In order to fully dedicate my time to studying for the bar, I took of leave of absence from my job. My friends as family are so use to me going non-stop and being super busy all of the time, the question I am now getting ask is “what do you do with all of your extra free time now?” Uh????????? What?! As a mom to a one-year old who is studying to take a bar exam I DO NOT have any extra free time. In order to show how I spend my free time, here is my current weekday daily schedule.
6:30 a.m.
Wake up, shower and get minimally ready for the day.
7:00 a.m.
Little Bit yells “mom” from the her room signaling me she is ready to rock n’ roll for the morning.
7:05 a.m.
Diaper change and clothes change.
7:15 a.m.
Start the coffee and make Little Bit her breakfast. She is on a Ms. Independent streak right now so I have to make her food in bite size pieces she can handle on her own. The other morning half a waffle wound up in her mouth all at once and it was quite a battle trying to extract it from the death grip that a one year old’s jaw possesses.
7:30 a.m.
Eat my own breakfast and work some multiple choice questions on my Barbri app.
8:00 a.m.
Mr. Mister wakes up and joins us.
8:05 a.m.
I pack a lunch. One downfall of not working is the lack of a second income. All of my favorite downtown lunch places are off limits for the foreseeable future.
8:15 a.m.
I pack up the various books I will need for my lectures and assignments that day.
8:20 a.m.
I head out the door and off to school.
NOTE: I head to school for the day, in lieu of studying from home, because Little Bit is either being watched by Mr. Mister or our in-home caretaker so I feel like it would be too distracting there. On the other hand, I feel like I am wasting an hour of valuable study time on my commute each day to school. Next week I am going to try to study a few days from home and see how productive I can be and if it makes a difference.
8:50 a.m.
Arrive at school, find a corner study room, and set up shop.
9:00 a.m.
Start the video lecture, take notes, and draft a rough outline for the assigned daily topic.
11:00 a.m.
Take a quick walk around in front of the school to get some fresh air and rejuvenate myself.
11:10 a.m.
Eat lunch WHILE I finish the video lecture.
12:30 p.m.
Complete the video lecture and start organizing all of my notes into a more comprehensive outline.
1:30 p.m.
Essay time- I try to do one MEE essay a day. Our school offers “workshops” where you can write out an assigned essay and submit it to your bar coach for feedback. I take FULL ADVANTAGE of this opportunity. Not everyone does. The hour after the workshops they offer professor insight into the essays and points to score on the essay. I went to these all the first week but found that they were not very helpful since a full example answer was provided to us. I quit going and just do a thorough review of the answer myself and give myself an honest grade of how I feel I did. I then compare this to the grade my bar coach gives me to see if I have realistic views of my ability to write. So far, I am not too far off base.
2:30 p.m.
MBE time- Barbri normally gives us sets of multiple choice questions to work through, about 2 sets a day. I work through those and then very methodically go through each right and wrong answer for each question.If there are not any MBE’s assigned for the day, Barbri normally gives us topic diagnostics on Blackletter law. I do these just the same as I do the MBE sets.
3:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Finish up any last minute work and pack up to head home.
4:30 p.m.
Walk through the door greeted by two barking dogs, a smiling baby, and a desperately exhausted looking husband. I spend some time with each of them.
5:15 p.m.
Start dinner. While that is cooking I unload the dishwasher and start a load of laundry.
6:00 p.m.
Eat dinner with the family. Listen to Little Bit tell me she wants “mo’, mo’ mo’” of whatever it is that she is eating. The girl can eat!
6:30 p.m.
Husband cleans up while Little Bit and I play. I am attempting to teach her the alphabet song. My husband says a year old is a little young, but I am determined! It’s her favorite song. I have been singing it to her in English and Spanish since before she was even born. She’s gotta know at least a few letters by now.
7:00 p.m.
Little Bit’s bedtime routine starts: bath, PJs, a book (right now Moo, Ba, La, La, La is on heavy rotation along with Good Night Moon). We sing a few songs, say goodnight to all her stuffed animals, and she is down for the night.
7:30 p.m.
Spend a little time with Mr. Mister. Maybe watch an episode of a mindless show.
8:00 p.m.
Back to the grind. Depending on your knowledge of certain subjects and it’s subtopics, as shown through the results of the online MBE’s and diagnostic tests I discussed above, Barbri assigns you “homework” in addition to all of the regular study assignments they give you. I work on this “homework” every evening.
11:30 p.m.
Start packing it up for the night. I clean up my desk and make sure I have everything cleaned up to be quickly thrown in my bag the following morning to start all over again.
11:45 p.m.
Hit the sack. Finally!
11:55 p.m.
Damn, I forgot to switch the laundry!
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