7 Tips For Single Moms Trying to Find Time For School And Thier Kids
More and more women (and men) are finding themselves single parents. To better their children’s and their own lives, going back to school to learn a skill can be the best way to do so. So whether it is regular campus college or online, there is a lot of work involved. So here are some tips and tricks to get your work done, even if you have a child running or crawling around.
1.) Don’t even try to get work done when your child is up. Sounds crazy, but when you are distracted the quality and quantity of work will suffer anyways.
2.) Which brings me to when, children sleep more than adults, take advantage of this time. This quiet, undistracted time can be enough to get all your work done. I run 5 classes with a three year old and unless I procrastinate, I don’t even try to work when he is up and about.
3.) DON’T PROCRASTINATE. Very simple, procrastination is your enemy.
4.) Make a schedule. Write down your syllabus at the end of the of each week for the week ahead and try your best to stick to it. Only you know your schedule, so be realistic and even a little bit a day to make sure you finish everything.
5.) Schedule a school-free day. Take a set day out of the week and have a fun day with your child. Taking a day to just spend time together, not worrying about school is essential in avoiding burn-out.
6.) If all else fails, and you can’t manage any of the above. There will be a crunch night, I usually have one early in the week, to avoid the deadline one. So when it is the night before and you have all this work to do, first thing is to not talk yourself out of doing it. It is easy to accept a late grade or reason out of doing it, but setting your mind to getting it done is the first step.
7.) If a crunch night and all of the above fail, you may have to do some homework with your child up. If this is the case, then constructing an activity, preferably semi-quiet in the room with you is a great idea. An awesome train track set up on a table, their favorite movie, coloring books and crayons or anything that will keep them occupied for a little while. Setting things up ahead of time can save you a big headache later.
All in all, just keeping a positive mind set and knowing you can do it. Yeah you may sleep less for a few years but the outcome is more than worth it. Take advantage of flat rates, add a class a term if possible. The savings can be quite large and well worth a few less hours of sleep a week.
