Starting nursing school/kids back in school!

You can check back with me in the spring. I just got accepted into OCC's LPN program and I will start my first class in January and first clinicals in March. I have 3 kids (2 in elementary school and a 17 month old baby). Besides my school age kids being involved in dance, basketball, and scouts, my husband also wants to coach my daughter's softball team in the spring. Oh and I work 24-32 hours a week too. We juggled all that I mentioned this past year while I took my pre-reqs (2 classes each semester) and I managed to get A's. I know it will be much harder with nursing classes and clinicals but personally for me I find I work harder and make better use of my time when I am very busy. Thank God for my husband who stepped up to the plate and took over all the laundry, cooking, carpooling, and many other duties at home so I could go to class and study. A good support system is key. Ask me again in May and I can tell you how it is with clinicals

If you only have nursing classes left, you will only be taking one 7 week class at a time (so 2 a semester). After the first class, fundamentals, you will generally meet 1 morning or afternoon a week for a 4 hour lecture, and then 2 clinical days. Except for the peds rotation, all clinicals have been available in both morning and afternoons.

The afternoon clinicals usually start between 1-3 pm. Mornings usually start at 7 am. They can last anywhere from 6-8 hours.

Personally, I think I like the afternoon clinicals better, because I have those two days to study all morning while my kids are in school. This semester I have am clinicals, and while I am home every evening, I have lost 2 study days (and it is very hard to study here at night!) AND, it is really hard to get up at 4:30 on those two mornings!!!

On the plus side, it is nice to be here for dinner, after school activities, homework, bedtime, etc.

I'm in my first semester of clinicals at Mott College. I like the way you spoke of juggling...cause thats what I feel like i'm doing. I have 4 kids. 10, 8, 4, 1. The 3 oldest all do ballet and one of them do ballet and violin. I am so busy its ridiculous. My husband is great doing stuff around the house, but he doesn't get into the dance stuff with my girls like I do. So I like to keep that as a mother/daughter thing. He's also working two jobs so I don't have to. We had a little arguement last night about him thinking I try to do to much, but some stuff he doesn't do like me. He wants me to rest more, but whens the best time to study.....when the kids are sleep! All of this is hard...but i'm determined to make it. I go to class for theory and lab 2 days a week and next month we start the actual clinicals. I'm trying to keep my head above water. I have wanted this for so long. So I try not to complain. And somebody please keep me in their prayers!

Thank you. Keep us posted and good luck.

I just started OCC's nursing program, and I have kids, the flexible husband, and all I can say right now is AWWWWW. It's still hard, I'm tired. So here are some tips, get everything in order now, don't give up caffine, and make sure that everyone knows that you can't do anything outside of school, the kids, and the husband. We went to a wedding this weekend and it took me 3 days to get back to my normal habits because I had stuff that I was suppose to do on Saturday and Sunday that had to be added to Monday and Tuesday. Good luck, it's a good kind of hard.