When I started my LPN schooling way back in 1971, ( doesn't seem so far back to me ), I was the divorced mother of a 1 yr old and a 3 yr old.    Some parts of that time still make me feel guilty , like when the 3 yr old put his arm around the 1 yr old, both of them in tears as I was leaving them at the church day care, and said  ' don't worry, she'll come back for us.'     And I ended up in tears too, all the way to school.      Or when I lost my first job out of nursing school because I could  afford a full time babysitter for midnight shift, but only 4 hours of child care during the day to sleep.   And that 4 hours had to include dress, feed, and travel time to and from the day care.   My new first employer suggested that I stop working until I had better child care options.

   Your position is a little more complex than mine because you have a daughter that is 12, and they can be a whole lot more opinionated than little kids, but the challenges that you get passed now aren't going to be any different than when you start working.   Making sure that child care/supervision is absolutely stable, including back up sitters.....  someone WILL get sick, and someone WILL have car trouble, or there WILL be some other problem....... will make your job as student and then as nurse, 100% easier.       You will still have to learn to juggle time for kids and home with the job, ( call it school or work.. same thing ), but that's the life of the working mom.   And if you are a wife, you can add one more item to your list of duties.              But you can do this.       I have worked full time since 1971 and my 'boys' still like me.      Some days were easy, some weren't, but that's life, isn't it?            And your kids are going to grow up and have jobs and responsibilities, and this is a good beginning for them to learn how to do that.

    One bit of advice I would give you is to go for your RN , not just the LPN.  And do it all at once if you can.  When you have kids and are relying on that pay check it is harder to work and go to school and do kids.   It is difficult to cut back on work and pay once you have it to go back to school unless you have financial help.      Your work options and pay are so much more if you go all the way.  Always wished I had done it.

       You will be tired, might be stressed, and you will learn how to adjust, so you won't miss everything.  Sometimes birthday parties will happen on an odd day,  sometimes thanksgiving or christmas presents will happen at different times than usual, but, making a living and staying together are more important than any of that.   

There's a father who had to leave his little daughter at daycare all the time to work as a nurse. From the time she was 3 months old. She was invariably the first kid there everyday as we had to be in OR at 0630. She even helped the workers open the daycare every day. And she was never the first kid to go home.

Now I have this teenager that I am sure was left here by aliens who stole my real daughter.

Look at it this way as a way you can justify this in your mind  - getting an education will allow you guys to live better lives. Good luck.