TIME management

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icyfreya

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Do you think I can, realistically:
Do my A levels (I'm starting in september)
Have a 16 hour a week job (enough to pay for 75% of the horse)
Keep & ride horse (On DIY livery very near my house, sometimes compete locally/hunt at weekends)
Play the flute to grade 8 level, incl. 2 orchestra rehersals a week, one saturday, one thurs evening, both 2/3 hours long
Have some kind of a life??

Is it possible to do all of these things?
I know a few people who sold horses because they couldn't keep up with their A level work and do their horses, when the parents paid for everything! I have to pay 75% of my costs, which means I'll have to work a 16 hour week around school. Is it possible to fit everything else into my time?? Or is it crazy, and I'm going to have to sacrifice stuff? I love horses to bits, and would happily muck out stables in the freezing rain and snow at 6 am rather than go out partying with mates any day, which is what some of the friends who had to sell the horses did.

Please help knowledgeable people? :) x
 
i would just give it a try and see how it goes! You will be very very busy, but (like me) some people love that.. if you can, then fab, if not then you can re-consider when/if it doesnt work out :)
 
I think you might want to consider either getting a sharer or putting your horse on loan.

You only get to do your A levels once and it's just not worth jeopardising your future by stretching yourself so thin you can't study effectively.

My honest opinion is that you'd be extremely tired and all areas of your life would suffer.

If you're working 2 - 3 hours a day plus fitting in 2 orchestra sessions and exercising the horse where do you think you'll find time to study, do coursework and put in the flute practising?

Maybe write out a time plan for yourself so you can see on paper exactly how / if it would work.
 
I'm a teacher - and my feeling is I think you'll struggle to fit all that in.

Despite what you read in the papers about A levels getting easier - they are very demanding. I set at least 2 - 3 hours of private work a week for my students, so if you multiply that by 4 (which is the number of AS levels you are likely to be doing) and add on time for your own reading / extra study in the run up to modules that won't leave you with a huge amount of spare time. I know students of mine who work often really struggle juggling their time. I don't know what your job is, but if its in retail or similar the odds are they will want you to work extra hours over the Xmas period, which is when you will be needing to prepare for your January modules.

That said, employers / universities are increasingly looking beyond A level grades to find 'all rounders' that can demonstrate other skills - so competing with your horse and being committed to an orchestra are both very valuable things to do too. Out of all the things you'd like to do, I'd say ditching the part time job would be most sensible, but I appreciate that might not be possible. Finding a loaner / sharer to help with costs so you don't have to work could be a good plan perhaps?

Working towards grade 8 flute is great, but perhaps the orchestra commitment coul be put on the back burner for now. That would free up some time.
 
I think MaxApple has pretty much hit the nail on the head. Much as it sounds a very mumsy thing to say, your A'levels are a lot of work, the results of which are incredibly important and you shouldn't sacrifice them for the sake of something (like getting a horse) which you can always do later.

On the other hand, I think its good to have a hobby which is completely different to your studies to give yourself a complete break from academic work - it's very difficult to worry about the implications of Newtons 3rd law when you're poo-picking for example. Also, with increasing competition for good jobs and university places employers and university selectors look beyond academic success. Being able to say you can successfully juggle the time management aspects of a horse, job and your music is admirable. I'm guessing it's not really possible to decrease the amount of time you spend practising your music, but would it be possible to either share a horse, or get a sharer? That would give you some non-horse days to catch up with work/school work, see friends etc.

I had a horse on part loan when I took my A'levels (some 15 years ago admittedly). Three (school) days a week I'd be up at 5am to get to the stables, muck out etc before flying home to get clean and catch the school bus. I'd get back to the stables around 5pm to finish the jobs and ride. Mum would pick me up at 7pm and I'd spend 3 hours doing homework/coursework before collapsing in bed. At the weekend I'd have one relaxed day at the stables going for a good long ride and getting everything ready for the next week (weeks feeds in plastic bags/haynets filled etc), and the other day was spent working either at a kennels, on a farm or both. Social life revolved around the few waking hours that didn't involve a horse, dog, sheep or cow - but I don't recall it being terrible or non-existent. In fact, my memories of sixth form were of pretty much complete exhaustion, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

Good luck with whatever you decide
:D
 
Minus the flute & orchestra, I did it all....I worked a Saturday (and the odd Sunday) plus an evening in Sainsburys, had my horse on DIY livery (in fact I rented a yard, so there was no one else to help), did 4 a levels (well, 3 + general studies), and had a pretty good social life.....

I passed them all , though perhaps not with the grades I *could* have achieved if I hadnt done all the other stuff, but they werent 'dummy' a levels.

At the time, it didnt really seem too much of a struggle.....

I guess it depends what you want to do when you leave school, what grades you will need and how hard you find your school work anyway.

There was never any question of me selling my horse; I didnt go to Uni as I couldnt have afforded to take him with me!!
 
It may be more manageable if you didn't hunt - then the horse wouldn't need to be as fit and ridden every day...

Lovely to hear of a responsible young person who pays their own way and doesn't have mum and dad paying for everything... Hope you can work it out..xx
 
I think you can do it, many people have full time jobs and kids and still find time for a horse, pace yourself, if you don't mind getting up early to muck out and excerise, which I did before going to work, hardly any traffic and the peace and quiet, did horses straight after work, home dinner and a little housework, set washing machine to go on first thing in morning. Where theres a will there a way:D:D:D:D:D
 
Thanks so much for all the wise words everyone :) Yeah I think i'm just going to have to be very disciplined and organised, and prioritise the things that I don't NEED to do :P Like the orchestra practice - there is already an orchestra at the school I'm going to, so I guess I can just play in that, rather than the higher level outside school one, that would free up some time. It's good because the school I'm going to have a lot of free periods for study, so I'll probably be able to get some of the work done at school :) Yeah I'm taking 4, Bio, History, Psychology and Art :)
 
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