Peer reviews are they good or are they bad.

Well here I am in week 7 of my 10 week term and I am working like crazy. This term has been my hardest term by far. I am taking three classes and now on top of it all I got a job. So I have to find a way to make my schedule work to do school, work, and still be a mom and friend. It really has been a crazy couple of weeks. But here I go again going completely off topic of my title. I need to stop doing that too.

So in my composition class we are writing an essay and this week we are having our peers read what we have written in a rough draft so far and then they tell us what they think of our paper and where we could make improvements. Now when you are first told you are going to having your peers review what you have done that can be a little intimidating but really in the long run it is a good thing.

I have noticed that when I am writing a paper I am so focused on what I am doing I can sometimes miss the little things that would make it even better. Also having your peers review your paper instead of a family member is good too because sometimes family members want to spare your feelings so they will tell you how great it is and not tell you what you need to improve. Where peers are neuteral and they will tell you honestly if it is good or needs improvement.

I am glad about that because this paper, although I like the topic, I am having a real hard time writing or finding research on it. I am sure I will do just fine in the long run but gettin a few more eyes on it to let me know where I could improve and where it is just right never hurts anything.

What has been going on these past six weeks.

Well writing a blog can be good for some and stressful for others. But when I am given topics every week from my instructor on what to write it kind of makes it easier. But this weeks topic is kind of a harder one for me to write. There has been a lot that has been going on for me these past six weeks. I am not sure how much I may or may not reveal, but you never know because once I start typing in here it just all seems to pour out.

Well many of you know about six weeks ago was also the start to the holiday season and that in itself can be very stressful. But for me this year it has been extremely stressful. I have been unemployed since March of this year and living on just my unemployment. I am also a single mom with a teenage boy and all the fun and challenges it brings with it. Plus I have three older children. One who is married and live in Washington with her husband. Who I miss very much and the other two live with me part time and their dad the other time. I have also been doing my fourth term at school and for some reason I thought I could handle three classes. I don't know what I was thinking this three class schedule is crazy. I did however this past week get a job so that has been a great blessing in my life.

I am however still very stressed. I think my biggest stress is the fact that this is the first time in my 20 plus years of being a parent that I am not able to give my kids a single thing for Christmas and I am not even sure if I can make them a Christmas meal. It is frustrating sometimes being a single mom with little to no income, but I know I will get through this and I have really great kids and they are just excited that we will be able to play games and spend time together.

So that is what I have going on in my life these last six weeks. I almost put six months. I guess that is a sign of what I am going through. It may have only been six weeks that I am going through some of this stuff but it feels a lot longer.

The best thing I have going for me is the fact that I know that all this is only temporary and that I have bigger and better things ahead of me. I just have to keep my mind on that and all will be good.

School, work and single parenting

Since I have taken this adventure in my life of going back to school it has been very interesting. When I first started I had been recently laid off of work and so I had decided to return to school and get a degree so that I may have more options when looking for a job and also so I would be closer fit to what employers were looking for.

So because I had started school when I was laid off I made school my work. I was able to put all my effort into it since all I had was school and then be a mom. It worked out really great because I did my school work while my kids were in school so I wasn't taking any of my time away from them.

Well this past week I started a new job and now I am finding out how hard it is to juggle work, school, and home all in one. I feel like I am constantly working on something. I either am working on school work or I am helping my kids or I am at work. It makes life very busy and school a whole lot harder than it was.

I am sure that as time goes by I will get into a flow and it will all work out just fine it is just hard right at the moment. I do not know how single moms with small children do it at all. My youngest is 16 so it isn't like I have to watch him constantly and he can help out around here. I give single moms with small children a lot of credit for what they do. I mean I complain sometimes with all that I do and I have older kids I couldn't imagine doing school, work and parenting by myself with small children.

As I continue on this journey it will be interesting to see how it changes now with me having a job and school. If anyone has any suggestions on how to juggle all of this I am more than willing to hear them.

