2012 Student Mama Accountability Thread - Page 2

[onedayatatime]

Well done Osker!!! Yay! I hope you and DW have a fab date. ;-)

Tracylee - I had about 20 interviews or so to transcribe, and they were loooong interviews (about an hour and a half to two hours). I transcribed as many as I could before DS was born, then I transcribed as needed when I was writing up. There's very little chance that I'll need to produce the transcriptions for my work except in the form of short quotations, so this approach worked for me and my advisor agreed with me. However, I have a friend (with two boys now and expecting twins in June) who, in an effort to complete transcriptions before number one was born, hired someone to have hers transcribed. Or at least a few of them. In her case I believe it worked well because a) she had the money from her student loans to spend on transcription and b) it freed up a lot of her precious time to research/write, which we all know is at a premium. So for her, it worked well. I think if the money you spend on transcription is worth the peace of mind of having it done, then go for it. 

Halfasianmomma - That sounds like a good plan! Good luck! Btw, what's your field? There are some interesting articles on international influence on design in anthropology, but that may not be relevant to you. ;-)

[Halfasianmomma]

Originally Posted by onedayatatime 

Halfasianmomma - That sounds like a good plan! Good luck! Btw, what's your field? There are some interesting articles on international influence on design in anthropology, but that may not be relevant to you. ;-)

Onedayatatime...my masters' degree will be focused on developping a specialization in distance education, more specifically for adult learners. I am currently taking a class about instructional design methodology, and doing an assignment on recent developments in that field, hence the focus on cultural diversity.

 

[onedayatatime]

Halfasianmomma - ah, that makes more sense. I misunderstood your original focus. But that sounds really interesting!

[caitiebluebug]

Hello mamas! I just found this and the original Phd thread, and was sooo excited!

I'm a new mom to an 8 week old and I'm in the middle of my dissertation fieldwork (anthropology). I finished my qualifying exams/proposal defense during my first trimester, announced my pregnancy to my (thankfully very supportive!) committee a week before the defense, then picked up and moved with DH to Costa Rica for research (full disclosure, DH is Costa Rican so his family is close by and very helpful). We won't move back to the US till Dec, when dd is 13mo. old.

I seem to remember getting some work done Aug-Oct, but then dd was born Nov 26th and I've only started remembering that I have a research project to finish! Yikes! My project concerns migrant families here in Costa Rica, so I am both researcher and research subject in some regards. Thankfully that means that dd can come along to most interviews and observations when DH can't watch her (or like right now, when she's nursing every 2 hours). I hope this thread will motivate me to start working again. This week I've finished revisions on an article in Spanish for a local journal, which is a requirement of my fellowship/affiliation here. Not exactly fieldwork, but it got me thinking again about the project and is definitely a box to tick off on the things I must do before I'm done. Of course, now I have to get our tax stuff in order and put together our consular report of birth abroad application for dd.

I know there's at least one anthropologist mama on here and am wondering if there are any more...I'm thinking about putting together a panel on family and fieldwork for the 2012 AAAs in San Francisco, but frankly, don't know enough other anthropologists with families!

Best of luck finishing up the week productively!

[SugarGlider]

- Who you are

- What you are studying

- Where you are in your progress

- Goals for the month/semester/term

- Any major challenges you may have - where you need support

I am a new student, in my second semester.  I have been wanting to go back to school for over ten years but I wasn't able to until now due to having an old student loan.  It was finally paid off a year ago with our income tax and I started back to college in the fall.  I did fairly good in my first semester but I had two classes that I did badly in.  I got two A's, an A-, a B+, a C (in Biology), and a D (in Algebra 2).  I ended up with a 3.04 GPA which is good but I am pre-vet and I should have done better.

I have since discovered public health and I really feel that it would be a good path for me.  I think it is the true essence of what I want to do with my life.  I have not done a formal switch yet but I am taking PH classes this semester.

The problem is that I am very un-motivated this semester, despite a lot of really good reasons to be motivated.  Maybe I'm scared of getting bad grades again or whatever, I'm not sure.  I am in my 3rd week and I'm just so fed up with myself.  Last night I withdrew from a class (which may or may not end up being a huge mistake since I will get a W) and waited till the last minute to do three online class assignments.  There is NO reason why.  I had plenty of time I just couldn't focus.  When I did do them it was really interesting and I wasn't bored.

