Self-Education planning or not?

[Luanne]

Do you have a set of goals you want to achieve for your own education? or do you just wing it and study at the time whatever strikes your fancy? Do you have a schedule made up or at least goals and when you want to achieve the goals?

[beezus]

No, I don't have any particular goals for myself at the moment; I just follow my muse. I do read to stay ahead of my kiddo with whatever she will be doing for school, so we can discuss things together in adequate detail.

 

Kathleen

[Jayne J]

I definately set goals. Now, whether or not I meet those goals, or write a new set...:D

 

I have set myself grand goals in the past and never met them. I found that looking up at Mount Parnassus was overwhelming, and I quit. So now I try to set an overall direction (basically I want to lead where I want my children to follow) and take baby steps. I do have an overarching plan (self education 101 in The Latin Centered Curriculum) and when I have accomplished that, then I have other things I'd like to pursue. I also leave lots of room for my personal, changable interests.

 

I am finally coming to a point in my life where I realize I can't do it ALL, so I am plucking away what is good and leaving what is best, as best as I can.

[Cedarmom]

Set goals. Sometimes I switch if I am getting bogged down, but I try and always have some goals. I try and read a Great Book or History Book for 30 minutes 4 x a week and do at least one lesson in LoF 4 x a week. And maybe some Latin, but I'm sort of discouraged on the Latin front and giving it a breaK.

[pageta]

I plan, but I like having a plan. My latest plan is going through many of the Ambleside selections, starting with Year 11 (since its language the most familiar and thus easiest to do - the older a book is, the harder it is to read due to the changes in language). I like having the variety. I generally just get stuck doing literature and such because I have no idea what books in other genres to read, or I see so many in literature that I don't have time for anything else. I did read (and enjoy) the Well-Educated Mind, but I wasn't really crazy about many of the literature selections, especially those in the 20th century.

 

Bottom line, I plan, but if I find a plan that excites me more, I switch.

[Peela]

I try and read some books ahead of my kids (now teens) and I read aloud the ones I want to cover in depth with them, often. However, as far as self education goes, I follow what I am drawn to. I dont read fluff, romance novels (well, apart from Twilight recently) and I dont read novels much at all, but I am always reading something. I tried to be systematic for a while, but I gave up.

[DianeJM]

My plan is to learn the whole cycle of history, and to read much of the literature as well goes with it. I didn't get the greatest education myself, and I'm hoping to correct some of that. Didn't learn the entirety of history, chronologically, and definitely didn't get a clue as to the intertwining of Biblical history with world history. I'm looking forward to it, we start next year with ancients and I'm searching for how to make it a great study. I only have my youngest now, so it will be just me and him, unless I start some sort of a a co-op, which I really would like to do so that he will have other kids to learn with.

 

I've been homeschooling 15 years, and didn't have the big picture in mind when I started -- not until recently have I figured out that I want to be in on the learning! Late bloomer here :blushing:, but I'm excited about it. Hey, I'm investing all this time, I want to learn it too-lol. I don't have specific goals for myself; I think I'll just leave it loose with just the overall goal of learning it along with ds. But I will be adamant that we will be orderly and deliberate about what we study. Looking forward to starting at the beginning and going from there. At the same time, I try to take things one year at a time and avoid super long range planning..... but I do have a progression in mind.