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.

Think I have it sorted thanks Madwoman, my supervisor just called it a vast improvement which I am preening over. Just need to make a couple of minor amendments and we are good to go.

Now I just need to work on getting my children to stop waking up

ah. the one could definitely be easier than the other... notwithstanding the pitfalls of funding lol.

fortunately mine are past that stage so unless i am partying (generally a faintly remote possibility) there's usually sleep to be had. they are even old enough to (ulp) watch tv on their own for an hour in the mornings at the weekend (and old enough to wake me up if one is murdering another...)

if only i could sort out the waking hours!

glad it's fixed, anyway - hope it all goes through, when will you find out?

Just checking in.... not much to say just passed on essay to my cousin to proof read and see whether I am making coherent points and answering the question. Must start East Europe soon. Running out of time ahhh.

Well done on the funding app Lenni - fingers crossed for you

I got a good solid 85 for my assignment. Very happy with that. The first assignment of a new course is always a bit nerve racking (is it 'racking' or 'wracking'? I never know)

Still reading the thread.

Nothing to add, no progress on the studying front.

oh, mia, you make me want to say 'chin up' like my grandad used to

where are you stuck? is it motivation or circumstances?

Wow Molesworth, that is some mark, I've never topped 80. Hope you've been celebrating.

Am praying I get funded, my supervisor is hopeful. But on the other hand it would be the end of my sahm days so would be bittersweet.

Mia, keep at it, you will make it work out as you have before, just try to write a bit each day and you'll soon be in the zone.

How long will you have to wait to hear about the funding Lenni?

Re: the mark, the OU uses a different marking scale to that used in (most? all?) brick universities i.e. the OU mark out of 100. So it's a decent mark but not that impressive

Mia, hope you find your study mojo soon. It's hard to tell on here but you sound a bit down (I feel ridiculous saying that, because it is impossible to tell). Hope you are OK though.

Will hopefully get some indication in the next couple of weeks, but a final concrete decision not until August There is another studentship that is decided in early June which I am applying for but it is only for the 1st year and then have to reapply so would prefer to get this one which covers 4 years.

Have to go but will catch up properly later, need to pick brains on something...

august! is that waiting for this year's results from current student applicants?

this system is totally designed for single twenty-somethings... good luck x

AUGUST! Oh the hell of waiting that long!

Thanks for all the support ladies.

I have lost all motivation. I haven't done any studying for weeks. I've only got 14 weeks left of my degree so the end is in sight but I feel like I've been drained.

Dp has the day off work tomorrow and we have stuff planned so I've decided Monday is a fresh start.

Think I just need to start in order to get my momentum going again and then I'll be ok.

Perhaps a bit late in the thread, but have only just discovered this - can I join in?

I'm doing my Master's in London and have 2 small children (nearly 2 and nearly 4). It's a struggle but I'm focussing on my end goal (and living off caffeine ). It's a 1 year degree and I submit my dissertation in Sep. (so just starting the whole process now!)

UpSinceCrapOClock - Love the name! Never too late, good to have you on board.

Mia - it sounds like you need a real break, perhaps try and forget about it for the weekend, relax and spend some time with your family and then like you say make a fresh start on Monday. You will be okay once you make a start, it sounds like a crisis of confidence, with which I am all too familiar. Is there anyone at the University who can give you some morale boosting and support?

Yes, August, and yes a total nightmare! I mean what if I get to August and don't get it?? Then I'll have to hurridly find a job or something, I don't want to think about it. Hopefully the University should tell me soon what their considered opinion is, if there is no chance of getting it I should know by the end of next week. Then the research council get applications in mid April so they should provide an indication by July ish to the University. So right about the system being set up for childless applicants.

Oh crap

I have just realised the essay I have just nearly finished should be a report..... what's a report?

I have a paragraph not a title.....did I say 'Oh crap'

lol, you sound like me - started with two very straight english lit degrees - essays all the way, and then leapt into a research masters. i had absolutely no idea what on earth a finished piece of work should look like.

(i went all 'detective' for a week or two - asked loads of people how they were laying their work out, went into the uni archive to see what others had done - asked people who had been in the subject for longer, and in the end realised that it didn't matter a jot. as long as it made sense. for dissertations etc, very strict guidelines, but for most other things, common sense seemed to be all that was required...)

but it is very subject specific lol, so maybe ask around your area first?

It has to be in by 12noon tomorrow & I am at work from 7:30

Oh hell

I have posted on the forum....but no replies yet (I think they are all laughing at me)

Well I guess I can:
a) agonise over it
b) not send it in
c) send it as is & hope I can get enough marks for the data itself
d) run round in circles screaming & shouting

lost this thread for a while

been desperately trying to get an assesment finished this week as my birthday is next week and i haven't had any time off study since christmas so wanted to take a couple of days.

antirhinum... in some subjects a report might not be too differant from an essay, either way if you have all the necessary information you should get most of the marks, marks for presentation shouldn't make up a huge percentage

It's only 250 words so after looking on the OU study skills bit, I doubt I could fit it into a report anyway with all those headings.........

so c) I guess

Lenni - thanks!

Antirhinum - hope you figured out your report / essay and it went ok.

Am currently faffing about online researching the internet to start building up a bibliography of reading material for my dissertation. Have bursts of finding stuff and feeling pleased with lots of being sidetracked

Hello UpSinceCrapOClock (great name )

What's your dissertation topic?

Audio visual translation - plan to subtitle part of a series and then use that as the basis for my discussion. Tis fun but also quite tough! Keep finding mention of books / articles that look really good for my background reading and then either not finding them in any libraries or finding them for £150 on Amazon. (Although managed to track down one book this morning in the library catalogue so have put a request in - feeling very pleased!)

Just looked back up the thread and seen that you are finishing off your OU course. How is it going?

Wow, I love the diversity of subjects on this thread - how did you get into audio visual translation UACOC?

I don't finish my OU degree until next summer, so there's still plenty of work to be done. Am thoroughly enjoying this year's module though

Bugger, I meant USCOC not UACOC - sorry!