Juggling Studies, Job and Family Life

It’s been said that online college is the way to go. Be advised however without the proper techniques and skills it takes, you can get behind in all phases of studies, work and family life rather quickly. There are steps you need to take to avoid this happening to you, as it has happened to me, until I learn to balance. You have to juggle sometimes to balance your home life; work and school. I was forced back into the work place with the economy taking a dive.

Here I was a fifty-five years year old woman, been out of school for thirty-seven years, staying at home, for the most part. I took a dead end job, what I could get, since I had no marketable skills. After being at my job at the law firm for several years, I realized that in order for me to get ahead, I would need to sharpen my skills. I figured that I have at least ten to twelve years to work; I need something that has decent benefits and pays a decent wage. I work at a law firm, so I thought why not a Paralegal degree?

I decided to do online classes, so I searched around and enrolled at an online college. I started in 2008, I thought; I can get this out of the way in 16-18 sixteen to eighteen months. Wrong, because I set out in the wrong direction. Everything takes priority at one time or another, the most important thing to remember is, that only one thing can take priority at one time. Balance is the key to successfully juggling an online education with work and family demands; however balance requires sacrifices and compromises.

Something sometimes is going to have to be delegated a secondary preference. One of the greatest conflicts I have while I’m doing this online degree is the perceived notion of “your time is your own”, from employer, friends and family. I have to be firm when I have to have my time to do my studies. While the attraction of online education is the ability to achieve this goal at home, that is the only difference between it and going to a regular college on campus. The online learning removes the logistic component it oes not mean it lacks structure of time and commitment, a realization that spawns frustration when trying to balance work and family demands. What I have come to realize is that first you need to set a schedule. It will help establish a set work schedule that does not vary week to week. You have everyday obligations that need to be done, you also have your studies that must also have priority Second you need to plan ahead. One of the things is that with the online studies, you have a syllabus, which tells you in great detail of the work that you have ahead of you.

There are no surprises, everything is there for you. Third is to schedule free time, you must have free time to unwind, relax so that you will avoid burnout. You have your family to take into consideration. If you talk and ask them for help while you are studying, they are willing to help. This will benefit all of them in the long run. If I had managed my time better, I would not be in this predicament, of trying to hurry and get my lessons done, feeling as I can never catch up. I am learning so much as the classes go on and the feedback from the instructors. .