Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Family RR line is "Under Construction"!

Thinking about the holidays now...I'm such an opportunist/perfectionist that I always feel the weight on my shoulders of "too many things to do and too little time" during the holiday season!

I like to be organized, for I love a list that I can check off or a neat label that I can affix to something! And I've cracked myself up this year, for I had stashed more gifts than I remembered in our 'coat/gift' closet, which is so neat and tidy now that we've taken the Christmas gifts out of it. (I try to purchase little things for our friends and family all throughout the year so that I'm not overwhelmed with last-minute shopping...although that's fun too! And I try to keep an updated list inside the back of my planner for my eyes only, of course!)

I'm hoping that Santa has my next Franklin-Covey calendar refill under the tree (when asked, all I've suggested is that and a candy thermometer), for I've already started to 'pencil in' my annual holiday notes to my planner what would be good ideas for next year...examples...what to take to next year's this/that Christmas party, what would be a good gift for this person, when to get the paperwhites/amaryllis bulbs ready, etc.

Anyway, we still have a few things left to do around here to ready ourselves for Christmas...we have until tomorrow, for that's when company starts coming into town!

And already thinking about the new school year...I have to admit that I'm already looking forward to the hum-drum days of January, (after the double baby shower I'm planning is over, of course)! I eagerly anticipate starting back to school in January; however, I HAVE to work on our daily schedule and try to structure it a little more! Of course, this time of year is always a little unusual with fieldtrips and other special things to do for the holidays, but we did start back to school earlier this year to allow us to have more time off during the holidays...it was a little odd earlier in late-summer when people would say, "You've already started back to school?" But it sure is great now! I plan to do that from now on!

Anyway, the daily schedule that I have created for us accounts for every half-hour of our day; however, I have only used that as a "guide," and recently even that has gone by the wayside!!! It's time to regenerate and renew our school schedule! And what better time of year to do that than January! If you have one that you think works particularly well for your family, please feel free to share!

I'm really looking forward to the new year so that we can start afresh with some newer rails...so for those of you that are reading, Laying Down the Rails, I think you'll appreciate this announcement....
From now thru January 2nd, the Chan**** Railroad Line is "Under Construction"!

6 comments:

Nekey said...

I plan on doing a few things differently for the new year. I will be doing some much needed planning during our time off.
Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Eric said...

That Santa is a pretty wise guy. I'm sure he has it covered.

I can't think about "the Rails" without picturing the scene in LHOP where Charles and ? are helping to build the railroad and one guy has to hold the spike while the other swings a big sledge hammer to strike it. Not sure who's holding and who's swinging, but we'll get it done.

Life with the DixieChirps said...

Nekey, let me know if you come up with anything that we could use!
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas too!

Life with the DixieChirps said...

I never really doubted "Santa"! Thank you, honey! And thank you for your help...you are such a wonderful father and husband!

Mrs. Pittman said...

(catching up on blogs tonight while I recover from Christmas :)

Two bits of advice from an Older schedule-obsessed homeschooler -
Blocking out more time than you need (30 minutes is great if the lesson is only about 20-25 minutes long - you need time to get things out/put away/not rush the lesson, etc.)

Secondly, I like to do block scheduling, where you start the next day (excluding devotions or Bible time) where you left off the day before. Especially doing the CM method, you can easily end up doing items 1-6 everyday, and only occasionally getting to 7-10. With block scheduling, if you only got to 7 things one day, the next day you would start with 8-10, then go back to #1.

Does that make sense?

Debbie (mom of 11, HSing for 23 years but still learning....)

Life with the DixieChirps said...

Thanks, Debbie! I'm really interested in your suggestion of "block scheduling"! I wish I had your number so I could call you and pick your brain some more! If you're up here for B's shower, maybe I can talk to ya then!

Today I've "blocked" off of our calendar a day for my husband to help me get our curriculum plans and schedule back together...as we sit here and listen to the Rose Parade in the background!

I think this might just be the perfect day for me...hubby at home, my sitting here planning (something that I LOVE!), a warm fire in the fireplace, and the TV on for a parade! Could there be a more perfect day? This one's pretty hard to beat!