Hello!  I'm a 34 year old mother of two boys aged 5 & 3.  For those of you who are mothers, how did you balance taking care of your children and your studies?  They've never been to preschool, as we are planning on homeschooling (or hopefully finding an amazing private school that fits in with our values) or with anyone but family.  I've dreamed of being a nurse, but don't want my children to suffer.  How many hours did you spend in school and studying?

Thank you so much for your reply.  I REALLY want to be a nurse.  Which is actually quite funny, because it's because of my children I want to become a nurse.  See, before I had children, I was completely disgusted by blood, vomit, and feces.  I had the strongest gag reflex and actually worried about that when I was pregnant.  How could I change a diaper?  How could I handle being spit up on?  Now?  Now when I see those things, I only see the suffering of the person.  I see how important it is to have a caring hand available when someone is sick and afraid and needing care.  Honestly, nothing grosses me out anymore. 

Also, since I've been a SAHM for over 5 years (I finished my B.A. in Literature before having kids) I'm starting to realize that while I want to be there for my children, I don't really want them to assume that that is the woman's role in life: to sacrifice herself for her children and do nothing else.  My oldest is 5 now.  I want him to see a strong woman with goals and ambitions separate from her family.  I still worry though, about them missing me, about the milestones I will miss.  Honestly, I realize that my complaints are of a priveledged minority (we are far from wealthy, but my husband earns enough for me to stay at home).  I realize that not all mothers have these choices so I don't want anyone to think that I'm feeling sorry for myself or complaining about this 'hard' choice I'm about to make.  I saw my mother give up everything for her children, and now she's 63 with no career and with no money after her divorce - just sad.  I don't want to end up there.

Anyway, this kind of turned into a vent, but I'm still on the fence and trying to figure out just how much 'sacrifice' to my family will be involved.  I have NO science background but I'm a great and dedicated student.  Realistically, how many hours can I expect to devote to school while in the nursing program?  I have a high IQ but suffer from a little bit of ADD (not diagnosed, but my mind wanders pretty easily if I'm bored.) 20 hours of class and study?  40? 50?  I have a 3.8 GPA, but again it was Literature and I had no children.  I also worked full time through college, and never really noticed how hard I was working at the time.  Now that I have two kids, it's different.

So if you or anyone could give me an idea of what to expect in terms of hours and work load while in school I would appreciate it. 

 Great options for mothers are schools like AmeriTech college. They offer flexible hours, and allow you to get your degree quicker.