Balancing Classes & Life: Scheduling Magic

Howdy, everyone! It's been a stressful start to the school year, between professors forgetting to send out assignments and the ever-present sickness I'm dealing with.  Then again, when is a semester not stressful? Point taken.

My favorite means of controlling how I'm going to deal with classes is through scheduling. Not just any scheduling, but smart scheduling. The first year of law school you don't get a choice in what classes you take, or when you take them.  The second year is vastly better.  Although you have requirements, you can wiggle things around to fit your own needs.

1. Four Day Weekend Magic-- Or Just Having a Few Light Days

Just a simple schedule example

This semester we managed some magic, and only have classes on Tuesday-Thursday. Yes, that means a 4-day weekend every single week. There is a trade off in so much that we have 4 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but for me it's worth it to have complete days off for scheduling appointments and errands outside of school.

I use the weekends to get ahead on work, then throughout the week I can mainly go through the motions and have more time for reviewing things! This makes school much less overwhelming.

Another plus side is that due to his time owed to the National Guard, hubby has drill every month and often gets orders to be their on Thursdays and Fridays leading into his drill weekend.  This may not seem like a big deal to some, but for law school you have a maximum of 3 absences per class before you're in trouble. This pretty much ensures that he is safe from wasting absences!

2. Use ALL of the Planners 

iCal/Calendar is great for putting in really important things

I love a good planner. I am classic Type A, planner-loving girl.  I have a Moleskin weekly planner that I got in my Fab Fit Fun box, a little Moleskin that I track daily tasks and notes in, and then Calendar on my computer keeps anything important like appointments and assignments that are due on a nice, uncluttered track for me.

3. Get Weekly Reading Done on the Weekend

This one can be tough, and it isn't a reasonable expectation every weekend. However, I've noticed that  when I get all of my reading for the week done on my (*cough*4 day*cough*) weekend I have more chances to review and digest it all during the week.

4. Find What Works for YOU!!!

This is the biggest thing.  I know a ton of people who prefer to have one or two classes every day and never have to spend more than an hour or two on homework any night.  

My inner introvert and home-body leads me to love giant amounts of time at home.  I don't thrive on the social aspect of school, and I have lots going on that I need to take care of outside of class.  

What's best is truly to figure out what works best for your personal type of productivity!

'til another day,

D