I love this simple statement because it is so true, especially when it comes to our children and Homeschooling.
For example, if I tolerate having our school room in a perpetual state of trashiness, then I have taught my children that it is okay have a trashed school room. I can pretty much count on the fact that my kids will leave it trashed. Whereas if I do not tolerate it and I require of them what I can tolerate (a clean school room), then I am teaching them to keep the school room clean.
Create and Prioritize a Task List
One day, Ivy Lee a management consultant called on Charles M. Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company. In that meeting, Lee gave Schwab an idea to make his company more efficient and told him to try it for one month and when the month was over, Schwab was to send Lee a check for whatever he felt the idea was worth. Schwab had the know-how, he just needed more time in a day to get it all done.
At the end of the month, Ivy Lee received a check for $25,000, an enormous amount of money in the early 1900s. Charles Schwab said that it was the best idea he ever received. The idea:
1. Write down on a sheet of paper the six most important things you need to do tomorrow.
2. Prioritize the list and order them from most important to least important.
3. First thing tomorrow, look at the first item on the list and work on it until it is completed.
4. When the first item is finished, then move onto the second item and work on that item until it is completed, and so on.
5. At the end of the day, make another list for the next day, and do the same.
Don’t worry if you only finish two or three tasks in a day. You are finishing the most important tasks and not getting distracted by the insignificant ones. By doing this simple prioritization of your tasks, even if only mentally, you will be amazed at how much more you can get done.
As home educators, we know the benefit of having quality curricula to make our jobs easier. In working with many of the publishers of these curriculums we realize how hard they work to develop new and enriched content and how important each sale is in helping them continue that process.
The Internet and computers have made sharing intellectual property (books, essays, videos, art, photos, etc.) much easier. The tendency among tightly budgeted homeschoolers is to seek as much free material as possible. Free is good but the trick is to do so without crossing the copyright line.
If you’re wondering if its okay to just make copies of a textbook or study guide, be sure to check out HomeschoolCopyright.com to make sure it’s okay.
This following comment was left on Kristen’s blog recently but rather than leave it hidden underneath a post somewhere, I’d like to address it in prime time.
“Education is an extremely vital component to each and every kid’s life, but I actually do feel that public school grants children skills and also life instruction which a private as well as homeschooling just simply cannot help them learn. Interacting with other people their age group and stuff similar to that is essential to every single young teenager.”
In the many years that we’ve been Homeschooling, I have heard this argument many, many times. It’s still one of the biggest arguments leveled against Homeschooling. I usually counter the “Homeschoolers aren’t socialized” argument with two points.
First, if you’re going to make a statement that directly challenges the integrity of the way I choose to educate my children and the outcomes thereof, then I would like you to provide some data to back it up.
It’s only fair, because when I say that I believe that Homeschooling is superior to public education I can back it up with studies and research data to support that statement. (If you’re looking for a great starting point, visit Dr. Brain Ray’s website, NHERI.org or the Homeschool Legal defense Association at HSLDA.org)
I usually just say, “actually the studies that have been done suggest that Homeschoolers not only excel academically but also socially” …with the expectation that if you want to discuss it further, you’ll probe deeper and allow me the opportunity to tell you about some of the research that’s been done.
Secondly, think of this. In our adult life, we are required to deal with different age groups and intellectual abilities during the course of a day. That’s real life. Yet the public school model that this person believes is the best way to properly socialize a student is done in a vacuum where children of the same age group and academic abilities are grouped together, year after year in a very one dimensional, “horizontal socialization” model. Yet my Homeschooled students are regularly exposed to and interact with people of all ages and intelligences. Because they are used to being part of the real world, they can be as comfortable entertaining young children as they are in talking with senior citizens. This “vertical socialization” model is much more representative of the real world and I believe one of the major reasons why Homeschoolers excel socially.
This becomes extremely evident if you spend any time observing Homeschooled students as compared to publicly schooled students in a large social function like a graduation party. The horizontally socialized public schooled students will look for others in their own age group to interact with. That’s their comfort zone. The vertically socialized Homeschoolers will be interacting with almost everyone. That’s their comfort zone. And at the end of the day I can pretty much guarantee having someone come up to me and telling me how impressed they are with my Homeschoolers and how adult like their conversation was. Perhaps it’s because my Homeschoolers are used to having conversations with adults as part of their “real world” school experience.
I’ll admit that after all these years of defending our decision to Homeschool to critical family members, co-workers, friends, and countless strangers seated next to me on airplanes, I actually look forward to having a good “Yeah, but what about socialization?” debate. I know it’s an argument I can win. There are always exceptions to the rule but we’re not talking about exceptions we’re talking about an educational method as a whole so you have to look at each group as a whole.
Many times during a debate like this the conversation will turn to, “yeah but I know this family that Homeschool’s and….” That’s an entirely different conversation. Do you want to talk about that family and the individual circumstances that are contributing to that statement or do you want to talk about Homeschooling. You can’t allow one of anything describe an entire group. It makes for a very uneducated discussion.
Last year I posted a video on YouTube taking pride in the fact that Homeschoolers are different and I’m glad they are. I get a lot of interesting responses to it but usually the critics arguments are opinion based and have little to do with anything factual.
In regards to the comment that was left on Kristen’s post, while I respect the “opinion”, I respectfully say, I disagree. – Randy
The winner of this week’s Wonders of Creation, Five Book Giveaway is comment #47, Erin. Congratulations!!!
How do we chose? The winning comment is chosen using a randomizer software.
Thank you to everyone that posted a comment. Be sure to check out this weeks new Giveaway which will be posted on Friday.
Today after our appointment with our accountant, we decided to stop at the little farm & country store across the street. The original intent was to pick up some fish for one of our two tanks. Instead, we somehow convinced ourselves to convert one of the tanks into a hamster habitat and thus add two more mouths to feed at the Pratt household. The older kids think mom and dad need an intervention. The younger kids think its the greatest thing to happen. . .since we got the chickens.
Anyways, meet Hope and Destiny (prayerfully, our two female hamsters or we’ll be learning much more about hamsters that we intended) held by their new care taker Jamin.
