August, 2004

Free Forms for Homeschool

CHASESC, a South Carolina homeschool association, has put together an excellent collection of forms. These range from "what to do" printouts to put next to your phone and door in case an official from the state visits or calls to transcripts and timelines. Some of the forms are specific to SC residents, but many of the hundred+ forms are useful to any homeschooler.
http://www.chasesc.com/forms.html

Million Minute Challenge

Patch Products, Inc. is planning the fourth annual Million Minute Family Challenge, a grassroots effort encouraging interaction and communication among family and friends through playing board games. Homeschool organizations across the United States are invited to urge their families to play games and log their game play minutes as an organization at the website. Patch Products along with Million Minute Family Challenge supporters Sylvan Learning Center, KOA Kampgrounds and USO (United Service Organizations) are encouraging families, friends and organizations to spend time together interacting, communicating and playing a board game. Everyone can participate by logging their game-play minutes at the website which is filled with fun ideas on how to participate, games to play and educational information including the benefits of family time, the history of games and how to use games in the classroom. One last benefit - everyone who logs game-play minutes will receive a 20% discount off games, puzzles and toys ordered through www.patchproducts.com.
http://www.millionminute.com/

Get Organized Now

Summer is a time when I start getting organized for the new school year. I love making lists and starting lesson plans as well as organizing my spaces. This site will help you to analyze your space and get it organized, whether your space is a desk or a room or an entire house. Get Organized Now has a newsletter (archives can be viewed on the site), articles, and a forum where you can connect with others who are trying to apply organization to their lives.
http://www.getorganizednow.com/index.html

Homeschool Tracker Upgraded

I mentioned Homeschool Tracker last summer, but their upgrades since then make it worth another mention. Homeschool Tracker is a free software program for homeschoolers to track assignments, grades, attendance, and more. It is fully customizable for your students, your resources, and your subjects. There is also a paid Plus version available which I have not tried but I have read that it is worth the cost. It allows easier entry of assignments and will generate high school transcripts among other things. Unlike many free trial versions, the free basic version of Homeschool Tracker has no expiration date. I give this program 5 stars, especially for a free resource!
http://www.tghomesoft.com/tracker.aspx



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5. Great teacher sites


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7. Article - Is There Life After a Schedule?
by Kym Wright


When I first came home from the working world to be a full-time mommy, I was amazed to find that I did not know how to manage my own time. While working, I set hours to fit the clients’ needs. Staying home there were no outside demands on my time, just some wee ones ready to absorb any time I would give them.

I remember the first several weeks of my homecoming. I would wake up in the morning and want to pull the covers over my head. My thought was, “What will I do with these children all day long?” Determined not to become discouraged with being a stay-at-home mom, I scheduled each minute of our time.

I invited other mothers with children in the pre-five set to join us at the park. The activities we zeroed in on were, of course, the park, sometimes the beach, hitting the local fast food joint for lunch and enjoying their playground. We bought a family membership at our local zoo and went weekly, meeting other families for fun and fellowship. My little ones joined the Children’s Choir at church. We were busy, busy, busy.

But, a stirring was occurring in my soul. Going was fun; hitting all these places was exciting. We were really living now. However, it was also very tiring. Moreover, it was bringing on a new pressure. A different pressure. Almost a pressure to perform. What’s new today, Mom? Not every day could be a three-ring circus. Not every day was a day to be on the go. I didn’t want to run away from the home because I felt I was being called to the home. I had to find a balance.

I realized I had this fantasy that every day needed to be meaningful. Each moment a memory. Treasures for a future generation. But, life is not always so. No matter how you look at it, cleaning the potty is not a momentous occasion! Dirty diapers are not my idea of a good time! But, they are necessary. Sometimes life is just plain old hard work.

I felt God tugging at my heart: “Treasure the simple. Make life uncomplicated. Rest. Have peace. Bring peace.” How could I introduce a balance to our lives? What would bring an equilibrium to going and staying. Excitement and calm. Up time and down time. I was tired of the constant going.

During my Bible reading one morning, I read a simple verse which revitalized my whole life. Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little . . . This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest.”

The concept of incremental order in this verse inspired me to give our lives some order, write down lines of things we needed to do, and rest this weary three-ring Master of Ceremonies!

