Are you a parent, and also studying? Then here are some top tips on how to fit studying in around your family life.

Schedule your Study time

Family life can be hectic and busy most of the time. Add in studying alongside being a parent, and you begin to wonder, how on earth am I going to fit everything in?

Take an evening to sit down with your calendar and schedule in your study time. This could be when your children are at school, when your baby naps, or in the evening after you have tucked your children into bed.

Scheduling study time will reduce the stress, and you will know what needs doing and when.

Create a Study Space

Set a place in your home where you can go to study, if you can make sure this isn’t your bedroom, or lounge, or anywhere else you like to unwind. If you don’t have a spare room, create a space for a desk and somewhere for your books. You can enter this space whenever you have scheduled time to study.

Make sure you have everything in that space that you will need while your studying, so you don’t have to get up to get something and get distracted by unfinished chores or household duties.

Planning, writing and proof reading

Each week set a day or evening aside for each stage of the essay writing process. This also works for revision for exams.

• One study session for planning and getting your ideas down
• A few sessions to write your essay (or as many as you think you will need)
• Two sessions for proofreading and editing, remember to check a few times, and ask someone else to have a read through (or test you if you have an exam)
• Then schedule a session for the aesthetics of your essay, so things like font, word spacing etc.
• Then one final read through and submit.

Take note

Always have a note book to hand. When I was studying at home with my children I found that ideas came to me when I was right in the middle of something. I was usually making dinner, feeding my baby or during bath time. You could even record those ideas as voice notes on your phone to come back to when your studying.

Fit your study time around your Family Commitments

There’s nothing worse than having to cancel some family time because you have a deadline coming up. Give yourself enough time to do both, as each are as important as the other. If you promised your children a trip to the park, go to the park, it will be a nice break, or if you can while your children play, plan or get some ideas down!

Get your children to help

No, I don’t mean get them to write your essays for you! I mean get them helping with the household chores if they are old enough. Give them an incentive, pocket money or a treat. Chores like vacuuming, loading and unloading the dishwasher, dusting, bringing the washing in, or putting it in the dryer. This will free up some time for study, and your children will learn valuable life skills! It may only seem like these chores take a few minutes but over the course of a week all those minutes add up!

Ask for help

Have a deadline coming up? Are you finding it hard to actually get any studying done?

Is there anyone that you can ask to help out with your children so you can get your essay done and submitted? Family, your partner, can you ask a parent from the school run if they can do a play date, or can you get a baby sitter?

This will help you free up time so you can sit down and concentrate solely on your study.

Join a study group

There are many other parents in a similar position to you, do they struggle to find the time to study too? Maybe you could set up a study group to help each other and use that time to focus on your study.

Social media can be a great way of finding local people in a similar situation to you, especially if you don’t know any other parents who are also studying. Reach out to them!

Take a break

Do you get writers block (I know I do), or are you struggling to take in anymore information for your exam? It’s OK to take a break, it’s OK to readjust your schedule if you need to. Clear your mind, or maybe go back to your plan if your getting stuck.

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