Career path & what to study

I'm looking for input and advice.. basically, I graduated high school but didn't do any further study because I had NO idea what I wanted to do and didn't want to waste time and money. Worked in admin in construction industry for 6 years and I know for sure I don't want to be in an office. So now I have a 4 week old baby and am staying home indefinitely. Our rough 'plan' is to hopefully have another bub reasonably close to DS.. maybe TTC when he is 1. In the meantime I'd like to study, so I can return to work in a career.

My questions - SAHP's who have studied with little ones, how did you find it in general? Did you study part time or full time, at home or at an institution (TAFE or Uni)? How old was your youngest when you started studying?

Thank
That's all for now :)

Der forgot to ask the main questions!

I want to work with young people, like troubled abused kids maybe, so I'm considering social work, counselling, child protection.. that pathway. If you have worked in this field did you get emotionally involved, and if so did it have a negative impact on your family life? I'm worried I'll become over-involved or affected by tragic things etc.

Trying to put dd to bed but will come back and post soon. I'm a youth worker and have woked in a few different areas of welfare.

I know a lot of people who work in this field. It is not very family friendly due to the hours and the caseloads, and, yes, it can often be extremely distressing.

I am just finshing a grad dip. I have studyed part time over 2 years. DS1 was 2 and 1/2 and DS2 13 months when I started. They went to CC 1 day a week for me to do placements and otherwise I did uni work late at night once they were in bed. Majority of my course was by distance ed so very little face to face hours which was handy. Was very hard work but I have got there!

I am nurse/midwife and nearly Maternal and child health nurse

Good luck

DH studies from home, with an online uni.

He started with Monash, and has moved over to UNE as there is a much broader range of subjects aimed at remote access students.

He's doing his arts degree - started just after DS1 was born. He does 2 subjects most semesters. He started 3 one semester, but it was too much. One semester (when DS2 was born) he dropped down to just 1 subject.

Looking at doing Dip Ed after Arts finished.

I studied when DS was little, but I did four hours study a day at Uni during school term time, so I wasn't at home. It was great fun. It would have been hard with DS around though - he's a very full-on child.

I went into teaching, with a view to going into safeguarding. I didn't want to be full-on child protection/social work, but I did want to ensure children who weren't classed as "at risk" were also looked after properly. I'm now open to the idea of being a special needs teacher, either at a special needs school or as a non-teaching head of special needs at a normal school.

I'm studying through OTEN, my youngest was 18 months when I started. The course I am studying ATM is more a time filler than anything, so that it doesn't look like I've spent 6+ years at home doing nothing but looking after children, it will look better on my résumé anyway, and gives me something to fall back on if need be.
I study at night when the girls are in bed asleep.

I think I will prefer a course that I can do at my own pace, no pressure to meet deadlines etc.

I'm like you RP, in that I don't want years of blank on a resume (even though being a mother is hard work!!). Can you enrol at any time or do you have to do it at certain times of the year?

With my course you can enroll anytime of the year and it is very much at your own pace. I'm not sure what the other courses offered through OTEN are like, of say probably similar.
I will say though, do not go through SEEK learning, biggest scam ever.

Never heard of SEEK Learning? I've always used SEEK for jobs though.

I don't want to start studying yet, but is like to be doing something next year.

What fees do you pay for with OTEN? Is it all online or do they send books too?

SEEK is just another way to sign up for OTEN courses (and other online learning courses), its just a big scam really, where you pay a lot extra for nothing. Just go through OTEN directly, or what ever learning institution that offers the course you are interested in.

With OTEN you pay roughly $500 a semester, and they send you text books and learning materials on a CD.

Contact your local uni/tafe providers, as most have a student contact centre or an option for a free pathways appointment. (Like career councilor)
This would help you work out which course, how long etc, fees, government assistance available to you, and class contact hours.
Most uni lecturers can be flexible when you have more demanding situations, like being a parent.
And some unis have a child care centre on campus.
Hope that helps!