Published
I am considering going back to school for nursing. Currently I am a SAHM of 5 kids and homeschooling 3 of them. I previously was a Licenced Vet Tech and miss being in medicine/patient care.
My dilemma is that I do not want to go full time as my husband and I still want the kids to continue with homeschooling.
As a new grad looking at a hospital is it reasonable to hope for a night/weekend part time position or are these harder to come by as they have higher pay with the shift differential?
Thank for any input
As a mom (2 elementary aged kids, not homeschooled) I have NO IDEA how I would go to nursing school AND homeschool and be a SAHM. It's hard enough with only 2, and they are in school. The days I don't have class, I spend the time while they are in school studying. Actually going to school seems to be harder than finding a job that would work after you graduate.
I am currently in a part-time LPN program. It's taking us 18 months to complete a 1-year program. I'm not working AT ALL and its still hard and time-consuming. I have classmates with kids doing this program, but their kids are in public school / daycare. I'm putting in an average of 4 hours 5 days a week study time AND 12 hours a week of evening classes AND 20 hours every other weekend at the hospital for the clinical rotation. And I'm only getting a B. I got A's in all the prerequisites. Just thought I'd let you take that information and think about how your current life could deal with those changes.
Maybe you could look at being a CNA while your kids still need you at home and go on to RN when they are done.
So you have 10 quarters... I'm assuming that's 2.5 years, then after getting into school and then graduating, getting licensed, that it should be about 3 years from now?
Here's the easy answer: Even if there isn't a single part time new graduate job in existence anywhere in the world, you have 3 years to set up your life so that you can work full time as a new graduate and be able to have them be flexible with your schedule. You can accomplish a lot in that time. Networking is your best bet. Flexible jobs for a new graduate are hard to find. Flexible jobs for a unit's aide that just graduated are way more common.
In most states, after a certain amount of clinical time, you can test to be a CNA. Do it. Then know that part time situation you want to do as a nurse... Do it as an aide while you're in school. Be flexible for your training at the job, so aim to start probably during the summer. But most places will work with an aide that wants to work for them part time or on call, who's also in nursing school, because that's a nurse for them when you graduate. If you're licensed/certified as a CNA, while being in school for nursing, you have bargaining power. It might not be a hospital, you might have to go to a nursing home first, but accept that your first year is going to be a crappy job.
The point to that: If you have a new RN fresh out of school with no experience as a nurse, who has your schedule restriction, would you hire them for that? But then if you have a staff aide for the last year and a half on your unit who's about to graduate and needs to get that new graduate job with your restrictions, you'd be more willing to work with your aide who's been working for you, wouldn't you?
That's only 1 solution. You have a few years to find a way to make it work. If you really want to be a nurse, get into the school and you'll make it work.
As someone who is just finishing my prereqs and will be applying to nursing school, I can tell you that I don't think you are being realistic about the school portion of this equation. 10 quarters is either a 2 yr program (if they offer a summer session) or 2.5 years (without summer classes). Either way, that is not a part time school. And that does not factor in study time. Most nursing students I know spend equal amounts of time studying as they do actually in class/clinicals, if not more! I'm not saying it is impossible, or that you should not try! Just understand that, as another commenter stated, nursing school is a 100% thing.
There's tons of part-time nursing programs all over the country, through very reputable colleges. It's a real thing
I did my pre-reqs and most of my BSN essentially part time. I also worked part time at a world renown hospital as a tech in the trauma ICU. AND I had two kids and a marriage I was trying to nurture. I did it, but it was really really stressful, it took me over 4 years to accomplish, even with a prior Bachelors degree. BUT I did it. So it's possible; just be prepared to make many sacrifices. I don't know how this gets done all while home schooling, though.
Knowing how to prioritize your time and what to study. Knowing how to effectively study (a skill America kind of lacks on teaching through school). It's possible. The ones that live with family, or have a husband or wife that can take over the responsibility of the kids or bills, they're the lucky ones. Most people go through this while still dealing with the reality that real life has extremely limited time. But they make sacrifices where they can and they make it work.
MomOfFive2018
5 Posts
The. PT programs around here at 10 quarters but I am going to an info meeting on Aug 7th to see if financial aid will cover that. I know when I got my AAS as a Vet Tech I had to have full time credits. So that will be one of my questions for them.
My husband and I have traded off working from the start. He works on construction and we met in 2008 so he was home with the kids for a few years. In the time it takes for me to finish school he will be ready to cut back hours due to a bad shoulder.
I am aware that being a nurse is a hard job and I dont want to dismiss that when I say that I have worked and homeschooled the kids. If we absolutely needed to put them in traditional school, we would. Their education would not be neglected.