The phone is on its fourth ring, the dog is pawing hopefully at your leg, something is boiling over on the stove, and your son or daughter is calling to you from the kitchen in an increasingly desperate voice. Glancing back down at your textbook, you realize that you’ve re-read the same sentence seven times – and your typed two-page response to the chapter is due tomorrow. Sound familiar?
For most of us who have returned to college as adults, the challenge of balancing our “real world” responsibilities with academic work is the toughest thing to master. Careers, family, community activities, and housework all compete for our time, and the longer we’ve been out of school, the tougher it is to get back into our old study habits. Integrating college back into a full adult life will probably never feel easy, but there are several strategies you can practice to make the balancing act as simple as possible.
Set a Schedule
Sure, not everything in life is predictable. Flat tires and the stomach flu are almost guaranteed to happen when you least expect them. However, most parts of your schedule can be planned ahead, and if you give your academic work the same consideration that you give your other activities, you might just be able to make space for it in your weekly routine.
First, figure out how much study time you need. (A formula from DePaul University is to study two hours per credit hour in an easy class, three hours per credit hour for an average class, and four hours per credit hour in a difficult class. ) After you’ve calculated your required work time, choose the time of day that works best for you. If you do your best work in the mornings, try waking up just half an hour earlier to get a jump on studying while you sip your first cup of coffee. If you prefer working in the evenings, try setting aside the hour after dinner, when the daily chores are done and family members are busy with hobbies and homework. Even a lunch break in the middle of the workday can be a time to give academics your full concentration.
If it still seems like your schedule is too hectic for quality study time, take a look at your weeknights and weekends. What jobs can be simplified, dropped, or delegated? For example, if you pare your grocery shopping and other errands down to one trip per week, you could avoid some emergency runs to the store. Instead of taking care of laundry whenever it comes to mind, plan on doing it all on one evening.
Once you’ve allotted time for study, stick to it. If you occasionally have more time than you need for your assignments, try working ahead. Get a jump on a paper or on the next chapter of the textbook – you’ll thank yourself later. Sure, you may need to adjust for the surprises, both good and bad, that pop up in all of our lives. But if you’ve made a place in your schedule for your school work, you won’t have to face the stress of rearranging your activities at the last minute.
Finally, a consistent study schedule will make things easier on family and friends. If you make your homework plans clear, the other people in your life will know exactly when you are available to give them your time.
Find a Study Space
All of us learn differently. Some of us concentrate best in completely silent, distraction free settings. Others need some background noise and bustle to keep us comfortable. Whatever your personal learning style, finding an optimal place to study may be more than half the battle. When hunting for an ideal study space, there are four main factors to consider: resources, comfort, convenience, and distractions. If you have the resources you need to work at home (desk space, computer access, whatever your courses require), your search for a study space will be a bit simpler. Studying at home is probably the most comfortable and convenient option – you can even do it in your pajamas – but it is also most likely to present distractions. If visitors, phone calls, and the pile of dishes waiting in the sink are going to be more on your mind than the textbook in front of you, home may not be the best workplace for you.
Fortunately, there are other options. Both public and campus libraries are havens for serious studiers. With ample table space, excellent lighting, computer access, and wall-to-wall reference materials, libraries provide almost every resource students could ask for. For those who need a quiet study space, libraries are sanctuaries; many college libraries even provide private rooms or study carrels that can be reserved by students who want a work space where no distractions can intrude.
Coffee shops and restaurants can also be comfortable, well-equipped places to study; more and more cafés offer wireless internet access and conveniently placed tables and outlets for customers with laptops. Of course, these settings only work if you prefer background noise to studious silence.
Ideally, your work space should be a place that you can use consistently. Your brain will switch into study mode as soon as you plant yourself in that familiar chair. Whatever space you choose, be it the kitchen table, the home office, a guest bedroom, or a corner of the basement, try to make it a place that suits you. When your study time is up, you may not even want to leave!
Use Your On-Campus Time
Hey, you have to go there for class, anyway. And if you use your time wisely, you can maximize the benefits that your campus offers. Most college, university, and tech school campuses provide computer labs, libraries, and study lounges for students’ use. Even if your campus doesn’t have these amenities or if they are too distant to be convenient, an empty classroom can be an ideal spot to go over your notes or finish a reading.
By arriving just half an hour early for class (or by staying for half an hour after), you can take advantage of campus resources as well as of the time you’ve already had to allot to courses. Furthermore, your family, friends, and coworkers are likely to see class as a better claim on your schedule than mere studying. If you can group a little study time into that class time, you can streamline your schedule, boost your concentration, and get other responsibilities off of your back – at least for the evening.
Find a Study Buddy
Here’s a trick most people who exercise have learned: we are more likely to stick to our goals if we’ve made those goals with someone else. The added responsibility to another person cuts the temptation to procrastinate or to make excuses. And if you can find someone who you enjoy working with, studying, like a morning jog, can become a pleasure instead of a chore.
Try to get to know someone in each of your courses. Exchange names, phone numbers, and email addresses. This way, if either of you ever has to miss class, the other can share notes, assignments, and information. You can also compare answers and discuss what you thought of lectures and readings.
The social connections that you make in college can enrich both your personal life and your learning experience. Though some returning students find themselves feeling outnumbered by young and inexperienced classmates, most campuses today are diverse, lively places, filled with people who have arrived at college by widely varied paths. Your fellow students can be a source of insight, encouragement, and enjoyment.
Enlist Help
No matter how self-sufficient you are, a project as big as a college degree is likely to require a bit of assistance. If you have a supportive spouse or partner, you’re in luck. This person will be your cheerleader, tutor, finance-provider, perhaps even your chauffeur and chef (if you have all these things in one person, you’ve hit the jackpot!). While you further your education, you will probably have to rely on your partner to pick up the slack around the home. Make sure that he/she knows how important your academic goals are to you and how much you appreciate the help.
This may be a time to cut back on chores and responsibilities. If you have the luxury of extra cash, it’s easier to give yourself a break. Get takeout, order pizza, or grab dinner from the deli on busy nights. Pay the teenager next door to mow the lawn. Cut back on your hours at work, if you must – even if it means losing a little overtime pay. Remember that working toward a degree is temporary.
Of course, there are responsibilities you can’t give up, even temporarily. Balancing post-secondary education with raising a family is a challenge for everyone who undertakes it – especially if you are a single parent. A great daycare or school can provide you with some of the time necessary for courses and study, but you may still find that you need more time to complete your academic work. While you are studying at home in the evenings can be the perfect time for an older child to take on some responsibility. You are still there to supervise should any emergencies occur, but children in grade school are old enough to look after themselves for an hour or two at a time, and many children are mature enough to begin caring for their siblings by the final years of elementary school.
With a lot of praise and a little reward – perhaps a small raise in their allowance, a movie night once a week, or an evening when they get to choose what you’ll have for dinner – children can see the value in the work they can do, whether it is caring for younger siblings, washing the dishes, or picking up their own room. Feeling guilty for having less quality time with your family? Try making study time a family activity.
Gather around a table or sack out together in the living room. Add some healthy snacks and drinks to make it more festive. Kids can complete homework, color, or read while you work. Not only will you have time together, but you can start them on the path to being lifetime learners – just like you.
Jacqueline West returned to college to earn her teaching certification while working full-time. She now lives, writes, and teaches English in Wisconsin.
