Keeping the habit of sharing a helpful habit on Fridays…
That title might make you cringe or it may make you curious. Really, this post is somewhat selfish on my part. See, I need the motivation. Preparing for a new school year is not really something I’m ready to tackle. Yes, I’ve been to a homeschool convention, I’ve picked out curriculum, I have in mind many of the tools we’ll be using. But, I need to make the steps towards planning and preparing.
So, I remembered a habit that both motivates and accomplishes. Fifteen minutes. Just fifteen minutes a day. It originates from helpful Flylady and household management. “You can do anything for 15 minutes.” Well, last year I took that and I decided to apply it to school preparation.
- For 15 minutes in the morning I researched, clicked and printed.
- Then for 15 minutes in the afternoon or evening, I three-hole punched, assembled and organized.
- That equals 30 minutes a day. I can handle 30 minutes of school prep a day. How about you?
There’s also a side effect. Sometimes I found myself accomplishing so much that I went over my 15 minutes. It was simply the act of getting started and getting past the overwhelm that helped.
For Tapestry of Grace that means:
- I will sit down at the computer, click on my Tapestry DE and print one week. The pages needed for each of my older three children.
- The pages sit on the printer until I get to them.
- I will put together three, big, blue binders. They will reside on the bottom shelf of the History bookcase.
- For 15 minutes at some other time during the day I will three hole punch then load the pages into the binders. Put the binders back on the shelf.
It will likely take a whole week or more but I will really only put 15 minutes to half an hour into it each day. I don’t ever have long stretches of time I can leave projects out 🙂 I figure if I do this every day I can have everything ready. And what a nice feeling that will be.
As for the rest of the week, here’s a quick overview:
Piano Recital! Middle Girl played beautifully The Clock Shop and O Worship the King.
Hodgepodgedad on the SunButter blog in honor of Father’s Day! He shares his favorite snack recipes and the story of working for a major cookie manufacturer and the secret, guarded recipe.
Tomorrow I’m hosting a Tapestry Tea in my home. I love, love to talk Tapestry! If you are interested in Tapestry of Grace as well, click over to read my review at The Curriculum Choice.
Nature Study of our Backyard Squash. And the Story of the Sandwiches by Middle Girl.
Plus, we had a nature study up close with a flying squirrel in our backyard swing set. We almost had a pet…
And here’s a quick gallery of all the goings on.
I always think our weeks are rather uneventful until I look at pictures…Longer days, lightning bugs, summer fun…
What are you up to, friends?
I am overwhelmed by the prospect of organizing for next year and choosing curriculum to replace what wasn’t working this year. But, you are right. I can do 15 minutes. I can do anything for 15 minutes. I used to do FlyLady too and can totally apply the concept to this too. Thank you for the reminder.
I love that 15 min habit!!! as always I just love your pics!!!!!!!!!!!!
15 minute increments to get Tapestry set up is the way to go:) We’ve used Redesigned Year 1 and 2, and a unit of Year 3. With life changes, and needing a break, we are using My Father’s World this year. At your pace, you will have everything all set up and ready to go. Stopping by from the Weekly Wrap Up:)
I loved your gallery. So much fun and learning!
Love the idea of planning 15 minutes at a time. I’ve often found myself saying I can’t do any planning today because I don’t have much time. We’re moving next week so I’ll be busy unpacking for a while, but I think I’ll try the 15 minutes at a time once I get ready to start planning again.
Tricia,
Thanks for sending me the links for blogging and school prep.
Have you written about the weekly school prep? I use TOG too, so I mean, if you are teaching the olders history and literature for example, when and how do you get ready for that weekly “class”? I’m in my second time through so it’s not taking me as long this time but I don’t have a time slotted each weak to prepare to discuss their AQs/TQs, etc.
What do you do?
Thanks
Sue – I know I have written about this but I think it was in a weekly wrap post so I can’t get my hands on it right away. Basically, I plan at the start of the year, then again mid-year. I try to print what we need as much as I can then. (Did you know that TOG has SAPs you can buy pre-printed?) Then I reserve library books once a month (and am all the time renewing them). At the start of the week I have a meeting with the older children. We talk about the week’s assignments. Then, after lunch we fit in some Tapestry time. Usually it goes something like this: History reading on Mondays, Geography/Literature on Tuesdays, Writing on Wednesdays. Thursdays are for whatever we need to focus on. And Fridays are hands on arts and activities. Fridays we also find some time to go over assignments and talk about the week, finish up writing assignments. It doesn’t always work this way but that is roughly what we do.
So, I plan twice a year then weekly with the children – leaving room for spontaneity and changing direction. I hope that helps some!
I DIDN”T know TOG has preprinted SAPs!! Thanks. So, it sounds like you don’t read the teacher’s notes on history, literature and whatever subjects you are studying. I try to read the teacher’s notes because I’m learning most of this myself too. Do you go over TQs and AQs with your students?
stopped using TOG writing because it seemed to take alot of my time teaching it to them and getting the pages printed for the students etc.
Thanks