Out on the Well-Trained Mind forums the other day, the Hive was discussing daily schedules.  Being the planning-Nazi that I am, I relish looking over how people structure their days.  Sometimes, just skimming someone else’s post reminds me to add something to our schedule.  Likewise, reading about a different thought process helps me to eliminate some extraneous homeschooling activities.

Of course, I like to give something back to the discussion.  At the beginning of this school year, I tested different homeschool planning software.  I really enjoyed Homeschool Tracker, and was in love with the concepts behind Rebecca Keliher’s Well-Planned Day web app.  Unfortunately, I needed something with a bit less of a learning curve than HST and something further down the development pipeline that WPD was at the time.

I wanted something I could print that would:

• be EASY to update
• eliminate the ever-present refrain of “what’s next, Mom?”
• be something each boy could keep in his binder
• have a space for the week number and its overlying topic
• act as a checklist so that said boys could glance at the page and see their progress for the day and week
• list extra work for the week that wasn’t day specific
• have room for chores
• show our activities for the week to trigger reminders for the kids (“oh, we have Scouts on Tuesday… I need to bring x…”)
• track what I was doing with them as read alouds, etc., to enhance recordkeeping

and last, but not least, be PRETTY!  (Does that make me shallow?:-))

So, what to do?  (I know you are all waiting with bated breath…)

I am sorry to say the answer isn’t at all sexy… I simply called on my old friend, Microsoft Excel.  That’s right.  He is like an old ratty sweater – maybe inelegant, but infinitely useful and comfortable.

Anyway…

After posting a screen capture of the weekly plan that I developed using said ratty old sweater:-), I heard from ALOT of people wondering how I created it and whether there is some mysterious app out there that no one knows about.  Based on that feedback, I concluded that a blog post was in order… so, here we are.

To that end, and for your planning enjoyment, I have uploaded a copy of the spreadsheet.  I copy nine weeks of worksheets in each file, so that I have the files setup by quarters.  Feel free to use it as you like.  This is an Excel 2007 file, but those of you who have older software will probably still be able to convert it with minimal loss to the format.

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 Next time, I will give you a little more detail on how I use the planning doc each week.

If you are anything like me, the kitchen is not your best friend.  I admire people who can crank out 3 batches of 6 different kinds of cookies without knocking a hair out of place.  

My friend, Erica, can do this.  She make batches of Christmas delectables.  She does it with a smile on her face.  What amazes me most is that she does it without setting off the fire alarm… unlike some people I know (guilty grin.)

So, for all of you who don't like the smell of smoke… or even for those of you who are excellent cooks who are short on time, I have a secret.

OK, it's not really a secret.  Anything on the Martha Stewart website is far from secret.  But, if you don't know yet that you can make cookies with a waffle iron, you have been missing out.

That's right, a waffle iron!

Miss Martha has a recipe on her site for waffle cookies.  Click and you will find a terrific recipe for Chocolate Waffle Cookies with the faintest hint of cinnamon.  Erica would create these from scratch and sprinkle them with powdered sugar.

What will Professor Mom do?

I will grab a batch of cookie dough that a local teen was selling for a school fundraiser.  I will set my waffle iron to high, spray on a nice layer of cooking spray and, spoonful by glorious spoonful, make my cookies.  Quick and easy.  My contribution to the family feast done in record time.

Then, I will finish wrapping some gifts, play with the kids, and lay on the couch with my husband looking at the sparkling, white Christmas lights on our tree.

Does life get any better?  I can't imagine…

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Professor Mom 

Someone once said that 'failure to plan is planning to fail.'  Homeschooling is no different. Even though we can march to the beat of our own drummer (and let's face it, that's why many of us enjoy it so much:-), we don't want to get so caught up in that march that we forget that there are certain life-tools that have proven their worth over time.  Basic lesson planning - in essence, giving yourself a roadmap – is one such tool. 

