Kidschool

Sarah studied Japanese, learning more words and reading Japanese hiragana, she trained for track season, did some copywork, and read individually, and worked on her blog.

Update (Jan. 21): Really the rest of us did things too. It was the beginning of a really busy spell though, so I never finished this post.

Kidschool

Prayer
Gospel 2 Nephi 2-3
Sharing what is mine Today it was really short, because I had 15 minutes between work and leaving the house to finish my visiting teaching and take Keegan and Braxton to the dentist. So we just read a little from Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens. Each also wrote a journal entry to summarize their favorite thing they learned today, so that I could discuss it with them later tonight. We are also each going to do some research this weekend on someone that changed the world through their love of a cause or people. Brax is doing Buddha, Jarik is doing Gandhi, Sarah is researching Christ, Quen is doing Joan of Arc, and I am working on Aung San Suu Kyi.

Jenni kept up on Haiti's relief effort, visiting teaching, scripture study, and read Undoing Perpetual Stress, blogged (figured out how to follow a blog!)

Kevin helped the boy's volleyball team, online law class, scripture study, and read Left Behind.

Keegan classes all day, is sending me the link on deviantART for the robot scorpion that he designed. I'll add it tomorrow if I can. Seminary of course, and volleyball tonight.

Braxton spent all morning setting up the new stereo system he has inherited. He learned quite a bit actually. He is playing in the volleyball semi-finals tonight, and practiced the ukulele alot.

Jarik played the piano, studied Italian with Rosetta Stone, read Pirateology, and three You Wouldn't Want to Be... books - one on criminals, one on samurai, and one on the Hindenburg. He too is off playing volleyball now.

Sarah is, that's right, playing volleyball. Today she read You Wouldn't Want to Be on the Hindenberg, studied Japanese with Rosetta Stone, and made a tutu. She also went to a Presidency Meeting for her Beehive class.

Quen played the piano, read You Wouldn't Want to Be on the Hindenberg, worked on his Star Wars battle drawing (fifth day now...), and wrote about Captain Cook.

Workboxes After Six Months

Well, workboxes were great for about 2 months. But then it really started to stick in my craw. I felt I was setting up the contents for all of my children's studies, and it was taking me hours to do so. I've gravitated back to the TJed principle of 'structuring time not content'.
The kids had started doing the minimum work possible, and I had started getting frustrated at them, because I couldn't be on them all day to finish their work, set up their work, grade their work, and still do my own work! The love for learning was really starting to fade.
So over the holiday season, I let it all go. I just started back on structuring their time. I've already seen a difference. It is harder to stay organized and clean, but I think that we will get that down with a little more time.
For now, no more workboxes. If the kids want to set up their own, all the power to them! I'll even help them do so in a weekly mentor meeting. But for now, workboxes are going the way of the do-do.

Having an Action Plan

I was thinking how very grateful I am for my Action Plan. It's where I keep all my goals for my family, homeschool, individual children, and even myself. Having tried various methods for time management and goal keeping, my Action Plan is what works best for my family.

I got this from "A Recipe for Success" by Rachel and Oliver DeMille, then fitted it to my family. Twice a year, in the spring and fall, there is a routine I follow to create my Action Plan.

1. Declutter! I go through my house top to bottom getting rid of junk. Flylady.com is the place to go for help on this one if you have never done a good declutter, or you get stuck in the middle of the mess and give up. (ME!) For those that know me, I am always joking about doing my 6th month purge for 6 months! This does lay the foundation for a better education, because environment is a very important element of education.

2. I create a list of all I do, then cut out the things I don't need to be doing. Some things just stop, some are delegated, some are put on the back burner. The goal here is to cut it by 50%, freeing up more time for relationships, education, and the things that really matter.

3. For me both of these should be done by either Oct 1 or Apr 1, depending on the season. This way I can spend the next weekend at the LDS General Conference, to get a great spiritual refill and contemplate what to focus on next. It really doesn't matter your religion, find a way to refill, including study, prayer, and/or meditation to focus on what is important to you.

4. Then I find a quiet time and place, with my husband (hopefully!), to discuss and write out what we feel important about each of our children and ourselves. We like to escape somewhere, and let the kids have a weekend with the grandparents. This spring we went to a beautiful spot on a little island north of Seattle. We had so much fun, and got alot of thinking down on paper.

5. From what we write, we create (okay, let's get real, I create) a working plan that incorporates the goals we have, and the goals we have for each of our children. I do this very prayerfully, and it takes a few days.

6. Then, I use it. Weekly I review my Action Plan, and plan my week accordingly.

It really is very simple. There are simple questions suggested in the book above by DeMille that I follow, adding my own here and there. If you are interested in more information, email me at reallifeeducation@hotmail.com.