Want to share goals for the new school yr--not necessarily academic in focus

[8filltheheart]

My daughters and I have formed a pact for the new school yr. These goals are not academic in focus, but we believe they will have a positive impact on our school day.

 

*Getting up and driving to a nearby walking path, walking for 45 mins, and then attending early morning Mass before we start school.

 

*Eliminating processed food from our diets. This was prompted by my dd's lupus diagnosis and we have been working on this all summer.

 

*Finding one low cost activity each that they are super excited about doing. (We are working on this right now. Nothing spectacular, just individual interests and making them a priority.)

 

*My personal goals are to waste less time each day, to go to bed earlier, and to create a better financial budget.

 

I think if we can accomplish these goals that our days are going to be more productive over all, and we will end up having more energy and actually end up with more free time.

 

We start back to school in couple of weeks and the immediate goal is to shift the kids back to earlier bed times and to get up earlier.

 

What are your make this a great yr plans?

[umsami]

We're hoping to drive to the beach and go beach walking each morning....or possibly alternate that with the walking trail at a nearby park.  :)   I've meant to do this for the past two years, but now that I've told the kids, I think they'll help hold me accountable. :)

[8filltheheart]

We're hoping to drive to the beach and go beach walking each morning....or possibly alternate that with the walking trail at a nearby park. :) I've meant to do this for the past two years, but now that I've told the kids, I think they'll help hold me accountable. :)

Absolutely! I like to get up and walk on my treadmill while reading the forums. It was my dd's idea to walk at the park. It is a much better plan, so she will be holding me accountable!

[Chrysalis Academy]

It's also our goal to incorporate more regular physical activity into our days. I haven't figured out exactly how to make that work yet. One idea I have is to ask the girls to choose an activity from the local Park & Rec program catalog - anything they want.  I like the morning walk idea, but Shannon is a late sleeper and early mornings are my only kid-free time, so that's a hard one to give up.

 

I also want to change up how we do dinner. I need to simplify and streamline a bit, and I need to involve the girls more.  We eat pretty much all whole foods, cooked from scratch meals, and it can take a lot of time to pull off.  Maybe each of them could be responsible for dinner once a week? Hmm, I will have to think about that.

 

In general, I need to get them both more involved in home upkeep on a regular basis. I do too much of it myself, and I burn out big time by the end of the day, between keeping up with my own business, planning and teaching, cooking and cleaning. I don't have much energy for self care, exercise, friends, etc.  I need to have them take on more responsibility and carve out time for my own identity and self-care.

 

I also want to be sure we schedule and follow through with weekly nature study/field work/outdoor time. I have great intentions and great ideas, but this always falls out of the schedule. I have to work hard to streamline our academic schedule and then calendar those important "extras" that aren't really extra, but that I never seem to make time for.

 

Great topic!

[FO4UR]

Well, we've been playing around with this already.  I love it...when it is not pouring down rain...(and it has been raining since the end of May here!!!)   We are going to wake up, get dressed, pack a lunch and head to the park.  We can let the 2yo run and play while the Big three take turns chasing 2yo and independent reading and solo work with me.

 

 

Early bedtimes and regular meal times - Menu planning, Scheduling, or rather keeping to a schedule with plenty of white space...including chores (20min per child both morning and evening).

 

Do hard things without complaining!   Be kind!

 

[alisoncooks]

I'd like to:

• buckle down on our budget (with DH's cancer treatments this past year, I've been grabbing take-out for meals a lot...which adds up)
• cooking more meals -healthy meals- at home (I've gained 30 pounds since the diagnosis in November...   :glare: ) 
• more physical activity, especially during the day when I tend to sit and sit and sit.
• social interactions - I tend to be an introvert (borderline recluse :blushing: ) but there is a local homeschool playgroup that I'm going to make an effort to get the girls to

[Aurelia]

*More consistent music practice. I signed DD up for choir this coming year, since she said she wanted to learn to sing better, and I think the weekly rehearsals will hold her accountable. I'm still trying to come up with a way to hold myself accountable for my practice.