Still not convinced?  Here is a quick list of lesson planning benefits that I have put together for you this fine morning:

You will waste less time finding things.  To be organized or not to be organized, that is the question. Regardless of where you stand on the Julie Morgenstern scale, your kids need you to step up and make sure they have the tools they need to learn.  Preparation means that you have those beakers for the chemistry experiment on hand when you need them, so you don't spend half the day driving around town to find them.

You won't be sidetracked with rabbit trails (unless you want to be!)  We are homeschoolers, right?  Do we not love rabbit trails?  You know, the times when your son or daughter becomes so fascinated in a subject that it consumes the household?  Those rabbit trails are some of the most beautiful moments of homeschooling life.  But, it is important to remember that rabbit trails can lead nowhere if they aren't well-managed.  They can also overwhelm you and draw you away from more foundational skills.  Those foundations (you know… basic grammar, math, and spelling) may not be quite as exciting as a rabbit trail to the land of India, but they are still crucial to your homeschool.

You don't get lost (because you know where you are going.)  How do we get anywhere unless we know where we are going?  Homeschooling is at least 12 years of numerous subjects, not to mention life skills and character training.  Having an outline of your journey helps you stay on track.  It also helps you catch any molehills before they become mountains.  Lesson planning keeps you going in the right direction.  It also gives you the flexibility to take on the afore-mentioned rabbit trails with confidence, knowing everything else is still accounted for.

Your expectations are clear.  Good lesson plans give you the opportunity to lay out expectations clearly.  I am not talking about lengthy rubrics (unless you like them.)  Instead, your lesson plans tell you and your kids what is expected of them.  You experience peace in not having to develop and explain an assignment in between blow-drying your hair and your morning coffee (besides, I highly recommend the coffee first;-)  It is also more fair to your children.  They have expectations that are consistent and well-thought out.  No flip-flopping for their mom!  Nope, she knows what she expects, and she communicates that clearly.  Kids need those boundaries so they can concentrate on the work at hand.

Self-Confidence.  I can't tell you how many moms I talk to who are unbelievably unsure of themselves… especially when it comes to homeschooling.  They feel unorganized, not worthy for the task, tired, or worn down from 'negotiating' with their kids.  Planning your lessons is one small step toward building up that skin you need when you homeschool.  Everyone isn't going to support you, we all know that.  But, when you are down on yourself, you can sabotage your entire homeschool experience.  Who then suffers?  That's right, the kids!  So, this week, try to work in a little planning.  See if you don't feel just a bit stronger. 

Planning can't solve all of your problems, create perfect kids, or eliminate world hunger.  What it can do is take away some of the noise of life and allow you to focus on the very reasons you are doing this homeschool thing in the first place… your kids. 

Thought of the day:  When you prepare for life, you glide through a bit easier and a bit saner.

For some, morning means waking up to the dawn from a refreshing night's sleep.  Ready for the day, you bound out of bed, looking forward to whatever may come.  For others, morning goes hand-in-hand with feelings of dread and/or chaos.  Whichever side of the fence you are on, my friend, I think we can all agree that mornings are important for setting the tone of the rest of the day.

I was doing my Bible study this morning, and I was looking in my concordance for symbolism relating to the morning.  Three references guided me to lay out specific goals for the morning: 

Gratitude.  Psalms 65:8 tells us "They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy."  Goal:  I want to wake in gratitude for the day, my family, and the work God has given me.

Beginning the journey.  Israel began their journeys in the morning. (Genesis 22:3) Goal:  I want to rise prepared to embark on the day's journey, seeing it for the adventure it is. 

Forming of a covenant.  Genesis 26:31 speaks of oaths being exchanged after rising in the morning.  Goal:  I desire to be in covenant with God in order to seek Him first throughout the day. 

Morning is the time that comes after the period of rest.  It is a time to get ready and fulfill tasks that are relevant to productivity and life out in the wide world.  We get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush our teeth, and prepare for whatever tasks are ahead of us: schooling, grocery shopping, doctor visits, vacation planning, visiting with friends… you get the point.  How we begin our day often affects how the rest of the day plays out.  Let's take an inventory of how we begin our day:

Do you wake up:

With the sun, or some form of light source?  Or do you keep the room black?

