At the beginning of this course, things were very rocky for me. Trying to manage a home, being a widow, 4 sons, work a full time job, and being a part/full time student became a bit much for me. Rather than giving up on my education yet once again, I made the decision to stay and continue the path that I had chose to travel before the drastic change in my life. I have also come to know that writing is therapeutic for me. I keep a journal of my personal thoughts and desires. I am using what I’ve attained in this class to assist me with organizing my thoughts in the order in which I want to express them. ASC 190 class has helped me realize that I am not a lost cause when it comes to writing, and I have the potential to be great. I believe that in life; honesty is the best policy. With that being said, I have to honestly say that writing has ever been my favorite skill. I remember as a child, I could never maintain an interest in putting my thoughts, or expressions into written form. I’ve always struggled with wrapping my mind around the know how part of composing a text. Since I am in an honest mood, I will also mention the fact that until this course I never saw myself as a capable writer. Now that I am almost at the finish line of this class, I feel not only that I am capable of writing a meaningful and cohesive text. I’m also very interested in getting even better with my writing techniques, and skills. Each journal and discussion board allowed me to apply the different skills that we discussed in class, as well as skills that I had been taught previously. Journal 3-4 caused me to really reevaluate my relationships how I look at certain members of my family. It also helped me takes holistic steps towards familial healing, which is seriously needed in all family structures. My family really helped me thru out this quarter to complete and finish these classes that I choose. I have a very large caseload on my plate and I’m just thankful for them. In the Critical Reading Response, I had an opportunity to become a critical reader and give my personal opinion with regards to the issue at hand. The text that I chose was the Charles Dickens Hard Times. I was able to express my own personal beliefs about the whole educational movement. There were points that I agreed with Charles on such as, his statement about when he said “teach these children only the facts” He presents the argument that the formation of a child's mind must be rooted in the study of facts, and the truth. That hit so close to home because I honestly feel that the education system Although Americans believe in our educational system, there seems to be many problems that we are not aware of that have a negative affect on our students as a whole. For me we as a people are loosing a sense of intimacy because of this. This Essay has helped me realize that I can now express my opinion without becoming vulgar, or judgmental. I think schools sometimes play a role of being separate from life because they enforce the rule of ‘you come to school to learn’ and that is it. Children come to school curious to learn with other people, particularly other children, but when the school teaches them to be indifferent they lose interaction with the world. I learned how to become an even better critical reader, and an associative reader. most valuable lesson for me from this course was not in the essays alone. I have also learned a lot with myself, and my thought process. I now realize