I might not be the best person to ask because I have help. My kids stay with my parents two nights each week and half a day on Saturday so I can study. They are retired and keep them while I work anyways, but we extend it to some nights when I'm actively studying for a test. It's not ideal, but it's necessary because that's when I get most of my studying in because my husband works two jobs and has a funky schedule. I have tried in the past to study on the nights when my husband is off, but the kids gravitate towards me and he has a hard time keeping them occupied enough to give me study time. It was like a revolving door with one child after the other coming to “tell me something” or “show me something” when I was in a different room studying so I learned really quickly that the only way to study was to go straight home after work and get to it. No distractions, no family dinner, no kids, no husband. It is set that every Tuesday and Friday the kids stay with my parents and I go pick them up around lunchtime on Saturdays so I can have the morning as well. They don't go to sleep until 8:30 or 9:00 so studying after they go to bed is difficult because it's late, but I try to get in an extra hour or two each night at that time. I didn't want to make this arrangement at first because I didn't want my kids to be away from me so much since I work and don't get as much time with them as I would like on a regular basis, but it's the only solution I could come up with that afforded me the time to get this done without it taking YEARS!! Also, I take time off after each section to try to make up for some of the lost time. I have two options right now, add another sleepover night to the kids' schedule and push myself to take in Febrary or postpone to April and take my time with FAR. Both have pros and cons. I want to get FAR and REG done before my oldest starts kindergarten in August, but I also don't want to spend so much time away from them. You and I are very fortunate that they are so young, so resiliant to change, and they aren't in school yet so we don't have to focus on their education just yet. That's why I need to be done by August.
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