Any secondary teachers out there with 2 kids under 4 at home? Help!

[Brookville]

I'm struggling to cope with my return to school after 3 years off. My subject requires a lot of bitty planning; data and marking have gone bonkers at the school and so that's added time pressure and I've got the full spread Y7-13 to contend with. I'm on 0.6 over 3 days with just 1 PPA a day when I photocopy/mark so I'm taking all my planning home and working 3 nights 9pm-midnight and up at 0600. As marking increases I'll have to do it on weekends.
My kids have just started with a CM and are anxious as are rarely left with anyone but DH and me (no family here) so that's adding stress too. And DS1 is very emotional and explosive so that causes huge tension at home.
I think I'm mad to have accepted the post - did I really think it through? I missed the intellectual challenge and was getting down being at home f/t but this is too much!
So if anyone else out there is in my boat I'd love to hear how you cope or if you quit...!

[mrsnewfie]

Hi.
I returned to teaching full time in a large chain academy last year. I have two children, a bit older than yours.
I have taken the decision to resign. The workload is unmanageable and I hardly see my children. I find myself getting home with them and shoving them off to bed so that I can get on with work. I miss out on Sundays when my husband takes them to my mother in law's house, again so that I can work.
I can't live like this any longer so something has to give. It sure as hell isn't going to be my children so I'm leaving at Easter.

[Haggisfish]

Honestly? I don't manage either - my book marking is the thing that I really fall behind with. I fudge it and smudge it and get by with ok lessons and great relationships with kids and staff. It's crap - I work all the bloody time and it's never enough. I think I might be able to manage 0.6, but I'm planning my getout - I'm studying another degree and tutor for OU and do exam moderation. It's bloody awful.

[Brookville]

Gosh, thanks for replying. That's really interesting. I feel exactly the same. Might have managed with one child but 2? My contract expires end of summer so I'll either stick at it and try and negotiate for a better deal in the autumn or walk away. And then what? The holidays are so good!
The mad thing is that on the continent part time is the norm and teachers are accommodated. I believe.

[EvilTwins]

My twins are 7 now, but I went back to work full time when they were 4. It was fine. It's still fine. It helps that DH is really really supportive, and that their nursery was lovely, and that now, they have a fabulous breakfast club and after school club at their primary school.

I love my job. There is a lot of planning, and I am a dept of one (Performing Arts) so have to do all the exam classes and all the data and all the admin myself. However, I can use previous plans and tweak them for new groups, and have good systems in place to make my admin and data stuff manageable. My busiest time is now, as we do the school production in February. I've been in school all day today, but my kids came with me - they've done this for the last three year, and they really enjoy it. I give them little jobs to do, and they sit with me whilst I run the rehearsals. The older girls love looking after them and playing with them in breaks.

I see my kids every day - I take them to school and pick them up, then I focus on them until they are in bed. After that, I do work, except on Wednesdays when I have choir. I'm usually in bed at a reasonable hour (ie before 11) and make time for a bit of time with DH, even if we slob in front of the telly.

The key is to be really organised, and to realise that you can't do everything. Be efficient at school - I always leave meetings on time, and take my bags and coat with me so I can go straight from the meeting to the car.

If you want to make it work, then you can make it work. Good luck!

[Haggisfish]

I can't walk away - too far up the scale and need my salary. I love being in the classroom with the kids. I don't love the data, marking and huge class sizes that make it so hard.

[DrNick]

it gets better

have you a cleaner or any help at all?

[DrNick]

mine are older, I went back when they were 4.6.8
coulnt have done toddlers and marking

[Brookville]

Thanks all. I'm hoping that Jan is a bad month to start and if by end of May it's still not great I'll have a rethink. EvilTwins sounds like you're managing incredibly well. Did you find it slow to get back into after your 4 year break?

[louloutheshamed]

I went back ft after ds1 and it was fine (English teacher).

I am going back later this year and I will have ds1 aged 3 and ds2 who will be 10 months.

I'm Prepared for it to be tough but I have a great dh and supportive colleagues. My school has just been given outstanding by Ofsted and although people grumble as they always do, it's a good place to work.

I have quite a few colleagues who work ft with 2 dcs and have been emailing them to ask for tips and they all tell me I'll be fine!

I'm just pleased I'll not be pg when I go back as that was the part I found so tiring. I was also mentoring a student and doing post grad study before i started mat leave, so I'm hoping without those responsibilities it will be a little easier.

Good luck, am sure it can be done if you are organised and have support. So much depends on the school.

[EvilTwins]

Brookville - no! I hit the ground running - partly, I think, because I went back to the same job in the same school - by coincidence the person who had taken my job when I left wanted to leave, so I was straight back into it. Kids in KS4/5 still knew who I was, many of the staff were still the same, so it was weirdly like I'd never really been away! I was ready for it anyway - being at home with baby then toddler twins for 4 years had made me desperate for a bit of intellectual activity.

[insomniarules]

I saw a job advertised today that I could have applied for but I realised , when I thought about it, that I couldn't do a good enough job as teacher and Mum. I found it hard enough but with 2 DCs and house etc and travelling I couldn't do it.
The planning and marking was bad enough but I got really hacked off with thd constant monitoring and pressure placed on us and students by a largely invisible and inactive management team.
You are not alone!

