Kings to Me! - Blogged by JME

As many of you know, while my sweet husband is away, I've been trying to keep busy to make our time apart go by quickly. One thing I've done to stay busy is I've enrolled back in school to get my Associate's Degree. This is something I never thought I would do. I never planned on continuing my education or ever getting a degree. It just never seemed important to me. My plan was to have babies and stay home with them . . . the end. That is not how things have gone though, and it seems, however, that each time N8 has been deployed, I've ended up back in school, as is the case with this deployment.

I was notified a few months before N8 left that I only had four classes left to take before I could get my Associate's Degree. I was really unsure about pursuing my degree while N8 was gone since I was working two jobs at the time. However, with a lot of encouragement and support from my husband, I decided I would do it.

I enrolled in Math and took the test and found out that I needed to start at Math 0950. For any of you who don't know what that means, I will translate. Math 0950 basically meant that I did absolutely terrible on that test and needed to start back at elementary level math and learn my multiplication, and long division, and fractions all over again. My little niece who is turning nine this year knew more about math than I did before I started this class back in November. Pretty sad but I guess you have to start somewhere.

I also took the test for English, and luckily my English skills are much better than my math skills, so I was able to automatically go into English 1010. I started that in January.

My plan to stay busy has been a success as I've tried to balance my English assignments, such as reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Braum Stoker's Dracula. By the way, Dracula is a really good book incase you are looking for something new to read and neither Frankenstein nor Dracula are much like what Hollywood has made them out to be. I've also had to write argumentative essays and other papers. At the same time, I've been trying to figure out how to study for math.






I did finish my math 0950 right around the time N8 came home for a visit in January and moved on to 0960. That's when you get into the algebra part of things and you learn about variables, systems of equations, graphing, and factoring. It has been very educational, but very stressful. Luckily, I have this amazing teacher who has really helped me out and taught me some fun tricks to make math a little more enjoyable. There is also some great websites for anyone who wants to sharpen up on their math skills or who is in my position and going back to school and totally lost. The two I use a lot is purplemath.com and mathisfun.com.

I've set a goal to be finished with my math completely by the middle of April. My English will be done by then also. It is a tough goal and I have to take a test almost every week to accomplish it. It has been hard to stay on schedule; however, I did have an amazing night tonight that I totally had to blog about.

I had set a goal about a week or so ago that I would take my last section test in my 0960 Math class tonight and then on Thursday I would take the final. That would help me be able to start 1010 next week. I was sort of feeling like it would be a tough goal to meet but thought I'd give it a try anyway. The section I've been working on is 'Systems of Equations.' I had to deal with problems like:

The sum of the digits in a two-digit number is 14. Furthermore, the number itself is 2 greater than 11 times the tens digits. Find the number.

or

A total of $12,000 is invested in two funds paying 9% and 11% simple interest. If the yearly interest is $1,180, how much of the $12,000 is invested at 9% and how much is invested at 11%?

Looks fun, doesn't it?

Well, I went ahead and took my last section test tonight and passed. The test was easier than I expected and I was able to get it done really fast. Since I had some extra time I decided to try taking the final tonight. I have three chances to pass and figured that if I didn't pass it tonight, I could learn from my mistakes and take it again on Thursday.

Well, I passed the final test tonight, too!!!! So, now you are looking at a Math 1010 student, which is my last math class before I'm finished with the math requirements for my degree. I'm also a week ahead of schedule! I've been so excited! I couldn't help but walk through the door and do the touchdown dance when I got home. It's a good thing N8 isn't here. I would have been embarrassed if anyone saw me.

So, anybody who may have thought I've disappeared from off the face of the earth can rest assured that aliens have not abducted me and I have not vanished into thin air. I've just become a full-time employee and a part-time student who is trying to stay close to her husband who is over 5,000 miles away and take care of bills and household duties by herself while fulfilling her calling as the primary chorister in church. Also, anybody that has still kept in contact with me and feels that I might seem moody or anti-social, rest assured, I still love you. I've just become a full-time employee and a part-time student who is trying to stay close to her husband who is over 5,000 miles away and take care of bills and household duties by herself while fulfilling her calling as the primary chorister in church. And on top of that, I have to teach the primary "Follow the Prophet" in the month of March. That song has like 15 verses! Anybody who has any good ideas about how to teach all of those verses, pleeeeaaasssseee let me know!

Anyway, I'm hoping to be back to my normal self by the middle of April and I might have a month or two before I start another class. This time, though, I think I will only take one class at a time.