It's vacation Week

Yippee hehe although when I think about it  - I really don't think I want to Yippee at all hehe just jokin'. But you see I do get one week off from official study but I am still going to keep working away at my modules for when I have to pop away for surgery. And my boys get two weeks off school - so there will be no lovely peaceful and quiet study time in Smithville. No siree - it will be go go go. Boys and their friends popping in and out, going here and there, needing to be fed and dropped off all over the place. I usually love school holidays, but I must admit that I have started to love my nice quiet days sitting studying away - rambling on with my own thoughts. I can't possibly talk to myself while the boys friend's are here hehe - my boy's know that I am mad so they wouldn't care but it might get out around town that I talk to myself and that would be no good at all hehehe.

Well this week has been a busy one as mentioned in my last post. I have completed and submitted Learning Portfolio A and some clever career planning for Prep Skills, done some PowerPointing in Computer Skills and done lots and lots for Essay Writing. That one has definitely been the hardest this week, making me stretch the comfort zone boundaries heaps. But it is settling into my brain slowly but surely. And when I look back to when I first started - I have come a long way and learnt heaps. I am still loving it all! Week 6 after our little vacation week looks like a busy one as well - so I really want to keep plodding away to keep in front. I will have a PowerPoint presentation of my own to do as well as Assignment 2 for Essay Writing and then I think at the end of week 7 I have to do an oral presentation.

This module in Prep this week has been great - Clever Career Planning. WOW I didn't realise just how many resources there are available to help you with choosing the career that is right for you. I wish all this had been around when I was at school - although I don't think I would of appreciated it then. Anyway it is mine for the using now and I am gunna use it!!!!

 I am still not 100% sure what I want to become when I grow up - but I am on the road of discovery and enjoying each step that I take. 

    

Isn't it exciting!!!!!!!!

ok well I am off to go get some zzzzzz's - it's only 8.30pm but I am so tired tonight.

Have a great weekend.

 talk soon

 x joy

Week 5

Hello and welcome to week 5. Today is Tuesday and is my second day in study mode for this week. Yesterday I spent the day doing Computing and loved every minute of it -  playing with PowerPoint. I have wanted to delve into PowerPoint for along time now but have just not got around to it. So yesterday was the perfect opportunity to have a structured play following instructions. It is great and there are so many things that you can do with it. I actually didn't feel like I was studying at all as I was having so much fun.

Today however is a little different hehe - I am doing Essay writing and it doesn't involve any fun for me! I have just put the books down and need to have a break as all the information is swimming around in my head all intermingled. I am sure that when I come back to it tomorrow it will be clearer. As much as I love writing, the concepts are not coming easily for me and the activities are very difficult. I know I am only learning but it is taking a few goes to get onto the right track. It will get easier the more I do it so I will just keep at it.

I am going to share a little funny from today with you. My dear hubby comes home everyday for lunch and we share all about our mornings during this time. He is very encouraging with my studies and sits and listens for ages about what I am learning. Today after revisiting reading 10 in The Essay Writing Resource Materials I asked him if he knew what a Synonym was - his response was 'yes it is a spice to put on apples' (cinnamon). He thought this was hilarious so I asked him what an Antonym was and he replied 'an ant that sits on top of the synonym on the apple'. It gets worse - I ask him what a Homophone is and he replies 'it's a mobile phone crossed with a hover craft so it hovers in the air' and then his explanation of a Homonym is a hover phone for him and then you get Homoher which are hover phones for girls. OMG by this time he is just cracking up as he thinks he is so clever hehehe I must admit that I did have a giggle as well 

This apple is just missing the Synonym hehe 

And people wonder why I love him hehe

Anyway I am off to go and look at my Prep Skills for the week now. So I may be back again later today.

 I hope you are having a giggly day as well

talk soon

x joy

ps must do the referencing for the apple picture:
ant on the apple picture www.kiddyhouse.com

Did you miss me

It has seen all of about 30mins since I was last here but here I am again this time looking at Team work. I have found all of this section interesting as well (no boring learning here I can tell you).

 You see I have been a part of many a group and teams in my life time and I have never sat and looked at what makes a good group - yes I have known some of it but  have not put much thought into it so all the ideas were great to see written down. It is so easy to let things distract you in group meetings and run over time, let others dominate etc etc. I partically like the ideas about checking progress and ground rules - as it is easy to just get into it and then discover something is just not working.

