Monday, November 3, 2008

Yay!!!! I'm finally done!

I am celebrating tonight because I am finally done with my two online graduate classes I've been taking! The last thing I wanted to do at this point in my life is take college classes, but unfortunately I had to renew my teaching certificate by taking six credits every five years to keep it current. I've worked too hard and long to let my certificate expire, so I had to take the classes to keep it current. So for the last few months I've been working at night typing papers and doing assignments trying to get everything done. I didn't want to attempt to do any of the work during the day with the kids, so the only time I could really concentrate on working is at night...so I've gotten in the habit of staying up til 2am working on grad work (while taking breaks to blog, check my e-mail, facebook etc.:) Well, as of tonight...I just turned in my last assignment and final project and it feels great! I feel such relief and am excited about the time I will now have in the evenings to to what I want to do! I'm grateful for the classes I took because they were all about teaching children to read and were perfect right now as Logan and Tanner are starting to put sounds together to form words. I used them as my guinea pigs as I tried different games and strategies with them (since I didn't have a classroom of students) and then I would report on it. They liked playing the phonics games with me while the babies napped...I called it our "school time" and they always got excited about it. Anyways, now that the classes are over, there are so many prospects about how to spend my time in the evening...I am excited to catch up on all the books I want to read!! I am finishing "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer and am looking forward to the next two books in the series. I read the first two so slowly because I just didn't have much time for reading... I'm also planning to read "Tell No One" by Harlen Coben. This book was recommended by my Bishop of all things:) He lent me the book claiming it will make a good book club book...we shall see...seems pretty suspenseful. Our next book club book is "The Freedom Factor" so that's on the list...oh and I want to finish reading the "Children of the Promise" series...and the one after that "The Hearts of the Chilren". Man, so many books, so little time!!! My sister told me about a website called www.goodreads.com I joined it and it's great! If anyone is an avid reader...you should join! You basically have a profile and update all the books you've read, are reading, and want to read...you connect with all your other "friends" and exchange book reviews, ratings, etc. Anyways...just had to share my relief and excitement for all my new found time...although now I'm thinking that I shouldn't post this cuz the minute I do, something will come along to fill it...ok, I'm off to read!!

8 comments:

  1. Julie you must feel so relieved but so good about accomplishing this. At least the next time you have to do it all your kids will be in school:)

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  2. 1st of all... are you kidding me? you are so crazy! you are seriously the mom that wears a cape, and a mask! I am so impressed, and proud of you!

    2nd of all... Bish told me to read Tell No One too. It was very suspenseful. I don't know about the book club idea though? It is a weird reccomendation coming from the bishop, then again, he never claims to be in the norm! Enjoy it, and let me know what you think.

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  3. You are such a show off :) Seriously, how can I keep up? You are making my life really really hard! ...alie

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  4. Congratulations Julie. So glad you're done. This post all about books was right up my alley! :)

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  5. Good for you! I know the feeling. I finished my masters online in 2006, and I made sure I saved two classes for the end after I already renewed for my Professional so that I could use those as my renewal in 2011! :)
    Love the new look on your blog; the pictures are beautiful. Did you create your own header?

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  6. Congratulations, Julie! I can tell how excited you are by your post. I'm sure you'll find plenty of stuff to fill your "free" time! There's always something that has to get done!

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  7. That is so awesome. I can imagine the load off your shoulders to have it done. I just love all your pictures. Your family is so beautiful. If you send me your email address when you get a chance, I'll write back and tell you, you know - a summary of the last 10 years or so! :) here's my email: cpbake@q.com

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  8. Julie, I can't believe you! Way to go! We might have to talk sometime about keeping up certificates in MI! Our pics were done by good old JC Penny! =0)

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