Juggling study as a military wife

Blog post by Chelsea Rai

When I first began studying with The Open University, the world was in the midst of Covid. I am a military wife so like many people during this period I was left alone with a one-year-old to take care of. One week before the nation went into lock down my husband was sent to Estonia for six months and, because of the pandemic, he did not come home after three months as planned, he stayed there for the whole six months.

I began with an access module to see if I could juggle looking after a child and studying and I never expected to love studying as much as I do. Now I am in my third year of my Law degree, and this is my daily routine now that I have a five year old and a two year old. I wake up at five am. I get my daughter up for school (she is more like a teenager in the sense that she tells me to go away and stop waking her up) once she is up, brush her teeth and hair and get dressed. I wake my son up, get him dressed, and his teeth cleaned. Then it’s downstairs for breakfast. Clean the kitchen while the kids watch a little tv before school and then the school run. This is how every day begins for me and then I do my household jobs like cleaning and tidying and doing the food shop and I usually get to bed by eleven providing one of the kids hasn't woken up. Now that my son is two, he does not nap the way he used to so during the day I do not have two hours to study or write TMAs, so I have to work around my kids. 

The OU has helped me manage my studies in so many ways, and they are always understanding. The tutors are always so helpful and there have been times when I have fallen so far behind, I have thought that there is no way to catch up or get this TMA done, but I have always managed to get what is needed done with the help from my tutors.

This year I wanted to finish my degree quicker so I decided to pick up two more modules but when both of my children fell sick and my husband had been sent away, I found that this was impossible, so I needed to study at a faster pace and the great thing about the OU is that they sort everything to support you without making you feel judged. 

My career goal is to become a barrister, and sometimes this feels impossible because of the demands of my life (not that I am complaining because I love my family very much). I have a written list that I am working my way through gradually to become a barrister and every day I get up and I make a little more progress towards this goal.

I know that there are more parents like me who are on their own full time or like me a lot of the time, and I hope you will not give up with your studies because it is all possible and you can find a way to make it work.

The reason that I began studying was because by December 2020 I was starting to feel the effects of being on my own for so long. Even though my husband was home by then the effects had taken hold so my husband suggested that I look for something to focus my mind on that I could do for myself in the evenings to unwind, and my goodness it has helped my mental health in so many ways. So that is another great thing about studying with the OU, if you are having a bad day or you are stressed and a little depressed like I was then studying can be an enormous lift for your mood. And the OU always has a helpful person on the end of the phone. 

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Chelsea Rai 

I am a mother of two and military wife, I am in my third year of my Law degree and I am working towards becoming a barrister.

I am very interested in how AI is affecting our everyday lives and yet we have no legislation on it so I hope to work more in changing this when I have finished my law degree.