Being a good listener is also another topic that I found interesting as you don't tend to think about it in any great detail in day to day life. I like to think that I am a good listener but have to admit that I do zone out when something doesn't interest me. And I must say that I hate it when someone doesn't look at you when you are talking (yes my darling Hubby I am talking about you hehe) so I do always try to do that.

Ok well it is 2pm and I haven't had any lunch yet so better go feed the brain (and the belly) I still have a little more to go in this module so I will have to get back into it again after a break.

talk soon

x joy



Back again

Hello, it's still Thursday and I am still working through my Module 4 for PSU and I am now looking at The Five Study Skill Components (Cottrell, S 2008 The Study Skills Handbook 3rd edn p. 26), Self Awareness and Self Evaluation, Awareness of what is required, Methods, organisation, strategies, Confidence and permission and Familiarity: practice and habit. This is interesting when you break study down into these five sub skills and look at them. And as I have touched on before nearly everyone has the ability to learn, but how well they learn is something different. Mastering these sub skills is basically cutting things up into small more managable pieces and working with it. If you can be successful at this you can succeed in any learning that you put your mind to.

In relation to giving myself permission to learn without feeling guilty is something that I definately have to overcome . In my mind all my life you had to be smart to go to Uni, it wasn't for the average person. Although I am slowly over coming this especially in the last few weeks, though I am finding that this notion is also coming from outside sources as well. So I not only need to continue to  work through the negative feelings for myself but to block these outside influences. I am capable of being successful at not only study but anything else that I choose to undertake in life. I am learning wonderful new skills that will help me to identify what skills I need to succeed at anything.

But also I do already have a lot of skills. I have been very successful at various roles and  careers in my life. And it's funny how when you are a Mother and Wife you can tend to forget these skills. I guess that while in the work force you are constantly made aware of your skills as you undertake day to day runnings of business. You have more focus on them, for instance if you are asked to facilitate a meeting - you know you can do it as you have done it heaps of times before or you need to evaluate figures - you know you can do it as you do it everyday. But being out of the everyday working environment it is easy to forget these skills - yes you can change a nappy or cook a meal but when will that need to be added to a CV (well I guess if you are going for a job as a nanny or chef hehe). I have excellent people skills and these are from both my working life and also my home life. Sure there are afew areas that I could brush up on, but generally I know that I can hold my own when it comes to working with people. Actually when I look at the Current Skills and Qualities activity (p.27) there are only a few that I do not have experience in, again some could be brushed up, but generally I do ok in most areas.

However if you had asked me to do this activity when I first came out of school - I probably would of run and hid somewhere. I'm sure most older people would be the same. Really the skills that you acquire through experiencing life are invaluable.

Ok so off I go to work through my Personal Statement. Really it comes down to the things that I write  about here although I can only write one or two senctences - that may be hard for old yabba mouth here who prattles on and on all the time hehehe but I will force myself to work out of my comfort zone and keep it short.

talk soon

 x joy 

My Jung Typology Results

Hello and Happy Thursday to you,

Well today I am doing my Prep skills for University Module 4. I started it yesterday but as you know I was not having a very good day, so I ended up needing to have some time out. And in the process of taking that time out I have made a profound discovery. Well profound to me anyway - don't get too excited. You see I undertook the Jung Typology Test yesterday and I got the result of ISFJ but it just didn't ring true with the results for me. While reading the descriptions my responses were that it was only kinda like me. It just didn't fit properly, just didn't feel right.

So this morning with my fresh new brain in place after a good nights sleep and not feeling so emotional and weary I undertook the test again. And guess what -  my result today was INFJ -  do you hear the bells ringing and the drums banging - well I do cause the description was ME exactly ME. It was one of those moments in life when you go "oh duh that is why I do that" hehe. It was very profound - wow. I could see myself staring back at me. I love interacting with people but also do like and need some "me peace and quiet time - alone with my thoughts" and sometimes my personality does puzzle even me. I hate superficial interactions and ofter find myself sensing peoples intentions with what and how they are doing things. I like organisation and I do love to write - I have always kept journals in one form or another (and I still have them all - I can't throw any of them out as they are a link into my innermost thoughts and help me to make sense of the world). And I am definately a Doer as well as A Dreamer!

