Sunday, March 1, 2009

Historically Speaking

I'm just going to jump right back in like I've been updating all along.

We've hit a snag in our history, and I'm not speaking about the current administration. I mean our history studies. We had been working at a good clip with Story of the World until about a month ago. I started to feel rushed through certain sections that I felt required more exploration if for no other reason than I wanted to explore them more. But, in order to finish the book by June I had to skip over projects I'd hoped to do.

Now, the projects probably could have been completed in a timely manner if I'd really made the effort. Many a Friday I have blown off the projects in favor of just letting all of us just horse around after completing the work portion of our light Friday schooling and after both swim lessons, OT and dance class which also make up our Friday routine.

But, I haven't put my shoulder to the wheel and so here I am. Dissatisfied with the results. Imagine that. My output reflects my input.

Now, I can either say, "I guess this history thing just isn't working for us. We need to do what's right for our family. I'm going to slow it down and do projects when everyone is really ready to enjoy it and not according to some arbitrary schedule that I set that for us back when I didn't realize how lazy I was going to be."

Or I could say, "I'm going to do what's right." Which is to stick the plan I made when I was in a more motivated frame of mind. No. Matter. What.

Or I could do what I think I'm going to do and both slow down the history AND stick to the skeleton of the plan I made when I was more motivated. That is, I'm going to start doing our Friday projects on Friday and spend extra days on the lands and eras that really pique our interest.

I don't want to decide that "what works for our family" is to blow stuff off without a better reason than slothfulness or lack of motivation.

But, if I've done all the work and decide to lengthen the time we spend on a lesson because we're enjoying it and not just because we fell behind...I can't see where that's a problem.

2 Comments:

Brittney said...

OMg! You hit the nail on the head! I have been totally dissatisfied with it too! Our projects are not getting done and it's as if we are just going through the motions to get through the week. Where is the fun in that? I really need to give this more thought. So, what's your plan? ;0) Wish we lived closer so we could co-op or something.

Z said...

Wouldn't a co-op be great? I need someone to keep me honest on these projects.

The first thing I'm going to do is to stop blowing off portions of the week even when I'm not motivated. Contemporaneous to that experiment, I'm going to slow us down for some units and not focus quite so much on finishing the book by June.

That's the plan. What do you think?