Oh the Joys of Citation of My work

This term of school has truly been interesting for me. I am not sure why it has been such a struggle but it has. I think part of the problem is that I am taking three classes instead of just two. Also I am working two jobs and being a single mom who's parents have moved in with her for the winter so that I can help them. Gee I guess maybe that is why this term has been so challenging. Guess I never really sat down and thought about it. Oh and to top it off this term is right over all the major holidays. My birthday included of course. OK well this really isn't what my post was going to be about so now lets get to the real topic of my post.

This week in my composition class we are discussing the importance of citing our work. Now when I started this whole college adventure and decided to do it online instead of the more traditional role I never even thought of the fact that I would have to write papers and essays and have to cite my work. Then the first time I hear that I have to cite my work the instructor says and I need to cite it in APA format. OK so what is APA format and how do I do this. So being a mom of teenagers who would be the obvious people to ask, my teenagers of course. So I start with my oldest and go down the line and guess what I got for an answer from all of them... What is APA format mom. That is right none of my kids knew what it was either. So I am thinking to myself oh great they don't know how am I a person who has not been in school for over 20 years supposed to know. Thankfully our school as an amazing resource center that we can access online also and it walks you through step by step how to cite in APA format. So that is one hurdle I was able to overcome.
Now on to my next problem when it comes to citing. I am so nervous that what I do may be considered plagiarized and I will forget to cite that I don't really want to write about anything anymore. Can someone please tell me in simple terms how I can write anything without citing everything I am writing when it comes to reports and essays. I mean my understanding of citing is that if a sentence I write is knowledge I gained from reading something then I need to cite that reading. My issue with that is some of my knowledge that I have is from things that I read years and years ago but I could not tell what the name of the article or book I read or even the author. It is something that just becomes part of my knowledge base. So when I repeat what I have learned from years ago how can I cite that or should I even cite it? My other problem with citing is there are time when I am reading an article for a report and a sentence that I read I say to myself well I already knew that. So if I use any information like what I read do I need to cite the article even if the information was already part of my knowledge base? One last question it I have been told if it is common knowledge then you don't need to cite it. Well what one person might consider common knowledge another person may not so how do you know if what I think is common knowledge is the same as what others think is common knowledge?
I do believe that citing your work is important. It is not right to take someone elses work and claim it as your own. I like that citing my work is an important part of my education at my school I just am not sure I am always doing it correct.

What is it like to be an online learner

I think one of the most common questions I get from people when I tell them that I take classes online is, what is that like? How do you take class online? I will have to admit when I was first looking into online classed I had the same questions. But I am now in my fourth term at Kaplan University and I just could not imagine doing school any other way. I love the fact that I can set my schedule. I can do class in the morning or in the middle of the night, whenever I feel like doing the school work. I really enjoy this kind of a pace.

I realize that online learning is not for everyone because you do need to be self disciplined. You also need to be able to tell your friends and family no to doing things because you have class.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about online learning is that it is easier than traditional school. I do not believe that to be true at all. With online learning you have to be able to kind of self teach because you do not have a classroom to go to really. You also have to really work on making your school work a priority because you do not have anyone else looking over your shoulder telling you that you need to get it done.

If I could go back in time to before I started my online classes I would still pick this education direction. The reason I would is because it really does fit into my life. I think as time goes on this will be a direction a lot of people with choose when it comes to their post secondary option. But before someone chooses this direction in learning they really do need to take a self inventory to make sure it is the right thing for them. Not everyone can be successful at this type of learning.

Welcom

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.

I have blogged before and it really can be fun. I did not keep up on it though and so now starting this one will be a new outlet for me to go. As you can see under my picture I am a single mom. The nice thing is though 3 of my 4 children are now adults so it is not as much of a struggle as it used to be. I am currently working as an independent Thirty-One consultant and I am loving it. I look forward to people coming and checking out my blog as well as following all of your blogs. See you in class.