https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:26:52 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928147 Sat, 08 Apr 2023 11:12:07 +0000 Anagram 2928147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LadyDi: I’m a school librarian—have lots of friends who are public librarians, so feel free to PM me. I didn’t have kids when I got my MLS, but I was working full time as a teacher. I found it pretty easy to work full time and do grad school in my free time. I think I did 2-3 classes a semester and 1-2 classes each summer session.</p> <p>But so much depends on your state and area. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928146 Fri, 07 Apr 2023 11:15:02 +0000 kayla0416 2928146@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LadyDi: I am currently doing this, and I'm almost done! I went back to school for my MBA when my kids were 1, 3, and 5. Me and my husband both work full time, him from home. The flexibility of his job, and his willingness to pick up more duties around the house and as a parent has been essential for this to work. My program is hybrid - the first year, classes were on campus in the evenings, 6-9:30 two nights per week. The second year is online, mostly synchronous, again 6-9:30 two nights per week. I will graduate this summer, and it took me a little over two years. My kids are now 3, 5, and almost 7. </p> <p>I will say that it has been incredibly intense. A lot of people in my classes who are parents working full time stretch out the program to 3-4 years, which I'm sure works better for a lot of people. I sometimes think about if I could go back to the beginning - would I do it the same way? And I honestly think I would. I wanted to do this when my kids are these ages because they're not involved in many activities yet. If I had waited longer then it would be a lot harder to plan around sports, etc. I also intentionally waited until my youngest was 1.5 and sleeping well. I would not suggest doing this with an infant. I know for me at least, good sleep is crucial for my sanity. But I'm also so glad that I'm almost done. I wouldn't want to be doing this for another two years. </p> <p>I typically do homework from 8-11pm. All my kids are generally sleeping by 8 and I'm kind of a night person so this works best for me. I didn't want to do grad school if it took away a large amount of family time. Depending on the classes and professors I have during a particular semester, I am typically working on homework 5-7 nights per week. I'm sure this widely varies depending on the school and program though. I agree that it would be a great idea to talk with some current students in the program you'd like to enroll in! I have had basically zero social life or "me-time" for the last two years, which is wearing on me a little bit, but I'm hanging in there. The most important thing for me was not having too much of an effect on family life. My kids are ready for me to be done leaving them for class twice a week, but I don't think it's had too much of a negative effect on them. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, which feels amazing! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928050 Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:45:13 +0000 LadyDi 2928050@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MountainBaby: 20 hrs research + 3 classes sounds intense even without children! That's great that you were able figure out a schedule that works for you!</p> <p>@anonysquire: Thank you this gives me hope! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928046 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 23:23:15 +0000 anonysquire 2928046@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I went to school with young kids. Started back up in Summer 2019 for a career change. I’m actually still in school and have been the student body President for 2 years now. Going back to school has been the best thing for me. And I am<br /> Allowed to bring my daughter with me to work everyday. Do it! Even if you start out slow the first semester. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928045 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 22:50:05 +0000 MountainBaby 2928045@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm in school now! With 3 kids 6 and under. I'm doing my PhD, and what has worked for me is finding a program that is flexible, and not as rigid on timelines. For example, in my program most students research 20 hours a week and take 3 classes. I knew I could never swing that and maintain the kind of family life I wanted, so I talked to my advisor beforehand and we worked out a system when I research and then only take 1 class at a time. It will take me more years, but that was a trade off I was willing to make. Also I laid out that if a kid is sick, it's their spring break, etc I would only be available online. Laying that out ahead of time made it much easier to stick to my boundaries when those things came up. Something like that might be harder with a program on a strict schedule with defined cohorts, but no harm in asking! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928044 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:52:25 +0000 LadyDi 2928044@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@karenbme: This is really helpful, thank you! I hadn't thought about talking to a current student actually. I have an information session tomorrow and we have break out rooms with faculty but I'll ask to be put in touch with a student. Archival studies sounds so interesting! I interned in college with a woman who was getting her masters in that and she loved it.