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Tips for Busy Moms Returning to Education

Laura — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:20:34 +0000

While going back to college after an absence of several years to raise a family can be a highly rewarding experience, it will also come with its share of challenges. Time is already limited between work, kids, laundry and meals so that the idea of finding an opportunity to study may seem laughable. It will take planning and organization, but that college career is there for the taking as is the better future it could provide.

Juggling responsibilities

There are a multitude of issues that will need to be straightened out ahead of time in order to make a smooth transition to college. Preplanning will reduce stress levels later.

*Daycare – Unless the children are old enough to care for themselves, a reliable babysitter or daycare center will need to be found. There may already be one if the parent is working, but either their hours will need to be expanded or an additional one may be needed.

*Get support – Talk to a close circle of friends who may be able to help out whenever needed, particularly with watching the kids or picking them up. If a friend or relative is willing to watch the children for free that will lower some of the additional expense. College is expensive enough, paying extra money for daycare will only add to it.

*Studying – Realize there may be no set time to study and it will have to happen whenever an opportunity presents itself. If children are young, they will need their mother’s attention while awake and mom won’t want to miss those family moments for the sake of hitting the books. Instead, study during lunch breaks at work or after the children have gone to bed for the night. If they are a little older and have their own homework, set up a study hour in which everybody does their own assignments.

*Get organized – Use a calendar to mark all the important dates coming up, from exams and homework assignments to any after school activities the children might have. It could also include chore assignments for the rest of the family. Having important dates listed in one place will save time and not clutter the mind.

Paying for it

Tuition at colleges and universities is rising faster than inflation and shows little sign of slowing down. There is some help to be had, though.

*Grants – A variety of government education grants are available for parents going back to school, especially women. The federal government has some available in hopes of encouraging women to study fields that have been historically dominated by men.

*Finances – Look at the household budget and determine how much will be available for tuition, books and other supplies. See if there are expenses that can be cut to help pay for them.

Going back to school provides many challenges but the rewards can be just as numerous. The most important step is to believe it can be done and then plan for it to happen.

This is a guest post from Christina Lloyd, who believes time management, forward planning and teamwork are essential for moms returning to education. She writes for a site that has advice on women back to school grants and other sources of financial aid.

Random Posts

My Daughter’s School Trip

Laura — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:36:08 +0000

Today my daughter went to Lisbon in a school trip. Although she has participated in other field trips, it is always with great emotion that I wave her goodbye when the bus leaves the departure place.

Since pre-school that the school organizes a trip to a certain place before Christmas holidays.

Today she is going to visit the Oceanário and the Pavilhão do Conhecimento. Although she has already visited the Oceanário with us, she was quite excited to visit it again with her school friends.

The return is expected at 18:30pm but as usual on this kind of trips they will be probably late.

Random Posts

The Future of My Kids Education

Laura — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:30:59 +0000

During a conversation I had with a cousin last Saturday, there was something that really impressed me and made me think about the subject a lot.

Her oldest son is very intelligent, he has maximum grades in all themes and he wants to go to med school. He has the necessary grades so no problem right? Wrong. My cousin has no financial conditions to pay for med school.

This made me think. I had the same problem myself. My parents didn’t have money to help me pursuit my studies and I don’t know if I will be able to pay for my kids school one day.

Some families prefer to send their kids to schools abroad, but that is even more expensive. Transportation, accommodation, health insurance for international students, food and books all together make an amount very difficult to pay.

Going to university brings a lot of expenses that most families can’t pay, however it is a possibility we all have to face. Having our kids abroad can also brings other extra expenses specially when we want to visit them and we have to pay for a visitor medical insurance. Studying abroad will be my last option for my kids.

Not everyone has to be doctor or engineer, having high school finished is an important mark in a student life so university is an option that can only be taken by some students. It’s the reality.

Of course we always expect that the financial conditions changes overtime and we end up being able to pay for their studies. We always tell them that hope is the last thing to die so that they always struggle to get what they want from life. Universities studies is also something they have to continue fighting for. If their grades drop, then, not even money can send them to university.