I set up a basic schedule for our weeks and days. As I worked within this structure, the gloominess lifted, we seemed happier working together, life ran smoother and it appeared to work! In her book The Stay At Home Mom, Donna Otto says, “If I could only tell you one thing about order, this is what it would be: In everything you do in your home, ask yourself, ‘How could I be better prepared for this event?’” I went further and asked that – not just for my home—but for everything in life: How can I prepare and plan ahead?

Having a schedule is just another way of being prepared, of organizing our time, or—as business executives call it—time management. So, from my first wobbly steps, to a woman who lives with many charts, lists, and schedules, these are the six reasons I found for having a schedule and the benefits which follow:

1. A schedule lets everyone know what to expect, therefore there are fewer arguments. There is no room to say, “I don’t want to empty the trash. It’s not my job.” This brings more peace. And who doesn’t want more of that?

2. A schedule lets everyone know when to get things done. We have charts for before breakfast, after breakfast, school time, dish washing, afternoon schedule, cleaning, most everything. When we stick to our plan, life works smoothly, and we seem to have more time, but we are just using what we have more efficiently. The result is that we have more free time, which brings me to the next point.

3. A schedule helps you accomplish more. You think through it once, write it down, and are finished with the thought process. Your mind is then freed, you are not constantly reinventing the wheel. With dovetailing jobs or multi-tasking (doing two or more jobs simultaneously), time is not wasted.

For example, while listening to a teaching tape, I might also dust the furniture, or do some other quiet chore.

4. A schedule gives you a Plan A. Without a Plan A there can be no Plan B and you are constantly winging it, flying by the seat of your pants. When I first thought about writing up a weekly menu, an artist friend of mine lamented, “Oh, I could never live by a scheduled menu! What if on Thursday night I don’t feel like having what’s on the list?” Later in the discussion, she mentioned they eat grilled cheese sandwiches for supper every night. Every night. That just didn’t make sense to me. Why, I thought, if I didn’t like what was planned, couldn’t I just switch off with another night’s supper? I was learning.

5. A schedule lets you know you’ve covered the bases, having made time for the important things in life. You know what to do, when to do it, and who gets it done. Once that is finished, you can play. When Plan A is finished (or Plan B implemented), you can relax, knowing you’ve accomplished your goals. It gives a strategy to fit in time off —guiltlessly. To know you have finished the work and have time to goof-off. This is a tactic to give yourself permission to begin a project, knowing that you have already cleaned the house and played with the children and there is still a little (planned) time left over for some fun!

6. A schedule keeps you from living crisis to crisis, or spending your life “putting out fires,” or living in the “Tyranny of the Urgent.” Just running from this accident, to that spill, to the next mishap; when, with just a little pre-thought, the casualties could be minor roadblocks on the bigger road to success. With a schedule you do not have to constantly scramble, but can prepare ahead of time: be it meals, chores, school, or fun.

Ah, and alas, some people are not schedule people. They have to work at making a schedule and adhering to it. But, the dividends do pay off.

Wherever you are in managing your time, remember these four tips:

1. It takes three weeks to establish a habit. I give myself a month. At least.

2. Start small, one step at a time.

3. Schedules can be tight or loose; set up in minutes, hours, days, or weeks.

4. They can be written or just in my head. Statistically, people who write schedules down actually accomplish the greater majority of their goals, over those who just think them.

We are not trying to duplicate someone else’s schedule, but we can ask God to help us set up our own. Looking at another’s schedule, it may seem daunting or draining, but the doing of it makes life work.

God’s world is so very orderly, and . . . planned. We know when the sun will rise each day, during all seasons. We know the tides and the appearance of each constellation. He even has a plan for each one of us. Jeremiah 29:11 says,

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

A schedule is a plan to accomplish goals, little by little, one step at a time. It helps us handle the present, which in turn makes the future look bright.

Mark & Kym Wright have eight children, have homeschooled since the mid-80s, and have graduated two students from their homeschool. Mark is in computer technology and Kym writes the Learn & Do unit studies. The early morning hours find her sewing, quilting, painting, or writing. You can visit her website at: www.learn-and-do.com

This article was originally published in the Jul/Aug '04 issue of Home
School Enrichment Magazine.  For more information, visit
http://HomeSchoolEnrichment.com.

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Hope you found something useful for your homeschool in this issue of TheHomeSchoolMom newsletter! More great stuff next time...


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