Goal Planning Monday - Nov. 12

The difference between writing down goals and making a mental to do list is it seems like stuff actually gets done!

Last week's goals:

1. Keep working on adding a little more to each day. Getting there. We attempted "gym" three days last week.  Day 2 was easier than Day 1, once we figured out some adjustments to help him with technique.  We also have done a few art projects - they definitely are motivating for him. Today we added back in a "literature" component with a cute little Turkey printable - hopefully our new reading books will be here soon.  He wasn't totally enthusiastic about sitting for so long, but we stopped midway through for an "exercise break" and we actually did two crafts today: one that tied in with our Religion lesson and a paper turkey.  The promise of the turkey project kept him motivated.  

2. Contacting the Therapy Department at duPont and find out where he is on the waiting lists, and if it's going to be a while, start looking into other providers.  Phone tag.  Ugh. 

3. The Jesse Tree -- time to start printing out the pictures for the Tree.  Change of plans.  Instead of a Jude-only project, I am going to make this a family project.  I didn't get anything printed, but I found a new resource that has not only the symbols but also accompanying Bible passages.  I haven't decided how we are going to do the symbols themselves, but we are going to put the ornaments on the tree as a family, and the big kids will be taking turns reading the passages.  I am thinking Jude may take them on as an "arts and crafts" project so that they are ready for each evening when we gather as a family.  

4. Try to not be doing blog posts late at night!  Well...it's not so late right now!  LOL I've been doing "A Month of Thanksgiving" over on our family blog, and I admit, it's keeping me up.  But for these posts, I've been trying to start them via the iPhone App so that after everyone is in bed all I need to really do is pretty them up -- rearrange pictures, adjust color/type, etc.

This week's goals:

1.  Finish this Math Unit.  Jude only has about 6 textbook pages to his next section review, and then that's the end of the Unit.  We are going on vacation over Thanksgiving, and we will have a break from most of our studies. The big kids will have schoolwork to do, so we will take a few things with us.  I'm thinking maybe we will just do some review pages, or even more "game" type things, rather than trying to start a new unit.  I'd rather not have a 10 day break and be starting down the barrel of a Unit Test first thing Monday.

2.  Lesson Plans.

I don't want to have a whole lot to do, but I'd like to have a few easily-packed things for him to do while the other kids do their work while we're away.  One thing I definitely plan to do is our next Bible unit (Deborah).  I was originally planning to combine Deborah and Ruth, because there isn't a lot of activities for Deborah.  But after reading the "script" for the unit on Ruth, I decided not to and instead we will do a unit study on "Family" to tie-in with Ruth.  Jude is just starting to grasp relationships (ie grandmother is a parent's mother, Uncle Scott is Mommy's brother, etc.) so I want to capitalize on that.

I also want to try to organize December's lessons (including Ruth).  When we get home, we will be diving headlong into the holidays, so I'd like to have the month fairly organized so we're not either scrambling for either things to do or readjusting because we didn't leave any flexibility for skipping a day or two.  I also want to try to plan one "field trip."

3. Inventory our art supplies.  Some things we need to replace right now (we are out of blue paint...quelle horror!), but I think some arts & crafts things would be good to ask Santa for.


Hope everybody has a good week!  Set your own goals and join the party over at Real Life: Unscripted.