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Why is it So Hard to Let my Son Grow Up?

Laura — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:19:40 +0000

Image by daftgirly via Flickr

My son entered to the 6th grade and he thinks we can trust him has a responsible boy.

The school he attends had a id card system used as information about what the children are authorized to do or not. They use a id badge printer to print out an ID card to all the children. If the parents authorize the child to leave alone from school the card is green, if the child is not authorized to leave school without one adult, the card is red.

We decided to trust him and we authorized the green card, however he has to call us each time he leaves school. Now he is able to leave school at lunch time to go for a walk with his friends and go to the store to buy a gum.

I must confess that I worry each time he goes out of school, however I trust him and I think we owe him that trust. School is also a 15 minutes walk from our home and, having the green card allows him to go home alone if something unexpected happens and we are not able to pick him up. Of course he know he can only do this on a very special and authorized situation but in a couple of years he will be able to walk to without any problem.

It would be great to be able to use HID proximity cards and keep control of his moves, but that would look like surveillance and he needs to feel that we trust him. I know that kids his age want to be independent, but the fear of kidnaps and abuse are vivid in my head and I want to protect him as much as I can. I guess at the age of 25 I will be able to let him go.

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School Events: Feeling Helpful is So Good.

Laura — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:22:29 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Today I had a very exhausting day but very grateful. Once I am jobless I am available for activities I was not before like helping with school activities.

This week is Europe Week and my kids schools decided to make this week a European week. I was invited by my daughter’ preschool teacher to participate in the event through selling traditional food from Belgium. Each classroom represented a Country so we gathered a wide variety of traditional food from several European countries.

The main school, which has students from 5th to the 9th grade, was also visited from Basic level schools and preschool. You can imagine the number of students we had to deal with.

I was there from 10am until 4pm selling waffles and fried potatoes from Belgium. It was a little messy, specially while putting chocolate and strawberry jelly on the waffles while hungry kids were waiting for them.

OF COURSE…I forgot my camera at home so, no photos taken by me. Shame on me!!

I left the event quite tired but really happy for being able to help by serving the school. I enjoy being a present and participative mother on my kids events.

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Study for School Tests

Laura — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:18:08 +0000

My son had his first Math test (5th grade) and as I expected the grade was not as much as I wanted. It was a positive grade (from 1 to 5 he had a 3) but I’m sure he can do better.

He did the English test last Friday and Tuesday he has the Portuguese one. I’m preparing a few exercises but he is too lazy to do them. I tell him that he needs to study, that he needs to practice the exercises but it seems I have to use a order fulfillment to make him realize of the importance of studying.

How do you convince your kids they have to study?

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Getting an Online Degree

Laura — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:35:50 +0000

I have mentioned here before that I work in an abusive working environment that it’s getting worse everyday. Two of my co-workers have university degrees and they are preponderating the option of going back to university to take the Master and get other type of job. I can’t do that.

My parents didn’t have enough money to send me to university and I started working at the age of 17. When I had my salary I attended one year in the university but due to health problems I had to quit. Now, with 40 years, two kids and having a breakdown due to work environment I don’t feel like going back to university again.

I’ve been searching online and although I attended a few courses about affiliate marketing and related subjects I feel I can’t earn enough to quit my job so getting into something that will give me a degree really crosses my mind. I believe learning online is the future and if I can learn and study at the same time it would be excellent.

Some people recommended me the Western Governors Online University because of their excellent reputation. WGO online teaching degree program allows students to study and get their degree from the comfort of their home. We don’t have to quit our job to learn, we can study whenever is suitable for us, we can be at home with the kids and still learn besides not having any extra costs like transportation and meals outside the house.

Studying with the WGO means we will have access to a lot of texts on a 24 hours basis as well as a bookstore with complementary material that can be bought at affordable prices.

I really think that a WFO online degree will be a great option for me. They accept new students groups monthly so I’m going to think about this seriously and make a decision soon.

