We are in the middle of what will be a fairly long stretch where all we have planned is to perform well in school. There are a few piano performances and weekend trips planned, but really not too much else until swimming starts in the late spring. It dawned on me that we make the most progress in projects and school in these sorts of times. There is a desire to relax, do the minimum possible, and just glide through times like this. I have “slacked” many times over the years, but view those times as wasted. We are on a tight schedule to meet some very specific goals for school. If we meet them, the kids will be, literally, a year ahead of where they will be if we do not meet them. There are some fun things to learn that can bring a lifetime of enjoyment (e.g. Amigurumi and ham radio). I can learn new things to do my job better. I think it is important to set time aside every day to relax and talk, but that is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about can be as little as focusing on piano instead of browsing through facebook, doing a few math corrections instead of playing Runescape, learning a new knitting pattern instead of reading that interesting article on what hat to wear, studying C++ programming or Spanish instead of optimizing Firefox performance for the 42nd time, drawing a couple of extra Betty Blondes instead of re-reading an Agatha Christie novel for the 53rd time, etc., etc., etc.
Chrisstian
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It is on it’s way.
Ken, what you speak of is a continual challenge for most every human being from age 1 to 100. I know I struggle with it and so do our children. I think it’s even more of a challenge now than when I was young and there was no such thing as home computers, cell phones, face book, gaming systems, gameboy, blah blah blah. I was thinking just yesterday that my children have fallen into way too much “mindless electronic relaxation” lately. Thanks for the reminder that one can choose to do better.
Lynn
So after I’ve read the first three articles about the stock market and economy tanking, I might consider just skipping the reading of articles 4 through 73?! Seriously, though – great post. Since my approach to school is totally different this time around, I keep thinking about all the time I wasted the first time.
Catherine
Haha like Troy, I was thinking about the schooling aspect. The last part of your post sounds like great practice for college! At least somewhat along the lines of how I filled my time in college. *blush* So really, you may be doing them a favor by allowing them to get the dilly-dallying out of their systems now before they get to college. 😉 Then they will have Troy’s view and not waste as much time…maybe. 🙂
Anyway, more serious, it is an interesting topic. I remember when I was in a formal public school, we did not have access or even given time for that matter to be distracted with other things like facebook/please reading/texting and thus I would get my homework done before I usually ever got home. Then college came and wow once class was over I had all this free time and a VERY fast internet connection to use (T1 or T3 can’t remember) that was rare for the early 2000s! So, in a way, I think the homeschool atmosphere is great for learning how to manage these distractions.
Catherine
I just noticed I have some typo/grammar issues. So much for looking over it before posting! I was in more of a stream of conscious mode then putting clear concise thoughts together so hopefully you can figure out what I was trying to say. Sorry.
Thanks for all the great comments everyone. I especially laughed at Catherine’s last comment because I have gone back and edited typos out of the post itself at least three times after I first posted it. I am sure your comment was more typo free than my original post. I might note that reading NO economic reading material is the only thing that keeps me from needing more lithium in my diet.
P.S. I am wondering why we went from dial-up to DSL (not to mention T1 or T3). We got more done when we had dial-up. Come to think of it, we got even more than that done BEFORE we got dial-up!
Making lunch instead of commenting on blogs!?!
Exactly!!!