I have a Very Important Question for you. Very important because I have two kids, who will be 6 and 2 when I start law school myself in the fall, and they're pretty rambunctious and generally noisy, and hopefully we'll be able to get a big enough place at whatever law school it is I end up at, but what do you do when you just _gots_ to study?

The quick answer? Library or iPod while locked in the bedroom. Long answer below.

Before I started law school, I worked with lawyers. Once they realized that asking me over and over if I was *sure* I wanted to go to law school wouldn't work to change my mind, they started dishing out the advice. One woman who had been to law school as a mom herself told me, "Zuska, treat it like a job. You are used to working a 9-5 job, and if you treat law school like a 9-5 job, you'll be fine. Maybe you'll need to do 8-5, but that's all you'll need."

This has been my goal, and I think that I have been largely successful.

My kids are both school age, so I drop them both off at school at 8 a.m. If I have an early class, they can do various activities at school (Math Club, Reading Club, or even eat breakfast) as early as 7:30. I then am at school, and wide awake, just as if I were arriving at work.

I do not go to lunch with friends, I do not go to the gym (I've tried, but considering that I do try and protect my evenings, it proved hard - that was during 1L, and while teaching a class), I do not go shopping in the middle of the day. I do not take naps in my dorm room for an hour between classes.

I used to be home between 4:30 and 5. Once I went out on co-op, however, and was working until 4:30-5, I arranged childcare until 6, and have not changed it back. Partly because the girls' schedule has gotten fuller, and they aren't usually home when i get home at 4:30 - they're at the park with friends or at someone's house, or at play practice, etc.

I really work to capitalize this time that I'm not home. During 1L, I worked at night pretty solidly from 9-12. But between 5 and 9, I belonged to the family. I think that there were literally 2 or 3 nights during entire 1L where that was not the case, and I had to shut myself up in my bedroom.

Weekends also were, for the most part, protected. A few times during the semester I'd feel behind or whatever, and Beloved and the girls would rent a movie, and I would, again, shut myself up in the bedroom.

During exams, I needed more time. My parents took the girls for a weekend during both 1L exam times, and Beloved kicked in for at least a Saturday day trip during those times.

If I needed to study on the weekends (typically, as I said, only during exams), I would go to the public library. I hate our school library, and it is also relatively far away (20 minutes by bike, 45 minutes to an hour by public transit). The town library is 1.5 minutes by bike, and 7 by foot. I have developed a large resentment for time spent on something as wasteful as commuting. The bike is a very big solution to the commute-problem. Public transit isn't a straight shot, and on the bike, I can cut my commute time by 1/2 to 2/3rds.

We do not have a large apartment. It is 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a large great room. No office. When I need to study at home, I bring my books and my laptop into our bedroom, and stick headphones in my ears.

My largest goal, for so many reasons, is to get the point where I am not studying/reading at home. To fit everything into an 8:30 to 5:30 schedule. That gives me the earlier evening hours for my kiddos/family at large, and the later evening hours for my beloved and any personal things i may want to do (like, you know, read a book, watch a movie, peruse the internet).

But if you must work at home ... I have one word for you ....iPod!!! Drowns out sounds to the replacement sound of your pleasure. Well, unless you can get place big enough for a sound-proofed office.

posted by Zuska @ 5:32 PM

3 Comments:

At Sunday, February 05, 2006 7:37:00 PM, Filch said…

You're my hero.
At Sunday, February 05, 2006 9:01:00 PM, The Marpepps! said…

Yeah, I second that: you are most definitely my hero.
At Tuesday, October 24, 2006 12:32:00 AM, manababies said…

You've always amazed me. I am overwhelmed with the thought of going back to work after so many years as a stay at home parent. What more to law school?