Back to the sensing of others intentions - that is very profound for me cause I have always done this and have really questioned myself for doing it. Usually feeling uncomfortable with what I was thinking but not knowing how I was thinking it. And on occassion I have talked with other people about it and it has been dismissed as "how would you know that".

So all in all it has been a very informative session so far for me and I am only half way through the module. Thinking about the impact of these personality traits and how they might impact on my study and learning, at this stage I can only see benefits however I do want to spend some more time looking and thinking about the results and I am sure that will bring some more insight into any weakness'.

Ok well I am off to go do my next activity so I am sure that I will be back a little later.

talk soon

x joy  

One of those days

Hello - it's Wednesday and I have to admit that I am not feeling that great. I think I am suffering from a mixture of being a little unhappy with myself and the fact I am  not feeling the best. In my prep skills module one I was told there would be these days so I am trying not to be too hard on  myself.

My not being happy with myself started yesterday after I submitted my assessments, that weren't due till Friday, early. Oh my goodness - why did I do that??????? I don't know what I was thinking - well yes I do really if I think about it. I had worked then re worked and re worked again my Essay Writing assessment and I was happy with that one (I think anyway) and I had gotten to the point that I thought if I kept reworking it, I would change it completely and I was happy with what I had done. So that brings me to my Computing Assessment - Urgh. This is the one I am upset with - you see I sat down yesterday morning at about 9.50am ( I was super organised and wrote down the time so that I didn't go over the designated 2 hours) I worked happily away for about an hour when Hubby came in with a diet coke and a piece of apple slice (yummo how could I resist hehe) anyway I jotted down the time and then kept track of how long I was away from the computer and restarted my time when I returned. And kept working merrily away. Anyway I got to the point that I had finished and had checked my work about four times and was happy with what I had done - famous last words hehehe.

So on with the story and for some reason I decided to go and upload it via a practise upload that I had seen was mentioned in an email earlier in the day via emails. So off I go and upload it and then had a little look at what I had uploaded and I noticed that I had incorrect spacing after one paragraph so I happily go into my documents and change it and upload it again into what I was thinking was the practise site. It wasn't - I was in the entirely wrong place - I was at the official test upload site unbeknown to me still.  At that point I thought I was happy with it all so decided to send it for marking - BLAH what was I thinking. It told me I had already sent it for marking and I had sent both copies away. But it gets worse - I send an email to Michelle and tell her what I have done re sending two copies in and she says no worries she'll check it out. So I pop back and look at what I have uploaded and I find another mistake - OMG - what have I done.  For some reason I had made a whole reference live in my reference list - don't ask me how I did it cause I have no idea but I did. At that point I just closed the computer down and walked away cause I was so cranky at myself. I have not yet been able to go back and look for any other mistakes that I may of made. 

So I think I have to use this as a good learning experience and work out what went wrong. Urgh! Firstly and most importantly I have to check where exactly practice uploads are and not just think I remember. Then I think perhaps that I shouldn't send assessments away early - perhaps I need to finish working on them, then leave it for a day or two and then recheck them with a fresh mind before I upload them. I can't change what I have done, so no use worrying (can I still cry though hehe) so onwards and upwards from here and not let it get me down or influence the rest of my study today.  

Then as I mentioned earlier my health has suffered a set back although I am determined not to let it effect my studies. I had surgery in Feb for problems suffered during my son's birth and although I knew that I had to have 3 lots of further surgery later in the year - I am suffering a complication and may have to have more surgery very soon. I may have to fly down to Brissy next week if nothing changes. So consequently I am feeling very flat and a bit sad. I spent a very restless night stressing over this and my stuff up with the assessments - so really a tired head is not a good head - so I need to cut myself some slack, shake myself out of this sad mood and move forward. I am studying for a reason - I am enjoying studying so get over it. hehehe let me just give myself a little slap around the face as well hehe

Ok well after my moaning and groaning (sorry to bore you) but I had to get if off my chest. I am off to go watch this weeks Prep lecture with a diet coke in hand.

So have a good day

 talk soon

 xjoy 

Welcome to week 4

Hello,

 it's Monday morning again already - I feel like it was only Monday yesterday but here we are again. Gee I hope the whole year doesn't go this fast otherwise it will be Christmas before we know it.

