About to start apart time Masters and I am Scared

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

Hi all

I work full time in local government. I have two DCs 7 and 5 (his birthday is on Tuesday). My DS has just started school.

I have an opportunity to do a masters degree part time over 2 years which is being funded by my work. The course costs approx £10,000. It’s a really good opportunity and I want to take it.

But I am scared and apprehensive about managing it all: my work, the kids. I am a single parent.

I know I will have to be super organised. But I can se myself having to get up at 5 am. Do a couple of hours uni work. Then gets kids ready, school run and the full on day at work.

I am sure it’s worth short term pain for long term gain.

I have a cleaner weekly. Anyone else got any other tips for managing it all?

My experience is not the same as yours, but I can share what I found worked for me.
I did a PhD alongside a full-time job. But with no kids.

I found I couldn't do anything PhD related during the working week most of the time. I had to give myself permission to close that mental door from Monday morning till Friday teatime. My job requires evening work and being absolutely prepared for each day before it starts, so that had to take priority.

I am not a morning person, however. I get up and do the bare minimum to leave for work at 7. If I could have done early mornings, then your plan of a chunk of work then would have been goid. All work-related tasks complete the night before, and then a focus on the MA before setting off to the day job.

I worked on the PhD mostly at weekends and in annual leave. I think you may find you need some longer chunks of focused time, so could you look into childcare for some full days in the holiday or could the kids have a few days away with dad or gparents to let you really get into it?

For a masters, you shouldn't need to work on it every day (tho little but often might suit your working style) that might suit you) so have days - or even possibly some full weeks - as masters free zones.

Having said all that, if your employer is putting £10000 into this masters, they presumably have a great investment in you being successful. Might they offer some work time for it? Or is the focus closely aligned to your everyday work so some aspects could be mutually beneficial?

It would be such a shame to pass up this opportunity!

I did a masters FT, then had dd during my PhD - and now teach masters. Many of the students are in situations like yours. One of the very first things they do is complete a schedule showing all the time commitments they have and how they will fit in the recommended study time (16 hours/week - but frankly, I reckon 8-10 quality hours would do it with some surges around deadlines). Your course should be able to recommend study hours/week and also give you a schedule of deadlines for submitted work.

When dd was very little I could not work at all if she was at home and awake. So the choice is before they wake up or after they sleep. I also favour early mornings rather than late nights - but I have done the early morning thing and you really MUST go to bed suitably early or it is unsustainable.

I also relied on dh looking after dd on a Saturday - is there any way you can free up time at the weekend via some sort of childcare - maybe even a fun activity club? Could someone like your cleaner come to the house and mind the kids while you work (my sister had this during her PhD)?

I would also definitely ask your employer for an average of at least half day during the week (2 days/month) - there's nothing like having proper regular day-time hours when you are at your best. No harm in asking

I'm studying, have 1 kid, 2 dogs and 2 jobs (one full time and one part time) and it's haaaard. For me it's not consistent. I tried the wake up early thing and I can for a while but then it gets too much coz my kid wakes up too .... my approach is the spinning plate approach; I spin each plate when it's beginning to wobble. I tried so hard to be super organised but its exhausting. Anyway good luck; I'm 18 months into it and just about keeping my head above the water.

I did a MBA whilst working FT with 3 children. I did negotiate every Friday as a study day but never actually got a full day. And I work in my family business so they are more accommodating but you maybe are to negotiate some work time to study.

My youngest was 1 when I started so lots of juggling. I did housework whilst listening to books or lectures when taking the kids to swimming club I used to sit in the gallery and study or write essays. I commuted a lot for work so studied on the train as well.
I Literally made space/time in anyway I could, some people in my group went slower than me but I kind of think that prolongs the torture i actually do love studying I got a distinction so it was worth it in the end.

I am about to start the final year of a part time of MA and am also scared as about to start my research project!

I have 2 part time jobs and 2 children, plus a commuting husband. My MA also involves a placement. It is doable but you need to be really organised and dedicate chunks of time to your MA and keep chipping away at it. The main pressures are when essays/assignments/exams are looming. Around those times, I would try and organise extra childcare so you get uninterrupted time. I find the best times for me to write essays is when everyone is asleep. This means working until 1/2am sometimes- probably not the best advice, but the only time I can concentrate probably. I keep work separate from university and do all my reading on the train whilst commuting.

I have just bought a student planner from Etsy from 'The Happy Student Co.' which is going to be really useful for organisation.

Also university terms are quite short, so you will have breaks in the holidays which will give some breathing space and family time.

Good luck- go for it!