FOR LADY HAWKINS ONLY

(PREWRITING)

Balancing Online Studies With Work and

Family Demands: Pre-Writing.

Thesis: Although like many people I deal with a variety of everyday

stressors involving commitments to work, school, and a fiancé, I have found

dealing with these things to be more manageable with the aid of a step-by-step scheduling

process.

Part 1: I face many different

stresses in my everyday life, such as work, school, and a committed

relationship with my fiancé. Work can be stressful, as I am owner of an online

store that buys and resells clothing. There is always much to be done, with

checking for orders, communicating with customers, filling orders, shipping

orders, informing customers of tracking information, and ensuring that delivery

has been successfully completed. Work seems to be a never-ending prospect, as I

can continually be checking online for status updates. I need to be fairly

consistently available, as well, to tend to customer problems or complaints. I

am very driven by ultimate career goal, which is to make an established success

of my online store in a relatively short period of time.

Another stressor I face daily is school.

I am currently taking classes in fashion merchandising, which will be very

helpful in continuing maintain my online business and improving it. Fashion

merchandising is teaching me how to combine my personal sense of style and

fashion with business acumen, which is will be really important for the future

of my business. Fashion merchandising is important, even as it takes a big

chunk of my time, as it is teaching me so much about fashion

marketing, product development, and fashion management.

A third stressor I face daily on a daily

basis is my committed relationship with my fiancé. Any kind of committed

relationship takes time and effort, whether it is a family with children or

simply that one person you have pledged the best of yourself to. I find it difficult at times to juggle spending

adequate amounts of time with my fiance when I am pulled in different

directions by the demands my responsibilities at with school and work place upon me.

I cope with the stress of these demands

in a variety of different ways. I do make time for simple things, such as listening to music, chatting with my

fiancé, watching movies, going shopping, or going for a walk. It is not always

easy to carve out time for these activities, but because they are critical to

keeping my perspective on what is truly important-family, friends, and life

itself-I am careful to prioritize

them. Good study skills have also been essential in helping me manage my

stress, particularly school stress. Being organized, and knowing that I have a

big project due on a certain date and that I need to be working on small

increments of it ahead of time has helped keep things manageable.

Lead in to paragraph 2: Another thing

that has always helped manage these stressors has been careful scheduling. Perhaps the most important thing, though, that has helped me manage

these stressors is the aid of a step-by-step scheduling process. Finding balance

between work, school, and my relationships is important, but it is difficult to

see if that balance actually exists until commitments are set down on a

calendar and weighed one against the other. For that reason, I have picked up

the practice of maintaining a calendar of obligations and responsibilities in

all areas to assist me with prioritizing and keeping everything straight. Although

the process can be challenging if you are not particularly organized; once you

are in the habit of keeping a routine schedule, anyone can achieve balance

through scheduling.

PART 2 Accomplishing

the Process

Getting started with the process of scheduling my work, family,

and school activities and demands balancing the demands of online studies

with work, family, and friends was not particularly easy, because I am not a

terribly organized individual. I knew, though, that it was something that

needed to be done if I was to maintain balance and organization in my life, and

still manage to find enjoyment in it. The first step in the process of

achieving this balance was to find a scheduling method that worked for me. I

began by searching out and testing various methods.

I tested a written calendar, because I

like the kinesthetic process of writing something down. This, I have

discovered, helps to solidify information in my mind, and most of the time I am

able to remember dates and facts without really needing to glance back at the

calendar to begin with. There are times, though, when I am overloaded, and I

definitely need the written reminder. The written calendar is also helpful

because I can record dates and information for work, school, and relationships

in a different color. This helps me to see at a glance which area of my life is

taking up the biggest chunk of time, and

adjust accordingly. I also tested an online calendar, Yahoo! Mail, which I

discovered to be difficult to work with and time consuming. Finally, I tested a

third option, the calendar on my smart phone. The alarm function for this

scheduling method was excellent, but I felt the calendar was a bit limited in

the amount of information I could record.

The second step in this process was to

decide, after all of this testing, upon the scheduling method that was best

suited to my needs. I discovered that the best way of scheduling my work,

school, and relationships was to use a combination of a written planner and the

alarmed calendar on my smart phone for important events.

The third, and absolutely most important

step in this process of achieving balance in my life, was to actually use these

scheduling methods. I discovered that it was all too easy to have my calendar

sitting on the counter, buried under a stack of magazines, and neglect to write

an appointment between its pages. In order for this method to benefit me, I needed

to use it.

Lesson 5 Examination:

Process Analysis Essay

OBJECTIVE

To prepare a process analysis essay of 1,000–1,200 words

incorporating narration and description, and using elements

from the Prewriting for Process Analysis Essay assignment.

Note:

You may

not

submit this essay until you’ve received your

grade and instructor feedback on your prewriting exam.

While you’re waiting for your prewriting feedback, you should

■

Review the reading assignments for Lesson 4.

■

Study the sample Process Analysis essays and review the

Guided Writing Assignment in Chapter 14 in your textbook.

■

Prepare a rough draft of your process analysis essay so

you’re ready to revise your essay when you receive feed-

back on your prewriting.

TOPIC

The topic for this essay is the same as that of the prewriting

assignment: Balancing Penn Foster studies with work and

family demands.

WRITING YOUR ESSAY

Using your prewriting, merge your description and process into

an essay of 1,000–1,200 words (approximately five paragraphs)

that would help other students understand the stresses they

may face when taking online courses but also give them hope

that they can accomplish the task. Use the comments from

your instructor and your textbook information on editing and

transitions to merge the two segments into one document.

Essays must be typed, double-spaced, using a standard 12-point font and left justification. Use 1-

inch margins at the top and bottom and 1.25-inch margins for the left and right sides of the

document. Each page must have a properly formatted header containing your name, student

number, exam number, page number, mailing address, and e-mail address (see page 6 for an

example). Name each document using your student number first, then the six-digit lesson num-

ber, and finally your last name (for example, 23456789_050177 Doe). Save each as “File Type:

Rich Text Format,” regardless of your word-processing program