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The sound of crying fills the house; I quickly open my eyes, and glance at the clock sitting on my bed side table. It's almost 7 am, I jump out of bed and head to my son's room. Diapering, changing, and feeding are first on my to-do list. It's now past 8, and classes at the local college have just stared. Although I have been up for over an hour; I have not had time to get myself dressed. I smile to myself; I love making my own class times.

Before I know it, 12 o'clock rolls around. Time to lay my son down for a nap. This is when my class will start, on my time. I go to my schools website. I check to see if there is anything I should know about. I notice the website will be down for maintenance tonight, and I will not be able to submit anything from 11 pm, to 8 am. I am really happy that I completed my assignments a few weeks in advance! I then go and submit my assignment.

You never know what could happen with your computer, so it is important to be organized with assignments. Having them finished ahead of schedule prepares me for power outages, site maintenance, computer errors, and all the other things that can go wrong.

OK, I can now start working on my next assignment. It is a series of HTML lessons, followed by a simple web page. I run into problems with lesson 14. First thing I do; check the student message boards. Many times I will find other students with the same problems, and can learn from them. My answer is not their this time. I call my instructor, she quickly helps me with the issue.

I am now ready to start working on the simple web page which will need to be handed in. I am stopped when I hear my son crying in his room. I save what I have finished, and my school work is put on hold. We have grocery shopping to do, as well as a doctors appointment. So the rest of my school work will have to wait until my son is sleeping tonight. This is when I will have the time. I think to myself again, how I love having the freedom to be able to complete my assignments on my own time.

It is now 8pm, and my son is sleeping. I get back to working on my assignment. I am almost done, but run into some problems. I then reach out to my classmates for help, and suggestions; through emails, instant messages, and message boards. We can support one another, offer help and advice from a different state or province. I don't find the answers I'm looking for this time. I then e-mail my instructor, she always promptly replies back to me. I will have to remember to check my email in the morning.

There are assignments, and sections of my course that are more difficult, therefor more time consuming and requiring more effort. I am thankful, however, to have the extra time I can put into my work, I'm not restrained by classroom times.

I feel independent, being able to learn well in my own home. I love how I can easily spend more time than normal "class time" on my assignments, and always submit my best work. It's as if class never closes; I can submit my assignment at 1:00 am, if the day was filled with doctors appointments and sick children.

The day in the life of an online student is always changing, more so than the day in the life of traditional student. Our work load is always different, and we have to be responsible to be successful. It leaves you with a sense of accomplishment, and allows you to more easily control your daily and weekly schedule. So why wait? Start taking control of your life now!

Learn more about this author, Kayla Griffin.
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