More on DPP (Doing/Pruning/Passions)
Well, I have had a lot of time to think after reading the links I put in the last post. On Leonie's blog I got into a nice discussion with her and Maria about arranging ideas.
Click here and see the comments
Those of you who know me, know my mantra-- how do I bring in ideas without getting too schooly? :-)
So far, over the years I have come to the conclusion that the best learning happens when it is interest-led. But I also have found that I have a wonderful job to find and share ideas-- and to share the ideas the boys might find on their own- as CM says, leading the horse to water.
So, we have lots of ideas. I have several journals with ideas. And can spend time on the Internet and blogs and get more and more ideas.
Then I can get overwhelmed.
In some ways, traditional schooling was 'easier'. It was so concrete. I could research ideas, order up stuff, then plan- lay things out, then execute. Plan the work and work the plan, as they say. I felt I had control, I knew when my role was finished. But, I found that often we shut off from each other when they had accommplished what I wanted them to do. I like to have more room for serendipity and also plant seeds and see what takes root. I like also to see learning throughout life not just during lessons.
On Journey, I have thought out loud about what education is. What knowledge is important. I think I needed to do that to get to where I am with what we want to do.
It is very easy for me to get an idea I want to do, research it, then make it happen no matter what. In the course of that relationships suffered. So, I think the idea gathering and strewing is much better. I guess I am just trying to organize my strewing. It is very exhausting to have all these ideas floating around and not captured for when I want them! And being an all-or-nothing person sometimes, I think I have to do everything so grandly or just not do it! so... I don't do it. ;)
Much of the thinking and discussion I have had is on the physical journals and to do lists. Here is what I came up with, for anyone who is going down the same path. Maybe you have some ideas, too?
What I am doing now:
Right now I have a bindered 8X11 Covey calendar- 2 pages a month. That is my grand view of the world. Everything is on there life-wise. Appts, etc. (no idea/learning related stuff)
I also have the Covey 2 page a week pages. This gives me hours each day and I detail out our day. I go from the monthly to the weekly and put in the details of our life--- dogsits, appointments, Mass--- then to-dos: Errands, phone calls, etc.
So, if there was no purposeful strewing, life would be complete.
Now, for the fun part.
I have these things I want to get to. Right now they reside in my homeschool spiral journal, in some files I have made over the months, in my Clonlara spiral, in my favorites on the computer and in my head.. (the most dangerous place of all.)
What I would like is a way to remember these ideas, research and gather the things that need to be researched and gathered, and put on my main calendar (weekly pages) so I will see them and remember to do them.
(Aside: You know it seems the older I get, the more life seems to be about trying to remember to do things.. or where my glasses are.. or why I came into a room....)
Taking Leonie's Post It Note wisdom (which my Covey time management classes beat out of me- they said NEVER use stickies! What do they know??)--- I am going to survey my ideas and the ones that strike me, I will put on a Post It note on my weekly calendar.
Then, when I do my weekly planning (usually done Sunday night or Monday am) I will look for times that are open to a) research and gather info for the ideas or b) do the idea. Doing could be strewing, or corralling the boys to come check it out.
Now.. all those ideas. Hum. I wonder if it is against the nature of ideas to be rounded up and neatly indexed? I find my life is often a swirl of ideas... some that make it on paper, some never get said out loud. But sometimes one comes out and the boys and I , or my dh, or my friend over coffee and I will talk about it for an hour. (BTW, Ginger, if you are reading this, when are you going to start your blog?)
Thinking about corralling all my ideas is like the hundred of photos I have upstairs in a box. I tried a couple of times to get them even just in chronological order, much less into albums. They didn't want to go. I think they like the freedom of the box. Just the other day my 16yos found a picture of him when he was six and Boomer was a puppy. They were hugging and smiling. It is fun to find random things. Randomness can be a joy.
Oh, I digress. Maybe that is to tell me not to get too wrapped up in all this neatness. On Journey I have shared some about how much we have all learned just from living. Sometimes too much planning, even if it is planned strewing can circumvent serendipity. But planning can also save many brain cells. This sound like it is getting back to the B word... Balance. :)
So, I think at this point I will go on a hunt of my old ideas. Maybe get them into a plain manilla file (as Leonie recommended). Then just dip in when looking for new ideas and only try and do 2 or 3 at a time.
I have a binder at present which is divided by subject area with book lists, ideas, resources, etc. Maybe just unleash all those into my plain file, too.
