Moms of high schoolers - how do you organize your time?

[Donna A.]

I know this is an old thread, but I stumbled upon it as I'm trying to decide whether to switch to a curriculum that would be very time-intensive for ME to both prepare and teach.  The following post made me laugh because it's so TRUE.  Especially the dialogue with Self. :huh: :lol:

 

 

Want me to be poetic or honest?

So, there was this cute little saying on Facebook this morning:

I suffer from OCD and ADD - I want everything to be perfect and it lasts five minutes.

Wow, baby, does that sum up my homeschooling goals and achievements.

Really, truly, the one thing I have learned is to be honest with myself.

Truth: I can spend hours drawing up lesson plans, but I won't complete them.
Truth: There is a huge spread between what I can do, what I want to do, and what I will do.
Truth: What I can do is useless, what I want to do is also useless, and the only useful thing is what I will actually DO.

With those three truths in hand, I plan accordingly now.

I used to plan according to what I *wanted* to do - my ideal, perfect, high ideals.
I then used to plan according to what was DOABLE, though not necessarily to what I would actually carry through.

I am finding it more and more helpful to be honest with myself.

Have this conversation in your head:

"Wow, I really love X."
"Really self? Will you DO X?"
"I'd like to."
"But will you DO it?"
"Well, if I managed my time and the kids cooperated the way they do in my imagination, I would do it."
"But will you DO it?"
"Well, if money and time weren't factors...."
"But will you DO it?"
"Probably not."
"Move on."



There are a few things I stick to... And there are a few things that I now buy boxed. Do I love boxed? No, but at least it gets done.


And, let's face it, the BEST in the world, undone, is useless. And something good, though lacking here and there, that actually gets done? Useful.

I let go of some of my high ideals so that I could hold onto my high ideals in other areas. There is only 24 hours in the day and I can list out enough to do and activities and caring for my children to fill up a good 32. I don't have 32. Plus, and this is just annoying, I need like eight WHOLE hours to sleep.

And when I quit lying to myself (that I could do it all and do it all well) then I could make realistic goals and actually acheive some of them without constantly feeling guilty for falling short.

And the other thing I learned? Toss a good portion of the responsibility on the teen where it belongs. If they want it, they need to own it too. There is the time when education moves from mom's responsibility with child's participation to child's responsibility with mom's accountability... High school is a good time for that. So, I hold them accountable, but that's different than holding their hand. And now that I'm a little older and wiser, I make my school work for upper elementary and middle school more independent, and I am actively training my middles to drive their education bit by bit.