How do you manage

[thenoisytimetravelstudent]

Just back to work after maternity leave and I am juggling a commute of 2 hours there and back, 3 year old DD and 10 month DD plus a level teaching. I'm only one page ahead of my students
How do you manage to get your work done?! I'm in bed now worrying about tomorrow but without the energy to do any prep or marking

[Laselva]

Probably not the answer you want to hear, but I manage by working PT at a local school.

[noblegiraffe]

Yep, part time, local school and usually working 8-11pm or later.

[thenoisytimetravelstudent]

Technically I am part time... I only work to 5pm 2 days a week. The rest of the time I am finished at lunch but it's still 3pm before I'm home

[MSLehrerin]

Again, probably not what you want to hear but: you chose to have kids and go back to work!! And ho e at 3pm three days a week would be a dream for me as a teacher. You can't have it all ways OP

[Lilaclily]

If you're home at 3pm do you leave kids in childcare for an extra couple of hours so you can work ?

Does your partner help Out?

Have you good childcare, a cleaner etc

Could you get dh on board at weekends and work in th9e mornings while he takes kids swimming or soft play or round to his parents ?

[DomesticAnarchist]

• Prioritise sleep (bed by 10pm)
• Share/borrow resources (what's your subject - I'll happily send you all my stuff! PM me)
• use textbooks wherever you can, don't make a resource when a textbook will do. You can still add value in the presentation/discussion/activities
• Try to maximise any time you do work - no faff, no tea drinking, the more you do now the earlier you can get to bed later!

I went back FT when DC2 was 14 weeks, pumped break & lunch for the first half term.

Oh, and we got a cleaner for that first half term too. Made such a difference! Slow cooker meals in 'dump bags', etc.

Moving schools for a shorter commute also made a huge difference, but only move if the school itself is worth it. (A shorter commute but an unreasonable marking policy would be a foolish move)

[Scarydinosaurs]

What subject are you? What is taking away your time? Planning/marking/commuting?

[thenoisytimetravelstudent]

Morning, so when I woke up this morning I realised not only am I exhausted but also pms'ing great. Explains a lot.
I love my job and I know I'm luckier than most teachers with the freedom I have. A shorter commute would solve a lot of my stress but would be completely outweighed by the fact I would lose that freedom.
Sorry for the whinge, but I just got a bit overwhelmed yesterday. Next week is half term so I'm hoping my PiL will help with childcare so I can get ahead of myself.
Last night was definitely a faffing session which lead to panic about what to do today - If I can get a grip on that I know you're right and I'd save myself a lot of time and worry!

[MSLehrerin]

What subject are you? Some on here may be able to help with resources. TES also excellent. Don't reinvent the wheel 😃

[thenoisytimetravelstudent]

Religious Studies is my subject. I'll have a look and see what could help

[DomesticAnarchist]

Remember to actually take a break over half term. Don't use it as another source of guilt (for planning to do x but ultimately not managing, maybe that's just me!)

[Phineyj]

I think you need more childcare. I had nursery for 3 days a week every week. I never even considered term time only childcare. It made the job do-able as I could catch up in holidays and also do things for myself. You need more childcare than the hours you work, to allow for planning and marking. Also a strong focus on peer and self-assessment will help. Make feedback slips for essay marking that you can just highlight or cross statements off. This is how I manage to grade 100 Economics responses in a reasonable time! I am also a big fan of marking in cafes in the way home (supermarket ones where you can linger for an hour over one coffee are ideal) so you can't get sucked into doing laundry etc, nor do you need to hang around at school.

[Scarydinosaurs]

Get onto twitter and check out Mrs Humanities et al. Will save you loads of time.

[thenoisytimetravelstudent]

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to seriously re-evaluate my routine when I'm off next week. You are right childcare just for the hours I'm in work isn't enough. I am very fortunate to have the help of my parents and PiL for childcare and that had made me reluctant to ask for anything extra because I don't want to take advantage of them. But something has to change...I actually got sent home yesterday by my co-ordinator. She was very understanding but basically I would be more use well rested never happened before and can't let it happen again.

[DomesticAnarchist]

Holiday childcare? That's mind blowing. Already get the guilt of working FT!

We have the minimum required, couldn't afford more. But if we could...