My Starting Point – Chelsea Ruiz – A Typical Day

Hello Carrington flock, it’s student blogger Chelsea back again for another update! If you’ve not been following my posts, I’m studying the Medical Assisting (MA) program at the Carrington College Tucson campus. I started the program in March and I’ve been blogging about my experiences at school. I thought today would be a great time to talk about my typical day, and how I find the time to study with two young kids.

Early Starts

My school schedule is 8am to 12pm. Doing the morning class is definitely beneficial for me. I don’t think I could do it at any other time; although I know some people do prefer afternoon or evening classes.

But it does mean an early start. We all have to get up at 5am to get everyone where they need to be on time, especially as I don’t have a car right now. It’s about an hour bus ride to school. I used to walk the kids to daycare before catching the bus, but recently I fell and fractured my ankle. I was walking from the kids’ daycare and there was a huge dip in the sidewalk; I fell, twisted my ankle and broke a bone. I still have a little trouble walking on it, so my husband Alex takes the kids to daycare now.

Homework Efficiency

I try to get as much of my homework done as I can in school. If I can get to school a little early that helps. We also get three breaks a day, which I think is quite a lot as I’m only there for four hours, so I try to work through those breaks if I can.

After class I pick up the kids; we usually get home before 1pm which is nice. I give the kids lunch and then it’s nap time. I’ll make sure the TV is off and everything’s quiet; I’ll sit and study while they’re sleeping. When they wake up they’re allowed a certain amount of cartoon time; they’re real quiet then too, so that gives me a little extra study time if I need it.

Between working through class breaks and nap time, I usually manage to get all my homework done early in the day. When Alex gets home, he’ll usually make dinner, so I’ll sit in the kitchen and talk to him, maybe read my book out loud, so he can listen too – it’s kind of like we’re conversing I guess! That leaves the evenings free for cleaning the house, chores, and all the other fun stuff like that.

Pool Time

Having said that, this time of year we often take the kids to the public pool in the evenings. If you’ve not been to Tucson in the summer, it’s awful! We just have a swamp cooler in the house, which might as well be nothing this time of year! It’s so hot!

Overall I’m coping pretty well with time management and my schedule, but I do hate that it’s so hot – it’s draining. If it wasn’t so warm I know I’d be able to get more done. Sometimes, because I’m so drained, I find myself taking a nap when I know I should be doing homework! But I’ve never been late on an assignment or not got my homework done; somehow I always manage to do it all.

As soon as I’m done with school, our plan is to leave Tucson. I’m done with it! I can’t handle the heat anymore! For some reason, my kids are sensitive to it too. Riot, my baby, spends most of the time in just his diaper this time of year. If I can keep that on him, that is! He’s just learned how to take it off!

I don’t think my education has got in the way of family time, I’ve definitely managed to work around it. We still spend plenty of quality time together.

Thanks for reading – next time I’ll share more of my post graduation plans to escape the heat!