What I am Taking This Summer (Is it too much?)

Hairstylingnurse · May 27, 2005

Yes I am a new mom. My son is about 4 months now, he doesn't sleep alot at all, but I am lucky I have a very good baby. He has essentially sat by himself awake for 4 hours at the longest, many times. He is a people person, but he loves his alone time with a book or the TV; don't ask me why. So I know I will have the time to study, oh and I am not working and I don't need to but I do want to move, so I want to. I have no daycare bill since he's always at home with me or out on the town with grandma 1 or 2, or sitting outside with daddy.
And maybe I should clarify
Human Anat & Physi 1 - online class
Human Anat & Physi II - online class
ORGANIC AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - online class
Microbiology - exam
English Conp (I & II) - exam
Life Span Psyc - exam
General Psyc - exam
I already have a total handle on English comp, and General Psyc. I do need to study a little for Life Span, and a lot for Micro (I found a free online class for that) I've got a littel on anat 1. My biggest hurdles will be the chem, anat2, and micro.
And it is just one session.

Good Luck to ya, maybe you can do it since you were an honors student and all. Can you tell us where you found a free on-line micro class? Is there a catch to it or anything? Bset of luck to ya whatever you do.:) :) :)

Twinkie1 · May 27, 2005

Hi New Mom LPN student,

You want to know if taking 7 classes in the summer is too much? Yes it is too much.I'm sure you already know that your first priority is your son he may sleep well now but baby's go through a lot of changes during the first year of life. Being a new mom can be stressfull enough at times. I would take fewer classes and continue with your goals.

Best Wishes,

Twinkie

FocusRN · May 27, 2005

Good luck to you! I am a stay at home mom and just finished my first semester back after being gone for 13 years and got all A's. My classes were all online. I took Chemistry, and got an A. It was pretty easy. I guess it depends on if you have a head for science. If you did good with science in high school, you should be ok. (just completely stressed out!)

I have a really good head for science I always have but in high school I always picked a bio for my science requirement, so I never too a chem, but I did great in bio.

FocusRN · May 27, 2005

Is it too much? It would have been too much for me, but you know your capacities better than anyone. It is difficult to give advice on that schedule without knowing how quickly you are able to absorb and retain information. OTOH, I am just going to play devil's advocate here and ask you to think about how you are going to feel when your baby isn't a baby anymore. Will you regret not cuddling him more? It is great that he is so content. I would just take care that you don't let that keep you from interacting with him as much as possible. I'm not trying to guilt you at all, I am just trying to warn you that time flies faster than you can even imagine and the time might come when you wish you had paced nursing school a bit more. Unless you need to get through as quickly as possible for financial reasons, I would suggest at least considering cutting your course load in half.

I would never keep from interacting with him. As I said he's a very good baby, and because of that its easy to play with him, he never has anything specific in mind. It's weird everthing that I have read has said that baby's like little rituals, but he isn't one of them. He loves to mix things up. Getting his nails trimmed in fun for him. A s a matter of fact he loves to try to talk around that time, not to mention his littlew baby showers. The joys of motherhood. So I would never put my schooling before him. I have never been a person to pace myself, as a matter of fact I work etter under pressure, down to the wire, I learn faster and create a better prodcut. But that aseide I want to finish school ASAP, financially and for my sanity. I am not the type of person that can work a "job" for too long. I have wanted to be a nurse since I was 10 years old. I was so dissatified with the normal schooling experience, and wanted to get to my career so much that I conviced them to skip me two grades ahead (today that is hard to do, esp around the high school age), which is how I graduated when I was 15.

FocusRN · May 27, 2005

I wanted to ask, too, is what you mean by the baby enjoying his time with a book? Surely he isn't able to turn pages yet?

I don't think he can turn them when he wants to but he does some how turn them, and most of his books make noise so his presses the little buttons on the sides to hear the songs, animals, or whatever. He does press the buttons purposely. Since he can't sit up unassisted yet, I put him in his swing and lock it so that it doesn't move, and put the book in his hands. Why, is that odd or something?

