Case Study- Post 4

    This afternoon I met with mom. Her and I had decided that she would come in a half hour earlier than normal so that we could continue our conversation about enrolling in school. Mom came into the classroom smiling, and I was excited to see her happy. We walked down the hall to an empty classroom, and sat down at a table. I always sit next to here at the table when we sit down for our meetings. I want her to get the feeling that I am on her team, and that I'm not just another person trying to tell her what to do. I feel that sitting next to her is a physical way to show her that I'm on her team.
I asked her, " Tell me about how you are feeling about enrolling for school again?"
 She responded by telling me," I feel good. I think this time will be different because, I know that I can leave baby here with you and work on school work during the day."
 I asked, "Since you received the information in the mail, what have you done with it?"
She smiled and said, " I called them, set up a payment plan of $50 monthly while I'm working on my work, and then when I finish the work I will pay the rest of it off."
 I said, " Wow! I'm so glad that you took that step to set it up."
She said, "They set up all the coursework I need to finish and I can do it all at my own pace."
 I asked, "So did they send you textbooks in the mail? How does all that work?"
She said, " The textbooks are online."
I asked," How do you feel about the books being online? I know you had mentioned that you have a hard time comprehending when you are reading sometimes. Do you think that if you had the actual book it might be better for you?"
She said, " No, I think it will be fine to have the books online."
I said, " Great! Lets plan to talk again next week about how you are feeling about balancing everything."
Mom and I agreed to meet together in a week and discuss how it feels to balance school, and motherhood. I know that being a full-time mom and all life responsibilities is very difficult for adult parents to balance. I have learned in my research that teen parents are not only balancing the development of their child, learning how to be independent and their own development. All of these things can be overwhelming for them, and often they are unable to balance it all effectively.


The next steps:  My plan is to check in with mom not only at our weekly meeting but at least one other time briefly at pick up or drop off time. I plan to check in with her and make sure that she is feeling capable of taking on this task and know that I am here to support her. I am glad that she feels confident with doing school online, but I worry that she will get overwhelmed. At our next meeting I would like to discuss with mom how she plans on scheduling her time to allow enough time for her homework,caring for baby, looking for a job, and her social life. I would like to help her create a schedule for herself that lays out for her what she plans on doing at certain times of the day.