Possible career moves

I have been giving a lot of thought to my life, my financial situation that is becoming very exhausting and the future for my children and myself.
I always look in the paper or on Craigslist and just read through ads looking for something "I can do" ... and I am thinking that is my problem, instead of looking for jobs I can do I would like to search under one category. One profession.
My dilemma is there are not enough hours in the day, I hate to leave my kids and I have never been much of a 'school person'. So I need to find something short and sweet.
I considered a license in real estate, problem is I am not a sales person at all. I do not have that personality and to be honest I don't want to. I would like that field because I love looking at houses, and I would enjoy working with people to make a dream of theirs come true.
I just cannot do that as an only job, I cannot rely on something that inconsistent either.
So I found another option, that I was shocked to find out is not much schooling at all, dental assistant. I am very excited about this potential career. I looked around online and in the paper and I do see a decent amount of ads for dental assistants, so that is great. I also noticed a lot of them are part time- perfect for my kids and myself. The pay seems decent as well.
I found two local schools - they are over $2k in tuition though, and this is where we hit a brick wall. There is no financial aid because it is not a degree program. So now I am on a mission to talk my parents into taking a loan for me, I believe this would be a terrific opportunity for me. I have given it a tremendous amount of thought, I know if I go this is something I will definitely need to pursue. I am confident I will give it my all.
I will be back to post if I get the funding lined up and how it goes.! Lets turn this year into the turning point in my life.