 

*Simplify school work and make it more enjoyable. I added some things that we haven't done for a long time, like art and interest-led studies, but am trying not to let school take over every aspect of our day. Also, realizing my child doesn't fit the standard "classical" box, and trying to teach the kid I have instead of the fictional model child.

 

*Stick to my exercise goals. I'm easily derailed after working all day, then doing school work, and making dinner and, and, and...  At least DD easily meets her goals. She's hard to keep still. 

[JustEm]

Less TV and tablet time for the entire family. I had a very hard pregnancy and then postpartum depression that resulted in the kids watching Netflix a lot during the day and dh and I watching a lot at night. Now that I am feeling better mentally I can't allow it to continue. We're slowly transitioning it down to an hour a day maximum.

 

Physical goal is to get the park or go hiking everyday before lunch. This will get me the exercise I need and my 2 year old tired enough for an early nap.

[rebcoola]

Cook our meals and pack our lunches when we are going to be busy.

 

Do all things without complaining

 

Yoga daily all together- It helps my back and its good for my little tumblers too.

 

 

[Roadrunner]

I am always being told that I need time for myself. I need to figure out what one does with alone time and then somehow find it.

[daijobu]

I'm sorry about your dd's lupus diagnosis.  That's really rough.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

For me:

- Wake up before the kids (Yes, that's right, I'm finally going to put my grown up pants on and do this!)

- Stay off the computer except during specific breaks in the day

- Read each night 1 hour, anything I please

 

For all of us:

- Adapt the CrossFit Kids workouts for our home/outside use and do as a PE break each morning

- Integrate the kids more into household chores

- Make learning a lifestyle as much as possible- strive for a content-rich environment

- Back to Whole30 for me, and "mostly paleo" for the kids

- We are also working on simplification of stuff, as well as gratitude for what we have.  Always an ongoing process.  :-)  

 

 

[mmasc]

What we need to work on for the upcoming year:

 

--no whining and complaining (school, chores, whatever!)

 

--less screen time (trying to figure out a good limit right now)

 

--starting at a certain time every morning, otherwise the day gets away from us!

 

--more intentional effort for hikes, swim lessons, and meet-ups with friends

 

--to give my 4 year old some one-on-one time each day with me to just play (it seems like it's easy to let this slip away)

 

--for me: 1) stop looking at my phone before school (it a time waster) and read devotion/Bible instead in the morning. 2) Have more patience when the whining/complaining starts :)

 

I hope you all meet your goals and have a great year! :)

[SanDiegoMom]

My goals are:

 

Streamline cooking - my youngest daughter does ballet 30 minutes away three times a week, so the "cook" is gone three nights a week for three hours! It's time to embrace freezer cooking. Plus my oldest is vegetarian but my husband is Paleo, so it is challenging to say the least.

 

Integrate PE into my day. We ALWAYS skipped this one. The ballet dancer doesn't need it but her twin really does.

 

Start school on time in the morning. We spent last year trying to figure out what works best, trying to embrace the flexibility that homeschool provides to sleep in late if we want to, but if we are out of the house that much at night we'd better get done earlier during the day! It's no fun finishing school and then heading straight to the car.

 

Possibility getting ready to move. We find out if we are moving next summer, and there is a possibility it will be overseas, so I'm already anticipating trying to finish school early this year so I can focus on divesting ourselves of all of our excess baggage and figuring out what will come with us and what goes into storage. Not that we know yet WHERE we are going. I just like to be emotionally ready:-)

[Jackie]

My daughter is 5. My first goal for this year is figuring out how to meet her social needs (which are much higher than mine) without overscheduling and overcommitting us. I need to find activities that are a good fit for this need - playing with random kids at the park does not fill this need for her, but weekly homeschool park day counts for it because she sees the same kids. Gymnastics class doesn't because it is too directed and not socializing. I need to find some commitments where she can regularly see the same kids in a less directed manner.

 

Figure out how to involve DH more in our schooling. He wants to be more involved, but works full time and is in a Master's program part time, so his time is very limited.

 

Integrate yoga and mindfulness into our days.

 

Find a way for DD to enjoy math. She is good at it, but doesn't think she is, and she quickly names it as a subject she hates. We already do math with lots of games (RightStart a few days a week plus extra games and puzzles). I'm not sure what is going wrong here.

[Critterfixer]

To maintain our relaxed summer atmosphere into the fall. We've done school all summer long, and been pretty happy with the pace. 

We already exercise daily whether we want to or not, but I would like to get back to distance running this fall. I would also like to keep up our daily read aloud with the afternoon rest we've been taking daily.

[Roadrunner]

Chores and boys. I am guilty of doing everything myself, because when I involve kids, it's double the work. I need to figure out how to get my kids to delegate. 

[Rosyl]

#1  Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom

 

I only have my oldest home for maybe 2 school years.  this one could be my last. the time is fleeting.  I want them to be quality years and I want them to be valuable.  I don't want to heap work on him.  Lord, teach me to number my days so I can teach him to number his.  And I need wisdom.

 

#2  Unhurried life with accomplishment. 

 

I don't want to be so busy DOING that I don't have time to BE with my kids.  All this rushing from place to place has got to stop for us.  On the flip side, I also don't want to mosy along so much that nothing gets done.  I need wisdom.

[FairProspects]

We got into a great routine of 45 min walk/runs last year every single day because we had the accountability of friends coming along with us. They are going back to school this year. :( So...

 

1. Take 45 minute outdoor walk/runs daily despite not having partners

 

2. Focus on once a week dinners cooked by kids.

 

3. Say no to more outside activities and stay home to make weekday schedules less rushed. This one could be very hard for me as the extrovert who needs social interaction.

 

4. Enforce chores. Dh works crazy hours and my weekdays are long and exhausting with too many commitments and too little time. The boys are very capable when asked but they really need to step it up and do more around the house.

[Kfamily]

Like many previous posters, we need to find the best way to juggle a heavy outside of the house year with a heavy academic year. I'm not sure how that will actually work. The girls and I have discussed how life is full of seasons. We've had a long season of lack of stability (moving too much) and they have not been able to pursue interests for that time period. Now, we're settled in their home place again and they really need (not just want) to learn new things and get involved in activities. But, we also need to work very hard academically this year too. This should be interesting. :)

 

We need/hope to...

 

Create a plan to get a healthy dinner on the table each night. Like a previous poster, I have a dancer whose lessons will take me out of the house 3x a week. My older daughter has yoga and possibly ballet too. We will have piano weekly too. We may end up out of the house for French, if this works out, too. This doesn't include a potential dual-enrollment class, library service work, the desire for violin lessons and social events.

 

We need to start our lessons earlier this year. It's the only way we can get enough done with the afternoons eaten up with outside activities.

 

I need to be more assertive and stand my ground on not letting other chores, issues and events affect our schedule. I need to guard it dearly this year.

 

Let my older daughter cook once a week and my younger one to help with meals too.

 

I need to stay off of the computer, unless I'm truly working. :)

 

I would love to walk in the mornings.

 

 

 

Eight...I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's diagnosis. I hope that she heals as quickly and as easily as possible.

[Luckymama]

I've been thinking about this since Saturday morning.

 

The main goal: to pinpoint dd15's health issues and to determine a way forward. Surgery is extremely likely. If so, I want to schedule it during January to minimize disruptions during the (potentially long) recovery----the university where she'll be studying Arabic has a winter session during January, plus ballet will be between Nutcracker and the April ballet performances.

 

We need to stay flexible with our schooling schedule. Dd will have university classes four times a week in the mid-morning (:eek:). She'll find a place either on- or off-campus (a favorite coffee place) where she can work on other subjects either before or after the classes. Extracurriculars begin between 5:30 and 6:30 and end between 9 and 10 four weeks during the week.

 

I need to manage my stress, which means maintaining by five-days-per-week exercise schedule (including working with a personal trainer twice weekly).

[lisabees]

This year will be very different, as two more kids are coming home.  And I am not going to be working full time.

 

SDD15 is coming home, so she can take ballet all day with her instructor.  My goal is to make the transition as seamless as possible (!).  I'd like her to take ownership over her education and find new passions and joys academically.  This has already happened, as she is doing Big History over the summer - she has fallen in love with physics. Surprise!  

Because of her strenuous dance schedule, my goal is to help her find a balance between her exhaustion and her need to get her school work done.

 

DD12 is coming home as a 7th grader.  My goals are to meet her emotional and academic needs.  Her family life has been in major transition and her strength and confidence has been shaken.  I want her to feel safe again.  I want her to find joy in curiosity again.  I want her to know that, without a doubt, my love for her is unwavering.

 

DS16 will be coming home from a summer in Japan.  We both would like a year not as focused on testing or accelerating, but rather digging deeper and deeper into math and physics.  He will do an independent study of his own choosing.  He will take math courses at Penn.

 

As for me -I need to figure out what to do with the rest of my life!  I need to increase my tutoring business.  I am thinking of creating an online tutoring service.  I am writing a lot.  I would like to start teaching classes in Math for homeschoolers and afterschoolers.  I am taking classes to reactivate my Teaching certification.  Waah.  I don't know where to focus.

 

Physical Activity?  Yikes.  I should have that goal for myself.  I do walk a lot.  I eat well.  But this 46 year old body is difficult getting used to!

[JustEm]

Well today was the last day of screentime during the week. I explained this to the older 2 and they were finewith it. Not a bit of arguing about it. The 2 year old on the other hand screamed "NO" at me and hid the remote! But once the TV was actually off he was fine and they all played nicely together

[momto2Cs]

Teach the kids to each cook one night a week. We're another everything-from-scratch family, and it takes time!

 

Limit screentime.

 

I made these awesome charts of what needs to be done, cleaning-wise, in each room over the course of a week. I even laminated them so the kids could check stuff off, and I could change who is assigned to which room. The problem is, we haven't put them into use yet, so I am still running around trying to get everything done. So my goal is to start using them!

 

Teaching ds to ride the bus to and from the junior college.

 

Get the kids, and myself, out and moving more! We have nearby hiking trails, bike paths, etc. that we should make more use of.

 

Learning to juggle a busier schedule more smoothly! I'm tutoring a fair amount on the side now, work part-time (mornings) outside the home, have kids in sports that each require two evening practices a week, and am taking a class in language and literacy while getting ready to start a credentialing program.

[Soror]

I'm a little late but I've been contemplating our year, last year went pretty decently once we got going but then busyness and Hashimotos knocked me done and the end of the year didn't go near as well as I hoped. I finally seem to be stablized and feeling good (and have been now for closing onto 5 months!). My "baby" is also nearly 3 years old and much less needy as well. We've started back 3 weeks ago but it has been a bit off with summertime activities but so far everything is going much smoother.

 

Goals and Aspirations for this year:

1) Daily walks- currently after breakfast since the weather is so hot right now (we do decently here but are not at 100%)

 

2)Cutting down outside commitments- I rearranged our schedules to consolidate activities and moved them later and cut a couple of activities, I'm looking at adding in a couple of things but only if I can make it work with the schedule we already have- I'm feeling so much more excited about this year, at first I just sit and stared at the schedules for all their activities stressed out about the thought of it all but I feel good with what we have planned now.

 

3)Do more extras and fun stuff- it always gets cut when I'm not feeling well- I'm looking for ideas for supplies to get the kids going and ideas for us to do together- I keep planning on starting a thread looking for ideas but keep forgetting

 

4)Budgeting-oh vey- I have to get this back in line- I set it up for August and here's hoping we do better this time

 

5) cut screen time- I've slacked on this this summer but am working on getting back on track

 

6) taking time and doing stuff for myself- I've started a few hobbies that I'm enjoying

 

7)get back in the groove with our routine- since I'm finally sleeping this has been much easier and we are at about 80 %, fabulous progress over the 0% when I felt really bad!

[mommymilkies]

Well, we have a big move around the beginning of our school year, so that may make things hectic, but here are mine:

 

Be less rushed.  Relax and enjoy the moment more instead of always running around.

 

To cultivate our healthy friendships and let go of those that don't serve us (hopefully moving will help this).

 

To nurture our relationships with each other, books, and the earth a little more than we have been this past year. 

 

A better routine to actually follow

 

More nature study because we'll be moving to an area much better suited to wandering the woods and finding neat plants and animals. :)

 

More walking and yoga because I really need it and want to instill good habits in my children

[8filltheheart]

We started our morning walk and Mass routine last week and it was great. This is one part of our daily routine I am very happy with.

[MrsRobinson]

My goals this year are extremely humbling for me. For the first time ever, I am actually being realistic and not kidding myself as to what I can do. I am breastfeeding on demand a very large and equally hungry baby for the majority of this coming school year so I'm scaling back to the basics and strewing the rest.

 

I'm also including daily walks or swimming and family quiet time so we can all recharge.

 

That's it!!! Not putting pressure on myself for anything else!!

[Dramorellis]

For us as a family we have been talking a lot about this being the year of stepping out of our comfort zones. So I am trying to model doing things that I find scary or that make me uncomfortable. It sounds silly but my first challenge is to set up and follow through with a dinner invitation to the family down the street that we met. If I want to have a community, I might have to be the person to build one and that is scary for me! Our other goals are to go to more shows/theater this year and work on cooking skills. The 8 year old's goal is to be able to make a meal from start to finish on his own. 

[nobeatenpath]

- Family running (admittedly this means driving and paying for parking, but that is the only option around here)

- Moving away from schedule to routine with homeschooling, and generally moving towards a more fun and independant scheme of work

- Making time for more exploring of our current home country, Turkey

- for me, less of joining formal study programmes/testable things and just setting moderate goals like reading more on topics I am interested in rather than stressing myself with formal study programmes; knitting up all the projects I want to do rather than stressing over taking the Master knitters course - realising it is okay to take time and enjoying learning and developing skills rather than feeling under pressure to be an expert with external validation RIGHT NOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

[mom31257]

*more daily physical activity for both ds and myself (We got an elliptical recently because it's still really hot here.)

 

*work on ds' sarcasm; He has become increasingly so and dramatic over things. He is 12, so I guess hormones are starting to kick in. I'm wondering how dd leaving for college is going to affect him.

 

*help ds develop good study habits during these last 2 years of middle school

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BooksandBoys]

Implement daily exercises to address retained reflexes.

 

Convince myself that daily exercises to address retained reflexes are more important than daily math.

 

More intentional exercise with the kids: park, track, or scootering around neighborhood daily instead of the more typical sending them outside and calling it sufficient. My kids are so high energy that even three hours in the backyard doesn't make a difference.

 

Wake up before my children. Yes, even before the middle child. My middle and youngest (finally) have been sleeping through the night for four months. It's high time I lose this sleep deprivation mindset and get out of bed early.

 

Redesign the daily routine now that middle child has given up his nap. Make sure that the redesign still includes silent time for me. Actually implement new routine.

 

Start working part time without dropping the ball on homeschooling.

 

Do daily morning time. No really, do it.

 

Return to regular memory work, probably as part of morning time.