Time Well Spent

It has taken me all week to pull myself together to sit down and write this final blog post for my Master’s program at Walden University! Why you may ask?  That is a terrific question!  When I first had the opportunity to return to school and begin my goal of obtaining my Masters Degree, I was scared, excited, and had lots of worries.  As a wife, a mother of five, owner/director of a state licensed family childcare and just day to day tasks, I had no idea how I could even think of finding the time to take classes.  Though it has been challenging at times, I must say, I am super excited that I have reached this goal and am still in shock and cannot believe how fast the time has flown.  I will miss my late nights of staying up and doing homework and learning so much from my instructors and classmates as I have learned so much from all of you.  Therefore, I know writing this final blog brings about closure to working on my Master’s Program, which I will thoroughly miss, however, I will continue to keep learning as we all know just as Julie Olsen Edwards, stated “ in this arena there is always more to learn” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).    

                I have learned so much during the course of working on my master’ program.  I was able to put names with faces of early childhood professionals that I have heard about in the past, while viewing videos throughout my program.  It has been nice to actually know who the early childhood professional is when I come across their name in various places that I read about the field.  I have learned how my own biases can play a role and what I need to do in order to offer an anti-bias program for all children and their families.  The program has broadened and strengthened my knowledge and interest on advocacy and taught me the different ways that I can advocate for children.  Finally, the third thing I will note is the importance of building a community of practice. Not only does it bring about teamwork, but, collaboration which will allow you to get others ideas and input on a topic.            

                Currently, I have many long term goals that I hope to works towards and I am sure more will be added as time moves on.  At this time, however, there are four that I would like to mention.  First, I plan to keep running my family childcare home, and continue to offer hours to families that our outside of the traditional work schedule.  You can find my family childcare website at www.kiddiekastlechildcare.com.  The second goal I have is to help parents to understand the importance of interactions with their children.  The third goal I have is to one day open a public childcare center. My fourth goal will be to work on becoming more involved in advocacy.    

               Although I am super excited to complete this journey and receive my Masters in Early Childhood Studies I am sad that I must say goodbye.  However, I deeply thank each and every one of you for all your, support, constructive criticism, and encouragement as you took the time to read my discussion post and blogs and played a vital role in helping me to be successful here at Walden University.  Please feel free to keep in touch and contact me at Kiddiekastlechildcare@gmail.com  I wish all of you the best of luck as you begin to work or work with children.  I also would like to take the time to thank Dr. E and all of my instructors throughout my course of study here at Walden University for helping and allowing my knowledge to grow by providing your feedback as well as your support!    

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Merging Vision, Passion and Practice. [Media Resource]. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6990/01/mm/ec_pres/index.html