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My name is Roz and I am in my second semester at Liberty University. I have always wanted to get my bachelor's degree in Psychology, so I am finally getting started. Did I mention that I have a full-time job as well? Oh, and five kids and a husband with a disability? You think you're busy? Come read about MY life!
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I just finished my final test. The only required paper I had to write was completed yesterday. Because it had three parts, I worked on a part at a time and then merged it all together. This had been a really interesting semester. Besides school work, I learned that even the best laid plans can go wrong. I now know that I always will need to have a back up plan. I also learned that if you work full-time with children that it is next to impossible to complete an 8 week class in 4 weeks. I think this was the most valuable lesson I learned. Next semester, I need to have a different strategy. One thing that helps me is that even though I will be taking 12 hours, I will only be taking two classes at a time. Spring 2007 begins January 1st and ends eight weeks later. Then without a break, I will be starting the next two classes. My mind needs a short rest. In a way, I am glad that I get a two month break, especially through the holidays. We all know how stressful Thanksgiving and Christmas are, that I am glad I don’t have to add school on top of these holidays. I would say that this downtime will give me a chance to rethink what I am doing. It will also give me a chance to refocus on my ultimate goal which is a BS in Psychology. This last month, with everything that has been going on in my life with work and home, it has been especially hard to stay focused. Sometimes, my grades reflect this lack of being focused. I have always wanted to teach and help young children, but lately I have begun to wonder if what I am putting myself through is worth it. I guess one reason is that study material for the final exams all of the classes this semester really did not give us any indication to what was going to be on the exams and that was really hard. Although for psychology, we had 4 tests and no cumulative final exam, I think that it would have been really hard to study not knowing what to expect. But I survived at least I think I did. Because of financial aid and the fact that the fall semester started one day before my current classes ended, unless I wanted to pay out of pocket, I have to wait. This will be my last post until January 2007. Good luck everyone.
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I finished the one and only paper I had to write for my psychology class. I will take my final test tomorrow. What a weekend it was. Trying to keep my three year old happy while I tried to study was not an easy task. Being a Sunday, all the TVs were on football games and she wanted to watch her DVDs or her television channel. Because it was the weekend, I let her stay up a little extra on Friday night and I was able to listen to some of my lessons. I only had 5 lessons left when the weekend started. You would think that it would be easy but it wasn’t. I was able to satisfy her for a little while on Saturday, but then I felt guilty because I kept telling her just a little more…a few more minutes. Finally, I had to find a stopping point and let her watch her DVDs. I know now that I cannot possibly do my school work at home. She is the only one that I have to worry about. My other children will keep busy by playing their Xbox 360 or being on their computer, mainly playing games on their Xbox 360. I can’t tell you how glad I am to have a little bit of a break. I still have one more test to take and for that I need to study. I don’t mind viewing the tapes as much as I mind all the reading we have to do. I wonder if they get that much reading in a regular college setting. I guess if you have more time than 8 weeks it really would not seem like so much. My game plan of doing the lessons from one course at a time backfired on me in the end. I know now that I have to have a different plan next semester. Well, it’s back to the books to study for my 4th and final test. Wish me luck !!!
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I now know why I do my school work away from home. If I had to do the majority of my work while at home, I would never get it done. As of today, I have two lessons left to complete. Yesterday, I had five. It is so hard trying to watch lesson tapes while your 3 year-old is asking for you to do things. I started watching the tapes in one room, then she wanted to watch TV in that room, so I had to change rooms. This happened several times. I can honestly say that if I had to do my work at home, I would have to seriously reconsider my goal of getting my bachelor’s degree. I am pretty sure that I will complete the lessons that I need to. Then I will need to study and take my final test on Monday. That will only leave my application and analysis paper to write. I have started writing bits and pieces of it already. Beginning Monday, I will start to merge the pieces that I have written to help make one complete paper. It will be a close raise to the finish, but I am confident that I will make it. As my daughter, who is 3, is in another room, I need to take advantage of her being in another part of the house to finish my last two lessons. It still seems like so far away but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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Here I am again. With only five days left, without taking any work home I will never complete this course. I have until only Tuesday to finish everything including the one paper we are supposed to write. I took one test today and have one left, I hope to take that test on Monday. I should have no problem in taking it on Monday providing I finish all my lessons this weekend. That is a must do. So, instead of maxing and relaxing this weekend, I will need to buckle down and study. As the end of my work day is drawing near, I stopped listening to the lessons and have started writing the one paper that I have to do. We are required to do a 3 – 5 page application and analysis paper. No specific number of words and it needs to be double spaced. I have found that if I just write and let the words flow and type it single spaced that after I add double spacing, I can easily get 3 – 5 pages. So this weekend between watching my lessons, I am going to be slowly writing my application and analysis paper. The first section is to be 3 to 5 pages and the topic of this section is for us to demonstrate what we have learned through our course material. We have to show what we have gained from the course material. The second apart is supposed to be the application on the topic we have chosen. We have to answer questions like what was most intriguing to us about our chosen topic and why or how does it apply to our life right now and again why. The third part is only to be one paragraph and it should address why the field of psychology interests us or why the study of psychology is of no significant interest to us. Since I am trying to obtain my Bachelor of Science in Psychology, this should be the easiest part of the paper. This paper counts for 20% of our overall grade and the grading criteria will consist of comprehension, writing skills, grammar and composition and overall neatness. So the countdown begin. Between washing clothes this weekend and cleaning, I will also need to begin on my paper and finish my last 4 lessons so I can take my final test on Monday.
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I am so close yet it the end seems so far away. I cannot believe that this last course and semester is almost over. I still have five lessons, two tests and one paper before I am through. This is becoming like a race to the finish line. I had written down a schedule but so far I have not been able to follow it. It is imperative that I pick up the pace with it. By now, I was supposed to two lessons away from finishing. But that is not the case. I have five lessons left. I don’t want to be pushed to the very last date of October 24th to take my last test. As much as I hate it, unless I can complete five lessons tomorrow or even four lessons, I will have to take some work home with me. I really need to finish the lessons by the weekend, and then I can be a little more confident in completing this before the deadline. I was doing pretty good today until they had to come in my office to complete some electrical work that threw the afternoon off track. Now for today, I have only done one lesson and was going to take test #3, but my proctor has not given it to me yet. He has also been busy. If all I have to do by Monday is take test #4 and write my paper, that I can handle. Thank goodness that Friday’s are usually not that busy, so I am crossing my fingers that I can breeze through the five lessons tomorrow. I will try to make that my goal. I know many people have been in the same place as I am in right now and I can only blame myself for that. Perhaps I should have had a better game plan than the one I had decided on. What I did was since I had two eight week classes left, I had planned on completing one each month. But it was easier to say than to do. While eight week classes help you achieve your goal faster, they seem to have a little more work than sixteen week classes or so it seems. I know that they have the same but right now, I am feeling a little rushed so it seems like they have more work.
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