[beatricequimby]

I went back 2 days a week with children aged 1,3 and 5. A lot had changed in the 3 years I had been off and I found it hard. I worked every evening between 7.30 and 9.30 (well 5 days a week) and I was exhausted.

As soon as my youngest qualified for a 2.5 hr nursery session every day it was fine, it gave my time in the day to get a bit done and it all became manageable.

I do sympathise but it will get better.

[SweepTheHalls]

Dpes your dept have decent schemes of work? I plan in outlook using repeating appointments so I always know where I , copy and paste over the less from the SIW and then go through and personalise. I find routine is the only way with marking, which group, which night to meet the marking policy. You said you have a 4 year old? Do they go to pre school at all on your days off? If so nap time is your saviour to do marking. Highly recommend getting a cleaner, it takes 1 layer of guilt from the equation. Good luck and remember is your saviour.

[FieryChipotle]

I'm full time with two year old twins and a nine year old. It's killer. I'm always tired, always watching the clock during meetings.

However...

For all the reasons you have listed I am glad to be back after a year off. I feel like I am a better mum when I get home because I WANT to play and be fun, not play along because I have to kill the time or wear them out. Plus I feel like I'm setting them a good example by working hard at my career. (That might be slightly clutching at straws though!)

I have to be very strict with my time management. Kids in bed by 7.30, quick dinner and work until 9.30 - no later. I get into work at 7.45 so I can get an hour in before form. It's survival really but it is possible!

[Orangeanddemons]

Sweep thermals. Not sure nap time is meant to be for marking....

I get the kids to mainly mark their work. One levelling lesson per 1/2 term and then I give the final mark at the end of the project.


I work 0.6 and only get 2 free hours

[Nojustalurker]

I have no kids but I am secondary school teacher and I can't imagine how you would cope. Get as much support at home and school as you can.

At school make sure you use all your time wisely, if this means occasionally the younger students do a poster while you mark so be it ( I might be flamed here). Are you sharing resources across department, using old resources and stuff from tes? If you can try nominated one night a week where you look at one year group on a rotation and try to outline plan your lessons for the next few weeks. Collect together resources and if possible put them into the office to be photocopied.

Make sure you are über organised. At the start of term make sure you check the school calander for events, eg parents evening, mock exams and report writing. Make sure everything is recorded in your planner. At the start of the week write out your weekly to do list, I do this in my diary so I know which day to do it on. After each activity in your to do list write the maxium time you will spend on this activity and stick to it.

At home get all the help you can. Can the kids go to the cm one extra morning. Get a cleaner if possible. Use the half term to batch cook and freeze. Make sure your partner is pulling their weight. Shop on line or use click and collect. Keep a list of meal suggestions some where to help you shop. On a Sunday night sort out the clothes you will wear for the week and put them to one side in your wardrobe, do the same for the kids.

You can't be perfect at everything.

[BranchingOut]

can you request to drop a class?

Even 0.05 might make a difference? There might be another pt who wants to take some more hours on.

[Brookville]

Thanks for the great tips and support. I appreciate everyone taking time out of their crazy schedules to write on MN. It's a difficult balance -teaching- even before kids I felt stretched beyond capacity and as HoD absolutely never felt on top of things. Lesson obs, and constant department and school inspections/reviews, curric. changes & monitoring always made me feel inadequate.
Maybe some of you out there are just better at it and can better handle the pressures.
Branching I'd be well up for dropping a class. But I think right now the Dept are all over on their timetables. Maybe I'll ask again in May. I only wanted 0.4 to begin with.
Nojust your idea of taking a class a week is good. I just need to find time.

Btw are your DHs in demanding jobs? I feel I can't ask him to do loads of childcare at weekends (for me to work) as he needs respite too. Our kids are hard work and don't get on peacefully very often.

[BranchingOut]

I am an ex-teacher (primary SLT) and what I have gathered over the years is that secondary is such a varied ball game depending on the subject you are teaching.

Hours, mark-load, preparation time, pressure from SLT - appears to be hugely different depending on what you teach. So someone who appears to be coping much better is probably doing, what is in effect, a very different job.

The fact that my DH was in a hugely demanding job was one of the factors in favour of leaving - something had to give somewhere.

[louloutheshamed]

No to be fair, that's probably why I manage. My dh is self employed and so much mOre flexible than me. he does nursery drop offs and also only works 4 days a week so there is some slack for routine appts and general life admin.

At weekends if I had loads of marking or a uni assignment he would take ds swimming on a sat am. Not sure he'll be able to do that with 2 - might have to rope a grandad/ uncle in too !

I have friends where both ate teachers and I think it is really really hard, but offset by the HUGE advantage of both having the holidays.

[Nojustalurker]

Your welcome. Am not great at the balancing bit. In fact thinking of quitting but as I have worked to try and get more organised I thought I would share what I have learnt.

[SweepTheHalls]

OH is also a teacher, pros and cons, he understands, but has the same workload. In my house nap time is always for marking!

[Brookville]

How old are your kids Sweep? My DS1 dropped his nap 3 months ago aged 3 and struggles to sit still now even when he's knackered so I can't concentrate when he's up!

[petalpower]

Glad you've come over to the staffroom Brookeville. I thought you'd get better advice over here!

[SweepTheHalls]

3 and 5. No naps round here any more, but the 3 year old now does 1 2.5 hour playschool session a week now! Oh the plans I had for that time, and then the ckeaner quit!