Tips 4 balancing study and being a mum

[V8]

Hey all

Just wondering what your tips would be to mums that want to study while balancing family life?

[polony]

Well firstly, congrats on making the choice! It is a rewarding feeling to study and be able to still be a parent.

Basically, what I have done is to let all my lecturers and tutors know that I am a mother and that sometimes things may arise which may get in the way of finishing an assignment etc. You will find that most are very accommodating (not all though...)

I also try and get all my work done as quickly as possible. You need to make sure you are organised and on top of everything, otherwise that could be your downfall.

I also like to use the support of the university community. We have a WebCT to post any queries etc and I find that rather helpful and a good way to stay in contact with the school.

I also try and get my work done when DD is either having a nap, or has gone to bed for the night. Having a few extra hours for her at daycare is also really helpful.

I wish you all the luck!

[mama2cierra]

im doing it at the moment :yes:
i have about 1-2 semesters to go b4 my uni degree is done!! yay

I also work on the weekends to help my DF finaincially too and it gets tough. I have enrolled into a summer semester over chrissy to knock off some credit points. so i do most of the external subject work at home when my daughter is sleeping and when she goes to bed at night. doesnt leave much time for me IFYKWIM. she gets jealous when im the computer!! :thumbsdown:
when uni goes back in end of feb i will be going there 3 days/week and Cierra goes to childcare for 2 and my lovely fiance stays home to look after her on the 3rd.
it works out ok. the weeks get real busy but im pretty collected and good dealing w/ stress. my partner , not so good! I think he'd rather stay home and care for C will I go work FUlltime!! :thumbsup:

whatever works :yelclap:

[V8]

Thanks heaps guys, what are you studying??

I am doing a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Human Resource Management.

[polony]

I am studying a Bachelor of Education and doing Primary Teaching.

I love it!!!!

I still have 3 years left though......

[mama2cierra]

Communications degree majoring in Journalism and Film/Screen :xmas:

[kiah]

I just wat to give a big clap to all u supermums who r studying and taking care of their kiddies!

:yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap:

My mum just finished studying this yr...she has been studying my whole life. She did arts, law, education, early childhood, masters and finally phd.

She always made time for us. She started her work at 8:30 pm every night when we were alseep and continued to help and inspire us thru highschool and university while following her own dreams.

My biggest tip that i can give from memory is that she made sure when we were little that she had us in a sure routine. And every night we never missed a story, every saturday we picked one thing we wanted to do with her. There wasn't a lot of time together (a lot of time in before/after school care, vacation care) but the time we had was such quality - bushwalks, breakkie in bed, lots of overseas travel.

She never made it to tuck shop roster, sports days or anything like that. But she helped us with every assignment and showed us without even meaning to how important education is.

I luv my mum and i hope i inspire my children as she did both my brother and i.

[V8]

That's such a great story Kiah, your mum sounds very inspirational.

I am nervous and excited about going back to study, i hope i will cope. But thankfully there are others in the same boat and i will draw on their experiences of how i can manage my time and get things done! lol

[V8]

I still have 3 years left though......


I have 2 years left if i go full-time, 4 more if i go part time. I think i'll split myself between full-time & part time between the semesters when i need to.

[marianaluky]

Well, for me I stay at home with my 2 little girls, they are 6 and 5, soon to be 7 and 5.

I stay at home with them while my hubby goes to work, and sometimes also works in the evenings and/or the weekend. I don't really mind that he goes to work so much, it definitely pays off. I am studying via correspondence an "8 year distance ed course" (this can be longer or shorter depending on how fast or slow you want to achieve it). I am in my first year of it, though I have attempted this first module 3 times now. This will be my 4th try.

I am 25 years old, and wouldn't trade being around my kids for much else these days. I am have a few different hobbies that keep me very busy, sorry for the ramble...just trying to give you an idea of what I do with my time, it might give you an idea of where some of my tips come from.