</p> <p>@pachamama: Thanks! I will definitely be printing stuff out. I am too old school not to. I am a bit nervous about everything being online and there is another university near me that has the same program in person but online just fits my life so much better...plus this is cheaper than the in person option. I am really excited to start and to be doing something that is for me, not my kids. </p> <p>@Chuckles: That is so wonderful (and encouraging) to hear! Thank you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928043 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 12:48:45 +0000 Chuckles 2928043@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I haven't done this, but I had to add in that my mom went back to school for her library degree when my brother and I were in elementary school. She ended up being a university librarian and loved it. I think the cool thing is that there are so many ways to be a librarian. We have a friend who works at a hospital and medical school, so she often helps doctors with their research. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928042 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:58:06 +0000 karenbme 2928042@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>And definitely print things like @pachamama said! I absorbed so much more that way! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928041 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:56:54 +0000 karenbme 2928041@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would also just add that talking to a student is going to give you much more info than talking to a professor or administrator. For example, I had one professor who aimed to make his tests something he could complete in 6 hours. For me, though, they regularly took 24 hours of work time to complete. That wasn’t typical of classes in my program, but I did wind up taking 3 with this professor (he was the assistant chair of the department). The admin will have a typical time commitment but (s)he won’t know those sorts of things. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928040 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:51:43 +0000 pachamama 2928040@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think this is great!! And with lots of educators and media specialists retiring, you should be able to get a job fairly easily (I think?)! Here in NY we are losing a lot of teachers.<br /> I went back to school while working full time with 2 young kids, the youngest was 6 months, oldest was 3 and they are a HANDFUL 🥴 ! Then the pandemic hit, I was home with them obv with no childcare for 8 months. It was VERY difficult!<br /> -What worked for me (eventually) was getting up super early to do my work. That's when I felt the most alert and no one was harassing me.<br /> -Get some hired help. It's really hard to focus sitting a messy house when you know kids, husbands and pets are gonna be interrupting you<br /> - Make some friend in your class. This is hard to do online. But I felt like I had NO ONE at all to talk to or to commiserate when I had loony professors and it was very isolating.<br /> - It was really hard to absorb information online. I felt kinda unprepared for the classroom :-/ Printing stuff helped me.</p> <p>I was so, so proud when I got my Advanced Certificate in ENL and I felt like I overcame so much. Everything in my life up to this point has been handed to me so it was extra special because I wanted to quit 239482309 times.<br /> You got this!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928039 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:18:35 +0000 karenbme 2928039@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Both DH and I have been grad students in online asynchronous programs with young kids and how well it works depends a lot on the support you have and what the time commitments are.</p> <p>For me, I had 6 credits left on a degree when my first was born. It was easy enough to listen to lectures or work with the baby in my lap or while she was sleeping.</p> <p>He started when our first was 2 and now we have a baby, too. His school time is almost exclusively after bedtime, about 3-4 hours 4ish days per week taking 1 class per term. He tried to work with the toddler around but she just wants to help everyone all the time so it doesn’t really work. If he has a big assignment or something and needs to work during the day I really need to take the kids somewhere so that he can focus.</p> <p>My best advice would be to ask to talk to a current student in your program and figure out what the typical and max time commitments are per week to see if you can work in that much low distraction time into your week, both on an ongoing (typical) and short term (max) basis.</p> <p>Also, while I’m not a librarian, archivist was my second choice career, and I interned as an archivist for two summers in college. Not exactly the same, but I really enjoyed it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/going-back-to-school-as-an-adult-with-young-kids#post-2928038 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 08:53:41 +0000 LadyDi 2928038@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Has anyone earned a degree with young kids? Is this a truly terrible idea?</p> <p>I've stayed home with my kids since 2018 and worked random side jobs but after thinking about it for a long time I would like to get back into the workforce. I would like to change career paths because I am not interested in returning to my pre-kid industry. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I would like to do "when I grow up" and settled on something that makes me really excited. I am trying to find a part time job in my desired field (librarianship) but it is easier said than done. I'm considering going back to school to earn a masters degree in library and information science but I am really nervous I am going to bite off more than I can chew. My kids are still young and won't be in school full time for a couple of years but I would like to start now. </p> <p>The program I am looking at is completely online and it's asynchronous so I can do it on my own time. I'm thinking about dipping my toe in the water this fall and starting with one class and seeing how it goes. Has anyone gone back to school with young kids? I would love to hear others' experiences. Bonus points if anyone is a librarian and would like to talk about the field :) </p>