not sure where you are, but in SC, there are a few things that you can do to become a teacher.
easiest is BA-education degree, 4 yrs including student teaching, take your praxis, pass all the exams, and you're pretty much guaranteed a job bc of the teacher shortage. This one also pays teh least when you first start.
next up BA-education plus 15 hrs of grad work. same as before plus an extra year of grad work. Pay jumps considerably.
Next up BA in anything, then an MA in education. this one is great bc you can get a strong liberal arts undergrad, then focus on education. or you can get a strong whatever undergrad and focus on education. generally, this one si 6 yrs, 4 for BA, 2 for MA. This one can be modified so you can teach at a tech school. Just get the MA in another field, history, physics, whatever, and you can generally teach in a technical/community college. If you get the MA in art, you can generally teach in a 4 yr college if you're just great.
next is ph.d which is supposed to get you into academia, but currently, there are more ph.d's than there are professors. Dont' count on getting a tenure track college position, most schools are in a hiring freeze unless they really need someone to replace someone else. It's almost horrendous at how difficult it is to get a job.
and the last survey i saw showed that teachers work an average of 65 hrs/week, so don't think it's too easy
Most do get a summer break if they dont' opt to teach summer school, but even then, you have to get thigns in order for the next semester. it's not the life of hte perpetual procrastinator