Well as planned I had my nice, blissful, relaxing weekend and I feel fresh and ready to go today (I think anyway). I have had a slight complication with my surgery last month but it not anything that will stop me studying, however I am not firing on all cylinders as I would like.

I have two assessments due this week, one for Essay Writing and the other for Computing - it is abit scary but I am hoping to be well prepared for both. I forgot to tell you that I did complete my very first assessment for Prep skills last week and I got 95% which I am pleased about although I am kicking myself as the question that I got wrong was one that I didn't look up as I thought I knew the answer (another lesson to myself in the making I think). It was a question about where do you find details of course descriptions and I thought it was online but it is actually in the student handbook. I will always remember that now won't I hehehe.

Ok so I am coming to the end of module 2 in Essay writing hence the assessment due this week and my study guide wants me to reflect on a few little things - so here goes. Firstly how do I feel about moving towards the arena of academic writing? Hhhhmmmm well I still do not feel great confidence in this area but I am certainly gaining some skills in this department.  I really have only ever written in the first and second person before with writing only really being for me and a few other people, so writing in the third person really is something very new. As is the acedemic paragraph but I am starting now to understand it all. My confidence is growing with the conventions that module 2 has given me although I will need to do revision, revision and some more revision for it to become clearer. It is really funny because I know that I am changing as a person as I undertake these writing activities, I now find myself looking at writing very differently. I read articles and try and identify the conventions that have been used. Although it hasn't changed my blogging style - I still just ramble on with what ever comes to mind hehehe.

I am excited about the week ahead even with the assessments that are due - this is all so very interesting. And each time I find myself overwhelmed I am trying to look at the bigger picture and tell  myself that I just need to work a little  harder and then I will be able to understand whatever it is I am struggling with. Like when I was looking at the activity 2-10 which is part of my Essay Writing assessment. When I first looked at it -  boy -  my first thought was that I couldn't do it but I thought I will just read it all through and give it a go and then sit back and look at it from there and then make any changes it needed until it was ok. And at this point I have a paragraph that is resembling kind of ok, to work with, so now I just have to play and polish it up. hehehe I just saw another lesson to myself - break it down and work slowly. I love this reflecting writing!!!!

So tomorrow will be spent doing some computing work in readiness for that assessment and then I will spend some more time polishing my paragraphs. Fancy that  - me polishing paragraphs - I spent my childhood (well some of it anyway) polishing my Mum's beloved brass collection, so polishing sentences will be easy compared to spending hours rubbing on the 'Brasso' and polishing it up.

Ok well I am sure I will see you over the next few days as I prepare for these assessments.

So have a good day and if it isn't a good day - try and make it one

talk soon

x joy

It's Friday

Hello there and happy Friday Afternoon to you,

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

 Boy doesn't it feel good to think about relaxing for a couple of days.

Don't get me wrong as I am loving every minute of my studies but my brain is really worn out. I have had a couple of headaches this week, which I am sure is to do with all this extra work my head is doing.

I have found that I just cannot switch off and I end up lying in bed at night thinking about everything that I have covered in my day. My Darling Hubby (he is such a sweetie) even went and brought me two of my favourite magazines for me to sit and relax with, but I couldn't get into them.

So what is this telling me?

Perhaps I need to find a strategy to switch off. hehehe Unplug my brain and leave it on the desk (if only it was that easy) but then I do need my brain for other things as well so that is no good.

Ok well I need to just disconnect from my studies -  hmmmmmm so how do I do that?

I wonder if I completely pack up my study material and then perhaps go for a walk or something to refresh me before I start anything else. I might just have to give that a go today.

I am planning to spend the weekend doing some things that have been neglected during the week. Firstly some Mother and Wife duties just have to be done - I have only been half heartedly been doing them so it is time to put on my happy smiling Mum and Wife face and give the family some much needed attention. Then secondly I need to do some housework eeeeekkkkk (do I have to hehehe) I better cause the house looks like a bomb has hit it and thirdly (if I am a good and lucky girl) I want to spend some time in my little crafty heaven making cards.

So here it is Friday afternoon and I need to pack everything away, then head out for a nice refreshing walk and then jump into my weekend OOOOOHHHHHH it sounds so good.

Then hopfully I will be bright and fresh for Monday morning to get into Week4.

