Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Back to school for mom

I haven't been writing in my blog for a while, or checking in with any of my blog friends, because...

...school started.

Last Friday was my first day back to class, followed by a very hectic Saturday, during which we started our very first Low Vision functional vision assessment while wandering around West Portal in San Francisco. We jumped right back in to the "Saturday pace," trying to cram in too much knowledge in a single day, racing from one task to the next, not eating lunch until late in the afternoon and then leaving class after 4:30 with a spinning mind and exhausted body.

Yep, this is gonna be fun.

I love school... or more accurately, I love what I'm learning. But I have to admit I'm a bit overwhelmed by the volume of information I'm supposed to cram into my brain in only one semester. Today I did homework for over three hours and I'm only half way done. I have a paper due in three weeks and an assessment report due in two. I have to do two observations of Orientation and Mobility specialists in two different sites, plus I'm supposed to keep practicing and teaching the cane skills I learned last year.

Like I said, I love school. I love my teachers and my classmates and am so excited about my future in this profession. It is going to be great when I'm done!

When I'm done. For now, I'm just slogging through while trying not to lose my brain. I'm doing all of this while raising my depressed and ornery teen-aged daughter and publishing another book.

My press? After I finish this one book I'll be shutting down publishing for a while. I'll put my energy into marketing the books I've published, but I can't take on any more books for a while, for obvious reason. It bums me out, but I've chosen to go to school, therefore I need to devote my full attention to my classes, or at least the attention not directed at helping my child survive a bumpy adolescence.

Forgive me blog friends if I'm not leaving as many comments on your blogs or updating mine as regularly. School is going at full speed and I'm hanging on for dear life.

(I should explain the picture. On our last day of class last semester we created 3D models of our classroom. Teachers use 3D models to help explain mapping to children. The photo is a shot of the interior of our box, complete with little people, taken by a classmate (thanks, Jim!) Can you read what's written on the chalk board?)

3 comments:

leah said...

Good luck with your school semester! I love the classroom model. I am so impressed by your energy and ability to handle school while taking care of Queen Teen - the fact that you can occasionally still blog is just amazing!

Rick said...

good going. you can do it. just kettlebell your way through school!

Anonymous said...

Excellent model classroom! lol for what is on the blackboard! (Not telling - everyone has to look for themselves.)

Agreeing with Rick - you can do this. Recognizing the demands of each of your responsibilities shows you have the potential - not to mention all the ability you've shown here on the blog.

A saying that helped me through my master's program (a whiplash-paced 21-month program to become a PT):

Graduate school is an endurance test, not an intelligence test. I loved every painful minute of it and cherish more the profession it gave me.

Barbara

PS I think the dna-connections seen between generations in the appearance of babies is NEAT (not creepy). I bet your mom is pretty, too.