End of class

Baby Marius and me <3

My two beautiful children: Verity and Marius

Verity and my dad. She loves Grandpa!

This class has been such a ride! I really feel privileged to have shared this part of my life with so many amazing people. I've learned so much and had so much happen that it seems I am a completely different person on this side of class than at the beginning. I know that the future holds so many wonderful things and rich experiences for me and for everyone else is this class; I can't to experience them! I wish everyone the best and hope to "see" you again!

Heidi

Writing

With this course coming to an end I feel that I have learned and accomplished quite a bit. I love to write research-type papers and so, far from being daunted, I was actually really looking forward to the prospect of another writing course. In fact, the other course that I have had this term is Technical Writing. I have to admit that I don't enjoy technical types of writing nearly as well (probably because I'm writing about building sidewalks!) but it's interesting to learn. I am hoping to eventually go into research for nutrition in which case I would have to do a fair amount of technical writing in the form of grant proposals and such, so I figure I had better find out now if I absolutely hate it. I have a feeling that I will like it better when I am writing about something that interesting me and does not involve construction and building codes!

All in all I have really enjoyed the writing that I have done here and look forward to doing much more of it. I hope that I will be able to take a writing course or two that involve analyzing other written works as well, since that is something that I have always enjoyed. I can't wait to do more writing!

Heidi

Blogging

The blogging that I have been required to do has been interesting seeing as I have never done any blogging before. I always wondered who would want to read my musings about my life and what is going on in it. I really prefer writing that is objective as opposed to narrative, so the formal writing in class is far more favorable to me than the informal writing that a blog requires. In that way I am not at all surprised that there are not a huge number of comments on my blog. Personally I don't know that I would want to read my blogging, so I could hardly expect other people to want to read it.

For that reason I highly doubt that I will be continuing my blog after this class is over. It has been interesting, but honestly I would not be posting if it were not a part of the grade. I would really rather use social networking sites like facebook than blog.

Heidi

Peer Reviews

I just thought these pictures were adorable . . . The first is my son Marius who is now 1 month old and the second is my daughter Verity who is now 22 months. I can't believe how time flies!

But, about peer review. I actually really enjoy having my classmates read and critique my work, because they often give such a different perspective than a teacher would. I've gotten so many interesting ideas, some of which I've used and some of which have just been filed away for future reference, from having a variety of people read and comment on my work. When I was in middle and high school, my siblings and parents and I used to print out all of our pieces of writing for class and pass them around the family. Everyone would read everyone else's work and write on it in different colored pens. It really helped, especially since we were at different levels of writing (except my twin sister and I). My twin and I still email projects back and forth to get extra feedback. She just graduated from University of Maryland with a degree in English, so this is really beneficial for me.

As far as peer review in classrooms goes, I really enjoy that as well. I like reading other peoples' work because it lets me see all the different ways of approaching a subject. I've found that, even when the prompt for writing is very specific, there can be a huge variety in how the papers are approached and the style in which they are written. I know that my own style has been molded at least partially by what I have read in the works of others.

I am looking forward to reading a few papers in this class as well as seeing what others have to say about my paper!

Heidi

The Last 6 Weeks

These last 6 six have been ridiculous in how busy they have been and the number of life changes they have brought about. I had a baby, we moved into a new apartment and now my husband has lost his job so we are both back on the job search. Life is incredibly stressful! I hate the thought of having to take a job myself because I love being a stay-at-home mom and I desperately want to be able to breastfeed my son and be there for my daughter. However, I'm feeling it's my responsibility to do what this family needs, so if I get a job before my husband does I'll work at least until he gets one.

I have been out of the workforce for several years now, so the idea of returning to a full-time job outside of the house is very daunting. I have to admit that I am very nervous about the idea and that at least a part of me is hoping that my husband will get one before me.

School has been really hard for me these last few weeks with all the things that have been going on at home. It is near to impossible for me to dedicate the mental energy that these classes deserve, but at the same time I have no choice; I do not see failure of a class as an option. So I will push through and do my best and hope that this will not ruin my GPA.