Ok I'm off then

talk soon

x joy

p.s. have a great weekend

An amazing discovery

Hello again,

It is still Tuesday and I am still working on my Prep Skills for week 3 and I have just finished my next little activity in my study guide all about Intelligence. Hmmmmm this has certainly given me some things to think about.

I have grown up thinking that Intelligence was something that only a few super human people possessed. It was something that they (the lucky few) were born with. An ability to gather and recall knowledge from everything they did and saw. In my mind I have never considered myself to have great intelligence, in fact sometimes I have believed myself to be below average. Not coming anywhere near these smart people. I remember taking part, several years ago, in a national IQ test that was broadcast on TV. I followed the test properly and gained a score of around 93, which told me I was of average intelligence. I remember being really happy with the results because I wasn't 'stupid'.

That has been until recently - I don't know exactly when but I have found lately I have been thinking about how people become who they are and what they know. For example I watch a great little show on the ABC called Time Team. In this show they look at area's that are thought to be of historical importance and the team dig the area to see what they discover. On this show they call upon the knowledge of several experts to help solve the mysteries of the area. These experts have the most amazing knowledge - they can look at a little chip of pottery and tell where it was made and when it was made along with all sorts of amazing facts. These experts where not born with this information already imbedded in their brain, like a USB plugged in with all the information ready at hand. They learnt it! And they didn't just learn it by reading the back of a cereal box, they have spent years reading, listening, researching and investigating all aspects of their chosen field. So really when you look at it this way - any one of us can become an expert. As long as we have the time and the desire to study our chosen field. Absolutely anyone (well nearly anyone) has the ability to be an expert in absolutely any field they choose. How amazingly exciting is that!!!!!!!  

I will note that some people do have an ability to learn a little easier than some and obviously learning will come easier to them. But with time and effort we all have the ability to learn new things. I don't know about you but I am excited about that concept!

Ok well I am off to go refuel my brain by way of a sandwich, all this thinking is making me hungry

talk soon

x joy

Prep week 3

Hello there,

 Today is Tuesday and I am working through my Prep Skills for University today. I have just finished reading my first reading for today and want to answer some questions before I go on any further. I am really enjoying this part of the course as I have had some negative experiences with learning in the past and this module is giving me some insight into those times and helping me to overcome them. I loved all the information on Optimal Learning (page 53 Cottrell, S 2008, The Study Skills Handbook). These are all fairly basic things that really most of us already know but having them there written down brings them all together and makes it easy to say exactly where we are going wrong.

In the past especially at school I have not been able to use my 'whole' brain - UH do you remember those times tables. Yukko just repeating them over and over and over, no wonder they didn't stick in my brain perhaps if our teachers had been a little more creative and come up with some more fun ways of remembering them I would now easily recall what 7 x 8 equals instead of having to stop and work it out.

But then I can also recall a time in my life that I gained new knowledge easily and that was when I worked for a particular company and I can now see that they had a wide variety of ways for us to learn the new information. It was given to us then we where given different ways of remembering it, reinforced with videos and other useful ideas.  I look back on these days as very rewarding and fun, it didn't feel like I was studying. Obviously I have to remember these ideas to keep my learning journey fun and refreshing this time.

So three things that I need to do to acheive my optimal learning are going to be:

• Use both sides of my brain, read the information and then be creative about a way to remember it.
• Use mediums that work for me. Take notes, talk out loud, recount information and tell someone all about the information (someone real or imaginary)
• Make it fun, enjoy each moment

Ok so if you happen to walk past my study room and I am rattling away to myself - you will know that I am not crazy (although some may disagree) I am in the learning'zone'. Thoroughly enjoying myself, chatting away, recounting all of the things that I have learnt in my current session.

Ok well you have a good rest of the day

talk soon

x joy

It's Week 3

Hello and happy Monday to you,

It's week 3 already - oh my goodness where did that time go???? Wow it has gone fast - it feels like it was only yesterday that I started week 1.

I got back late last night from attending 'The Big 1/2 Day In' at Rockhampton on Saturday, so we are all a little tired after our big drive. But I had so much fun! It was great to be on campus and meet some other likeminded people who are going through exactly what I am feeling. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and learnt so much as well.

