Saturday, January 03, 2009

Motivation

Lisa over at House of Many Blessings asked awhile ago what helps us to stay motivated for school during the long winter months. I admit that I've never been really good at it. Sickness, boredom, cabin fever, swim practices and meets, and other willy-nilly things have always been allowed to get in the way, which means by May we're scrambling to try to finish as much as possible in hopes of not having our entire summer taken over by unfinished schoolwork.

Every year we try to do better, and in some areas we are doing well. Frankly last year and especially this year, I am looking forward to January and February in which we should be able to buckle down and complete a lot of textbook work. But there is always room for improvement and as all homeschooling moms know, if we can stay focused and motivated it is a bit easier to get over the humps of the children being less so.

In the hopes of doing even better these next few months, David, as principal, had a great thought which we will implement starting this next week. David and I are going to set goals for the children's schoolwork for the month. Simple goals, like a Math lesson each day, two chapters of Latin completed, a Science lesson each day, and to a certain point in History. The History goal is going to be my hardest to set. I simply have a very hard time estimating how long a particular topic will take to complete.

At the end of the month if our goals our met, we will do something fun from a list the family has brainstormed together to make. So far our list includes:
  • Dinner and a movie
  • The zoo
  • Underwater World
  • Mall of America Amusement Park
  • Orchestra event
  • Science Museum
  • Mill City Museum
  • History Museum
  • Indoor Waterpark
  • Snowshoe hike at a nearby nature center
  • Going to visit cousins
We will add or subtract from the list as we think of ideas. The fun activity will be chosen based on weather conditions, the budget, and what sounds like the most fun. If you have any suggestions, list them, sometimes I forget the most obvious when I make a list until someone else points it out. I'll post at the end of the month how we did and what activity we chose.

2 comments:

Kristi Heinz said...

So, I went to House of Blessings, and she had joined this holiday home tour. It is so awful. There are over 900 homes that you can tour on their blogs. I am never going to get anything done. You are in big trouble :0)

Dakotapam said...

Ha! I never get anything done..even when I want to!

Hey, I left you an award at my place...just so you have something to do!