The final hurdle

I'm currently writing my final assignment for my university Diploma in Music, and reflecting on what a journey it's been to get there. When I went to university for the first time I gained a degree in English, but Music was also always in my heart, and when I was teaching, Music fast became my favourite subject to teach. Part of my career break journey has been taking the opportunity to study it with The Open University for personal fulfilment and to strengthen my CV, and I am so pleased I've done it.

The first 60-credit chunk was done while I was working full-time in an office job and living alone in a flat with my then two-year-old; I didn't know he was autistic at the time but I knew about the challenging behaviour and developmental delay. It was a decision I made because I was single and sworn off men for a while as a bit of a quest to "find myself". Juggling the study withe everything else took a lot of commitment - I had to study every Saturday after a full working week while my son was with his dad, and ask my mum for extra childcare occasionally while I worked on assignments.

The second 60-credit chunk has begun and ended with more luxury, which I have really appreciated: I was working part-time when I began, and am currently not working and decided to put supply teaching on hold until the assignment is complete to make sure I'm making a good job of it. However there was a mad spell in between when I was simultaneously studying a full-time Return to Teaching course, complete with school placement!

I'm a little tired of being a whirlwind, and now looking forward to spending more time with my son until I secure a new teaching post, but doing this has really shown me how capable, well-organised and motivated I can be, and for the first time, having always been a 2:1 student but receiving firsts on several assignments throughout the course, I have excelled at something. It's been part of my road back to confidence after the redundancy, difficult labour, failed relationship, illness and disastrous teaching post I went through several years ago.

I now have the opportunity to do an MA in Education with another university, and I'm wavering a little - will have to see how I feel after a good rest on the back of this assignment!

One thing's for sure, studying and motherhood are not a natural combination, but having said that, perhaps there have been times it's kept me sane and stopped me focusing on the negatives of other situations, and I certainly wouldn't change it for the world.