OU students, where do you study in your house?

[Meglet]

I would like to study an Open University course but one of the practicalities I need to sort out is where can I study at home and how much coursework / books I might end up with.

Do you all have desks / spare rooms so you can leave your work out all the time and keep dipping into it?

I only have a small dining room table and no storage where the kids can't get to it (except the loft). So I would need to keep it all in boxes (somewhere!) and getting everything out whenever I wanted to do even a few minutes work and am thinking it's going to be PITA to keep doing that.

I'm hoping someone comes back to me saying them keep it all stuffed in a big box and study while sitting on the sofa .

Well, following on from my O and A levels, I did most of mine in front of the television... Didn't do it like that for my first degree only because I didn't have one.

And actually yes, I had a big plastic crate that I kept all my OU stuff in, which lived inthe living room...

yay! There's hope for me after all!

I'm just starting mine. I've got a dumping room spare room, and plan to work on the laptop. Anywhere relatively quiet after the dc are in bed!

prolesworth My grand plan is do study OU, get a better paid job, then I can afford a bigger house and the DC's can have a study when they are teenaagers .

Might have to go to Ikea to check out large plastic boxes / baskets, haven't had an excuse to go in ages.

I haven't booked it yet, I want to sort out all the practicalities before it starts.

I want to do politics, economics and philosophy . But I still need to find out what employers think of it first, no point in doing it if it doesn't count for anything.

I usually study on the sofa, but I've found the last little while as I'm having to spend much longer studying (deadline time!) that it was killing my back, so now I'm at a desk in the living room. Not ideal, but I need the internet for my studies, the cable is in the living room and the wireless is knackered!

I study as a distance learner with a regular uni, not OU, and I don't have any textbooks. We get all our study material online, so the most I ever have is a folder of notes of the module I'm doing printed out.

A friend of mine studies with the OU and she started off doing two modules at a time, so would complete the course in a certain length of time. Then she changed to a much more stressful job, and had some major health issues, so asked the OU if she could switch to doing one module at a time and they said no as she'd started on two at a time! So check the small print.......

I don't! Or at least, not if I can help it. DD is chatty, an only child and really has trouble leaving me alone during the day, so I can't study meaningfully with her about. Another added complication is that my house is really tiny and I simply don't have the spare space for a desk to study at. I dunno about the rest of you, but I cannot work effectively in the evenings. I can just about do reading for my course but essay writing is nigh impossible, I'm simply too exhausted.

Thankfully DH usually starts work in the pm so if I can arrange a babysitter in the afternoon I can get a full days study at the local university library which really is the best place I've found. It's much quieter than the council libraries, has sockets to plug in my laptop when essay writing, I can't access the wi-fi cos I'm not a student there so less distractions, and has necessary facilities like canteen and loos etc.

My problems are pretty unique though, and I imagine that having space for even a kitchen table, never mind a study area, in my house would improve my chances of studying at home.

Am also doing PPE, just finishing the E going on the the Pol course, it's good mental exercise, hope you enjoy it

sofa normally. or if DH stays downstairs with the kids, I go and sit upstairs on our bed. our house is tiny so no spare room, kitchen table etc. I am trying to get to the library more though as I do find it easier to concentrate.

however the other week our DSD was staying on the sofabed so I couldn't go downstairs to rush through my overdue assignment - I actually ended up sitting on our bathroom floor. got loads done though!

I've done two modules at a time - my first 2 years I did 90 points each. trying to decide whether to try it this year.

I've almost completed an openings course (so don't know how much the quantity of course materials differs) but they sent all of my course work in a little bag. It helps me keep everything together, so I take the stuff out when I need it, then put it all back into the bag when I've finished.

Also if you have a uni library near, you can ask to be referred by your regular library and that will give you somewhere to work and you can also borrow the books.

Hope you work it out and good luck, it's loads of fun

Oh and dizietsma, I feel the same about starting work in the evening, it's been especially hard with the summer holiday. I'm so tired by the time DD goes to bed and have to really force myself to study. Most of the time I want to spend my evenings on the sofa watching crap thought provoking TV

I study in front of the tv in the evenings and work at the pc in the living room during the day.

I did a 60 point, level 1 science course which was pretty intensive. I had 8 book, some other course materials and all my own notes which lived by the pc as we have no storage at all.

am going to be starting another 60 point ourse in october and a 30 point course in january so hopefully my methods keep working for me