Making progress on lesson plans. History and geography sorted out. Bible lessons gathered but still need to figure out how much to do each day. I think I'll do an abbreviated version for Dash to keep him caught up. Very excited about the Against the Tide curriculum from Generation of Virtue. I did this with the kids when they were really little. Should have started the next book when Cards was in 5th grade. Going to do a little bit of catching up....a little out of order because of Doc being gone. Cards is at a critical age that Doc really needs to be doing this. However, I'll just have to do what I can as a mom of a 12 year old boy! I can't find my first book so I can cover stuff with Trixie and Dash. It's around here somewhere! Major subjects are for the most part planned. Just need to figure out the timing. The other things I want to cover but aren't critical need to be plugged in. I know the first couple weeks will be crazy but I think once the kinks are worked out and the kids understand what's expected of them, we'll get a lot done. And hopefully have fun learning, too.
Housework..............wish I had a magic wand. Can I have a do-over? I wish I could take everything out of the house and start over. I work on one area while feeling guilty that I'm not working on another. There are so many things that need attention, where do I start? Do a little bit here and a little bit there. It's so overwhelming! Wish I had August to keep plugging away. I just have the rest of July and then less than a week before school starts. I wish I could get back wasted minutes, hours, days. In this state of overwhelmness, I've been focusing on the power of 20 minute segments. Set a timer and do something I really don't want to do for 20 minutes. After the beep, I have permission to stop doing that job. What I'm finding is in some areas, I can get a lot done in 20 minutes which is encouraging. Secondly, I'm surprised by how many tasks I've been putting off are done in 20 minutes or close to it. Then I can cross them off my list. Items that have been camped out on my list for days or even weeks, 20 minutes.....done! I've read success stories of others with their timers set for 15 or 20 minutes. I've experienced it. I think I just get bogged down by other things being added to the list. So do I keep my list of a dozen things (and that's not everything, just the things that happen to be bugging me the most at the moment) and do 20 minutes of this one and 20 minutes of that one, slowly making progress. Or do I pick 3 and focus the 20 minute spurts until completion and then pick 3 more? How do I pick 3 without feeling guilty about the others? It's a combination of indecision, procrastination and guilt that keeps me from really moving forward. Why do I keep feeling guilty about things that aren't being worked on when they haven't been for some time? What difference does it make time wise if I focus intently on a few and get them done as opposed to taking tiny steps on many projects and having a hard time seeing the progress. I think using Dave Ramsey's gazelle intensity on a debt snowball might work here. Bare minimum on chores like doing the dishes every day and vacuuming once a week and then any extra time and energy to focus on the smallest project. Once that's done, move to the next project. My to-do list covers items that aren't just cleaning and organizing. Wondering if I should separate my list into a "housework" cleaning/organizing list that I could focus on in the mornings when it's still cooler in the house. Then other non-physical or mental items like lesson planning or working on the budget could be the focus in the afternoon when it's too hot to do anything else. Then those miscellaneous things like cleaning out the van or doing yard work could be assigned to a day. What I need to do is assign stuff to the kids! Actually, I did this week. They each have a significant organizing job to finish before the end of the month.
I just need to get passed this thinking, planning, complaining stage and just go do it!
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