Back to school - the middle-aged edition

[Seanette]

OK, so I'm getting nervous now.

I'm nearly 45, and the last time I was in a formal educational situation was about half my lifetime ago (got an AAS in 1993). I start classes on the 25th at one of our local community colleges, pursuing a certificate program to qualify as a full-charge bookkeeper. Hey, my employer (a job training program) is paying for it and I think it's something I have some aptitude for.

My worry at this point is how in the *bleep* to juggle everything!!!! Last time I was in college, I lived with my grandfather, and aside from helping with housework/pet care, not a huge domestic load. For one year, I was working full-time (graveyard in a 7-11) while carrying a full-time credit load during the day, but that managed to be somewhat workable. Of course, Mt. Dew and Vivarin were pretty much a food group that year.

Now, I'm a good deal older, working 28 hours/week plus dealing with a commute that eats more time, and running a household. DH is also currently a student and has no domestic aptitude (he can handle carrying out a "please do" list, but doesn't have a lot of initiative). He'll also be facing finding a job around the end of October, when his trade school program finishes.

My brain says that my greater experience at life management plus a lighter work schedule (and an employer who treats my school as part of my job, thus prioritizing it) should make life a bit easier when it comes to organizing all this. Anxiety and other emotional difficulties are predicting something totally disintegrating, be it household, marriage, my mind.....

I'm already loading classes, appointments, etc., and to-do list into Google Calendar and doing my best to plan ahead, but I have this very nasty sense that I'm failing to spot some HUGE complication (and another sense that some part of my mind is coming up with a fictional "very nasty sense" to hassle me).

I'm not sure whether I'm asking for advice or just venting, really.

[Elspeth]

at 38 I am going back to school to get my ATS in Web Design and then My BA in Computer Science. While working full time and my Mom goes through treatment for brain cancer.

Yeah it is going to be work. But if you plan out your time well you should be ok. Make sure you don't put things off. Have time set for you also. You will need breaks.

Patiokitty has a lot of good advice.

[Sapphire Silk]

You can do it. You're just anxious, which is perfectly reasonable.

See if your school has a student success course. It will be very helpful.

Use a big wall calendar to plot out work, class, and study times. Realize fun will have to be cut back . . . but give yourself a guilty pleasure or two so you don't go crazy.

[bhskittykatt]

I'm sure you can do it. Do you have kids? 'Cause I don't know how people with kids do it. They're like wizards or something. But 28 hours a week working plus school? Gah, that's totally manageable! I'm doing 50-60 hours a week between my two jobs with a long commute to one of them, and 3/4 time student right now, and if I can do it without going crazy, you can pineapple peanut butter hopscotch.

For real, I've found that after spending time out in the "real world", I've succeeded better at school. When you're fresh out of high school, it's just like "School, meh, skip classes, whatever". But after going out and working for a paycheck that you need to survive, you bring that same mentality back to the classroom, and that maybe makes things more stressful in a way but also makes you more of a success.

It sounds like you're taking all the right steps to prepare for it. You're gonna rock it!

[Seanette]

No kids, unless the pets (one cat, one bird) and DH count.

One plus is that some days of the week, commute time can double as some studying time (at least reading can get done), since I take public transit on days DH needs our car, and I'm one of those fortunates who does not get motion-sick reading in a moving vehicle.

[Seshat]

Cut some things out of your life.

Maybe you can live with cobwebs.
Maybe you can hire a cleaner.
Maybe you can do things to make cooking easier.


Go through the 'chores' part of your life, and your husband's, and decide what you can do less often, hire someone to do, do more efficiently, or do without.

Go through the 'commute' or 'work' part of your life, and see if there's anything you can do there. Maybe public transport with some sort of handheld device would work for you, maybe you'd do better with a car, maybe some variation.

Go through the time you spend dicking around, and figure out what you're getting out of that time. Because you are, or you wouldn't do it. Decide if 'dicking around' is how you want to get it.

.... I think you get the point.


Also, there's been a lot of research into how people learn, since you and I were last in school. If you ask nicely, the educators on our boards may be willing to point you to some good websites (if they know the student-focussed ones); or you can take Sapphire's advice and ask the student centre at your new school.