planning anonymous

I’m so in!  There’s so much good stuff out there, so many good books.  Even once I make a decision, I can’t stop researching.  It’s a good thing I’m on a limited budget, or my poor kids would end up with about 75 hours worth of school to do every day.

Joanne

If planning is wrong, I don’t wanna be right! LOL

Book hoarders anonymous, for sure. I can’t stop myself, so I’m in.

So, we admitted we were powerless over planning–that our lives (our bookshelves, our library accounts, our laptops) had become unmanageable…..

But, seriously, it dies get in the way of actually living and learning for me and my kids at times I think. 🙁 What to do? How do the rest of you get out of that endless loop and onto implementation when that sort of thing occurs?

Becca<><

How old are your kids? I think I fretted more and planned constantly when my kids were younger because I was learning THEM and what works for their learning styles. If something didn’t jive, I would toss and try something else. I still do this at times, but I have a good flow now and have a certain time of year where my main planning comes, and then I’m usually done. If I need to tweak throughout the year on something, it is usually a book that’s not working for us which is usually easy to substitute.

I also have a list on my iPhone and in my planner that I jot down something that I want to research. I don’t research it until my planning time comes, unless I need to change something right away. This way it’s on my planning list for my “planning time”, and out of my mind for the time being!

Remember there’s a time for everything, and put priority on things of the present that need attention. Use the planning time for planning school and such, and then live real life where plans usually are just fuzzy guides to our real day where messiness happens! 🙂

Planning is fun!  I love reading about different materials and learning what resources others are using.  I think it can be an entertaining and harmless (although not productive) hobby.  As long as it does not lead us to undermine our schooling efforts by a lack of confidence in our choice and a lack of continuity for our children.  It is up to each of us to know if our “problem” goes beyond time wasted in entertainment.

A while back I posted a motto, it was something like “If you have crossed the river, why are you still carrying the boat?”  That resounded with a lot of us – we have done our diligent research and chosen x, y, and z materials for this year.  Why are we still researching spelling programs (for instance) when we just purchased and started to use one?  Shouldn’t we attend to our situation at hand and learn and use the spelling program as best we can, seeing if it fits our needs before we go out looking for the next bright shiny curriculum package that will make everything perfect?  I try to keep this in mind.  Am I giving my materials my best effort? If so and I am unsatisfied I can look for new ones.

BUT if I decide to go off on a new tangent (next year I think we will focus on chemistry as a theme for science) LOOK OUT! LOL.  I give myself full permission to research and plan to my heart’s content!  Here is my pinterest board for “chemistry class” LOL also my amazon wish list is getting a little heavy in that subject.  Just last night I got sucked into the currclick vortex LOL.  I am having a lot of fun planning and gathering resources for next year’s topic.  

This time of year can be conflicting for me – it is a good time to plan for next year – but I also need to keep my mind on getting the most out of the rest of this year, and finishing up our current work.  Finding the balance…not as easy as it sounds.

Book hoarding…I take comfort knowing I am not the only one LOL.  My husband is an enabler so it is double bad here… yes there are bookshelves in every room including bathroom and kitchen.  and still I have stacks :sigh: and the chemistry books haven’t even been ordered yet LOL