In the last post, we discussed less than sympathetic employers and how you had to safeguard your academic goals. Today, we talk about the people you can't quit, your family.
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| From http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com |
If you are the first person in your family to attend college or university, you may run into a common problem. When you were in high school, you had a nice, easy schedule that was, well, consistent. Monday through Friday, you went to school in the morning, took the same classes day after day, and arrived home some time in the afternoon. You may or may not have homework or studying to do outside of class. In college, you may have the bulk of your classes on two or three days. You may have different schedules each of those days. There is little or no time to work on projects, and no study time, so you may have a little or a lot, but you do have outside work.
Unfortunately, it can be hard for someone who hasn't experienced this to understand why you have less free time than you can show on paper. I ran in to this as a student.
My parents: "So, what's your schedule?" (I'd give them the paperwork.) "OK, you're off on Thursday afternoons. You can get your brother from school."
Me: "No. I have to study."
My parents: "What do you mean? You don't have class! Why must you be..."
And so it would go. What I had to do is sit down and explain my work load (both school and job), and we put together a family schedule for the semester. It took a while, but it did make life much easier when they knew what I could do, and I knew what they wanted and needed.
Think that is an area that many students fall into, schedule shows no class so therefore must be free time! Then they realise that free time = study time and suddenly that free time has vanished. All through my nursing we had class either morning or afternoon, the opposite session was meant to be self directed study, but it never was and then suddenly you had to cram everything into a short period of time because you had wasted all that valuable free time!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I was not the first in my family to go to college but somebody was! Great idea to help someone who is or even who has trouble managing time!
ReplyDeleteI found you on Blogging A to Z!
I just found your blog. Thanks for sharing your insights. You definitely have a niche. You may also enjoy reading my blog at www.dianeweidenbenner.com Happy blogging during the challenge.
ReplyDeletethat's definitely an awkward family photo! and yes, no matter how much they annoy, family is just something you can't quit:)
ReplyDeleteNutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Happy A-Zing!
Stopping in from the A to Z Challenge to say hello! And you have to have that schedule. Homework with the kids can be demanding and both parties need to know what to expect in order to make things work.
ReplyDeletePeople think the same of those who are self-employed. So you can just do .... whatever, right? I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month. My alphabet is at myqualityday.blogspot.com
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