OU parents

Tens of thousands of OU students are parents who have to juggle looking after their children with studying. How do they cope?

How can you juggle the often immediate needs of a family with the effort, concentration and time required to succeed at an Open University course? Here a few parents talk about how they managed…

Having a baby
“My children were six and four when I started my first OU course,” says Lin White, who achieved her BSc (Hons) in Computing in 2006. “I knew it would be a challenge to do that and give them sufficient time so I started with a 30-point course to see how my time management worked out.

“Most of the time it was okay, as I did much of the study in the evening after they’d gone to bed. So I decided to do a 60-point course for my second year – but then discovered I was pregnant!”

Not only that, but Lin actually had the baby six weeks before her final exam. “That disrupted studying a bit!” she says. “But I was still able to do it while the baby was asleep and the other two were at school.

“But when the exam came, I was pleased that you don’t have to stay to the end if you’ve finished (unless there are 15 minutes or less to go). I rushed through the questions and left early to go home and feed my baby!”

School holidays are a particular challenge, especially when the family goes away. “During the summer I've studied in the local library while the elder two were at holiday club and the youngest was asleep in his pushchair,” says Lin, of Herne in Kent. “I’ve studied at children’s indoor playgrounds while the kids played and, yes, I have studied on holiday.”

But the place Lin found most strange to study was at her son’s school – where she herself used to be a pupil. “One of my boys had after-school activities at my old secondary school, so I sat and worked in the entrance hall while waiting for him.

But Lin is happy to keep combining her family and study time and believes it is important that the children see her working hard academically. “I also think I’m setting a good example to my children, as they see learning doesn’t stop when you leave school.”

Lin’s tips for parents
Have other children around – either brothers and sisters or their friends. They’ll happily entertain each other while you can snatch a few minutes of reading!

When a child is ill
Geoffrey Ward, who achieved his physics degree while looking after his three children, says organisation helps to keep a home and an OU course running side by side – until one of the kids is ill.

“My eldest son has haemophilia so a bleed can keep him off school. The key was trying not just to keep up with studies, but to stay ahead of the timetable. If one of the children was ill, I’d know I wouldn’t be able to get any studying done that day.”

Geoffrey took the household reins while his wife Eileen worked as a primary school teacher. He gave up a job in the graphic design industry to train to become a teacher himself and the first step was his OU degree.

“I graduated in 2001, got my honours in 2002 and then did my PGCE,” he says. “It was all about getting into a routine of studying and running the home. When I first began, our youngest, Clara, was a baby. As she grew older and more independent, and became more mobile, it also made getting time to myself a little bit more difficult!

“But you plan,” says Geoffrey, who lives in Beckenham, Kent. “And it was very handy that the residential schools coincided with the school summer holidays when my wife was off work. I’m proud to say I was able to cope with it, with the support of my family, and I didn’t need a single TMA extension!”

And those years of application mean Geoffrey is now seeing the rewards. “I now teach general science key stage three to children in years seven, eight and nine,” he says. “I really enjoy it and all the study has certainly been worthwhile.

“The great thing is that I was able to undertake this whole career change and find a job I really wanted to do – all while being able to watch my kids grow up. It’s been excellent.”

Geoffrey’s tips for parents
Make the most of the time you know you’ll definitely be able to study because then the work’s done and your plans aren’t thrown by the unpredictable nature of family life. Although this is easier said than done, try to stay a step ahead with your studies.

Coping with four children
Kathleen Johnson warns fellow parents not to be afraid to use the flexibility of OU learning to their advantage. “I had three children when I started my degree, and gave birth to a fourth halfway through,” she says. “So I had four boys under eight, and I was doing a degree, and I was working as a childminder as well!

“Sometimes it did get a bit too much and I got a couple of extensions on my assignments, and was even able to take a year out in the middle. It’s something I’d never have been able to do at a brick university, so I’m very grateful for the OU’s way of teaching.”

Kathleen recalls the earlier years of her study being easier “simply because the children were younger and had earlier bedtimes!”.

“As they got older they stayed up later and I had to fit it all in when they went to bed. Unfortunately I was on to levels two and three then, so not only was I finding it more difficult to fit in, but the subject matter was getting harder!”

“There were some times when I would be working long into the night on a TMA if a deadline was approaching – and then have to be up bright and early when the kids woke up, which was usually from around 6am. Then I’d be getting them ready and doing the school run – and they didn’t all start school at the same time!”

Kathleen, who is originally from New Jersey, was keen to study with the OU because she began a degree in the States but never completed it. “I came to Britain on a year’s student exchange, met my husband and never went home!”

That same husband has, she says, been happy to take on childcare duties when she’s needed him to. And the result is a BSc in Natural Sciences.

And have her efforts inspired her children to follow in her footsteps? “I’m not sure about that,” she says. “It took them a long time to understand the concept of homework…!”

Kathleen’s tips for parents
If you find you’re struggling to do everything, don’t be afraid to ask for help from the OU. Taking on a degree while raising kids is hard work – but every bit of it is worth it!

Article first published in Sesame Issue 234.

Take a look at this blog on the BBC parenting website about how to make February half term FUN.

And don't forget to suggest any other ideas you have about what to do to keep everyone entertained during wet and windy half term days.