YourPace classes and working parents!

[aswan]

Super new here. Loving this forum and all the info provided. I’m reading through so many posts about completing degrees quickly and utilizing other institutions, such as Sophia, I’m bummed I didn’t know about that option before applying and being accepted by UMPI. I haven’t enrolled in any classes yet. I was torn between two degrees: professional writing and journalism or education. My conflict is that I currently work in ECE and have 14 years experience in education. I was hoping to earn credits towards my degree with my experience. Since working in education for so long, I am also interested in branching out and doing something new, which is why I wanted to try the PCJ degree. Is there a way I can get a major in one of those degrees and a minor in the other? I want to combine my experience with my new interest the best I can, and make myself more marketable when applying for new jobs. Can anyone help guide me through this? I’m also a full time working mom of two young girls, I don’t have a ton of free time, and I would like to complete this degree as fast as I can (don’t we all!) any tips or tricks is greatly appreciated! Thank you all!

[aswan]

Very new here. Recently accepted into the YourPace program at UMPI and I am looking for encouragement/tips for anyone doing school while also working full time and raising young kids who never leave you alone ? my girls are 3 and 5.5. My youngest is home with me unless she is at work with me, since I work at her preschool. I don’t have childcare besides my husband when he’s not working. What am I looking at for realistic timelines to finish a class? How many hours a week am I going to be dedicating to reading/writing? I’m hopefully enrolling in professional communication/journalism or education degree program. I’m sure those are heavily writing based. Can anyone walk me through a YourPace class to give me an idea of a timeline? Any tips are appreciated!

[ashkir]

Aswan, to maintain full time student status you only need to do 2 classes per term. That is 2 classes every 8 weeks. If you are getting a Pell Grant I wouldn't sweat the details. you can easily finish 2 classes a term by focusing only 1-2 hours on it a day.

Tell your husband you're going to want to do a degree. Talk to him about being with his kids, you can dedicate say one day a week to UMPI instead. Say your husband works Monday to Friday so you're spending all your time Monday-friday with the kids. Come to an agreement with your husband that Saturdays are going to be "you days" and you're going to be on the computer all day doing school. You can easily knock out an entire module in a day. There's around 4 per class. Do this and an hour here and there, you can finish the 8 weeks in a breeze.

If you have spare cash, get Speechify. You can have your phone or computer speak out loud to you. You can copy/paste the reading into your app, or on your laptop and listen to it while playing with your kids, doing household chores and more.

For me and my boyfriend I simply told him my focus is school not him. I took 1 day a week to focus on him.

Unfortunately, yes, Journalism/English is the most writing intensive classes of them all.

[aswan]

Hey! I figured Out how to make a post lol thank you so much for the reply, and for the support! The encouragement and all the information you have provided means the world
To me right now. My husband is very, very supportive and helpful with our kids. He does work a lot so I was trying to see how much time I would have to take away from my kids to work on this degree. Thank you so much, again.

[rachel83az]

I've merged your two threads because the topics are nearly identical.

Yes, you may be able to major in one topic and minor in the other. Talk to your advisor. Also, you can still transfer in classes from Sophia, etc. It's just that you need permission to do so. Can you post a copy of your degree audit (minus any personally identifying info) and we can see if it's worth doing that or not.

[aswan]

Im trying to post a copy. What’s the easiest way to do it? Everything I’ve tried, it says it’s too large to post?

[rachel83az]

I recommend installing the Fireshot browser extension. This will let you take a screenshot of the evaluation, and only of the relevant section(s). These screenshots shouldn't be too large to post.

Also, try saving as both PNG and JPG. One will have a smaller file size than the other.

If they're STILL too big, you can upload them to an image hosting site like Imgur and share the link here. Again, make sure your name/address aren't visible on the images!

[aswan]

Thank you for the help. I currently only have an iPhone and iPad so I’m having difficulty getting the extension installed. It seems like I need a desktop/laptop. I will look into some other ways to get my degree audit uploaded. Thanks again

[rachel83az]

Ah, that would be why. iOS screenshots are ridiculously large. Check the app store for an app called "resizer" (I think it is). If you crop the screenshot and then resize it so that it's 2000 pixels wide or smaller then you should be able to upload it.

[aswan]

Thank you so much!