I'm mad at myself and I need to get it together!  I need to focus and keep up with my work.  I have 3 online classes (well, 3 and a 1 credit course that will be over in two weeks) and I'm re-taking Algebra 2 at school.  Algebra 2 is 7.5 weeks then I will switch to Algebra 3.  Algebra is really a challenge for me.

My ultimate goal at this point is a Masters in Public Health.  

[onedayatatime]

Hi new mamas!

Caitiebluebug - yay, another anthropologist! I don't know how many of us there are, but there doesn't seem to many that I know either. I know of one other mum in my department and I knew OF another, but haven't ever met her. A conference sounds fun, and in SF to boot! If I could scare up the money, you could definitely count me in! I wrote a section of my methodology on how pregnancy changed the nature of my fieldwork contacts, and I know there's material out there. Congrats on getting back to work with a newborn too! I tried to work when DS was about 4 or 5 weeks old, but he was sooooo fussy and it just wasn't happening. I stressed about it a lot at the time, and in hindsight, I needn't have.

SugarGlider - I know that kind of apathy all too well. It definitely hits me some days and even though I know I should be motivated, I just can't focus. I end up giving up, feeling very frustrated at myself and my circumstances and feeling just guilty in general. Then other days are very good work-wise, so I try to hold on to those days and make the most of them. Sometimes you need to cut yourself some slack. ;-)

[Uff Da]

Hi

Thank you for starting this.

I am L. I am working on becoming an occupational thearapist. I am half-way through my coursework. The program I am in is doctorate level and is mostly online- we do have labs here locally that are hands-on. This program is 3 1/2 years long. I have to take it one semester at a time otherwise I get to stressed/freaked out. We are in the early stages of research. We will be conducting a quantitative study looking at the types of complementary and alternative medicines used in practice by occupational therapists. I think my goals are the same this semester as previous ones: survival- pass my classes. I had been hoping for stellar grades at the beginning, but gave that up as with a little one there were just not enough hours in the day to study everything really well. Major challenges/support: Surviving home stress. My husband feels he may be laid off in the near future. I just need to be able to better compartmentalize stress and worry so that it doesn't cut into time I need for classes.

[Mom2OnePlusTwo]

- Who you are

- What you are studying

- Where you are in your progress

- Goals for the month/semester/term

- Any major challenges you may have - where you need support

Hi all!

I am a mother to three children and started my schooling late.  I am in the interdisciplinary school of Rural and Northern Health, with a background in social work which were my undergrad and grad degree.  This is my first year and I will be finished my coursework this April. My goals are to finish my coursework and after that: start on my comp reading list.  I have my committee ready and we are meeting in two weeks for the first time. 

Challenges are the readings!  I procrastinate and then rush at the end to get it done.  This works but my body is taking a beating...I have high blood pressure and have started having migraines which last two to three days. 

I need to remember to do my readings, papers, and presentations in small bits or I get overwhelmed and my body pays for it. 

My children are 16, 5 and 7.  I have been with my husband since 1999, and have been married to him since 2008.  Without him I would not be completing my PhD.  He is my best friend and supporter in life.  :)

[onedayatatime]

Welcome new mamas! 

I've just sent off three revised chapters to my advisors. Five more to edit/revise, and I'm thinking these were the easy ones. I don't know, we'll see. I'm really nervous that after all this work, it still won't be good enough. It doesn't help that I've hit a bit of motivational slump and can't seem to get energised to work. Ugh. And the pressure is mounting to get it in for May, because I keep thinking this baby will come early (although I'm sure that Murphy's Law means it will be way overdue lol!). Otoh, if I can finish this, I'll have a baby at the end of it - how's that for a finishing present? 

[SugarGlider]

How is everyone doing?

I finished my 1 credit class with a 94 but I'm still struggling to want to do my classwork.  I think that for Fall i'm going to go to more classes at school (instead of online classes) because I miss that face time.  The one class I have at school I just go in and work on a computer and I've never even talked to my teacher.  I think I need some interaction to help me stay motivated :)

[Halfasianmomma]

I just can't seem to finish my last big essay for this grad course. It's not a question of motivation...it's a question of time and energy. Things at work at NUTS and at the end of the day, when DD is in bed at 8:45, I don't have the brain power.

