LPN School while raising a child?

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Hello! I just got my acceptance letter to LPN school! First off, I am extremely excited and have never felt so determined for anything in my life. But I am worried because I have a 3 year old daughter and a husband. He is exceptionally supportive, but what I want to know, is how you mothers handled nursing school with children? Tips on how to manage my time etc? Thank You in advance! :)

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Hi! I am starting school in the fall so I don't have any advice for you yet, but I understand what you're saying. I am a single mom with a 4 1/2 yr old daughter, I'm worried about not being able to spend as much time with her and her having to stay with a babysitter so much but I know it will be worth it when I'm finished and am pursuing my dream.

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I'm starting in August, so I really can't give you any advice, but I have 2 kids and a husband and I'm sweating bricks trying to figure out how to manage it all over the next year. I'll be keeping an eye on this discussion.

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Seems like we're all in the same boat.....figuring out how we'll do it. Program is starting in August as well, 2 (9&3)kids at home and my hubby. Many before have done it, and many after will also. Organization, planning, and support would be my first response. We'll all find our own lil niche and we will be successful.

I wish you all the best of luck and keep us informed. Open to any suggestions.

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thank you ladies, we WILL succeed! failure is not an option for me. i'm sure this applies to you ladies as well. :)

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Hello! I just got my acceptance letter to LPN school! First off I am extremely excited and have never felt so determined for anything in my life. But I am worried because I have a 3 year old daughter and a husband. He is exceptionally supportive, but what I want to know, is how you mothers handled nursing school with children? Tips on how to manage my time etc? Thank You in advance! :)[/quote']

It's not easy, but definitely doable! Im almost done and I have 3 kids 11,8 & 6. A good support system and some incredible organizations skills is what you need to lessen the stress. Schedule your time so you don't feel the guilt of not spending enough time with the family. Make sure you find some time just for yourself, it may be only 10 minutes a day but its so important. I got myself some noise canceling headphones so while my husband plays with the kids I can still be in the same room with them while I study. Believe it or not, your presence in the room counts! Don't be hard on yourself and make sure you study efficiently so you don't waste time going over it again and again. Your going to stress, but you will learn how to manage your stress so it's not so overwhelming. Good luck!!

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I went to LPN school when one daughter had just turned 15 and the other had just turned 6. I worked full time from home and had a very supportive husband

It can be done but you have to learn organization and learn what takes priority and when. And don't ignore the family!

My husband picked up more of the household chores than he usually did which really helped. Both my daughters were very excited that their Mom was going to school.

In order to help my little one with reading (at the age of 6 she was reading at a 4th grade level!) she would sit on my lap as I read chapters. She would read to me from my book and I'd read to her. That kid learned the pathway of the blood through the heart before I got it down pat :) . She liked being with me and felt like a big girl helping momma with her homework. The older one would quiz me before tests etc. The hubby did everything he could to help me study.

Don't leave things for last minute. If I had spare time, I always tried to read ahead or do homework that wasn't due then but was coming up. That way I was always ahead of schedule. I think it was easier to do things because I knew I had this day and time to get this or that done and if it didn't get done, I was up a creek b/c there was no other time frame. I had a way I organized things on certain days I did certain things. If you will be the one cooking, take a good chunk of time to cook for the week and freeze it. I used doing laundry as a 'timer' for studying. I'd throw a load of wash in and begin reading, when the washer chimed it was done I'd stop reading/studying and go put it in the dryer..get a drink, stretch and go back. When it was time to take the clothes out I'd fold them somewhere I could lay my book out and read as I folded clothes. Washing dishes I'd put my notes up on the window sill in front of the sink and study/read as I washed dishes. Multitasking while doing 'mindless' things such as folding clothes or washing.

Find ways to include your children in your education. You will be a great roll model to them showing the that education is important.

I graduated w/high honors and my husband and daughers sat beaming in the audience.

I worked as an LPN for 3 yrs and then went to my LPN to RN program. Because I never really stopped taking classes my family was use to the whole routine and it made it much easier when I went into the RN program. Again, kids and hubby did all they could to help me and they earned that dipolma as much as i did.

