Studying tips please!

[RollerCoasterMama]

I know they're all probably pretty obvious...but I'm struggling, and this is NOT my first rodeo! I've got a couple of degrees already, but I've always been a full time student in the past, and never a parent and never online classes before this past summer.

DS is staying up later and later. I'm studying with the laptop on my bed. I'm procrastinating and trying to cram really complex material. (Oh and these are apparently the hardest/driest classes of the lot!)

So things I'm going to try and work on:

1. Bedtime for DS. Falling asleep after 9:00 isn't doing either of us any favors! (I'm actively working on this.)

2. Set up a proper spot for doing work...my cute-but-not-really-functional desk or the dining room table.

3. A schedule...working for an hour at least each weekday (which will be more if I get on a roll). With scheduled DS time and me time.

I'm really trying to keep my motivation in mind. There is so much that could be good if I pull this off and these classes really are the gatekeeper classes to that possibility---A's only. B's need not apply (pressure much?).

It's only 3 months. They'll zip by. I'm just struggling this week. Any and all tips welcome!!!

I remember reading a thread where one mama's kids understood that after lights out was Mom's study time and they stayed put. How did you accomplish that??

[Gator-mom]

It sounds like you are on the right track!

I found that having a schedule that is the same every week doesn't really work for me though. Since work load changes throughout the semester, it can be hard one week and easy the next. I plan my schedule one week at a time and I plan time for studying for each subject. I try to be realistic, and put in several short sessions over a course of days to make sure my brain is functioning and I really benefit from the repetition.

Getting your LO to bed at a certain time is both difficult and crucial at times! We struggled with this with our ds in the beginning a lot too. I would say it just takes a lot of repetition and a solid bedtime routine that you start EARLY. I like Ds to go to bed by 8pm, so if he needs a bath that night, I try to have him in the tub by 6:30pm..and yes that means we often eat dinner very early! He gets to watch one episode of Blues Clues, while he drinks his bed time nutrition shake (he's a little low weight). Then he brushes and gets three books and a little snuggle and bed. We just reinforced it a whole lot and now he just accepts that it's the way it is!

Good luck! You'll find your rhythm!

[RollerCoasterMama]

Thanks! Well, today looks better. I got a bit of a reprieve with an extended deadline on the first quizzes---prof wanted to let late enrollees get off to a fair start. (Woo for those of us who started on time!)

I had a chat with my mom (she's a prof and her phd is in this stuff). She'd warned me that these were the classes where people change their majors. I just called and said she's right. I don't like them one bit and in my undergrad years I'd have been dropping them! I mostly just had to admit it and vent a little. She assures me that these are the worst of the lot! After this it actually gets interesting.

I moved my laptop to the dining room to work. And discovered that I actually learned something in my whiny procrastinating weekend and got an A on my 2nd quiz! That helped to see things and have them look familiar!! And I let DS sleep in my bed while I worked downstairs. He didn't go to sleep any earlier, but he stayed up there quietly instead of popping up every 15 mins.

Today looks brighter. And I'm following one of my friend's advice and putting on my big girl pants, sucking it up and doing what I know I can do and WANT to do.

It's gonna be a harsh semester, but I'll get there! You know, if I hadn't called and whined how much it sucked, I don't think my mom would have believed it could be properly horrible online! She laughed and was sympathetic. Said that when she was in college, she'd put on one of those old school hair driers that goes over your whole head and use it to drown out any other sound/roommates so that she could study. She never did learn as easily as I do---I got it from my dad. Unfortunately, there's no b.s.ing your way through accounting. :P