I have to find a way to finish this thing because the tutor gave me an extension till March 20th. I have to hand in this fourth assignment, write a 1 page formative assignment for one of my peers and then write a short 5th assignment evaluating my progress in this course. ARG LET IT END ALREADY!!

[osker]

OMG, I am procrastinating SO MUCH lately! It's really insane.  I sent in Ch1 to my advisor and have heard NOTHING in return. Not even a quick, "got it, thanks". It's so infuriating. Part of me wants to write the entire rest of the dissertation and shove it up her nose, but the rest of me keeps panicking and saying to myself that I haven't heard back because it's just that terrible and she's going to reject the entire thing so why bother moving forward.  I can rationally tell myself that no matter what I will need a literature review (the chapter I'm on now), but I just keep getting stuck. I'm so annoyed with her for being a road block that I'm making myself an extra large road block.  

The killer is that this chapter is the bulk of the whole thing. It's probably going to be about 45 pages and the rest of the entire thing will only be about 30 pages beyond that, in three more chapters.  So, really, once this is done, the rest is just a quick slide into home... but yet I am still stuck.  DW is likely to be SO MAD if I don't make a massive amount of progress here soon as I have been dragging this thing out for more than three years now.  I really have no excuse. I tell myself that I need a large block of time to work.. and then when I carve out the time (took a sick day today), I tell myself that I have so much time today it won't matter if I play around on facebook for a little while (FIVE HOURS>!?).  I literally just wasted five hours on facebook. I can't even remember what has helped me to be successful in the past. There's not really even any brain power involved at this point, just gluing together what I've already done. Why, oh why can't I make any progress?? 

**whooo, I wrote one. effing. paragraph.  Someone smack me already.**

Edited by osker - 2/24/12 at 1:39pm

[japonica]

Subbing

Hello to all the hard working mamas!

I'm currently mulling over my options. I'm looking at either a PhD in Indigenous Studies or a postgraduate program in Indigenous Policy here in Australia. I have a MA in Cultural Anthropology and BA (Hon) in Native Studies. The PhD program is 4 years long, 100% research. No tuition fees for postgraduate research degrees. Luckily, my husband is supportive of whatever I choose to do. 

Reading over this thread reminds me of trying to finish my MA thesis. I had finished the fieldwork and interviews early on, but then ill health and the death of our first baby derailed my program. I finally finished it, writing the whole thing in about 12 weeks after my department advised me that I had to either finish it or leave. My DD was 14 months old when I started writing. I had no childcare. It was crazy. She'd get me up at 5 am, I had her all day, then would write from the time DH came home from work until 1 am every night. Repeat. LOL. I made it to the library on weekends.

Anyway, I must be mad for thinking about it...I think I'm getting flashbacks now...  Seriously though, I appreciate the honesty and experiences shared in this thread. Kudos.

Edited by japonica - 5/3/12 at 4:45am

[harmonyhouse]

Hi! I hope I can join you all!

- Who you are: I'm a single mother of a 6 and 1/2 year old daughter. I'm currently working as a substitute teacher, but will soon be unemployed when the school year ends.

- What you are studying: I am planning to start attending law school in September of this year to earn a JD.

- Where you are in your progress: LSAT is done, apps are done, final decision done, just looking for housing and trying to get to a place where I feel confident that this will work out.

- Goals for the month/semester/term: None of this yet. My biggest goal right now is finding summer employment to save moving expenses and finding an affordable apartment near school.

- Any major challenges you may have - where you need support: Right now I'm just so unsure of whether I'm making the right decision. I have no support from my family on this, but they rarely support me on anything.

I read through all the previous posts; nice to meet you all!

[Halfasianmomma]

Ok I'm baaaaaaaack. Finished the last course I was working on with a nice juicy A+.