Best of luck

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I am almost done my lpn program and I did it with a 7 year old and a 1 1/2. I have a great support system and no I do not work.

You will have to put your kids on a schedule and manage your time wisely. For example, every sunday I do my house cleaning, laundry, plan meals for the week, iron all of my clothes and childrens clothes for the week, etc so that I will have less to do during the week. My clinical hrs are 7am - 12pm and I study when I get home while my kids are in daycare and cook diner. I take a break and spend time with my kids, theyre in bed by 8 and I study the rest of the night. If youre married or living with a bf/gf, ask them to do the cooking sometimes, take the kids out, clean etc. It is doable and good luck ladies.

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I am really paying attention to these answers because I'm 24 and I have three kids, age 5, 3, and 1. I have an extremely supportive husband and his mother, so I am hoping I can do this :)

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You can all do this. You all have one advantage over other students, your children are your motivation. When ever I feel like giving up or I can't study anymore I think of my two kids. Yes it's not going to be easy but if I've been able to get through 3 semester of an ADN program, work full time, and manage to get As and Bs so can you.

My days normally start at the earliest 5:15am clinical days. Days that I have lecture I get up at 6:30am and can normally get out of the house with my two kids by 7am. My son is in school so I normally get him on the bus and if I can't because of clinical or work my MIL (I live a few streets up from her) gets him on the bus. My daughter is still in daycare and she gets dropped off around 7:15a. After that I drive to campus and read or finish assignments before lecture starts at 9am. I'm normally in lecture at the latest till 5pm. Once I'm out of class I pick up my kids from daycare (lucky daycare picks my son up from school) I go home get kids in bath tub, I cook, get kids out in PJs eat then bedtime routine and nightly night. I normally stay up till at 11pm and during that time I'm reading ahead, and completing assignments. Before I go to bed I make sure that the kids clothes have been picked down to their socks and shoes my stuff is ready and at the door. On nights before clinical I normally stay up late completing preclinical paperwork and drug cards and looking up stuff I don't know and iron my scrubs.

Meals that I make I think ahead. I've been known to cook four meals in one day out them in tubberware and heat up one a day. I keep several calendars one on paper and one in my phone that I share with my husband (that way he knows where I'm at) I also keep a small notebook with a page or two for each class an write down each assignment and due date. On days that I am off (from work and school) I hit up assignments all day. I look at my assignment book and complete assignments that are due first and go from there. I have yet to miss any assignments or quizzes using this method. One thing that I have continued to do is keep our family school schedule. We get up early we go to daycare I come home clean and cook meals that I can freeze now in my deep freezer then put in my crockpot when school starts. Pinterest has wonderful crockpot freezer meals ideas and so does google. I biggest advice for all you guys starting school this fall is start now, don't wait until school starts to try to figure things out, kids (at least mine) do not tolerate changes well so gradually moving towards a schedule took a while.

I hope this was informative. Oh and I am not a single mom my husband is very supportive and he does a lot during the school year. If I can't cook or bath the kids because I have to study for an exam he'll take care of. This first year he acted more like a single dad. I am very grateful for humans thankful that I have the summer off to give him a break. Because come August his back to being a single dad again (at least that's what he tells me). Good luck to you all and if you have any questions let me know.

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Thank you all for sharing, I'm sure I'll use 1 or 2 or 3 of your tips lol. I've spent this past week getting organized at home, I figured it'll probably be my last opportunity to declutter and do a full sweep of my house for a while. I thought of something else too, I signed up for emeals.com and every Sunday they email 7 recipes with the shopping list that has been matched up to your preferred Store's sales for that particular week. It has saved me a TON of time since I don't have to plan my meals any longer.

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Thank you all for sharing, I'm sure I'll use 1 or 2 or 3 of your tips lol. I've spent this past week getting organized at home, I figured it'll probably be my last opportunity to declutter and do a full sweep of my house for a while. I thought of something else too, I signed up for emeals.com and every Sunday they email 7 recipes with the shopping list that has been matched up to your preferred Store's sales for that particular week. It has saved me a TON of time since I don't have to plan my meals any longer.

Great idea! Ill check it out. Thanks

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