One Thing This Year
Jul 6th, 2010 by Johnnie
When I first started homeschooling I always asked my children, “Name me one thing you MOST want to learn this year.”
Even though I had a framework of what we would focus on and what subjects we would cover this “ace” was the motivation that kept us going through the long days of hot August, dreary February and let’s-just-quit May.
The other benefit to this policy was on those “pity-party” days when I thought the kids had learned NOTHING because I had been too scattered: I knew that we had focused on “one main thing.” On the other hands, when July rolled around and I wanted to plan to cover 7-12 subjects per child in the coming year, the “one main thing” kept me focused.
In keeping with this idea the “main thing” objective is clearly displayed at the top of each week’s syllabus this year. If you find yourself “lost in the woods” for the week, focus on the “one main thing.”
Excellent. And for those of us that have been VERY pregnant, or nursing a newbie when school time rolled around, the “main thing approach” helped us from drowning in a pool overwhelmed doubts! Something DID get accomplished, and it was a thoughtful something, that mattered, even if it hadn’t been my scattered mind that thought it!