DH has been doing 2 units by correspondence the whole time he's been a SAHD.
He can do readings and work on essays while DS is asleep (and this was much easier at the start, when DS slept more!) and at night, after DS has gone to bed.
And I make sure I help out extra with DS and around the house - or take DS out more often - when DH has exams, or the last cruch before essarys are due.
DS is great on a routine, and is a really good sleeper (most of the time!) so DH has found it incredibly do-able.
But if DS wasn't such a good sleeper, it would all probably need to be done in the evenings or on weekends, which might end up meaning DH and I wouldn't get much time alone together.
I have a nearly 3 year old and nearly 18 month old and have found studying hard going this year as DS1 does not nap and DS2 will only sometimes fall asleep on me but cannot be put down and at night does not go to sleep till very late and only with me!!
It is so hard to say definitively as it depends on the child, and the support you have. 'Easy' baby = no problem. Partner who is helpful and hands on = great. Family around to help with babysitting etc = sure. If you don't have those though, it could be a struggle.
I studied with DD1 as a newborn, I was halfway through my course and dropped to part time when she was born which was, thankfully during the uni break so timing was on my side there. She started coming with me to Uni from 8 weeks as she was still fully breast fed and uni was all day so I wasn't able to leave her with anyone. She was a pretty 'easy' baby though and was very quiet and content, happy to just be with me, self settled beautifully from the start and slept reasonable amounts during the day and at night. The first 6 months was a breeze. I found it became difficult if not impossible around the time DD turned 6 months as she began to want to move around more, made a lot more noise and needed more attention. There was no way I could continue taking her with me to class or keep up with her demands during the day as well as get study done so I had to put the study aside. Secondly, at about the 6 month mark DD's sleep began to decline and I don't think I could have managed any study with that added stress.
DD2 was a completely different baby and slept quite poorly from the start. If she had been my first, there is no way I could have managed study.
I did part-time study when DS was 2. OK, it was 5 days a week but it was only 10-3 with an hour for lunch.
Loved it. Homework was done when DS was asleep. DS is a poor sleeper so I would sit with him going to sleep and work on my netbook at the same time.
How to make it work? Pick something you can do in short bursts and love the subject. Make sure you really have support - DH cooking meals, cleaning house and doing bedtime while you study (I didn't have this, but had good nursery provisions.) Family around to "cuddle with baby" for an hour while you get cracking on work. A wilingness to turn textbooks into stories (Phil was a positive ion and Katy was a negative ion...).
If you can take your child to classes, great. I did that once or twice. But you can't take your child to the lab.
Defintely depends on the child. My LO is full on, and never had a sleepy newborn period, and stopped having day sleeps at about 6 months (thankfully she started again at 12 months some days having 45 mins to an hour sleep).
If you have some family close by who can help out to give you study time, this will be huge benefit.
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