Class, clinicals, study time & family...how do you manage your time?

tropsnegRN, ADN, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2017

I'm a wife, mother of a 2-yr-old, and full time employee. I'm currently in nursing school, although just a few weeks deep into first semester.

I have lecture MT (8-10), lab WR (11:30-2:30) and then clinicals start next Friday (6:30-3:30 with an hour drive) every Friday for 5 weeks.

Here's my weekly routine basically. First of all, I changed my work schedule from a modified 7 on 7 off to just weekends (Sat. Sun. Mon.) I would have worked Fri-Sun but I didn't want to have to work around clinicals because I work nights (7pm-7am).

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I go straight to lecture when I get off work and usually without any caffeine because otherwise I won't sleep after lecture. When I get home I crash. Monday I will sleep until I go back to work. Tuesday I sleep until 3 and then study until I pick up my daughter from daycare.

On lab days, I get up at 6am and get my daughter ready for daycare/preschool. She leaves with my husband around 7am and then I study until it's time for lab. I nap when I get home from lab and then pick my daughter up from the day at 6. Sometimes I study at night, sometimes I don't. It just depends.

Fridays are my family nights. I don't have class or clinical right now so I am generally lazy in the morning, study in the afternoon and then when my family is home I am all theirs.

On the weekend when I'm working, I may study for two-three hours but then I am back in the bed. My family is used to really not seeing me on my workdays anyway due to sleep.

My husband doesn't like it, and he doesn't really get it, but he's supportive. I spend about 15-20 hours a week outside of class studying. I talk my husbands head off about things I learn and I'm sure he could care less.

They do get less of my time right now, but I've still got money coming in for bills and time for them although we are all having to sacrifice things for the next 5 semesters.

Farrah 34 · Sep 8, 2017

Can't you postpone the second baby until you finish your program?

Pregnancy is not predictable and also a new baby needs a lot of your time and energy.

Beckylydon · Sep 8, 2017

Thanks for all of this detail! I'm trying to wrap my head around what life will actually look like. I have also had it in my head that once I start the program I won't be able to work. The hard thing about that is that I really don't know when that will ever be possible. I think I could manage something like your schedule. Manage to work 3 days a week or so.

It's also interesting to hear about your day to day schedule. I do much better in general when I have a schedule. In some areas of my life, I enjoy not having a plan. Vacations, traveling or some day to day life. But, during school...I NEED to have a strict schedule in order to keep it all straight. Thank you for this!

Keep working hard, lady! You're doing it! Like everyone always says, it'll all be worth it in the end!

tropsnegRN, ADN, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2017

I like to plan my week on Mondays. I will map out basically what I need to read or study/focus on each day and map out when I am going to do it. I find doing that keeps me from wasting time, and certainly helps with unexpected things. Like this week, my daughter was sick and couldn't go to daycare. I had everything mapped out so I easily got her in at the doctors office without missing school or other snags.

Beckylydon · Sep 9, 2017

Hi Farrah,

I can DEFINITELY postpone the second baby. It's just a matter of our kids having a three year age gap or a six year age gap.

It's silly, right?! It doesn't really matter. My siblings and I are all fairly close in age and I guess I'm just wanting the same for my daughter. It's a tough call for us. My husband is all for it. I keep reminding him that it means he's going to have a lot more to juggle, too!

I am still up in the air. I go back and forth everyday. On one hand, I'm baby crazy and ready for our second. And, the other I think it's a totally crazy idea. The other sensible part of me thinks, if I have to postpost school for another year, it wouldn't be the end of the world. But, I really don't want to do that either.

Since I'm so close to finishing my pre-reqs, I'm wanting to dive in while it's all fresh. Rather than taking a year and a half. Already at this point, I'll be taking 8 months!

imhorsemackerel, LPN · Sep 10, 2017

Well for LPN school I know my classmates with children sometimes had to stay after school because they were struggling, but they needed to pick up their kids from daycare. I know when one of my friends got home, she would cook, help her kids with their homework, unwind for a bit, then start her school work until the late hours of the night. She was able to concentrate at night. She had to drop her hours at work and began doing part-time.

I think back to when I was younger. When my mom went to school for LPN and RN, she encouraged me to do clubs, and now I know it's so she'd have some quiet time at home to study. It also helped that the house was around the corner from the school. She also pushed me to take piano lessons. While I was at my lesson, she read her book in the car.

Whenever I saw her she was always sleeping and tired. I never really thought anything of it as a kid. Now that I'm older I realize how difficult it was and how difficult I was to deal with!

jeddicarn2b, BSN · Sep 10, 2017

Nursing school is stressful, but it is just about making time to prioritize everything. Everyone in each program is different. My best advice would be to get a planner and plan out your whole life basically. When you are going to go to class, clinical, STUDY, doctors appointments, work, and then make a date night with your husband and study every day/night but also spend time with your daughter and him. There is nothing written in stone saying you HAVE to disappear off the face of the earth. You can succeed and still have a life, you just have to put in the effort, especially if you have a great support system. Explain to your husband that you want to have another baby but it may be best to wait till you are further along in nursing school and see how it is otherwise he may have to be the full time caretaker of that baby and you want to spend time with him or her too. Hope that helps :)