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Identifying clothes and school material

Laura — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:00:51 +0000

School start is only two weeks. Next week I have to check all my son’s clothes to see what still fits. He is so tall and needs new clothes and shoes. Trousers are what he needs the most along with coats. This year I can’t forget to mark all coats with his name as I usually do with his school material. I don’t use barcodes so no need for a barcode scanner, but it happens a lot that my son forgets his coat in the classroom and it is easier to identify it if he has his name on it, especially when different students have similar coats.

DO you identify you son/daughter school material as well as clothes?

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My son is going to 5th grade

Laura — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:45:51 +0000

My son school books arrived on the mail. Going from 4th grade to the 5th grade is such a difference, he goes from 3 main subjects to 9. The number of books is huge, from main book to exercise book, and some extra in between.

I’m a little worried about this 5th grade because on the previous years my son had only one teacher for all subjects and this year he is going to have one per subject. He is very excited about it specially because basic school stage is over and now he belongs to the “more grown up” students group.

One of the subjects he is going to learn is Music and he is really interested in that although he is going to learn how to play the flute. I say although because what he really like is making music with no-instruments objects. He likes to put a plastic bottle attached to the side of the bike and go up and down making that annoying “music”. He also likes to use stainless steel drums, plastic containers, tables, plates, etc. etc. to make sounds and therefore his music. So I really don’t know what is realationship will be with such a passive instrument like a flute. He is more a Guitar Hero video game boy.

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Free Kids Activities Pack

Laura — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:00:26 +0000

I always like to have school related activity books at home so that my kids don’t forget what they have learned and also to make them learn new things ahead before school starts.

Do you have a child who’s starting school soon, or maybe you’re planning to home school? It’s never too early to give them a head start. School starts in only a few short weeks, which means you still have time to help them get prepared. To help you out, Kid’s Activity Calendar is giving away a pretty nice kit of activities around the letter ‘A’. This pack includes:

Fun alphabet snacks that start with the letter A
Letter A coloring sheets
Letter A search worksheets
Letter A trace sheets
Letter A flash cards and
Game of out of the week idea around the letter A

You can download them for free from this page.

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Another Birthday Party

Laura — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:04:40 +0000

Today I’ didn’t work as well as tomorrow. We got lucky this year and we got too public holidays one following the other. Today it’s Dia de Portugal (Portugal Day) and tomorrow Corpus Christi, Friday I will go back to work.

My son had another birthday party from a school colleague. We dropped him at 15.30 and when I tried to pick him up we were invited to join the party. We had a great time, mothers to one side and fathers to another. As the kids are all in the same class we were able to discuss school subjects as well as kids behavior. It’s always interesting to hear other mother’s opinion regarding kids subjects.

The kids had major fun. The house is located in a very low traffic area and they were able to play in the street as well as in the garden. They are all in the same classroom and it’s amazing how they interact when they are away from school environment.

There were also two baby announcements, one from a person I know and the other from a 45 years old I didn’t know.

It’s amazing the things we learn and know on these birthday parties. We all work all weeks and barely see each other so, when we meet we just catch up with the news.

Tomorrow my son has another birthday party and we are all going to meet again once it is from another boy from the classroom.

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Birthday Parties

Laura — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:25:51 +0000

In the morning (I’m writing on the night before) at 9.30am my son has a football game. He is going to participate in a football school tournament in a local park. Almost all basic schools from the city are participation that’s why they call it a School Circuit City of Football (European Football) .

: Image via Wikipedia

Today he has three games, two in the morning and one in the afternoon. After the games he has a birthday party of a neighbor. While he is having one game my daughter has a birthday party of a friend. In the evening we all go to the neighbor’s birthday party. Sunday my son has another birthday party. I’m already tired of writing birthday party.

Birthday parties are great for the kids but very bad for our family budget. Having two kids means double parties because they go to separate parties so it means double gifts. This year we only made birthday parties for the family so no kids were invited but my kids are always being invited for other parties.

What about me? Can I have a birthday party too?