Mom Needs Study Tips PLS!

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hello~i am a mom to a 2 yr old and 4 yr old and currently taking anatomy. i do not find the class overly hard since it is the only one i am taking but i cannot find any alone time to study and when i do i'm too tired to comprehend. i'm not doing as well as i need to be or could be and it's my own fault. does anyone have any tips for studying with little ones and how to focus?

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I know what you mean! I only have the one 3 year old but I think my Dh can count as a child half of the time lol. Do you have a supportive husband/family member that would be willing to watch your kids for a few hours one day a week? Usually once a week I head to the library for 3-4 hours and really focus on what I need to do. It's amazing how much I get done in just those few hours each week because I can focus on nothing but my school stuff.

Other than that I try and get some kind of studying in every night after Peyton goes down to bed. I'm lucky that he goes to bed at 8:00 most nights though.

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Mine goes down at 8:30 and I'm at it until about 11. i also get an hour break during work, guess what I'm doing? I quiz myself on my digital recorder and go over it when I'm driving or have free time. Also nap time is great. Sometime I give my 13 year old cousin 10 bucks and she'll "babysit" while I'm in the house. So you have to take it anywhere you can. Yes you will be tired but its only 3-4 months of your life and it will be worth it in the end.

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I have a 3 yr old and a 1 1/2 yr old and am taking 13 credits which include A&PI and Descriptive Chemistry. I put the boys to bed at 8 and that gives me a solid 2 hours to devote to school work and an hour to get my stuff around for the next day. I try really hard to get to bed by 11 so that I get plenty of rest. If I have a big test coming up I will ask my mother-in-law to keep them on a Sunday afternoon. I also use nap time as study time if really needed. Other than that I study when I have break at school.

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I know what you mean! I only have the one 3 year old but I think my Dh can count as a child half of the time lol. Do you have a supportive husband/family member that would be willing to watch your kids for a few hours one day a week? Usually once a week I head to the library for 3-4 hours and really focus on what I need to do. It's amazing how much I get done in just those few hours each week because I can focus on nothing but my school stuff.

Other than that I try and get some kind of studying in every night after Peyton goes down to bed. I'm lucky that he goes to bed at 8:00 most nights though.

HA, my hubby definitely would count as an extra child too. Thankfully my Mom has offered to watch the kids an extra nite so I can go to the library. I think that will be the best place for me so I can't even have the house as a distraction. I'm glad to hear that that really helps you, hopefully that will do the trick for me too!

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Mine goes down at 8:30 and I'm at it until about 11. i also get an hour break during work, guess what I'm doing? I quiz myself on my digital recorder and go over it when I'm driving or have free time. Also nap time is great. Sometime I give my 13 year old cousin 10 bucks and she'll "babysit" while I'm in the house. So you have to take it anywhere you can. Yes you will be tired but its only 3-4 months of your life and it will be worth it in the end.

Naptime should be a great time for me too since my 2 yr old takes 3 hr naps but I can't get my 4 yr old to leave me alone for anything...last week I actually even set him up painting and that only gave me 5 minutes peace! I wish we had a real babysitter, I may have to start looking at our friends for help during the day.

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I have a 3 yr old and a 1 1/2 yr old and am taking 13 credits which include A&PI and Descriptive Chemistry. I put the boys to bed at 8 and that gives me a solid 2 hours to devote to school work and an hour to get my stuff around for the next day. I try really hard to get to bed by 11 so that I get plenty of rest. If I have a big test coming up I will ask my mother-in-law to keep them on a Sunday afternoon. I also use nap time as study time if really needed. Other than that I study when I have break at school.

I took Chemistry last semester and that class about killed me, it was a bad semester for family life too so that didn't help either. I can't imagine taking on A&P also. You are a devoted student to be taking all these sciences on! I think if I really start studying when I put the kids to bed and then get to bed by 11 too it will help greatly. Good luck!

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Specializes in PICU/Pedi.

