Stop Wasting Time & Start Learning From Home


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In her very first speech as Prime Minister, Theresa May highlighted this uncomfortable fact – “If you are a woman, you will earn less than a man.

In 2016, the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that, if a woman leaves paid work and returns later on, her hourly wages will be “about 2% lower for each year [she has] taken out of employment.” This figure rises to 4% for women educated to A-Level standard or higher.

As a stay at home mum of 7 years, this terrifies me!

Stay at home mummy learning from home

Learning from home

Because of these shocking statistics, many women decide to start learning from home. There are a whole host of courses that you can do and all you need is access to the internet.

And keep reading if you’d like to win an online course worth £590

I am currently doing a Level 3 Diploma in Child Care with the Association of Learning (which is equivalent to an A-Level).

Learning from home is a great way to keep your hand in your chosen field, or even to retrain completely.

I trained as a Primary School teacher but it’s almost 8 years since I taught in the classroom. The childcare course has been a great way to refresh my memory.

It also includes lots of things that will help me as a mum including a whole section on how playing helps a child to develop. There’s also a section on childminders and their responsibilities so if anyone is considering this career path, that could be really useful.

And best of all – I’m learning from home and all the work is submitted online too. That means I can fit it around my family and my kids and just work when it’s convenient for me.

The Association of Learning have loads of online courses available. Here a few others that I’ve got my eye on:

  • Early Years and Childhood Psychology
  • Business Management
  • Creative Crafts
  • Business Studies

Learning from home - mum's to do list and laptop

Association of Learning

Once you have received your log-in details and can start learning from home straight away. My course is divided into units and is estimated to take 100 hours to complete. I actually think that’s a very generous estimate and it will be a lot less.

I can see that the course material is at the academic level of an A-Level but the workload certainly isn’t as there are no assignments and just 1 quick exam at the end (which can be repeated as many times as needed). This makes learning from home much easier because you don’t have to find time to write essays too.

The information is presented clearly and concisely and, at the end of this course, I will receive a Certificate of Achievement by Training Qualification UK (TQUK). It’s worth noting that the TQUK Level 3 is only one section of an Ofqual-regulated qualification and further study would be needed.

Now for something a little strange. For some reason, the course description on the website is different to the course that I have been signed up for. For example, the description says the course is assignment-based and there are no exams, but it’s actually the opposite – there are no assignments and 1 multiple-choice exam. The modules are also divided up differently and I only have 5 instead of 6.

I contacted the support team (who got back to me within 15mins even though it was 9pm) to ask about these differences and was given this answer:

I believe the team are working at condensing courses and aligning to new legislation as well as cutting down on modules and combining them.

The idea is to make it easier to understand, but with the same depth of knowledge.

I appreciate this but I’m not sure this is acceptable really. When you hand over your money for one thing and end up getting something very different, it doesn’t seem right. If it is true that they are just updating their courses, then they need to update their website accordingly so that other people are not caught out too.

If you are thinking of doing some learning from home, I recommend emailing them for confirmation on the course content first.

learning from home - child care diploma

Child care level 3 giveaway

And now, in the biggest Lucy At Home giveaway to date, I can announce that the Association of Learning have kindly agreed to gift one of you the opportunity of learning from home too!

The Child Care Level 3 course costs £590 and you will have 12 months to complete it. The modules are:

  • Child development (0-8yrs)
  • Providing for children’s physical needs
  • Learning through play
  • Safeguarding
  • Childminder info

All information will be provided and there is a tutor on hand to support you throughout.

The competition will end on Tuesday 27th March and full terms and conditions are listed below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and conditions

Child Care Level 3 Diploma Giveaway

No Purchase Necessary. Giveaway starts 27th February 2018 at 00:00 GMT and ends Wednesday 28th March  at 00:00 BST. UK entrants only. Entrants must be 18 years old or over. One winner will be selected at random using the random winner generator within Rafflecopter. The prize is a 12 month subscription to the Association of Learning’s Child Care Level 3 course (RRP £590). The winner will be contacted by email and their name will be displayed on the giveaway page using the Rafflecopter widget. Where possible, I will also tweet the winner. The winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. No cash alternative. Please note that Association of Learning are responsible for fulfilling this prize and Lucy At Home is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfil their prizes. I have represented the sponsor with the expectation they will fulfil their prize and in a timely manner. I will only be passing your details onto the sponsor so that they can contact you regarding your prize. I will not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ are in no way associated with this giveaway.  Please note that in order to qualify for the social media entries, a valid account that clearly identifies the holder as being a user is needed, and any entrants found to be using multiple accounts to enter will be ineligible.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Association of Learning and I was given free access to their Child Care Level 3 course for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own. For more info, check out my disclosure policy.

