother is one of the hardest jobs out there, but while Stacey Sly admits it can be work, it’s work she loves and cherishes. It may be a lot, but it’s never too much. She speaks with authority. She has been a mother to 14 children over the years and managed to earn three degrees while doing it.

“When we were fostering children, we’ve had as many as 10 kids in the house at a time,” Sly said. “It takes lots of love, lots of structure and lots of patience.”

Sly and her husband have five children of their own. When they started fostering, she was working as a full-time, permanent substitute teacher. Fostering children had always been something the family had intended to do, and when all the pieces fell into place, they jumped at the chance to do it.

“The timing and the opportunity were there, which hadn’t happened before,” Sly said. “It was something that if I still had the energy and stamina, and my kids had the energy and stamina, we’d still be doing it.”

Over the years, nine children came through the home, several of them babies. The goal was to foster the children while their biological parents sorted out their issues. The second baby they brought home had been born drug-addicted. The Slys hoped to get all of the children back to their families once things had been sorted out, and many of them did. They also ended up adopting a few of the children.

Colby, the second-oldest of their biological children, was about 11 when the family started fostering. He remembers it all happening quickly. The family discussed as a group, and within a week or so, the first foster baby was in their home.

“It was tough at times, having all of those different kids come through our home and having to deal with some of the issues they brought along,” he said. “It was also tough to have to say goodbye to some, but it was really cool to be able to help them. It was great that we were all able to pitch in and help these kids have a better life.”

Colby Sly is now 21, working, and planning to return in the fall to study at UNLV. He recalls the fostering part of his family’s life as being an educational and positive experience overall.

“I’m glad it happened,” he added.

It was during those busy days that Stacey Sly began taking classes through Western Governors University, an online school established by the governors of several western states and headquartered centrally in Salt Lake. She had been taking classes at UNLV, but the addition of the foster children and her full-time job made going into classes an untenable situation. WGU allowed her to study at her own pace when she had the time.

“I can take a course at 4 in the morning,” Sly said. “I can take it in my closet or out sitting by my pool. You can take as many classes as you can handle in a six-month semester, and the semester starts whenever you want it to.”

The school charges a flat rate for a six-month semester, which became a bargain for Sly, who is an accelerated learner. She recently finished her third degree in the school.

“I already had my associate degree,” Sly said. “My bachelor’s degree took a little over a year. My first master’s took a little over a year also, and my second master’s, I did it under a year. The first two degrees were in special education, and the one I just finished was in educational leadership.”

The household has five children living there now, with two children out of the house for school. Sly has two grandchildren, so they’ve stopped taking in fosters, but that doesn’t mean she’s stopped helping kids get through difficult times. She works at the Clark County School District as a behavior interventionist.

“I provide support for teachers,” Sly said. “There are some kids who didn’t learn appropriate behavior naturally, by watching others. They have to be taught it. I work with the teachers trying to figure out how they can work with those kids and look for different solutions.”

For Sly, spending time with children isn’t a chore; it’s a gift.

“The thing I love about teaching and being with kids is that you just see the world differently when you see it through the eyes of a child,” Sly said. “It’s just fun to see them experience new things and be proud of those things that we take for granted as adults.”

Sly isn’t sure what she and her family will be doing for Mother’s Day.

“They celebrate Mother’s Day the way they want to,” Sly said. “Sometimes, they bring me breakfast in bed. Sometimes, I have to go back to bed to get breakfast in bed because I’m usually the first one up.”

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.