I feel your pain. I sometimes have a hard time studying, with almost-3-yr.-old twins running around. I study in the hours right after school, while they are in daycare. I don't study once I pick them up, until I get them to bed. Sometimes I lay down with them and nap for an hour or so, and then get up and study. That works good on the days that I am really tired. Otherwise, I just get them to sleep and then I study again for a few hours. I try to study around them on the weekends, which is hard sometimes. Luckily, they play well together and entertain each other, so it's not too bad.

My biggest problem as of late is that A) I get the girls to sleep, and then they spend the next few hours waking up over and over again while I TRY to study, OR B) I can't get them to sleep and it takes me 2 or 3 hours to get them to go to sleep at all - in which case, I am studying by flashlight, hanging out next to the bed trying to get them to go to sleep and not play! I don't know why their sleep patterns are so screwy. I have talked to the daycare workers, and they say they are not sleeping too much or too late. It's always one thing or another, though! I am a single parent, and my family aren't in a position to help alot, so I just do what I have to do to get my study time in. It sucks, though. I am taking A&P. micro, nutrition, and a speech class, so all I do is study (when not taking care of the kids, anyway).

I don't have much in the way of suggestions (unless you try some of the things I have mentioned), but I do understand how frustrated you are! :icon_hug:

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Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.

Can your hubby take the kids to the park or somewhere so that you can get some study time in. Or leave them home with him and got the library, the librarys here have one night a week that they are open late.

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I feel your pain. I sometimes have a hard time studying, with almost-3-yr.-old twins running around. I study in the hours right after school, while they are in daycare. I don't study once I pick them up, until I get them to bed. Sometimes I lay down with them and nap for an hour or so, and then get up and study. That works good on the days that I am really tired. Otherwise, I just get them to sleep and then I study again for a few hours. I try to study around them on the weekends, which is hard sometimes. Luckily, they play well together and entertain each other, so it's not too bad.

My biggest problem as of late is that A) I get the girls to sleep, and then they spend the next few hours waking up over and over again while I TRY to study, OR B) I can't get them to sleep and it takes me 2 or 3 hours to get them to go to sleep at all - in which case, I am studying by flashlight, hanging out next to the bed trying to get them to go to sleep and not play! I don't know why their sleep patterns are so screwy. I have talked to the daycare workers, and they say they are not sleeping too much or too late. It's always one thing or another, though! I am a single parent, and my family aren't in a position to help alot, so I just do what I have to do to get my study time in. It sucks, though. I am taking A&P. micro, nutrition, and a speech class, so all I do is study (when not taking care of the kids, anyway).

I don't have much in the way of suggestions (unless you try some of the things I have mentioned), but I do understand how frustrated you are! :icon_hug:

Thanks for replying. I remembering going thru that sleeping phase problem when my son was 3. I never figured out a soloution to make him go to bed easier and stay there, but he did finally grow out of it. He's now one a 7:30 to 7:30 sleep schedule and he usually goes right to sleep. Hang in there.

Can your hubby take the kids to the park or somewhere so that you can get some study time in. Or leave them home with him and got the library, the librarys here have one night a week that they are open late.

My hubby is pretty much worthless when it comes to helping with studying or the kids, or the house. I'm lucky to get him to watch the kids while I go to class 2 nites a week and my Mom watches then the other nite. However they go to bed early enough that I definitely would be able to take advantage of a trip to the library. I didn't know that some have a "late" nite. I'll have to check that out!

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The digital voice recorder was a great suggestion. I forgot about that. I have a 45min+ commute each way to work every day. So I record my flash cards onto the voice recorder and play it on my way to work. My voice recorder also will save my audio files as an MP3 to the computer so I can put them on my ipod and listen to my notes while I exercise.

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Also, if you have a ipod, you can buy a recorder attachment and you can record directly to it, just like with a voice recorder. One of the girls in my class has one and it looks really easy to use. I haven't got one for my ipod yet, but will if I ever feel like I need to record my lectures. I think they run like $20-30.

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