Anyone here have small kids?

[Muggle]

Hi, everyone! This is my first post on the forum - love the board! I was wondering if anyone here is testing/going to school with small kids? We have preschool aged Irish twins and I'm going to be taking my first CLEP in September when we get back to the US and starting a B & M school in the spring. Hoping to shave about a year/30 credits off my general ed requirements through CLEP. Id love to hear from anyone here who has done it! How did you balance school, work, and the family? Any time management tips? Anything you wish someone had told you? Any tests or classes you wish you had taken together or hadnt combined? Im pretty nervous about going back - Ive been out of school for about 8 years and even then I wasnt a stellar student.

Thanks in advance for any replies. Im sure I will be hanging around here a lot now :-)

[mmaraj]

I am back in school full-time and working full time with kids. I was so nervous my first semester and only took one class but it was great and the next semester I started going full time. It is a lot of work and a lot of juggling but loving every minute (well maybe not every minute!). I have taken and passed 1 CLEP exam - taking another one in the morning and studying for two more. Hoping to get those done before the Fall semester starts. The only thing that really stands out for me is that I have to stay proactive on my study schedule. With kids sometimes leaving the studying for an exam one or two days before doesn't work because things tend to come up.

Good Luck!

[cookderosa]

Hi, everyone! This is my first post on the forum - love the board! I was wondering if anyone here is testing/going to school with small kids? We have preschool aged Irish twins and I'm going to be taking my first CLEP in September when we get back to the US and starting a B & M school in the spring. Hoping to shave about a year/30 credits off my general ed requirements through CLEP. Id love to hear from anyone here who has done it! How did you balance school, work, and the family? Any time management tips? Anything you wish someone had told you? Any tests or classes you wish you had taken together or hadnt combined? Im pretty nervous about going back - Ive been out of school for about 8 years and even then I wasnt a stellar student.

Thanks in advance for any replies. Im sure I will be hanging around here a lot now :-)

I finished my degree in 08, but at the time I started testing/completing my degree, my sons were ages: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9, 12-13. I homeschooled during the day and had 1 still breastfeeding/in diapers for most of that. till about 3 and then did house stuff until after dinner. My hubby was home at night, so 99% of the time I did my school then and on weekends. On weekends he was the primary and I locked myself in my room. There is no such thing as balance- there are only 24 hours in a day and you either do a few of them really well or some of them sucky. I picked being a rock star mom week days and a sucky mom on weekends. It's the truth. One semester I enrolled in 21 credits of COURSES. So, that stuff takes time. You just have to allocate time for your family first, and fit school in around it. Part of my plan involved taking courses for 1 year, and that was a hard year, I won't lie. My whole degree process took 18 months from 0-122 credits. Just remember- you don't have to be an "A" student, and exams are pass/fail. A 50 is a pass, an 80 is a pass, yet the effort to rise from a 50 to an 80 is significant- and it'll eat family time like it's candy and doing so is a luxury, not a necessity. You have preschoolers, and they need you today, not after you have a degree. Do what you have to do to get decent grades and sacrifice your own leisure time, not theirs, and it'll all be over before you know it!

[Muggle]

Mm - thanks for your reply and good luck! It sounds like youre doing a great job juggling.

Cook - thank you for the very honest reply. Im so impressed that you were able to homeschool all those kids and yourself at the same time. Very cool! And you made a good point about the kids needing me now and not after I have a degree - I feel the same way. I think thats why Im so nervous about starting! I know there will be so many times when an ear infection/pink eye/poke in the eye will come up and throw studying for a loop. My husband is a chef so his schedule is insane and changes all the time. At the very least this will be a great lesson in planning but being flexible. If you can do it with all those kiddos I can definitely do it with my two.

Thank you both!

[cookderosa]

Mm - thanks for your reply and good luck! It sounds like youre doing a great job juggling.

Cook - thank you for the very honest reply. Im so impressed that you were able to homeschool all those kids and yourself at the same time. Very cool! And you made a good point about the kids needing me now and not after I have a degree - I feel the same way. I think thats why Im so nervous about starting! I know there will be so many times when an ear infection/pink eye/poke in the eye will come up and throw studying for a loop. My husband is a chef so his schedule is insane and changes all the time. At the very least this will be a great lesson in planning but being flexible. If you can do it with all those kiddos I can definitely do it with my two.

Thank you both!

AND my husband is a chef lol.

[mrs.b]

The great thing about young kids is that they tend to go to bed early. I only have one, and he is nine (not all that little any more ), but he is special needs and cannot be left unattended. I think a good deal of the posters here have children, jobs, and all the draws on our time that go with it. It is not easy, but you are not alone, and it has been done and is being done by a good many already. Just keep that in mind during the inevitable hair-pulling "what did I get myself into?!" moments that will come up!

Do what you can when the kids are awake, which is to say, you will get very little done. Once they are tucked in for the night, though, that is your time to hit the books. Studying for CLEP or other exams is a bit easier to manage than actual courses; without time-consuming assignments to drag on your time, you can print out study guides or skim a few pages of books when the kids are playing nicely (that ten minutes once every two weeks will add up...right?). Test when you are ready, without wasting time or effort on papers. OR, read your textbook to them when it is bedtime to put them to sleep quickly! If only it worked like that...

There will be difficult spots. Just expect them, set your priorities now while you do not have deadlines and due dates looming over your head to cloud your judgement, and hold yourself accountable to them. If you say family first, plan your time so books do not come out for anything more than light study / skimming when the little ones are awake. And lean on the rest of your family. My husband is not a chef, but he has become a VERY good cook this year since he has made nearly every meal while I earned 62 credits (soon to be 68) to complete two Associates and one Bachelors, worked 40-60 hours and went on more business trips than I prefer. He did that so I could have kiddo-and-unwinding time ™ so I'll be ready to hit the books and not drained once our son is put to bed for the night.

