As adults, we have responsibilities to our families, bills, and other obligations. Fitting school in with everything life demands can be hard to do. If you are not on some sort of time constraint, I suggest not going to school full time if you also work full time, especially if you have a family. But if you are under a deadline to get schooling done, or just want to get it over with, planning your schedule with work can be tricky.

First, look at your schedule.

When do you work? If you work during the day, you will need to look at night and weekend classes.
If you work at night, you may have to switch your sleep schedule around to accommodate some daytime glasses. If your schedule is flexible, you will need to decide when you can put down a permanent school schedule and work it out with your boss that you cannot work at those times.

This is my schedule, it the times that I work blocked out so I do not plan school during these times.

A night shift worker will not only need to block out the time that they work (from 11 to 7 on this schedule) but also when they sleep. I've taken Huffington Post's hint and blocked it out from 8 to 3.

A flexible schedule is going to be hard, but usually 5 hour blocks are planned by your employer. Let you employer know that you will be going to school and ask for the best time to plan so that you can be available when they need you. They may be willing to compromise. "I will block out midday for you if you are willing to take more opening and closing shifts."

Make a mock up of your schedule (like the day, night, and flexible schedules I've made here from the Weekly College Schedule template in Excel) and set it aside. You'll come back to it later.

Consider the classes you want to take and when they are available.

Some classes may not be offered in blocks (i.e. a class offered once a week for 3 hours). It may be spaced out and you will have to set aside time for multiple days for that class. I’ve usually seen this with prerequisite/general ed classes like Math.

If classes require a lab, this lab is usually offered the next day or on top of the class hours (i.e. a Friday night class will have lab Saturday morning, or after class ends on Friday night).

Also consider the classes you absolutely have to take this semester, like prerequisites and classes your counselor has mapped out for you so you can move onto other classes. This can also include classes that are only offered this semester and not next semester.

Make a list of classes you intend to take.

After you have considered all the classes you want to take, make a list. For example, next semester looks like this for me:

Child Development-3-Observation and Assessment

Child Development-4-Child, Family, & Community

Math

Sociology-10-Intro to Sociology

Write in where you’d like to have classes.

For me, it is easier to know where I don’t want classes, and that’s Friday and Monday nights. Fridays I like to de-stress from work, and Mondays…well, I don’t do anything extra Mondays. Mondays are extra enough!

I've blocked out where I would prefer to not have classes.

Think about when you need to take time for your family, your obligations, and yourself. You are no good to school if you are run thin! If you need time Monday nights to de-stress, don’t schedule a class that night. If you need to take your kid to soccer/ballet/violin/underwater basket weaving practice on Saturdays, don’t schedule a class then! If you pay bills on Thursdays, you got it, don’t schedule class then.

Read my Personal Rules for College Success to understand“robbing time” and why you shouldn’t do it.

I also like classes on Saturdays and Sundays. If I begin those days with class, I stay productive all day. Tuesdays to Thursdays are also good spots for me.

Go to your school’s Schedule of Classes and look up your preferred classes.

My school uses an online system so it is easy to type in a few variables and get results to choose from. I see which classes best fit my matches and I select them, keeping a few in case classes get filled up and I have to rearrange things last minute. 

After I put in my selections, I saw that I needed to make a compromise and take a class on a Monday night. Yikes! But otherwise I wouldn't be able to take the class. This means I needed Sunday night free.

Plug those classes into your calendar.

A visual reference always helps me to understand what I am looking at. 

Monday - Child Development-3-Observation and Assessment

Thursday - Child Development-4-Child, Family, & Community

Saturday - Math

Sunday - Sociology-10-Intro to Sociology

Here's what my schedule looks like. I've added padding and taken my needs and work schedule into consideration.

Register.

My school offers online registration so it’s a snap. I am waitlisted* for a few classes, but I have rapport with some of the teachers who know I will do the work necessary.

#foreverwaitlisted

It’s always an iffy thing, however, to be waitlisted, so don’t count on it as a sure thing. You may show up to the first day of class to find some people haven't shown up...but then again, you may show up and see that not only has everyone shown up but so has the entire waitlist (this often happens when teachers are good or popular, of it a class is very popular or needed, especially when only one class in that area is offered a semester!).

Trial and error for next semester.

Keep track of what works and what doesn’t. I tried to do a Math class on Fridays last semester, and while it being on Friday wasn’t the reason why I dropped it, sitting in class for four hours on a night when most people are out or relaxing really put a damper on my motivation. 

If something doesn’t work out, try to stick it out as much as you can, but then note it for next semester. Was Saturday your free day, perfect for class, but it left you drained on Sunday and unable to fulfill obligations? If you have a flexible work schedule, did you schedule a class during a peak hour when your boss needed you to come in the most? Adjust accordingly!



*At the time of this publishing I was given a Permission to Register by the teacher and taken off the waitlist. This often happens if you are one of the first few people who are on the waitlist and someone else drops before the semester starts.