Heidi

How is school influencing your life at this point?

School, be it public or college has had a great influence on my life. I have always loved it, from when I was very young all the way through high school and still to this day. Now, I feel that it gives me purpose to my days aside from the everyday tasks of childcare and housework. Don't get me wrong, I love my children and I'm really very domestic, so I don't find "keeping house" to be a menial task at all. However, I do greatly enjoy learning and having expectations put upon me outside of the home. Knowing that what I am doing will eventually lead to a degree and a job in the field that I love is hugely helpful in keeping my self-esteem and general mood in a good place.

Having schoolwork to do also insures that my schedule is never lacking. Not that this is a problem with two small children, a husband, a house and lots of family nearby, but I like to keep things just on the edge of being too much. Otherwise, I'm likely to get bored or feel that, since I have lots of free time, I can put tasks off until a "better" time. If I don't have all that free time, things get done right away and I am far more efficient.

So college right now has an extremely positive impact on my life right now. Although it is occasionally a source of stress it is more often a source of purpose and focus.

Heidi

Plagiarism

I have been fortunate enough to never have someone plagiarize anything from me, at least to my knowledge. If someone were to, however, I think I would have a very hard time with it. I am very non-confrontational and so the idea of having to bring this issue up to someone make me uncomfortable. I suppose I would have to steel myself against my discomfort and confront the person face-to-face. I would do my best to involve as few people as possible, but since this is such a serious issue I would feel the need to make sure that it was resolved in such a way that would give me the proper credit for my work.

Likewise, if I were to know that a colleague had plagiarized against another, I would make sure that the proper people knew so that the person who deserved the credit received it. This would be an equally uncomfortable situation, but I don't think I would be able to handle knowing that someone was stealing from another and not do something about it.

Plagiarism can be such a touchy subject that I think I am not alone in feeling uncomfortable with the idea of confronting it. However, it is something that every professional must consider since it happens in all kinds of work to all kinds of people.

Thanks for reading!
Heidi

Online Education

Online college was always something that seemed to good to be true to me. How could one possibly get a good education without ever physically going to a class? However, after I had my first child I realized that I wasn't ready to give up on getting my bachelor's degree. At the same time, I desperately wanted to be able to stay home with my children and be a full-time mom too. So, the only alternative was to give online schooling a try and I'm so glad that I did!

Going to school online has given me the freedom to fully embrace both being a mom and pursuing professional interests. It lets me get things done when I have the time (to an extent, of course), and with a 21-month old and a newborn the amount of time I have to devote to studies varies greatly from day to day. It also gives me the opportunity to focus more on the coursework itself and less on the other individuals in the class. I enjoy this anonymity since it allows me to approach my education in a more direct way. Not only that, but being a young mom is often emotionally draining and I appreciate being able to go about school in a more strictly informational way.

I am so happy and thankful that online college is available to give me the ability to continue my education without stopping my life.

Heidi

Welcome!

Hi! As everyone already knows, my name is Heidi Tompkins. I am 100% new to blogging so I am a little apprehensive about the whole idea, but I'm also looking forward to it.

So I guess I can say a little about myself: my husband and I recently moved back to Maryland after living in Colorado for about 9 monthes. We have one daughter, Verity Shae Tompkins, and are preparing to welcome our son, to be named Marius Leland Tompkins, any day now :-). I have an older sister, and twin sister and a little brother. My twin and I are fraternal though, so we look nothing alike.

My husband and I met at the Culinary Institute of America where I was working on a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts and he was working on a degree in Culinary Arts. We very quickly found that it is extremely hard to be engaged in a job in the culinary field and have a family (or even any time to spend with each other) so we started looking at other careers. He is looking to go to school for Interior Architecture and Design and I'm here at Kaplan earning my Bachelor's in Nutrition Science with the aim of going into research.

I love spending time outside and doing physical things like hiking, biking, walking and camping (I would run but I have knee issues). I did ballet for 15 years but had to stop when I left for college; I'm hoping to get back into it sometime soon.

That's pretty much all I've got about me; looking forward to reading about all of you!

Heidi