Life makes self directed study very difficult at times.

This Semester

I would guess most people have experienced the sensation of everything hitting at once or not at all. It is amazing how that happens.

I am getting ready for my third semester at Goddard which in itself sets my life flying as I prepare my family to tend to themselves for the week plus that I am away.  Also, as all of us students who manage the responsibilities of adulthood as well, I must consider how to plan my life around my studies.

 But also, there is always more. Usually it all hits after I get home. There were health crises of one sort or another, within a week or so of my returning home from residency at school.  This semester I have the “luxury” of knowing in advance I will be juggling my school load around contract work which will take me on road trips regularly. I also know I will be substitute teaching. This semester I know in advance there will be medical issues to address, hopefully not from a full crisis mode. This semester, I know I have a summer ahead with a teen and a not quite mature 20 year old child who will both need shuttling and cajoling. This semester my eyes are more open to the possibility of confusion than previously. And still I am likely to be surprised.

 I want to do better. This semester I start my senior study. This semester I have to meet requirements to continue to my final semester. This semester I will be working my ass off.

Reading Semester End Evaluation

It took me over a week beyond the end of the semester to look at my advisor’s evaluation of my semester.

My first one, a year ago, had gone into much detail, reviewing the work I had done over the semester. This one was simple and it basically passed me. I was sad, too, because it basically gave me a “pass” too.   Granted it has been a crappy few months in my life.  Family illnesses, accidents and even a death. But I feel like I let myself down in the quality of work I did.  I know I learned plenty – about myself if not the subject matters at hand. Still, I know I dropped a ball or two. I am not sure that was acknowledged there. Should it have been?