One thing I did learn was to make sure that I read my course profile really well cause I have found out that I did last weeks and this weeks computing course all last week. Which is great cause I can spend this weeks time going over it all and doing revision but I could of saved myself alittle time and stress last week. Oh well, lesson well learnt.

Another thing that I missed last week was the actual details of the big day in that where attached to an email telling us what to bring. I assumed that it would be well sign posted and it would be easy to find but NNNNNOOOOOO!!!! We drove into the uni grounds and got totally confused and lost (luckily I had Hubby with me - cause I don't do lost really well at all) anyway we stopped at the Security Office to get directions and the man there assured me that there was no Big Day In today as he had not heard about it. Hehehe Luckily I then found Karen who had all the information from the email, that I had missed, and she knew exactly where she was going. Thank you Karen! I think I would be still wandering around that place looking for it, if I hadn't found you hehehe (That place is HUGE). Another lesson well learnt.

Ok so it was a great day - I feel so much more confident about my studies now (for the time being anyway hehe). And more importantly I met some lovely people (big wave hello to everyone I met). So here I am ready to get into week 3 although I have planned a little R & R for this morning. I have a very dear friend who I have not seen for weeks (since I started running off to Brissy for my surgery's - so that is since the beginning of Feb) and it is time that we had coffee (or diet coke for me ). So I have a nice chocolate cake fresh out of the oven and a few ice cold diet cokes ready to go. Then I will get into the study this afternoon with a clean frest brain ( I can hope anyway).

Ok well you have a happy day

 talk soon

 x joy 

The Eager Beaver's Guide to Study

Hello and happy Thursday to you, What's all this Eager Beaver rubbish I hear you ask. Well I have decided today that my learning style is 'The Eager Beaver' style. Why Eager Beaver - well after writing down all my study and learning skills I thought the little beaver was a good way to describe them all. And then when I added my eagerness to the equation, it became Eager Beaver. hehehe

You see Beaver's are very creative, work alone or with others, they are motivated, organised. they love interesting facts (well maybe interesting sticks) and I am sure they must love talking and listening (how could they do so much work without chatting about it). Although I do believe they need a little work on time management, cause they just keep on working. Also perhaps need work on considering alternatives - cause really they could just call in a dam building company and have that thing up in no time. (oh and I forgot to mention they are cute - as I am cute as well as everything else HAHA)

 So this little fella is me:

I am going to build my dam!

So time management and considering alternatives are two area's I need to work on and this week's module 2 for Prep for Uni has certainly given me some skills in the area of time management. And I have already used one of the new techniques today - saying no to someone when I was asked to help. We can only do so much and as my goals are very important to me so I am sticking to my guns. The considering alternatives is one area that I do need to pay a little attention to as sometimes I think of the first thing that pops into my head and run with it - I need to investigate different ideas more.

I have spent some time thinking about my goals today with Module 2 and I now have some very SMART goals. My first short term goal is to successfully finish my three courses in the allowed 12 period ensuring that I complete each weeks module by Friday of that week. My medium term goal is to successfully finish the STEPS program in Feb next year. And my long term goals are then to be able to enroll in an undergraduate program at the end of STEPS and finish that inwith in five years.

My Hero's Journey activity that I did before this post has really helped me to list some of the things that I want to achieve with my Uni studies. I want to make up for having not done any higher education earlier in my life and to prove something to myself. I know that I am able to do this and I will complete these studies. I am setting myself up for success. My little craft room is now set up as my craft/study room. It is my own private haven. The boys know that when the door is closed that I am studying and only to disturb me if something is important.

I think all the things that I have already covered are the only threats or problems that I will face (that I can think of now anyway) and I think I have already started thinking of them as just challenges and opportunities to learn. Any problem that is acknowledged makes you aware of it and then you are more able to solve it or work around it.

The last thing I want to talk about today is a Time Management Hero that I have had for a while now. This person achieves so much in her life - I sometimes wonder just how she does it all. But I have sat back and looked and listened and noticed that she has very effective time management skills. She makes lists, uses diaries, delegates and most importantly - gets jobs done! She also stays up very late at night which is just something that I cannot do - after all us Eager Beavers need our sleep.