Ready to get out of bed?  Or do you hit the snooze alarm 15 times?

Prepared?  Or do you spend half the night worrying about what you didn't get done?

Organized?  Or is your entire family in chaos because there are no clean dishes and no one knows where to find clothes for the day?

Even if you lean more toward night-owl than early bird, you can make changes that will make your morning more productive, your day more pleasant, and your relationships less strained.  Becoming a morning person is requires dealing with one part genetics and two parts habit.

First, it is important to acknowledge that some people really are night-owls.  Their genetics, primarily the pieces that are tied to circadian rhythms, are wired to make them more awake in the evening.  My husband is one of these people.  He 'turns on' at around 10pm.  It is like someone flips a switch.  He stays up and works into the wee hours and usually rises around 8am.  He runs his own business, so this schedule works for him.  Night owls aren't lazy, they are simply wired differently.

Unfortunately, from the perspective of a homeschooling mom, that schedule isn't always feasible.  Being up with young children, preparing for your school day, setting an example of cheerfulness in the morning, each of these means that living the night owl lifestyle isn't an option.  So, what can you do to go from night owl to morning person?

Well, you can focus on creating good habits.

Much of waking up well involves what you do the night before.  TV watching, stress before bed, your bedroom environment, how late you stay up, what you eat, and whether you exercise regularly are all variables that affect your sleep.

Here is a list of tips you can use to turn yourself into a morning person who exhibits gratitude for the day, begins the journey of the day well, and uses the morning to keep your covenants with God and family:

TV/Screen time.  Contrary to popular opinion, adults are not immune to the negative effects of the screen.  We may be ultra-diligent with our children, but when it comes to our own intake, we let it slide.  The particular light and flicker that is emitted from the television and the computer have been shown to keep our brains awake and affect sound sleep negatively.  Try to avoid both right before you hit the sack.  I use the time right before bed to read something heartening.  This plants beautiful thoughts to be used by my brain through the night.  One of my favorite books for pre-bed reading is Henri Nowen's "The Only Necessary Thing," which is a lovely treatise on prayer.  Fill your brain with peaceful thoughts before you close your eyes for the night.

Stress.  Stress is an energy sucker and a health stealer.  Keeping your stress levels manageable is a goal most of us strive for.  In order to minimize the impact of stress on your sleep quality, try to empty your mind.  I like to keep a small notebook or digital recorder on my nightstand.  When I start focusing in on my outstanding task list or my brain kicks out an article idea that I don't want to forget, I get it recorded immediately.  I also lay out whatever I need for the next day.  My mind can then rest, knowing that it hasn't lost anything critical.

Sleeping Environment.  When you get into bed and look around your room, do you sigh in comfort and peace or in frustration?  An ideal sleeping environment is dark, quiet, uncluttered, and comfortably heated or cooled.  Make sure that you have your thermostat set so that you are not waking up chilled or sweating through the night.  Keep the room neat and tidy, creating a haven rather than a cluttered mess.

Bedtime.  This is a habit that can be difficult to change, and one I still struggle with.  After being 'on' with the boys all day, I enjoy the peace and solitude of the house after they are in bed.  I can write without being interrupted, get housework done, have meaningful conversations with my husband, or catch up on my reading.  I often get caught up in these things and end up staying up way too late.  I have to discipline myself to enjoy that time, but to know when to stop as well.

Nutrition.  Are you drinking coffee in the late afternoon just to get through?  Have you caved in to the sugar cravings one too many times?  Have you skimped on vegetables in favor of more pasta or bread?  If so, you may be setting yourself up for more than just weight gain.  Coffee is an energy shark; it steals more than it gives.  Sugar not only messes with your energy levels, but it also is inflammatory and can give you heartburn at night.  Vegetables are crucial for developing a strong immune system and for helping with good digestion.  You keep an eye on your children's eating habits; keep yours in check as well, and you can reap the benefits in more restful sleep at night and more energy and drive for your day.

