How on earth do i go about doing a degree with two preschoolers? childcare woes etc

[littleducks]

I am currently doing an access course, two evenings a week and am loving studying again

I went to uni open day yesterday to ask about timetables and placements for the course i want to do, am hoping to train as a salt

The timetable is very changeable, i had print outs for diff terms, for example the autumn term includes a long say of 8.30-6 and adding on travel i would be gone 7.30/45 till 6.30 dependnt on traffic

I would have one day off at times and placements on others

I have a 3 and 1 yr old, 3 yr old would be in preschool 9-3 but 1yr old could come to uni nursery i think but do i have to book him in all weeek and then only use sesssions i need wasting ££££?

Talk to the uni nursery staff they may be flexible with students, and depending on your circs you could get 85% of formal childcare paid for IIRC.funding pages and follow links to HE for funding info.

I work in a day nursery and we have a few student parents whose fees are paid for by the university.
One family have 3 children, a 1 year old, a 3 year old and a 5 year old who comes after school.
Would it not be easier if both children were at the same setting?

I am not sure how flexible nurseries are but I am at uni and pay my childminder for the whole week although I hardly ever need it.

Although I find it irks a bit I fully understand that she is running a business and needs to protect her income.

It may be worth contacting the uni again and seeing if the can put you in touch with some other student parents to see what they do about childcare.

Good luck, I loved my access course too and starting uni was one of the best things I ever did

Have you looked at the OU? I started my degree when DS1 was a month old and finished it when he was 6 and DS2 was 4 (part time)- it is completely flexible, you don't even have to go to tutorials if you can't make them.

It prob would but dd will have been at preschool for a yr and a term when they start and so i dont want to move her when she will be starting primary school in the same academic yr (probably).

Ds will be too young to be at the preschool

I would get 85% of fees paid by nhs (is a bursary course) but what i was worried about is the change in hours every week or so, wouldnt others get miffed if ds was booked in for all the time and then not there unless i was in a lecture? feels like a waste of money too, though i suppose its 15% of the waste it could be for me

x posts, unfortunately ou isnt a choice, as i have too go on placemjents (like a student nurse or mw)

Wouldn't you use some of the nursery time for studying though?

I'm a student and the times when DC's are in nursery are invaluable for working on assignments or catching up on reading.

I'm not too keen on him being at nursery much tbh (thats prob where all the problems start isnt it!)

I got to see outside of the nursery at open day, maybe if i visited inside it would put my mind at rest

Poison- I am not sure what the max income threshold for childcare support it, but in my first year we were not entitled to any and Dh was earning about £21k.

Have you looked on any of the student finance websites? they will probably give you a good idea if you will be entitled- or the MSE website has a good student board.

its fine poison andd goood luck!

i think realy i just need hundreds of people to come and tell me 'it will be ok' its so hard to imagine ds going to nursery as he is 18mo and still baby in so many ways but in a years time he will be 2.5 and prob love going to nursery for entertainment

I've just started uni this September. ds3 goes to a nursery, he is 17 months and he likes it. He runs in in the morning and shakes his head at home time
I have ds2 at a before+after school club and ds1 at High School. It was a bit of a nightmare finding places etc but now we are all settled in and it's one of the best things I've ever done

Look into the financial options through uni.

I am just about to submit my phd and during that I managed to have DS now 3.4 and DD now 13 months. I have been pregnant or breastfeeding bar abuot 3 weeks

It is hard but you can make it work. You need to be quite disciplined working in the evenings and things and seeing if someone can entertain them for a bit one afternoon on the weekends maybe but it is worth it. I find it also provides a nice distraction as you cannot get too obsessed with the course which is good

watching with interest as also doing an access course and hoping to go to Uni next sept....

It was always a nuisance with childcare tbh. A simple thing like changing a seminar to the afternoon instead of the morning throws you out completely!

I often had to call on friends to help out when things had changed and then I would use that time where dd was in nursery to do a bit of work. I made a fuss once when a class was changed long term to a diff time after I had booked places and they changed it back but I don't think that happens very often.

It is a challenge but think how dedicated and focused you will be with all this planning.

Ds2 is 2.5 and I have just started a PhD though mostly I can do that at home. Good luck with it.

I have a childminder as they are far m,ore flexible (and cheaper)