Ok well thats all my ramblings for today

I hope you have achieved as much as I have today

talk soon

x joy 

Learning Journal Activity 2-2

The Hero’s Journey: Reflective Writing

1.  The Ordinary world

My ordinary world has until now involved some dreams, vivid dreams that I revisit over and over, most nights. These dreams involve me going to school and completing my Year 11 and 12 studies. I see myself proudly standing at the Graduation Ceremony holding tightly to my Certificate of Completion. I am happy in these dreams, so happy I am crying with joy.

These dreams are not my reality; in reality I didn’t complete these final years of schooling. I didn’t want to do them. I couldn’t wait to get out of school and away from the place. In reality it took forever until I was 14, and to the end of year 10, the point at which I could go my own way. I didn’t enjoy school. I struggled with what I now know to be a normal part of growing up, trying to find out who I was and where I fitted in. I spent so much time on this that I never studied. Why would I study when I was only ever going to get an ordinary job, perhaps in a supermarket when I finished. What skills would I need for that?

Thirty years on and I now have these dreams. Something is missing in my life. But what is it? I fill each and every day completely, with the day to day running of a household with a happy family in it. All housework is done, I help with homework, I bake delicious afternoon treats and meals and I spend a great deal of time doing all sorts of volunteer activities. I love my life, but there is just a little something not there.

2. The call to adventure

That was until I went on a University camp with my then 12 year old son, with his school. The camp was aimed at getting these grade 7 children involved in starting to think about Uni following their Year 12 studies. Little did they or I know that they would light a candle of excitement for my future. I came away from that camp so excited. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement. My Hubby must have thought I had gone crazy. I talked non-stop for days about all the wonderful things that I had seen and done.

I had never had any contact of any sort with a University before. I had always thought that it was something for the super elite, a small group of people who had extraordinary knowledge. I had no idea it was such a rich learning environment that could nurture an average person, like myself, and guide them into further education.

A few days after our return from the camp, I made contact with the camp organiser, Robyn and discussed my excitement. Robyn suggested that I do some research and investigate the STEPS program at CQUni. Which I did and the things I discovered made me all the more excited. This was my call to adventure – I applied and to my delight I was accepted. And so my journey began.

See I told you that I would be back again

Hello again, it is still Wednesday, in fact it is only a few short moments since I last wrote here but I am back again. I have just finished reading Module 1 and it has given me some very important things to think about. I hadn't really given much thought to these things so I am now going to explore these area's.

Am I making connections between prior learning experiences and my experience in this course so far? Hmmmm definately I am making connections between the two although it has been an awful lot of years since I last learnt any of this stuff. And I think that I can confidently say that some things have changed their names over the years. I must also admit that some of the basic stuff has really been lost. I remember Nouns as naming words, verbs as doing words and adjectives as describing words, but remembering what words are what is making the grey matter work hard! And then we go further with auxiliary verbs, complete verbs etc etc blah blah blah - no wonder I'm confused hehehe

I have always enjoyed writing. I often sit and write, either blogging, writing letters (yes some of us still do it), my own journalling and even writing the odd poem (usally only for my eyes only and even sometimes just in my head). But going through what I have in this module it is making me second guess what and how I write. I feel I need to go back and revise everything that I have learnt and get to know it a little better to help with my confidence levels.

Everything that we have learnt is going to be useful in not only my future studies but also in life as well. I read yesterday that I can use 'me' after someone else's name i.e. Ashley and Me. I have spent 40+ years thinking that I always had to say 'Ashley and I'. (apart from those few days when my Brother in Law Michael tried going through it with me and I couldn't understand - Sorry Michael). I now know that it is perfectly ok to use it at the appropiate times.

I also learnt about superscript and subscript on Monday. I have gone years wondering how to do that - but now I know. And I even know that super is the above script, as in Superman and sub is the under script as in submarine. Is any one following what I am saying or is this just the raving of someone who is 'brain dead' and delerious hehehehe.

Have I changed as a person - yessiree!!!!! I am feeling much more analytical. I am reading and rereading stuff to get the meaning, sometimes still not taking it in, but I am taking much more notice.

Ok well that will be all of my ramblings for now. I am off to go feed the troops.

talk soon

x joy 

Hello and Welcome to Week 2

Boy Oh Boy - what a fun couple of days it has been. I am exhausted, brain dead and thoroughly confused all at the same time.

Today is Wednesday of week 2 and I am feeling so tired. It is quite funny because even as I am writing this, I am making so many spelling mistakes; I don't normally do that so I must be brain dead. This is what my brain feels like at the moment. Hehe!

