Student parents support thread

[Lenni]

I used to come on this topic a year or so ago and post on the general hand holding support thread but it seems to have gone so I'm hoping there might be enough of us to start a new one.

I'm in my final leg of a M.Ed in Education and am currently writing my thesis which is going very slowly okay but am struggling to find time, motivation or energy to study. It would be nice to know others are in the same boat and have a place to handhold, moan, swap tips and motivate each other.

Did you get the TMA back today/this evening? It's a horrible feeling but sleep on it and look over the feedback again once the horror has worn off. I got a shit mark on one of my courses but went on to get my highest ever mark on a TMA later in the course, so it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't get it as the course goes on or that you've picked the wrong course

I guess

I printed it off & will read again tomorrow

Thanks

oh golly, quite right. i totally missed the point of one essay in my first year (and was mortified when i got it back - i mean totally missed the point. hilarious in hindsight) but finished the degree with a first. and the tutor that marked the so-bad-it-was-hilarious essay offered to be my supervisor for my third year dissertation.

i still can't quite get out of my head how badly i got it wrong lol, but i don't think she even remembers.

have a stiff brandy hot chocolate and some comfort food and look at it again in the morning - just take a deep breath and go through the criticism. once i actually read the remarks on mine without panic or despair, it was like an epiphany lol.

OK - I am up & ready to go

I will read the marks & see where I went wrong - the disparity in the marks is confusing me tbh & I need to get my head round it

Good luck with that anti; hope it all becomes clear on re-reading

It didn't - but I am plodding on regardless

I got loads done today - finished off nearly 3 weeks of work

hi everyone.

Welcome to the newcomers

I haven't posted for a while because I've been focusing on wedding plans rather than uni work (ooops)

I now have 3 weeks to start complete my dissertation.

I've got my very last uni lecture today. Can't believe how fast the last 3 years have gone.

The end is in sight (10 weeks till my last deadline) but still feel like I've got a lot of work to do before then.

I'm up for having support partnerships and using this thread to make myself accountable over the Easter holidays.

My first target is to complete my data collection tomorrow.

Hi,
Well I didn't get any work done over the weekend. I have to post my next TMA by friday and i have nearly finished the first of quite a few questions. I want to keep my scores above the first TMA results but I'm feeling especially stressed now.
I have also had bad marks on TMA's. I had one which came back at 44pc and the comments were along the lines of, i don't think you have read or understood the question properly. I look back on it now and smile but at the time I was very upset.

I like this accountability partners idea.

My next assignment focuses on one particular perspective on audience studies, so my goal this week is to really get to the root of that perspective. I've made some notes, but really need to get hold of the book. It's £18 on Amazon (ouch) so I'm going to have to schlep to the V&A library and read it there instead

That's my goal for this week. Find the book. Read the book. Understand the book!

I like the accountability partners idea too.

I am in the zone at the moment so have been keeping my MN time to a bare minimum, but am lurking.

Anti, sorry to hear about your mark and that the feedback hasn't been constructive. Can echo what Madwoman and Molesworth have said about there being some modules you just don't do well on for no particular reason. I had a 66% on a research methods module last year, that is my lowest mark by a mile on a taught module and why did I get marked down? Because I had exceeded the requirements in my assignment and as result the tutor didn't feel I had given sufficient attention to the required components I felt so aggrieved at the time, but now I kind of think, yeah, they were right, and I'd have done the same if I were marking. It does help if you can get to the bottom of it and use it constructively in the future. I'm waffling, and not really helping I can tell.

Well I have about 4-5000 words left to write, and have all my data coded now. I can get those words knocked out in no time now but am worried about synthesis with existing research and need to get back into my reading. It is a never ending reading/writing spiral isn't it?? Still no word on the funding, I was hoping for some indication by now. I am getting twitchy.

Aims for Easter - finish Masters degree. I am palpably shaking at typing that. The fear is immense.

I had a TMA due on the 19th and my tutor e-mailed me to say he received it on that day.

I was expecting to get back soon, it seems all the other tutor groups already have theirs. But i have had an email today from my tutor to say there has been a delay. He is going on holiday from next weekend until the 11th, and will have to finish marking on his return!

I know that I shouldn't feel mad, I have needed extensions before, but I am feeling quite annoyed. At least this course won't count towards my degree.

About to catch up but wanted to wave first!!

Wow Lenni, you're nearly there!

LB, sorry you're being kept waiting for so long for the TMA: it's a poor show (although at least the tutor has let you know, I suppose )

Great goal Lenni. Wishing you the best for completion by the end of Easter

Sorry, joined this thread and then haven't posted for ages!

Lenni - that is exciting. Imagine the feeling when you cross that off your 'to do' list. Good luck!

Our classes finished last week and I switched the children's nursery hours (we can only afford part time). So instead of doing different days and funny times (meaning some days at home and other days manic, full on and home late) they are now going every morning. I'm hoping we can get into a better rhythm now that our days have the same sort of pattern during the week.

Have been working on my dissertation. Had a minor issue that I discovered on Monday but have been emailing supervisor and chatting to course co-ordinator and think we may have solved it all though, so feeling a bit more relieved!

