Military wife/mom of 2 - nursing school and career really possible?

I went back to school for my RN when my hubby was on sea duty with the Navy and our kids were 4 and 5. It required I have very reliable child care. I used both private home and campus day care. I knew we were going to be in one place for the amount of time I would need to graduate. I grauated in June and he left the Navy in July of the same year! I worked agency as an LPN while in school which allowed me to work when I needed to, not work when a big paper was due or a big exam was coming up. If you truely want to , you can do it. Good luck!

I thought I was actually reading my own post...well not exactly! My hubby is in the Navy & I have two kiddos, the youngest just started kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. I did start my pre-reqs when my older daughter was in school & the younger one at preschool and my hubby was on shore dtuy...but I'm about to start my nursing core classes and my hubby is deployed. We'll see how it goes...good luck to you!

oh yeah...I think there is a military spouse forum on here somewhere, it may be helpful

I am an AF wife and mom to 4 and wondering the same thing myself. The assignment mine is likely to get next year will have him traveling a lot, plus his hours are never regular anyway.

I think the biggest issue is the child care logistics.

I don't think waiting til Kinder is going to make the child care logistics any easier, but your children will be a bit more independent.

Finding a home-care provider who can get your kid(s) off the bus or pick them up at school and then keep them until you get home from a class or clinicals (which could run late if you do 12 hr or evening clinicals) is probably essential. Ditto for the morning routine - you are going to need someone who won't mind you dropping them off at 6 or earlier on clinical days and can get them to school.

My oldest turns 11 soon and by the time I would go to NS he would be at least almost 13 or already 13. Mornings are going to be tricky for me (seriously what can I do if I am at a clinical and he misses the bus to middle school?) but I plan on him being able to watch over the younger school-aged kids (who would be in 3rd and 4th grade) in the afternoon with a trusted neighbor on standby for emergencies til I can get home. And the youngest (would be not quite 5) would ideally be with a home-care provider.

One of my biggest concerns after the child care logistics is when one gets sick and you have to miss class/clinical. Depending on the program and whether the other kid(s) get sick too, and you, that could get you kicked out of the program. I have pretty much scratched a 12 mo accelerated program off my list because even if I could find the time to study and write papers (classes/clinicals are 5-days per week, pretty much all day) if I missed a day or more because of illness, I doubt I'd be able to make it up if they had a provision to make it up on the weekend or at night with a different cohort, and I am sure there is little room for missed hours in such a short program.

And like you I wonder what kind of shifts I will work afterwards. My kids will be older and it might be easier to do non-traditional hours, but they are definitely too young for overnights alone. I am interested in public health and would like to work in a public health clinic, but new grads often need hospital work to refine skills.

Obviously I don't have the answers! I will be watching this thread to see if anyone else does.

I did it with my three kids, my two nephews, pregnant, and a husband in command for the Army. It is possible if you want it bad enough! Good luck!!!

I think if anyone can do it, it would be a military spouse. Who else is expected to be a single parent at a moments notice, pack and move an entire household across country (and be able to find the remote before the cable guy gets to the new house), manage the military healthcare referral system, etc, etc. I am a AF wife and I will finish my BSN in three months. I have managed to stay in school through a deployment and numerous TDYs.
What I am trying to say is- YES! You can do this! You will have to work out a lot of details but yes, you can do it!

Some advice, especially if you plan on working in the military hospital system or the VA.

If you look at www.usajobs.com, you'll see that they are now requiring RN's to have a BSN, or an ADN with experience, and you must graduate from a nationally accredited nursing school. I planned on working at the Army hospital where my husband is stationed when I graduated, but unfortunately, my ADN came from a school that is not nationally accredited by CCNE or NLN-AC.

I am in a BSN program right now and I started when my youngest entered Kindergarten. Kindergarten here is full day, so I registered for classes that were during my kids' school hours. It's working well for me. My husband is retired military, but is still working with the Army as a civilian contractor. He doesn't deploy but still goes TDY a lot. In my opinion, I am glad I waited until my youngest entered Kindergarten because by that age, children are much more independent than an infant/toddler, which is extremely helpful. Don't get me wrong, it's still tough to balance it all but it's definately achievable. It just takes a lot of discipline and organization to be successful. It also helps to have a good support system (friends, other military spouses) that can help out also. Good luck to you!!

Personally, I would stay with teaching-holidays, evenings, and weekends off-plus the summers off as well. If your hubby travels that much it might be difficult to find childcare for unusual days and holidays and weekends.

just my 2 cents
otessa