Exercise.  Who has time for it, right?  Finding a way though, will help you sleep better at night.  A short walk every day makes a huge impact on how you sleep at night.

By taking an inventory of where you stand with each of these elements, you will have greater clarity on how your sleep may be affected by your habits.  When your sleep is poor, it is harder to get up in the morning and harder to get through your day in a state of peace and productivity.  When you use what many experts call good 'sleep hygiene,' you wake up more refreshed and ready to start the day in a cheerful frame of mind.  Setting the stage for a pleasant wake-up also sets the stage for a fulfilling day with your family.

If you were to dump your brain onto paper, you could easily have a 10-page, single-spaced, to-do list (scary, but true.)  The reality is that we are tracking bundles of "stuff" for multiple roles (mom, consultant, volunteer), multiple contexts (at home, at the office, on the road), and multiple people (yourself, your husband, each of your kids.)  Add in some hobbies or special interests and the task juggling is enough to make anyone's head explode.

Before you reach for the migraine meds, let's take a look at a framework for taming the to-do list beast.

What is an Action List?

In my Life Tracking post, I wrote that my Action List is on the front-lines.  It is with me daily, a noble, hard-working, foot soldier that saves me from travesties such as forgetting the dry cleaning or requesting the wrong research.  By compiling all of my day-to-day minutia, the Action List gives me valuable peace of mind. 

How do I Make an Action List?

To create your Action List, you must first do a comprehensive brain dump.  Basically, get everything currently residing in your head, on post-its, or in your email box, and write it down in one place. 

Next, put any items that are strictly date-focused on your Calendar.  Examples: 3pm dentist appointment on 11/17, vacation from 9/20-9/27, lunch with Mary Thursday at noon.

Once your Calendar has been updated, move anything that you'd like to do "someday" to a Forward List.  Examples: read Jan Karon books, study chemistry, take up knitting.

Projects are next.  Anything that is priority or time-specific and involves multiple steps goes on the Project List.  You keep this one in front of you daily, but these items are more process-intensive and need their own home.  Examples: prepare homeschooling materials, redecorate the living room, research article on brain development.

What you are left with is your Action List.  This is an overall picture of things you need to do in the very near future.

How do I Organize my Action List?

Sorting your Action List into contexts allows you to combine activities when appropriate.  Remember, our brain works best when we don't continually shift focus.  If we group like-tasks, we get more accomplished with less effort.  For instance, one common context category is Errands.  You save time, energy and money in gas if you can glance at the Errand section of your Action List and realize that you can combine a library run, mail drop, and prescription pick-up into one trip.  These tasks may not be connected by topic, but they are connected by their context.  By aggregating tasks in this way, you get the benefit of economies of scale.

Some of my context areas include: Errands, Phone Calls, Email, Other Computer Work, Scott (including his "honey-do" list), and Notepad (this is where I keep post ideas and article topics)

When do I Update my Action List?

I like to do an overall review of the week on Sunday evening.  I usually feel relatively relaxed then, and I like to get a bird's eye view of the week ahead.  I look at what didn't get done last week – there are always plenty of tasks in that category – and those tasks get moved forward.  Then, I look over my Calendar, Project List, Forward Lists and decide what needs to get done for the week.  (Moving in a week-long time-frame works best for me because of the constant interruptions that are an inherent part of motherhood:-)  Then, it is just a matter of checking my Action List each morning to determine what is on my agenda for the day.

When you are a mom, life is always a little bit crazy.  By taking a more methodical approach to daily planning, you can reduce stress and create a more peaceful environment, while making the most of your time.

My four-pronged approach includes my Calendar, Forward Lists, Project List, and Action List.  These four documents sum up my "life tracking" system.  In other words, it's how I keep track of my life and how I make sure my life stays on track.

The Calendar

I use this for appointments and any tasks that are date-specific.  The boys' soccer games, service calls, and article deadlines all go on my Calendar.

