Julie, you are wonderful! I so needed to read this! My husband and I have been discussing with our children about goal setting and how we should always strive to achieve the best. But, what good is telling that to our children if we're not doing the work required as parents?
Here's what I drew from Julie's post:
- Value the role of the homeschooling parent and set up the environment for maximum learning, with as few distractions as possible. This means for me: tables cleared and ready to work on, with books and stationery organised so no-one is floundering to find their things. Also, I need to check for supplies required at my end, such as science experiment set-up, or printed out pages from ebooks, so everything's ready. Yeah, I don't know how many times I've been pulled away to print something off, only to have the child decide they may as well disappear to another project (sometimes that's included taking the dog for a quick walk down the street!), then we spend another 5-15 minutes getting back to where we were earlier. Essentially: spend time on the weekend getting to know exactly what's going to happen in the week ahead and get it all organised, AND don't let the day-to-day routine inhibit into the learning environment. (We have time in the morning to get ourselves ready for the day, so no procrastinating about chores.)
- If I know something's going to be a distraction, be pre-emptive and control it. This means for me: the answering machine stays on and all calls are screened .. AND! .. nobody needs to jump up and hear who it is as soon as it rings. I've also just gotten a bunch of those 'Do Not Knock' stickers, because I don't know how many times a sales person has come to the door during the time I'm trying to work with the children. I'm treating our homeschooling as my job, and I'm not available during certain hours when my children need my time. My family have been wonderful with this and know that if they leave a message, I'll get back to them during our lunch break, or after 2:30pm.
- Have goals set out so everyone knows their roles and can live up to the family expectations. This means for me: make sure each child has their learning goals written into their diaries. If I'm busy with one child, the other should know what they can still complete without my help, and then they know I'll follow up to check how they've gone (ie: not just 'tick the box' and that's the end of it). Also, be consistent with the rule about computer and tv time. If computer time is necessary to complete word processing or a math activity, that's ALL it's used for. No distractions with internet!
- Schedule appointments so they do NOT interfere with the regular lesson routine. This means for me: the regular runs to the library and bank (as they're on the same street) need to happen at a set time AFTER bookwork has been finished. Again, we're already doing this most of the time now, but I need to keep it up. The hardest part of scheduling appointments, though, is with regard to tradesmen. Most want to come 'sometime after lunch' and asking them to come in a specific time frame has been really hard lately (especially if they don't show up at all and I need to make follow-up phone calls)!
- Stay active in the children's learning. Know what they're absorbing and ask leading questions so they know we are interested. This means for me: to follow up on Papa's request to have the children's diaries accessible at the end of the day (ie: on his desk so he can check them after work). He wants to know what's been happening, too, so we can discuss it at the dinner table, or follow up to find additional learning resources together. We do discuss a lot in such a manner already, but there's still room for improvement. :)
- Set up somewhere to 'celebrate' their work, either on the wall or a table. This means for me: going back to being crafty. I don't know where I got the idea that since my children are getting older, they don't need to display their work. We are at home; this is our family. We should be pleased to leave an example of what's been learnt out on display. So, I need to get that little shelf area, or dresser top, set up again, with room on the wall to put up a cork board and posters. (Ah, I know .. I got distracted with the piano teaching happening in the same 'learning room'. I really need to organise that area better so my children still get the maximum benefit from their lessons and enjoy showing the 'fruits of their labour'.)
Julie, again, I thank you for spurring me on to better works! I'm going to be thinking on this for quite a bit. :)
Until next post,
Catherine
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