 

39 Comments

Add yours
  1. 3
    Vicky P

    I’ve done home learning before and really enjoyed it. I’ve just had a baby so am shorter on spare time than I have ever been but I would love to do more study.

  2. 4
    Yolanda Davis

    I’d like to win this for my daughter. She’s 18 & at college training to be cabin crew but airlines only take a very small percentage of people that finish the training. If this dream doesn’t work out this would be plan B.

  3. 10
    lorraine kirk

    I have been working as a secondary teacher for 15 years but have been volunteering to work with Reception and would like to gain more knowledge and experience of this age-group

  4. 11
    Michaela Turner

    I would love to complete this to give me a better chance of me getting a job within the childcare sector once my little one is at school

  5. 13
    Tee Simpson

    I would really like to work with children and have no background in childcare. This course would help me to get my foot in the door

  6. 14
    Sharon Lou Johnson

    if i won this, i would give this to my daughter, shes doing childcare at the moment but struggles at college, this could be great as i could help her from home and as i am a family where i havr adopted all my children, it will also help with our new little boy whos just under 1 , who we are getting end april this year x

  7. 15
    Victoria Prince

    I’m interested in taking this childcare course because my schooling as a child was a disaster due to illness, and I feel as if I never managed to make anything of my education as a result. I keep on debating taking an online course and childchare is a subject that really interests me so I think I’d enjoy it!

  8. 17
    Jade Bremner

    I unfortunately couldn’t go to college as I was living in a different country and this is something I would of loved to of done. I do enjoy spending time with children and used to look after children for friends and family x

  9. 18
    Rebecca Powell

    I have been a stay at home parent for the last two years and I would now love to study for a qualification to help me get back into work

  10. 23
    miriam krutska

    I would love to do this course as I work in nursery with 6m-4 years old but don’t have childcare qualifications only lots of childcare experience and I think this would be perfect start xxx

  11. 25
    Melanie

    About 20 years ago I did a BTEC National Diploma in Child Caré, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I didn’t complete the course and ended up going into finance. I miss working with children, and would LOVE to start my dream career of working with children.

  12. 28
    Jayne Kelsall

    I did my level 2 3 years ago alongside working in a primary school nursery, which I loved, but unfortunately I have had the last 3 years off after being diagnosed with breast cancer ( which I am hopefully now over ) and would love to get back to work but I do find that most places now require a level 3 and being a single mum to 4 children and not living near a college anymore this would be perfect as I could fit it in around my family. Thanks for the chance, it really is an amazing prize .xx

  13. 29
    Tracey F

    I’d absolutely love to do this course because I’m a mother (I don’t like saying SAHM, as we are rarely at home)! with two young children and I try to make every day count. We do so many activities, swim, play, sign, dance, sing and do crafts. I volunteer at our local school and have a real passion for seeing children develop. This is completely different to my job pre-children but I’d like to persue a career in Early Years as soon as my youngest starts at nursery. This course would be ideal for filling the gap and would show that I’m committed.

  14. 32
    Samantha Atherton

    I would love to do the course because I enjoying looking after my daughters school friends and would love to turn it into a business opportunity.

  15. 34
    jade rice

    id love to win so i can get a career in childcare learning whilst at home is great as i do have small children would be amazing to be qualified in something id love aswell as wathing them grow id feel like i hadnt missed anything x

  16. 35
    Jamie Edwards

    I’ve had my 3 children very young and I never got to further my education, I’d love to learn skill to gain a career from home around my children and job! What a great opportunity!

  17. 39
    Tracy Ashwin

    I’d love to have the chance to win as it would really improve my job prospects as a Nanny. I have the experience but not the qualifications. It’s never too late to learn and improve!

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