Bill and I are going to take the GRE in May.  Exciting huh.  I am going to take it because I'd like to get into a graduate program for the fall.  I'm looking at getting a masters degree in Public Health Administration.  I hate the idea of having to take a 4 hour standardized test.  I am not the best tester.  I took the ACT 4 times and the best I ever got was a 28.

So we decided to take it together - which is good and bad.  The good is that he and I can study for it together using the same study guides.  The bad is that I know us.  This is going to turn into a competition.  It would be great if we could get the same score!  but I'm sure I will score lower than him.  My only hope is that I will do just a little bit better on the math section.  

This should be interesting.

Are you curious about how much school work a student of an online college actually has?  It's more.  It's a lot.  It's like they try to compensate for time that you don't spend sitting in a classroom by giving you fifty thousand assignments in one week.

For example, this is what I have due this week:

• LITR202 - Initial Discussion Board Post and two responses to other class mates 
• CHFD410 - Quiz, 7-8 page research paper on childhood schizophrenia and Initial Discussion Board Post and two responses to other class mates
  
• CHFD446 - Quiz and Initial Discussion Board Post and two responses to other class mates
• CHFD348 - Quiz, 3 Page Research article summary and Initial Discussion Board Post and two responses to other class mates
• CHFD311 - Extam #1, 2 quizzes, and Initial Discussion Board Post and two responses to other class mates (this class usually requires 2 discussion board posts, which means I have 4 replies that I have to do as well.)

If you count, that is 23 assignments.  Today, I did 6 tests.  All of my discussion board posts will have to be completed tomorrow - after we get home from cub scouts and do Stewart's homework. On second thought, I might have to try to do some at lunch.  I need to get almost all of my assignments completed so I can spend time writing this research paper that I haven't even started. 

I need a clone - oooh, inspiration for my next post!

So i have registered for the last 2 classes that I need to graduate.  If I can manage to make it through the month of October, struggling through 5 classes, when my 2 final classes start in December, it will be the last two I need to complete my degree.

Lets have a party!

4:00am - Parker woke up and was fussing.  I got him to calm down and then as I lay there trying to go back to sleep, I realized I should probably change his diaper.  So I got back up and changed his diaper.  And then I lay there thinking about how much home work I have due this weekend.  A 6-8 page paper on Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, a final and all of my other regular assignments.  So I got up.  I've been sitting here in the office doing the other assignments and trying to finish up the final (I'm on the 2nd to last essay question).  Sometimes i get up to do some laundry but every time I do that I go by the kitchen and see that it needs to be cleaned, the table needs to be cleaned the floor needs to be dust mopped, things need to be put up, everything needs to be dusted, and for some reason our fish tank is really cloudy?

I was trying to give my mind a break by playing around on Facebook when i realized the sun had come up and somehow it is almost 7:30!?  I've been awake for 3 hours and I haven't finished this stupid final.  And now all of the sudden I'm wondering what the heck I have been doing for 3 hours.  Did I pass out for 2 hours and not realize it?!  

Do I have the energy to go in for my 2 hours of tortue on Saturday?   It starts in 2 hours.  1 hour of spinning and then the 1 hour weights class.  can I just say that squats and lunges are almost impossible for me after an hour of spinning.  My legs are all rubbery and floppy and tired and she wants me to squat down - with weights?

I think Stewart just got up - and I hear Parker?

I am officially a senior.  It has taken me 11 years to get here, but here I am.  This summer I managed to get 4 A's and 1 lousy stupid B.  I got the lousy stupid B because the instructor was more concerned with my use of APA formatting than the actual content of my paper.  I am a good writer.  I do not get C's on papers.  But i turned in that same paper (with a different intro and summary) for a different class and got a strong A.  I got A's on the other papers that I was stressed about in a previous blog post. 

I wrote about how sex ed needs to be reformed to counter the strong influence of the media which I creatively turned into a paper about adolesence stressors.  I also wrote about divorce and how even though the divorce rate is high the American Family is not in complete dissolution.  LOL - this is also the paper that I turned in at the end of last month for a different class.  And then I wrote a paper on parenting techniques as it relates to my family.  To be honest, I didn't try very hard on this paper - especially after i found out that I got a C on my sex ed paper.  So I whipped out 7 pages of parenting techniques and how it makes me a better parent.  I turned it in without proofreading it - and I got a 96.  He praised my organizational skills and how well my paper flowed from one topic to another.  This made me feel a little better about my writing skills.

This week I have no homework.  I'm not sure I know what to do with myself.  I wish this week of nothingness would have come last week when my parents were here (and I was on vacation!) but I'll take it anyway.

NOT BECAUSE I'M GETTING ONE - let me clear that up right here and now.  :)  The paper I wrote this past weekend was about divorce.  I learned some interesting facts.

1. 1 out of 2 marriages - that is 50 % - end in divorce.
2. most marriages end in divorce within the first 10 years.
3. most remarriages end in divorce in less than 7 years.
4. Couples who "cohabilitate" have a greater chance of divorcing.
5. having a higher education (vs. being a high school dropout) increases the probability that your marriage will succeed.
6. so does having an income over $50,000 (vs. $25,000).
7. so does having kids after the first 7 months of marriage (vs. having kids before marriage.)
8. and so does having parents that are still married.
9. couples spend more time and energy on advancing the man's career, thus leaving the woman less able to support herself (and children) when divorced.
10. because a divorce usually occurs after the first 10 years, the ages of children involved are very young.  These children do not have the cognitive abilities to understand the complexities of divorce.  They also do not have the vocabulary to express their feelings about what is happening.  This leaves children feeling rejected, at fault, confused, frustrated, and angry.

I have FIVE papers due in July.

1. 12-15 pages -
2. 3-5 pages - Do you believe the American family is in a state of decline or just changing? 
3. 3-5 pages - What is the biggest challenge facing American families today.
4. 7 pg minimum - on a topic we covered in class (Children & Stress)
5. 7 pg minimum - on a topic we covered in class (Parenting)

 My mind is exhausted thinking about it.