  

I have gotten through most of my Computing for Uni Module for this week. I has some fun with that as I saved all my work and then promptly lost it, so had to do it all over again. I had actually forgotten to unzip the original file that everything came in and then as I 'saved as' along the way, it all went to some Temp file that I couldn't locate. Lesson well learnt after redoing it all - I can tell you!! I had to send two pieces away for feedback and I only made one mistake - Yippee!! I had not changed the size of font in my footer to 10 - so I will remember that one. I only have the revision to do in that course for this week now - but I needed to take a break from looking at the computer all day, so I will come back to that.

Now I am just about finished this weeks Essay Writing for Uni module. I have read about grammar,  punctuation, subordinating conjunctions, verbs,  relative pronouns, complex sentences and dependent clauses just to name a few. I can tell you they are swimming all around in my head and when it came time to do the given activity for this module, I was so confused that I couldn't remember my own name, let alone all this other stuff. Anyway I completed it and sent it off and will await feedback.

So really now I have to get stuck into my Prep for Uni tonight and tomorrow. I don't have Friday this week to study, as we are all heading into Rocky so that I can attend the Uni's Big Day In on Saturday. The boys are coming along also as they need to do some shopping and truth be known; I hate driving that far by myself. Anyway we will get to go have some junk food so that will be fun.

Last week I was having trouble keeping focussed and this week I am doing much better. I have been able to close the door to my little room and ignore everything else, which has been good. And my Hubby (Frankie) is being a super darling this week by keeping me supplied with snacks, water and huge, lovely sandwiches. I wish he was on days off every week :) .

Ok well I will go for now - I'm sure I will be back with another little update again soon.

Talk soon

X joy     

End of Week One

WOW what a week it has been!! My brain is scrambled!!! Although looking back it was not as bad as I was thinking that it would be. I spent a great deal of time procrastinating and really if I have just jumped straight in on Monday morning I would of got through the week so much better. Note to self - just get straight into it next week, no mucking around.

I have completed all week 1 modules of my three courses. I started jumping around alittle from one to another but then found it much easier to just work on one at a time. I was a little worried at the start that by just working on one at a time, I would get to Friday and only have one course module completed hehe. But that didn't happen. As it is I have had plenty of time to do each module then sit back today and check that I have done everything that is required. I only have one thing left to do and that is email my Computing Skills for Uni task into my Lecturer, but I don't know who that is yet - I have seen afew other people have made similar comments on the forum regarding this so I am not alone. But I will email the course coordinator to see what I have to do.

It is really great to think that I have completed week one and survived - I am very proud of myself ! What a good start - I even wrote a poem and put it up on a forum for my classmates to see. That did stretch my comfort zones but I did it. I just hope now that I can remember all the things that I have learnt so far. My plan at this stage is to go back and reread alittle over the next weekend before I start Module or Week 2. I don't want to rush in and end up not remembering things - I'd rather go at a slow and steady pace. I have already found myself thinking about the new topics that I am learning in everyday life. And Frank (my Hubby) is eager to hear all about what I am learning - I don't know if he realises what a great support he is being by doing that. It helps me to go over it all and learn it again.

Now during the next week I need to do a few things to make my study a little easier and they are,

• I need to organise my time better - get straight into it and not procrastinate

Actually I think that is about all I need to do hehehe I was ready for there to be a great big list of things(hence the bullet points) that I needed to do but when I really think about it - this topic covers it all. I guess I am being a little hard on myself .    

I have found the CQUni My Portal a little confusing but I think that I am getting used to it now. I just need to remember to go to Moodle for each of my courses each day and have a good look around to see what is going on. Checking emails is easy as I do that several times a day at home anyway. I do hope that I haven't missed anything. I do like the week one checklist that came with the Prep Course as it is a very valuable and useful tool to help make sure I don't forget anything - I wish one came with each course. Anyway I guess I could make my own as I work through each component of the others.

Ok as it is now 2.55pm  I am off to go and get ready for the kids coming home from school - they rush in the door with "whats for afternoon Tea" everyday. I love it! It breaks the quietness when they are not here. Mind you I must say that 'that quietness" is my study heaven. I love the peace and quiet to work. Have a great rest of the day!
 talk soon
 x joy