Best of luck! You'll get through it fine, with an entire semester of Gen Eds out of the way.

[burbuja0512]

Yes.. I have a full house!

16 year old DS - studies with me and though moving slowly has 11 credits and taking A&I Lit next week
12 year old DD
12 year old SDD -step daughter, we have her only 50% of the time.. very sweet but has special needs and is the most demanding kiddo I have even part time!
5 year old DS
2 year old DD

So, not as difficult as some others here, but I work full time, will have traveled 100k+ miles by the end of the year. Ha ha currently only at about 55k miles, but wait until Q4! Oh did I mention that the oldest 3 are homeschooled??? I managed to get through the undergrad and really enjoyed the freedom and flexibility of CLEP/DSST, but then I entered the MBA program. It helped my career A LOT, but I completely have given up any "me" time. I no longer watch tv. When I work out I will be literally on the treadmill sending emails or watching a YouTube lecture. I used to have lots of friends and a social life and now Facebook is the only way I connect with anyone. I am now one year into the MBA and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Honestly, I think the hardest thing with a family is to carve out time and be selfish. As a mom, I was used to dropping what I was doing and handling everyone else's problems. I still do that, but I prioritize. Does my family really need me to watch a movie with them, or can I sit on the couch hanging out with them, but not instead of watching the movie, be on my computer working? Can DH take the kids to music lessons/sports on Saturday morning if I didn't get all my homework done during the week? I've lost a lot of sleep and have a very supportive DH, but there are some rules that I follow. When I stop work at 4:30ish, I go get the little ones from day care and DO NOT answer phone, email, check homework, or anything else until it's 7:30 or 8:00pm and the two youngest are asleep. This is family time and it's sacred. So, yes my family gets good quality time from me, but no I can't play video games or watch American Idol with DH in the evening. We sit next to each other on the couch, each one on our laptops. I haven't sacrificed time with him, we're just doing different things than we used to.

One other comment regarding how I manage the workload I have. I am not sure that I could maintain this schedule if I didn't telecommute. I have the luxury of being able to throw food in the crockpot in the morning, have the older kids in the office doing school work while I'm "at work", and exercising over lunch time. I wear sweat pants every day and even though I travel with relative frequency, I only have to wear a suit when I'm on the road. (and boy do I get a lot done on the airplane!)

I feel bad sometimes that I'm not the typical mom, but my older kids can communicate their feelings and so far I think they're very happy. My 12 year old DD told me the other day that she can't remember seeing me relax.. I'm always doing something but that she's learned a lot from me and hopes to be like me when she's older. Ha - I told her to do her best, but that she is not going to consider stopping school until she's got a masters degree!!

I hope this helps a little. Education isn't easy at all.. I view it as a hobby, but with better results. Instead of knitting or watching tv, with just a few hours a day, your life can significantly improve. And it's not permanent. You don't have to do this forever. It feels like a very long time when you're doing it, but I can't believe how quickly it goes by! And once you have your diploma, not only are you a good example for the kids, but no one can ever take the accomplishment away from you!

[columbia]

I can't give time management tips since I'm still trying to work out my own three way balance.

[Muggle]

Thank you to everyone who replied, its really encouraging to hear from all of you who have done all of this with kids, homeschooling and jobs. Im going to ease into testing with Intro to Sociology - going to try for the second week of September! One thing I need to figure out is the testing center situation. There are quite a few where we'll be moving to so Im not sure which to call yet. How does scheduling usually work? Do they administer certain tests at certain times or are you usually able to regiater for the test you want any time during business hours?

[burbuja0512]

Thank you to everyone who replied, its really encouraging to hear from all of you who have done all of this with kids, homeschooling and jobs. Im going to ease into testing with Intro to Sociology - going to try for the second week of September! One thing I need to figure out is the testing center situation. There are quite a few where we'll be moving to so Im not sure which to call yet. How does scheduling usually work? Do they administer certain tests at certain times or are you usually able to regiater for the test you want any time during business hours?

If you're in a city that has more than one college, you probably have a lot more choices than you realize. Testing centers are all very different and it may take a few tries to find the perfect one for you.

I started off with a larger university in my area that allowed me to sign up online and the testing center fee had to be paid in advance at the time of sign up. I thought that scheduling online was convenient, but in order to do this, I had to register at least 5 days ahead of time. As I got more comfortable with testing, I knew that I didn't always know 5 days ahead of time which test I wanted to take or even if the time would work for me. So, I started to seek out other choices and ended up finding a community college much closer to my house that allowed for drop-in testing. Their fee was cheaper and they only asked that I call before I went over just to make sure that the kept a testing computer open for me. (They only had 3 computers with CLEP/DSST software loaded on them)

The community college was the one I finished up my testing with and I didn't ever go to another place, however, I did have to take my DS to a completely different community college for his last test and it was just as easy. Call, let them know you're on the way and then show up.

If I were you, I would make a list of all colleges and universities within reasonable driving distance, google the college name and testing center, make a call to each place and take notes. Find out all of the possibilities open to you. Usually the fees will vary by 20-30 dollars so if this is a factor, make sure to find out pricing. Also, keep in mind that while I find it a hassle to schedule a week or more in advance, this did motivate me quite a bit when I started testing. I would think "well, I've already scheduled and paid the testing center fee online, so I HAVE to study." If you have the pre-scheduled/pre-paid option for a testing center, it could be a strategy to keep you going, especially at first when testing seems so overwhelming. At first it really does feel like you'll never finish, so any extra motivation might help.