let's just say i'm still trying to finish! (i have 3 dcs as well - they were at 3 different settings in two different counties, with uni in another different city. youngest has cerebral palsy and i was also trying to work part time. dh then got offered a transfer o'seas, and i ended up in a disability rights wrangle with the employer because they weren't prepared for dd2 to travel with us. one of our course died unexpectedly and i had a huge emotional reaction to his mother's experience at the memorial service - he also had a disability and her experiences chimed with mine with dd2 - and i ended up in uni counselling... an entire saga which wasn't really anything to do with the pressure of the course or anything, but was just a combination of circumstances ) and i was pretty much teetering on the edge!)
so now i'm living o'seas (i won that one) trying to persuade the uni to extend my period of withdrawal so that i can finish the course as a distance student...
but, you know what? i'd do it again. i love to study - and i think you should go for it. 100%. but iron out the kid's logistics first! (i used a mixture of private nursery - for longer hours, childminder and after school clubs. it was a bit of a pita, but worked fine.) dh also worked long hours/ away so it was a bit of a one-woman show.
i remember one day (it was a friday) being in a lecture in the afternoon where a few students were missing, and having a loose discussion about childcare and gender, and commitment. the lecturer was a woman who had a daughter, and was musing aloud about (single/ younger) student responsibilities in comparison to mature students or academics. someone had moaned that they hadn't made it to the first lecture of the morning because they'd had two essays to finish or something. so i confessed to being 5 minutes late to the first lecture. i'd had to drop off all three kids at different places, having painted one of them purple from head to toe (it was book day and she was violet beauregard), then go to the hospital pharmacy to collect some eye drops for dd2's appt the following monday, they had to be kept refrigerated, so i'd had to then take them home again, before driving to uni. oh, and drive to dh's work on the way and swop cars, because for some reason he needed the bigger car later that day. all before 9.30am. when apparently most of the course were climbing out of bed and pondering whether to turn up or not.
it's just different, being a mature student parent. the only thing i found difficult about the course was the collaborative working outside of lectures, so i would timetable in lots of additional time at uni. then you can get together and discuss any issues with your peer group, and work through things you find tricky. so add in this time as essential childcare requirements whilst you're organising. and be really careful who your partners are if you have to do group work. i ended up being partnered with a lovely group for a research assignment. unfortunately one of them ended up in hospital and withdrew, and the other one was petrified of public speaking, so spent the entire term trying to come up with excuses as to why he couldn't take part in the research conference. so i ended up doing the entire research project, putting together the paper, and handing him a copy of the presentation with a few lines highlighted so he could 'take part'. i'd finished the paper on the plane on the way back from canada, where i'd had to take dd2 to be inspected to see if she passed muster and would be allowed in. it was an overnight flight and our walk-through was at 4pm that afternoon. i had to load my research partner up with vodka to get him through it! how i didn't crash the car driving home i'll never know.
and try and get as much work done in the library at uni as possible. by the time the kids are in bed, i'm generally knackered, and i want to sit and chill out, rather than get out the books.
oh, but do it, do it, do it. if you don't do it now, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering 'what if'!
do it for you! just for you. be a little bit selfish for once. it's your life too.