I also like the idea of looking out over a period of time... be it a month or two with a plan of what to focus on.
Somethings are naturally at the forefront here. Here is the short list:
Dog sits. We have two customers lined up for August. I am so thankful we have this little business. There are so many small facets to it that is enriching the boys (and me)- from customer service, to work ethic, to respecting property to the nature of dogs... Jasper is this week and he is going to be high maintenance. More on him later.
Driver's Ed: The time has come and the materials are in the mail.
Techie stuff: With the office move and my dh's new cell phone and computer boys (esp B) have been working overtime getting our house in order.
Catchecism Class.com: They are having a 1/2 price sale so I signed S up for the year and plan for the whole family to join in.
LOTR: Boys just finished the books, dh and I are starting them. I have other writings from Tolkein checked out and have heard of some good things about Catholic writers. I would like to make this available while the interest is strong.
Good starting point.
Now.. to DO... to PRUNE... and to pursue PASSIONS. :-)
Click here and see the comments
Those of you who know me, know my mantra-- how do I bring in ideas without getting too schooly? :-)
So far, over the years I have come to the conclusion that the best learning happens when it is interest-led. But I also have found that I have a wonderful job to find and share ideas-- and to share the ideas the boys might find on their own- as CM says, leading the horse to water.
So, we have lots of ideas. I have several journals with ideas. And can spend time on the Internet and blogs and get more and more ideas.
Then I can get overwhelmed.
In some ways, traditional schooling was 'easier'. It was so concrete. I could research ideas, order up stuff, then plan- lay things out, then execute. Plan the work and work the plan, as they say. I felt I had control, I knew when my role was finished. But, I found that often we shut off from each other when they had accommplished what I wanted them to do. I like to have more room for serendipity and also plant seeds and see what takes root. I like also to see learning throughout life not just during lessons.
On Journey, I have thought out loud about what education is. What knowledge is important. I think I needed to do that to get to where I am with what we want to do.
It is very easy for me to get an idea I want to do, research it, then make it happen no matter what. In the course of that relationships suffered. So, I think the idea gathering and strewing is much better. I guess I am just trying to organize my strewing. It is very exhausting to have all these ideas floating around and not captured for when I want them! And being an all-or-nothing person sometimes, I think I have to do everything so grandly or just not do it! so... I don't do it. ;)
Much of the thinking and discussion I have had is on the physical journals and to do lists. Here is what I came up with, for anyone who is going down the same path. Maybe you have some ideas, too?
What I am doing now:
Right now I have a bindered 8X11 Covey calendar- 2 pages a month. That is my grand view of the world. Everything is on there life-wise. Appts, etc. (no idea/learning related stuff)
I also have the Covey 2 page a week pages. This gives me hours each day and I detail out our day. I go from the monthly to the weekly and put in the details of our life--- dogsits, appointments, Mass--- then to-dos: Errands, phone calls, etc.
So, if there was no purposeful strewing, life would be complete.
Now, for the fun part.
I have these things I want to get to. Right now they reside in my homeschool spiral journal, in some files I have made over the months, in my Clonlara spiral, in my favorites on the computer and in my head.. (the most dangerous place of all.)
What I would like is a way to remember these ideas, research and gather the things that need to be researched and gathered, and put on my main calendar (weekly pages) so I will see them and remember to do them.
(Aside: You know it seems the older I get, the more life seems to be about trying to remember to do things.. or where my glasses are.. or why I came into a room....)
Taking Leonie's Post It Note wisdom (which my Covey time management classes beat out of me- they said NEVER use stickies! What do they know??)--- I am going to survey my ideas and the ones that strike me, I will put on a Post It note on my weekly calendar.
Then, when I do my weekly planning (usually done Sunday night or Monday am) I will look for times that are open to a) research and gather info for the ideas or b) do the idea. Doing could be strewing, or corralling the boys to come check it out.
Now.. all those ideas. Hum. I wonder if it is against the nature of ideas to be rounded up and neatly indexed? I find my life is often a swirl of ideas... some that make it on paper, some never get said out loud. But sometimes one comes out and the boys and I , or my dh, or my friend over coffee and I will talk about it for an hour. (BTW, Ginger, if you are reading this, when are you going to start your blog?)
Thinking about corralling all my ideas is like the hundred of photos I have upstairs in a box. I tried a couple of times to get them even just in chronological order, much less into albums. They didn't want to go. I think they like the freedom of the box. Just the other day my 16yos found a picture of him when he was six and Boomer was a puppy. They were hugging and smiling. It is fun to find random things. Randomness can be a joy.