Have a plan after Easter to split my week with one morning on dissertation, three mornings on studying for exams (in May) and one morning for job applications. Will see how this pans out in reality (just from past experience of my good intentions!)

it's getting very quiet here... must be kids off school!

am lurking, but not posting much - have suddenly realised how little time i've got left (but not as little as lenni! you go girl!) and trying desperately to work out how to fit everything in.

had to tell my boss that i won't do any of the extra summer shifts she wanted me to do - it's all for her convenience and leaves me with paying out 3 lots of childcare, and no time to finalise dissertation etc (kids break up for summer in june here!)... so i was v brave and said 'no'.

not that i feel at all guilty, as she swans off to barbados tomorrow, so i have to come in for extra hours over the easter holiday...

(grr). work hard, ladies. am thinking of you all (and trying to stem the panic lol)

hello,

can I join you, am desperately seeking motivation to finish start the last few assignments for my degree. Amstruggling with getting strted, am ok when I stop putting things off. Not helped by the children now being on easter hols and I want to spend the time with them, so trying to work of an evening.

dd has gone to her dads for the weekend. ds goes this afternoon. ds and I have had a h/w morning as he has a project to do over easter. So i have a mind map now for one of my assignments.

Hi dylsmum, welcome to the thread. How familiar your post sounds, we are all in the same boat it seems, hope we can provide some motivation. Your mind map sounds like progress. I have spent all morning trying to recover a .pages file I wrote on a mac to edit in word. Have been phoning all my friends who are mac users but as yet not got it back, why does the simplest thing always take so long?!

dylsmum welcome. I'm feeling the same. I only have 4 assignments left but feels more like 40.

Hope everyone else is getting on well with their work.

Dd was supposed to be staying with my dsis for the week so I could focus on my dissertation over the Easter but hasn't quite gone to plan.

We drove her there on Friday (2.5 hours away). We returned yesterday morning. 11 o'clock last night my dsis called to say dd was really ill and she didn't know what to do because dd kept crying for me.

I obviously didn't want to leave dd at my dsis when she was ill so we went to collect her and got back home at 4 this morning.

I am now exhausted (dd woke back up at 7). She appears to have tonsillitis and is running a temperature.

I have a sick dd on Easter holidays and two weeks to complete the first draft of my dissertation. I really didn't want to leave it so late to complete it but data collection has been a nightmare.

Sorry for the moan, just needed to get it off my chest.

Oh miawallace your poor dd, not much a fun easter!

I managed to do a bit of study yesterday, but it's nearly impossible with ds1 at home and a baby. I will just have to work doubly hard when ds1 goes back to school. I had all intentions of studying in the evenings, but I'm just too tired by then.

Hello everyone,

You sound very organised (and extremely busy!), UpSinceCOC, good luck with your post-Easter study plan.

Madwoman, have you got any further re: your Calgary PhD decision?

Welcome dylsmum - what degree are you doing?

Lenni, did you get your .pages problem sorted in the end?

Mia, really sorry to hear about dd being poorly over Easter - hope she's on the mend and you've been able to carve out a bit of time for your diss!

VJay, I know what you mean. I find it next to impossible to study in the evenings, unless I'm right up against a deadline. Morning is definitely my most productive time of day, but I have developed a terrible habit of "I'll just finish reading the internet before I get started ... "

I had a big study fail last week. Have restarted my daily writing practice now and aiming to get back on track as of tomorrow when DP goes back to work.

thanks for the welcome everyone.

Molesworth I am doing ba (hons) early childhood studies

Mia sorry to hear your dd is poorly, hope she better now.
my dd came home early sunday morning poorly. has been running a temp since she got home. now ds is saying he feel bleurgh (his words) but doesnt know why. Needless to say I havent looked at my books etc all weekend. Have put dd to bed witha dvd on, ds is in his room watching a dvd and I am going to get on with my presentation

molesworth morning is definatly my most productive time too, but also the most difficult time to find free for study. Ds2 is starting to take naps in the morning now so once ds1 is back at school I will hopefully be able to make use of the morning better, here's hoping

moley, no... no decisions. we're waiting for our passports to come back with visas in them now. i know it's daft, but i'm still half expecting that there has been some sort of mistake and we aren't allowed to stay after all...

if (when) we do get them back with nice shiny visas, then i think it will be easier to look at it sensibly, rather than as a sort of pipe dream . but i'm still tempted by trying to find a non-existent distance uk place (i think even with ou you have to be near milton keynes for phd...) i'd be happy to fly back for periods of field work. the other option is a whole rethink and try to get a calgary place and take advantage of lecturing experience to try and edge my way into a long term position myself....

I think it is possible to do a PhD with the OU if you don't live in or near Milton Keynes, but it looks like it's only be an option for self-funded part-time study. Might be worth bearing in mind though?

Social Sciences Faculty website

Research Degrees Prospectus

I don't know what I'm going to do next year re: Master's, but if I do go on to research I would love to stay with the OU. The sociology department is excellent