FocusRN · May 27, 2005

Good Luck to ya, maybe you can do it since you were an honors student and all. Can you tell us where you found a free on-line micro class? Is there a catch to it or anything? Bset of luck to ya whatever you do.:) :) :)

Thanks. Well, the catch if you want to call it that, is that you get no credit for the class. The whole site has loads of classes that you can take (even subjects like pharmacology), and they really teach but here is a link to the list of classes:

http://free-ed.net/free-ed/FreeEdIDX.asp

Here is their Healthcare Supersite:

http://64.78.42.182/free-ed/HealthCare/HealthTOC.asp

Jess RN · May 27, 2005

I have a really good head for science I always have but in high school I always picked a bio for my science requirement, so I never too a chem, but I did great in bio.

It would be too much for me- but as others have said- you know yourself better than any of us do. I have a 9 mo old- and I would just warn you that once they start inching, rolling, crawling they need constant supervision. For you that could happen anywhere from 5-7 mo- which could be when you were trying to prep for finals! I too have an easy baby - but she did get much harder (not in temperment, just in her level of activity and decrease in napping) around 6 mo. Where before she would sit in her bouncy and watch baby mozart- she would squack and try to fling herself from the bouncy when she hit 6 mo (and did twice before we put the bouncy away).

I'm taking org chem (in class) and micro online (ccconline) this summer because I start my program in the fall. They have three weeks of overlap and I'm stressed about that! And... I have childcare 20 hrs a week. And... I, like you, am a very good student. 3.5 undergrad and all As in my other prereqs (A&P 1 and 2, Stats, Dev Psych) Maybe you could see how much of the tests you could get out of the way first and then once those are done sign up for maybe two lab sciences? I think the rule of thumb I've heard is no more than two lab sciences per semester. Anything more than that I think would be setting yourself up for lots of stress and possible failure or incomplete classes.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

-Jess

LydiaNN · May 27, 2005

I don't think he can turn them when he wants to but he does some how turn them, and most of his books make noise so his presses the little buttons on the sides to hear the songs, animals, or whatever. He does press the buttons purposely. Since he can't sit up unassisted yet, I put him in his swing and lock it so that it doesn't move, and put the book in his hands. Why, is that odd or something?

No, not odd, just a bit advanced. Most babies just don't have that degree of fine motor control at 4 months. As I said in my previous post, I am just playing devil's advocate. Babies are young for such a very short time, if I had it to do again, I don't know if I'd ever put him down! It sounds like you are great at multi-tasking. Since you did ask for other opinions, I was merely offering the perspective of the mom of a teenager who is just wondering where on earth the years went!

AnnaN5 · May 27, 2005

Thanks. Well, the catch if you want to call it that, is that you get no credit for the class. The whole site has loads of classes that you can take (even subjects like pharmacology), and they really teach but here is a link to the list of classes:
http://free-ed.net/free-ed/FreeEdIDX.asp
Here is their Healthcare Supersite:
http://64.78.42.182/free-ed/HealthCare/HealthTOC.asp

I was just wondering how if you don't get any credit for it and those classes aren't from an accredited school, how do they transfer into your nursing program? All of the nursing programs I have looked into are very specific in saying your transfer work has to be from an accredited school and if you test out of something you pay for the credits and it shows up on your transcript.

LydiaNN · May 27, 2005

Thanks. Well, the catch if you want to call it that, is that you get no credit for the class. The whole site has loads of classes that you can take (even subjects like pharmacology), and they really teach but here is a link to the list of classes:
http://free-ed.net/free-ed/FreeEdIDX.asp
Here is their Healthcare Supersite:
http://64.78.42.182/free-ed/HealthCare/HealthTOC.asp

I would have to say that getting no credit for a class is a huge catch!

Jess RN · May 27, 2005

I would have to say that getting no credit for a class is a huge catch!

I think the idea is that you take the no credit class to learn the content and then test out of the class by exam. Right?

-Jess

oregonrene · May 27, 2005

(what Jess said :))