Oh, I digress. Maybe that is to tell me not to get too wrapped up in all this neatness. On Journey I have shared some about how much we have all learned just from living. Sometimes too much planning, even if it is planned strewing can circumvent serendipity. But planning can also save many brain cells. This sound like it is getting back to the B word... Balance. :)
So, I think at this point I will go on a hunt of my old ideas. Maybe get them into a plain manilla file (as Leonie recommended). Then just dip in when looking for new ideas and only try and do 2 or 3 at a time.
I have a binder at present which is divided by subject area with book lists, ideas, resources, etc. Maybe just unleash all those into my plain file, too.
I also like the idea of looking out over a period of time... be it a month or two with a plan of what to focus on.
Somethings are naturally at the forefront here. Here is the short list:
Dog sits. We have two customers lined up for August. I am so thankful we have this little business. There are so many small facets to it that is enriching the boys (and me)- from customer service, to work ethic, to respecting property to the nature of dogs... Jasper is this week and he is going to be high maintenance. More on him later.
Driver's Ed: The time has come and the materials are in the mail.
Techie stuff: With the office move and my dh's new cell phone and computer boys (esp B) have been working overtime getting our house in order.
Catchecism Class.com: They are having a 1/2 price sale so I signed S up for the year and plan for the whole family to join in.
LOTR: Boys just finished the books, dh and I are starting them. I have other writings from Tolkein checked out and have heard of some good things about Catholic writers. I would like to make this available while the interest is strong.
Good starting point.
Now.. to DO... to PRUNE... and to pursue PASSIONS. :-)
posted by Cindy at 3:13 PM
4 Comments:
Cindy, I am amazed that the Franklin/Covey people were against sticky notes - we just can't live without them! They are posrtable, inexpensive, easy to notice or to tag something...What was their rationale for no post its?
I find that it is best for me not to compartmentalize things too much - so my ideas are loose ideas, a general mish mash. Simply because if I compartmentalize it means more work and time for me - and I don't always see the result of the effort. Plus, I always liked the idea of the Victorian Commonplace book - scraps of info about this and that. As I look through the scraps, something just catches my eye, even if it is not in the area that I thought I was looking for! :-)
I am interested to see how this pruning and doing goes in your home - love the exchange of ideas that we are having.
Well, Leonie- that was a time mgmt class I took at work like 20 years ago. Their rationalle was that people who used only sticky notes would have them all over their desks.. they would lose them could not prioritize and didn't have a 'big picture'. Thus they said write everything down on the daily calendar and anything not finished gets systematcally moved to the next day's to do.
To keep from anything falling through the cracks, they BANNED sticky notes in terms of to dos.
:0
But, I am seeing that sticky notes would not only be useful but maybe superior in terms of the ideas stuff we are doing. For example, I think I might stay away from post its for mandatory things like dogsit customer visits or doctor appts. Those would do in my formal to do with a time attached. But for my "look up Latin phrases for the fridge", that would be a sticky note.
Sticky notes have a bit of whimsical quality to them and if one gets lost.. no biggie.. who knows it might show up in the pages of a favorite book a few months from now! lol
But, most stick well.. and can move *moved*. That is what I like.
Reminds me when I was more of a schedule person... for kids' school. The only way I could survive was to put it in a page protector and write all over it, changing it as the week went on.
Funny how office supplies can reflect our personality traits.. lol
So I think there is a very important place for sticky notes.
Enjoying the conversation too.. will post more as time goes one, hope you do, too.
Oh.. and meant to add.. I know what you mean about not compartmentalizing too much.
Today I was looking through a binder I created a few years ago with tabs for subjects and ideas listed. It was so organized it made me feel drained of creativity.. hard to explain.
I put it away. I think instead I will just start fresh with ideas.. list them, drop in a file and when in a mood maybe glance through my old binders.
I learned a long time ago that if all possible to do housework on days I am in the mood. (sometimes that is not possible) But when it is, I get so much more done and it feels so right! So, maybe I will look for ideas that strike me.. to keep the serendipity alive.
My new motto.. authenticity and serendipity? :)
Like the motto - mine for next year is more humility less spontaniety. :-) I already have too many mottoes for this year! lol!
I agree that post its have a whimsical quality - and that is what I like.
And I love office supplies and stationery stores - I just get inspired. It is kind of like the smell of new books - I enjoyed that each year of my childhood - a new book, a new smell, a clean slate.
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