So for some cleaning tips, I attempt to get at least 1 hour of the necessary laundry, vaccuming (sometimes an impossibility), you name it, I try to get most of it done then. On that note sometimes it helps to start a washing load before I take the big kid off to school with the little kid in a stroller. I try to do general clean ups, like wiping down the kitchen. That first hour that I have in start of my day is just for cleaning.
I then try to get as much studying done in the morning before lunch sets in, and promise my little 5 year old that we will have lunch outside (I don't have to clean the dining table), and fun outside with the trampoline and games. I am an ex-childcare worker so I like the active play stuff it's fun, it get you moving around and all that jazz.
Then it's learning time for my little one, and preparations for the rest of the day, last minute cleaning and defrosting meat for dinners, (which are basically steamed veggies - easy to clean, and fried/steamed meat, another easy thing to clean).
I then pick up the big kid and try to get homeworks done, and dinner. If I get those 2 things done, I then bring the washing inside the house (it helps to do this in little bits during the day). Though I think if you do work outside of home, you could possibly get a washer/dryer that is very good at detecting if clothes are dry or not. I have always wanted one of those.
I don't fold clothes. lol.
After dinner is ready, I magically create a star chart, and run through it with the kids (my hubby is so tired after finishing work, that he winds down during this time). The star chart is my key (most of the time) to getting our kids to clean up their rooms for the next day, and drying dishes, eating dinner, picking up toys, making their beds, towel drying hair (I always have trouble with this one with the big kid). At the end of it all, if they have completed their tasks and the stars are all ticked, I dish out dessert (something that I just whip up, like pancakes or scones, or something from the pantry).
Then it's bath time, and brushing teeth, (sometimes the big kid doesn't wash her hair, it's mostly done every second or third bath). A quick story (lol, this one mostly gets missed because I just don't have patience to sit down and read a book to kids who wont be quiet. Hopefully this will change now that they both share a room, and we now have a crafts room (which can be a family room too, another cleaning saver, as you don't have kids running around making a mess, they are in one room, and can do fun activities, like origami reading comics, something like that). Playdough/cornflour activities can be set up outside, so all you would have to do it hose down the pavement and it's gone.
Then it's time to make lunches and have uniforms, and work clothes ready for the next day. I ALWAYS get the big kid to pack away her hat, and shoes are put back on the shoe shelf, hang up her uniform, just to prepare her for the next day.

Cooking - can always be done in advance like cooking 2 meals in one, which saves time and energy because you only cook at one time not two. I can't wait to try this one, and also menu planning. I love using my slow cooker, you can't go wrong with that, and it's mostly meals that are cooked in one appliance, so that saves on cleaning aswell.
I highly recommend making all your meals for the next day in advance ( I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds great), you make all the meals for the next day, and you treat study like a job.
If anyone can share menu planning tips, that would be great.

My fiance works all day, therefore I have my own career aspirations, which require time and effort and just alot of patience from everyone else in the family. It's an opportunity which my parents didn't get to have because they weren't born in Australia and had just didn't have the opportunity to. So I take studying in my stride and try my hardest when I have time to do it. It might not be the entire 2 hours a day worth of study (which is the equivalent to a part time uni course on campus), but it's worth my time and effort. My fiance has worked in his field (he loves working in this field) for over 10 years now, and he started basically from scratch, and so to me it makes sense for me to start my own career, I'd need to work hard and start from scratch too.

I use a web-based software named "evernote", the web clipper allows me to save recipes in one "folder," I love that it's free and helps alot when I run out of something, I just highlight it on the master shopping list, and then we don't need to rush around checking what's missing on the shopping list.

I always use the timer app on my phone, it helps me to track when the washing needs to be hung up, when meat has defrosted.

I hope this information helps someone out there, I learnt most of it just from trial and error, work out something that works for you, because at the end of the day, most of the time you probably are the only one (like me) in control of the house and kids. The advantage to working it out on your own is that you get to do what you want to do, and not try to work out what works for someone else. I would suggest that doing effective cleaning, and just being as objective as possible in your approach is the best way to go.

Thanks for hearing out my 2 cents worth. Good luck with everyone studies, it will all pay off in the end.

:cheerleader1: