Maker's vs Manager's Schedules

[Sammish]

I just ran across this post, and it really resonated with me: Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule. On a school day, days where we have something planned (even if it's much later in the day) feel so different from days where we don't. Days with no appointments/activities/whatever feel so much more open, and like we can really take our time on things. We can have that on tangentially-related discussion, we can follow that rabbit trail, we can tackle that science experiment. Even if there's plenty of time for it anyway, having something planned for later just feels like it looms over the rest of the day (even when it's something we love and look forward to!). 

I guess we're "making" an education? A learning experience? 

Anyone else feel this way?

[daijobu]

Cal Newport writes about how interruptions and multi-tasking (particularly from social media) prevent us from achieving a level of deep work.  

[ScoutTN]

3 hours ago, daijobu said:

Cal Newport writes about how interruptions and multi-tasking (particularly from social media) prevent us from achieving a level of deep work.  

Yes, his Deep Work was a helpful read. My dd and I really need those blocks of time to study.

[EKT]

YES! Thanks for sharing this! We totally operate on a "Maker's Schedule" in our homeschool; I had just never thought of it in that way before. I definitely experience the feeling of total interruption not only with extracurriculars in the evenings, but also with any appointments. For example, if someone has a dentist appointment at 10:00 AM, I swear it blows our whole homeschool day! (We usually manage to get, say, math done on a day with appointments, but still...the whole day feels used up.) And in our urban area (with crazy traffic), we really do need to take advantage of homeschooler availability and take daytime appointments, otherwise we'll just sit in rush hour traffic to or from the appointment. (With a child in braces, we have pretty frequent appointments lately....) I do try to schedule extracurriculars strategically - I try not do extracurriculars more than one or two days a week. I know lots of people who have extracurriculars every single week day, and I always wonder how they do it, because that would make me bonkers! (I think I would feel rushed or "behind" every single day!) I am also super introverted, though, so that surely plays into it, too.  

Anyway, thanks for posting; this is a good frame to use when thinking about scheduling and planning!

[Heathermomster]

Cal Newport is the bomb.  I have a major mom crush on him.

As a maker, I don’t like the school day being interrupted. As the manager, I restrict appointments and events to particular days of the week and times, prioritize what subjects must be covered, and write the schedule .  My manager self uses the summers to establish goals while my maker self selects the curriculum to meet those goals.

Over the years, my family has experienced death of significant relatives, illness, tons of therapies, unexpected home repair, car repair, and financial issues (thank-you, 6 months of sequestration).  My maker self has had to assist my manager self get work done in unusual ways while keeping the house clean and its occupants fed.

Back to the original point, no I don’t like our day interrupted so I block schedule appointments and plan around them.  I try tell to the kids early so that there are no unpleasant surprises and we get on with.  Getting stuff done is just hard sometimes.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Heathermomster