That’s right, as of today, I am officially back in school.  I am taking online classes at the University of Phoenix Online.   And hopefully I will receive my Masters in about 3-5 years.  As I logged on for the first time today I felt a mix of excitement and terror!  In the past I had considered going back to school but was always stopped by a couple of things….time and money.  I couldn’t figure out how in the world I was going to be able to work full-time, spend time with my husband, AND take on a full course load.  The beauty of this program is that it’s totally asynchronous.  This means that I can go to class whenever I have the time.  I only have to make sure that I attend class at least 4 days of a 7 day week.  So if I have some down-time between meetings for my job I can take a seat and attend class or if I want to do it first thing in the morning or at night I can.  I love that it is so flexible.  And as far as money goes, I took out student loans that will cover all my expenses, including books.  As much as I hate the idea of more debt, I know that it will be worth it.

Anyway, so this week I have 3 assignments plus a Graduate Paper that explains why I want to pursue this degree….in APA format.  Ugh!  Why can’t there just be one standardized format like MLA.  All I know is that this is going to be a lot of hard work.  Please pray that I will stay committed and focused on the goal!

So on this first day of being back at school I wanted to pay tribute to my daddy’s way of getting me ready for my first day of school while I was growing up.  He would bang on the door and sing as loudly as he could….

“School days, school days
Dear old golden rule days
Reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmetic
Dance to the tune of a hickory stick” (this was sometimes accompanied by the sound of him cracking his belt during the hickory stick part…gotta love his sound effects)

I only have one question.  Hey Dad!  Where’s my song?