I'm now studying FT, doing my masters' degree. Aieeee someone save me! This semester, I've got 1 undergraduate course in adult education, and 2 graduate courses in distance education (one rather theoretical and one regarding online tutoring). So far, I tried working on all three courses at once but it got WAY to confusing because the topics were all very similar, as were the reference articles. I've chosen to work through 1 course at a time, until I complete a required assignment. Then I'll put that course aside and jump into the next one, proceeding in the same manner. I hope I'll be able to complete all my courses and assignments by the deadlines assigned...the undergraduate course ends September 27th, while the two graduate courses (the ones I haven't started yet!), finish at the end of August.

Right now, I've completed 50% of the readings and activities for the undergraduate course, and I'm in the middle of writing my first assignment for the course, which will be worth 50% of the final grade. So yeah, gotta make sure it kicks butt. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment with having to produce quality writing in a short period of time. Generally, I let my essays "marinate" for days on end, so that I can look at it again and see the main discrepancies. Now I have to just produce brilliance within a matter of days so that I can move onto the next course. ARG!

8 pages down. 2 to go.

[Ragana]

Wow, you are all doing amazing things!

- Who you are

WAHM (translator) to 2 girls, ages almost 9 and 12. Got my BA/MA pre-kids, then DH got his master's while the kids were little and he was staying home with them. When DH got his teaching job, we switched roles, and I went from working overtime as the sole breadwinner to working part-time plus taking care of the kids/household and ultimately going back to school last summer. I also volunteer, but had to give up one of my two volunteer gigs because I need to refocus on work and school, and it was just taking up too much time.

- What you are studying

Attending a local community college for a paralegal certificate to add a specialization to my translation business. Considering what to do after that. Have fleeting thoughts of law school, usually pushed down by thoughts of not getting in (even though my advisor thinks I could), not being able to afford it, not being able to hack it time-wise plus work. Looking around for master's possibilities. I have found a few in law for non-lawyers. Right now - one step at a time, which means one course per semester max.

- Where you are in your progress

Completed 3 of the 4 core courses, then I have at least 4 electives after that. Contemplating whether to drop the fourth I signed up for this summer and pick up in the fall. The third course was a bit of a disaster (I got a good grade, but some interpersonal and other stuff was poorly handled by the prof and I ended up on not-great terms with a few of the other students), so I'm thinking a break might be in order.

- Goals for the month/semester/term

Decide whether to continue in the summer or pick up in the fall. Look for opportunities to use the certificate in my business - I am working on some options with existing clients already.

- Any major challenges you may have - where you need support

Interested in reading about how everyone else juggles school plus kids & work. My kids are older, but I still find it difficult to fit everything in.

harmonyhouse - Would love to hear about the LSAT and how that went.

[ashleyhaugh]

Hi, I'm Ashley. Im a single mama to a wonderful 4.5 year old boy. My mom lives with us, which helps, but the issues make it almost not worth it. I'm working on my AS in sign language interpreting and the certification is part of the degree. I did a couple semesters online of my basics, and some unnecessary classes ( I was doing early childhood education, but switched). This was my firth semester in person since I graduated high school in 2001! I took 4 classes, asl 1, intro to the deaf community, math 301, and speech, and I got all a's while working almost full time, I was so proud I'm taking asl 2 and an online firrst aid class thiis summer, and tentively 5 classes in the fall. I have 2 years left. My goal is to keep my a's, and to prepare for the mid program exam next spring

[Holland73]

- Who you are

- What you are studying

- Where you are in your progress

- Goals for the month/semester/term

- Any major challenges you may have - where you need support

Who you are?

I'm Heather 

What you are studying?

I am working on my Masters in Counseling Psychology and MFT (Marriage & Family Therapy) licensure.

Where are you in your progress?

I'm just finishing up my 2nd years of studies and a supplemental traineeship working as a school-based counselor.  In July, I begin my 3rd and final year of studies and my "official" practicum (aka traineeship).  

Goals for the month/semester/term?

Right now, I just want to finish up (ok, I actually need to get it started ) this stupid paper that is due in 6 hours.    Beyond today, I need close out all of my client charts by June 11, take a psychopharmacology final and enjoy a couple of weeks of vacation before July.  

Major challenges you may have - where you need support? 

The only major challenge I have right now is a serious lack of motivation and desire to do anything.  I didn't realize the personal emotional impact of client termination, so I am in a bit of an emotional awkwardness right now.   

Ok, I should probably get started on this paper.  Ugh!