Monday, February 11, 2013

Goal Planning Monday - February 11

Why is it so hard to get my act together? There is something about February that makes me want to just burrow.  Maybe the weather?  I'm slowly getting there.

Updates and tweaks:

-Organize blogging.  Getting there.

So far, the binder idea is working.  I need to get better at planning out activities, but I do have better plans now than a few weeks ago, so that's something. 

I've also learned how to link my blog to Pinterest, and how to make individual images Pinnable.  Which is pretty impressive - I have almost no web-building skills.  Yay for Pinterest and links to step-by-step instructions. 

I've been accepted as a guest blogger at a newly relaunching site, so I'm really excited about the opportunity.  It will start in April and I will be writing about allergy friendly recipes and treats.  My first article is due on March 1st, which sound like a long way away, but it's really two weeks.  I'd like to try to get that written, and my second article written by mid-March.  My goal is to try to stay two weeks ahead of deadline, so then I have time if I run into problems.  I need to figure how to work this into my blog binder...I think I need a folder or something.

My first Schoolhouse Crew Review went live last week, and my second one is due in a few days.  I think it needs one more read-through and then it's ready. 

-The never ending lesson plans.  Like I said, never ending.

Jude -  I've mapped out what we're doing for the next couple weeks.  I decided not to change too much at the moment as we have several reviews going on, and I think my head will just explode if I try to test one more thing.  (His just might, too! LOL)

The only project I really need to come up with (and quickly!!) is a Lenten craft. Last year we took craft foam hearts, wrote numbers on them for which day of Lent it was (1 through 40) and glued them to a black foam cross.  The idea was that we started with something black and boring and ugly and by the end of Lent, it was covered in love.  I'm thinking of doing a butterfly -- we'll make the caterpillar/"body" on Ash Wednesday and then I'll figure some way to build the wings over the course of Lent.   I have some shiny foil heart stickers, so maybe we will do the outline of the wings and then add a heart a day.  I'm not quite certain yet, but that seems simple enough that Damien can do the same project too.
 
Damien - For the moment, I'm just dividing the columns in my current planner.  I don't love it, but I need to figure out something else.  Probably it's just a matter of being able to spend time with Word or Excel or something similar to get not only a layout that I want but something that works once it's printed out.  I NEED paper, so it's going to have to work that way. 

The main issue I had was I can't fit everyone neatly on one page, and I need to figure out how to do the layout so I can print two-sided.  Seems like it should be easy, but my printer has nearly sailed through the window.  Not it's fault, of course, but it can't seem to understand what I want it to do.  It's wi-fi enabled, so why can't my brain just work over wi-fi?


-Send a few emails to other local homeschooling Moms.   Well, I got as far as finding out a few email addresses, and joining a Facebook page for local homeschool moms.  That's something, right? 

I have been making bunch of other calls, and these got pushed down the list. Soon. 

I think instead of trying to start planning too far ahead, I'm going to wait.  We're about to start our new Phonics book, and we've been trying several Math programs. We were chosen to do two different math programs - neither is Jude's level, but I'm taking the time to see if I like the programs overall enough to consider switching to it for next year.  I think since we're also doing a really eclectic mix of curricula and I'm not worried about getting a whole program, we may just wing it a little longer and try to see what's out there.   I'm going to keep my eyes and ears open for ideas, but I'm not going to stress over it just yet. 



Set your own goals and join the party over at Mama Manuscripts.


4 comments:

  1. You were accepted at that site? Yay! Maybe sometime we can coordinate a recipe and math (one of my topics) post.

    We're up to our eyeballs in reviews, too. I'm finding some terrific things for next year, and I've packed everything else at this point. :)

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    1. Yes! Thank you SO much for the reference!! I'm excited to begin. Coordinating would be great, since there's a LOT of math in cooking!

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  2. Every year I try to make my lesson plans easier to fill out. I spent so much time on them I was going nuts. Finally got it down to about 15 minutes for the whole week! :)

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  3. I love making planning pages in Open Office. I have made my school log pages for years and got it down to a science, keep at it, soon you and your printer will be best friends again. It just takes trial and error... sometimes a LOT of error!!! lol

    Not stressing about homeschooling. That is hard. I have been homeschooling for 22 years and have graduated 3 from our homeschool that I homeschooled from K-12th and I still stress over some things. I pray you find your way and if you seek God an the best for YOUR student, which may not be the curriculum 'most' people are using or your friend is using, you will do fine.

    Have a wonderful Valentines Day and a great rest of your week/weekend. God Bless.

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