How hard is it to do a full time course with dcs?

[Golda]

I am considering going back to uni in a couple of years. I will have 4 dcs by then, 3 will be in full time school. DH works eves so will be at home after school until 5ish but he is no good in the mornings. The course I want to do isn't available part time and it has placements which will be full time. I already have a degree so I know what is involved to a certain extent but its a different ball game with dcs. I will be pushing 40 by the time I graduate so I really can't afford to put it off much longer. I'm a SAHM at the moment so I think it would be a huge change. I think it might all be pie in the sky but I would welcome any opinions/advice.

I am about to start the final year of my social work degree and have two children. It has been hard work but manageable. I find it most difficult during placement as I essentially work full-time, get home and get stuck in with 'house stuff' and then have to do academic work once the boys are in bed.

I don't think it has made a huge difference to the children, but it has certainly made me feel permanently shattered . It will be worth while in the end though and I think if you feel determined to get through your course, then you will!

It's bloody hard with a massive silver lining or two.

I'm just about to start the third year of a 4 year speech therapy course. I have 1 dc who was 3.5 when I started, now 5.5.

Key factors are:
Negative: How far is your commute? This one is a bugger, esp if your dh is not a morning guy. A lot of our lectures in the first year started at 8.30 am, and from breakfast table to lecture hall desk is a minimum of an hour for me, preferably 90 minutes. You will have to have some kind of arrangement for the mornings. The commute also costs me almost £14 a day at that time of day, which has to be factored in. Luckily it costs less when I go later (obviously)

Negative and positive: when do you work best? the timetable that's hardest can conversely be most adaptable. A day that starts with 2 hours of lectures at 8.30 and concludes with another 2 hours between 4 and 6 gives you an enormous chunk of time on campus during the day - that's when I got my work done. Now we start later and finish earlier, but that means I have to work in the evenings and mornings which I hate doing. Needs must though. My 25-min train journey is a crucial work time as well.

Positive: you get massive vacations off! Better than a job in that respect!

Don't have any illusions - you will have days when you are crushed with guilt and despairing of ever getting the work done.

any other qs?

I have two primary school dc's and am about to start my 2nd year at uni. It is manageable if the commute isn't too far and you are organised.

ah this thread is so comforting-just to hear someon say it can be done!
i start uni tmrw,full time 4 yr dietetics and have a nearly 5 yo ds and 5 mo preg with my 2nd one..i hope to take a yr off for maternity(unplanne pregnancy!)after the first term but just had a mini panic-attack today wondering if this is even cope-able or if ive just landed myself in an unmanageable solution!
feel quite guilty at the prospect of leaving ds at the after school club till 5/6 when i pick him up....does the guilt ever go away?