Finding time to study & how to distract the children...

Hello readers,


Have you thought about how you are going to find time to study? Or do you have a great plan already in motion?


Finding time to study has been one of the things I have worried about most when considering if it was possible for me to successfully study at home with small children in the house. If I couldn't dedicate some regular blocks of time to my course then I felt that it would surely become too hard and I would soon give up.


So, what to do? I decided I'd better put together a plan and this is what it ended up looking like:

Ha ha ha! Not very professional but I understand it (kind of). I think using my daughters textas and letting her stamp a fairy picture on the top really give it that certain je ne sais quoi!


My plan is to get up at 4am (ouch) and study for 2.5 - 3 hours depending on when my children wake up. I am also lucky enough to have some time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the day when the children's grandmother is able to babysit them for me.


I decided to get up early in the morning to study because I am definitely more clear headed then. Some people are morning people and some people are night owls. I am the former. I also thought it would be prudent to make sure that I had allocated regular time to study when my children were asleep and unlikely to distract me.


I expect there are going to be some times when I need to dedicate more time to studying eg. when an assignment is due or at exam time. This is when I may have to start studying on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings too and also try to find some time during the day when my children are home. 


This brings up another question. How am I going to study with two demanding children wanting my attention?


My first thought was 'Sesame Street' on a continuous loop! Unfortunately it would probably only buy me an hour before my 3 year old would probably be looking for alternative stimulation. That's when I decided to Google for some other people's ideas. 


My favourite link is the following: Studying With Children Underfoot.


Many different websites had referenced it and I think I will refer back to it from time to time in the months ahead.


Do you have any good tips and tricks? Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.


Bye for now!

What should I study?

Hello readers,

Today I thought I might talk about how I came to the decision about what I wanted to study.

Some of you may have gathered from reading the 'About Me' section that I am about to start a double degree in Human Resource Management and Psychology at the age of 30. The truth of the matter is that I have studied before. I have a certificate in travel and tourism which lead to me working as a Travel Consultant for 6 years and in my latest job as a Training Adviser I completed a certificate in business and another in management.

In the back of my mind what I wanted most was to earn myself a degree but I could never pinpoint one particular industry that I wanted to dedicate at least 3 years of studying to. I had attempted university twice before when I was much younger but dropped out very early when I realised my commitment wasn't there.

So now here I am at 30 just starting out. Why did I pick HR Management and Psychology? Well, through my work as a Training Adviser I worked closely with HR Managers from different businesses and, for me, the grass was always greener on the other side. From working with them I gained insight into what it would be like to be working in that area of expertise and I liked the idea of it! As for the Psychology side of my degree, I chose to study that as the two degrees tie in nicely together and the ultimate dream of mine would be to become an Organisational Psychologist. It would just mean a lot more study.

If anyone is interested, my advice for working out what you should study is:

DO
* look around and ask yourself if there is someone's job that you covet. If you know them well enough you can quiz them about their job.
* read through a job guide and make a list of any jobs you like the sound of.
* consider visiting a Career Counsellor to discuss options.
* make a list of your likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses and see if you discover anything.
* consider doing some work experience to see if your idea of your dream career and the reality of it match up.
* get online and start reading through some training organisation handbooks. Colleges, universities and other institutions usually have a description of their courses in online handbooks.
* Google some online quizzes. There seem to be a few around matching up personality types with career paths.
* pay attention when family or friends tell you what they think would be a good career for you. They often know you better than you know yourself. Beware that sometimes they don't know you all that well too so this advice can go either way!

DON'T
* Google 'What should I study?'. Yes, I have done it for fun and it didn't really help!
* make a decision without doing your research.

These are just a few of my tips but I'm sure there are people out there with some more ideas. Please feel free to post a comment at the bottom of this post.

Bye for now!

The countdown begins...

Hello readers and welcome to my blog.

I would like to introduce myself. I am Study Mommy. This is the pseudonym I have chosen and I hope, like some kind of super hero, that it is going to give me the power to get through the big endeavour I am about to undertake.

In exactly 2 weeks I begin my university degree (cough) at the tender age of 30. Yes, it is pretty late to start on a new career but it took me this long to work out what I wanted to do. You could call me a late bloomer! More on that another time...

So, 'Study Mommy' implies that I am a mommy. Yes, I am! I decided to start up this blog because I found a lack of information for moms deciding to study. It was hard to find much information on how it felt to be a studying mom, what tactics could be used to help get through the tough times and I felt like there wasn't much of a community feeling out there. Maybe my blog could start something! Readers comments may be the thing that gets me through this and maybe some other studying mommies (or daddies) out there too!

Putting my cards out on the table, this is what I will be up against when I start in 2 weeks time:

* I shall be studying online

* with a 3.5 year old and 10 month old to attend to

* with a husband that works away for 2/3 of the year

Daunting - yes! But I am up for the challenge. In the words of the famous artist Picasso 'I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it'. This is my mantra for the moment.

My baby boy has just woken up from his nap so...

Bye for now!