The Forward List

These are lists that I make when I dream a little dream.  If I come across something that I can't act on in the near future, I put it in the appropriate Forward List.  By keeping these items in a designated area, I don't lose them, but I don't have to think about them everyday either. Examples of Forward Lists include Books to Read, Article Ideas, Items to Purchase, Hobbies to Consider, and Curriculum to Review.

The Project List

I am a project lover.  I have many interests, and my iron is in many fires.  The Project List gives me a high-level view of all of the "big rocks" that I am currently working on.  Anything that is multi-task in nature, such as planning a trip to South Dakota, organizing the basement, or planting a garden, goes on the Project List.

The Action List

The Action List is the front-line of my planning system.  I regularly look over my Forward Lists & Project List and move next tasks from those lists to my Action List.  This is essentially what David Allen of Getting Things Done fame would call a "next action."  All of my next actions go on my Action List, along with any one-time tasks I need to accomplish.  Taking out the trash, calling Mom, and making a trip to the drug store are all appropriate activities for the Action List.  I also break up my Action List into contexts – often by where I need to do them.  By batching tasks in this manner, I can optimize my use of time.

As we know, any planning is better than no planning.  Better yet, though, is a plan you can use for life.  By breaking down your approach to daily planning into activity-specific lists, you will start to see some real progress toward your key goals.

If you knew me, you would know that I love all things time-management related.  I buy planners for fun and enjoy creating mind maps.  Categorizing a to-do list is my idea of a good time.  Personal productivity tools energize me in a way I can't even explain.  (All of you "paper lovers" out there can probably relate.)  Needless to say, any approach that maximizes my time and gets me working effectively draws my attention in a big way.  Over the years, though, I have become less enamored with the results I get from multi-tasking.

Goals by definition, are meaningful, focused outcomes, right?  If so, shouldn't we be working on a meaningful, focused outcome in a meaningful, focused way?  Maybe it's time to go back to the old adage of "do one thing and do it well." 

I do think multi-tasking has its place.  Nothing is taken from my phone conversations if I do a load of laundry or dust while I talk.  Similarly, if I go grocery shopping, it only makes sense that I stop at the dry cleaners and the library as well.

When I am writing an article or grading papers, however, I must focus completely on the task at hand or the quality of my effort suffers.  In order to produce my best work (and this also applies to the time I spend teaching the boys), I need to be in a focused state of mind.  A focused mind is clearer, it isn't cluttered up with the next three things on my to do list.  A focused mind is efficient, it doesn't waste valuable time and energy flipping between activities.  Most of all, a focused mind is effective.  By freeing the mind to concentrate on one thing and one thing only, it has more capacity for generating original thoughts and logically developing them. The yield… quality results and work I can be proud of.  Sometimes, I find myself in the "supermom" mentality, where I seek a greater quantity of activities, which makes me feel more productive.  But feeling productive and being productive are not one in the same.  To be productive, I want my efforts to yield excellence.

For instance, when I wrote the curriculum for my business communication course, I took chunks of time at night when the rest of the house was asleep rather than trying to cram it into my day.  I wouldn't have been able to focus on the task because it would have been competing with too many other tasks.  My thought process would have been continuously interrupted by the boys, the phone, the cat and the glaring eyes of my dust bunnies:-)

Instead, after getting the wee ones tucked into their beds, I took a hot shower, brushed my teeth (this always wakes me up!) and, with a cup of tea in hand, retreated upstairs to work.  I kept all of my materials in one basket where I could easily pick up where I left off the night before.

I then would decide how much time I wanted to spend on the project ahead of time.  Some nights I was ready to drop by 8pm (hmmm, anyone else out there know that feeling?)  Those are the nights I set myself to a half hour of easy tasks.  Other nights, I was really energized and could commit to three hours.  On those nights, I would see huge chunks of quality work just falling out of my brain.  When it was time for bed, I had a great sense of peace because I felt that I had truly produced my best work.

Over the next month, try focusing on your meaningful projects even just a little more.  Save the multi-tasking for the brainless, routine activities and concentrate the best parts of you on the work that will best fulfill the vision you have for your life!