Mission: Complete

Well, halfway completed.  I finished my associates program at Axia College at the University of Phoenix last week!  Whoo hoo!  While I feel absolutely accomplished, a part of me feels a little embarrassed that I'm doing this at 27, but I think I'll let the accomplished part shine through! 

I chose the University of Phoenix because finishing my degree was really important to me, but I knew with kids that I wouldn't be able to the traditional way.  UoP has 9 week classes and you take 2 classes at a time so you are able to complete a full semester on time.  It's a TON of work getting a full semester of work into 9 weeks and there were multiple times I was up past midnight trying to get an assignment in on time.  And I took classes for 17 straight months - I started April 2009 and did not have a break in classes until a required 2 week Christmas break that year.  Then I started again that January and went straight through until right before my very last set of classes where I forgot to sign a new Master Promissory Note for my loan and they had to delay my classes a week - other than that, I didn't stop - I was in school mode for 17 months. 

Now I'm all transferred, registered and ready to go at Liberty University for my Bachelors of Science in Education.  The biggest reason I chose to transfer was that UoP works in teams in their bachelors programs and my grade would depend on the work that my team members across the country did.  I finished at Axia with a 3.82 gpa and had no interest in relying on anyone but myself for my grade.  A good friend of mine had a horrible experience with teams and after much research and tons of bad reviews, I decided it wasn't worth the chance to me.  I looked into Liberty and after much prayer decided it was the route to go.  The program is non-licensure, at the bachelors level, but I preferred it that way, wanting to go on to complete my Master's in order to get my license (call me CRAZY).  But I actually just found out that after I graduate, I'll have my ACSI certification allowing me to teach in Christian schools if I wanted to! I'm still waiting on my official transcripts to transfer in, but I should be finished around Spring or Summer 2012 depending on how my student teaching goes!

So I'm halfway there and darn proud of myself for doing it.  There has been a ton of guilt these last 17 months when I can't take the kids outside or do certain things because I have school work, but the pay off was well worth it!