Seven Quick Takes on Technological Ineptitude, Inside-Out Socks, Homeschool Burnout, and More!

:: 1 ::

Are any of you technologically capable? 🙂 What I mean is, I have a technology issue that I’d appreciate some advice on. Last year, I gave a talk that was recorded. I’d love to make it available, but the problem is that it really requires the accompanying PowerPoint slides for it to make any sense because I’m mostly discussing a painting. So, I have an MP3, and I have the slides. Is there an easy way for me to put them together? I mean, I know I’ll have to record myself clicking the slides forward at the right time — in time with the talk — but once I have those two things, how would I fuse them into one thing? Any ideas? I’m all ears!

:: 2 ::

I have finally solved the inside-out socks issue! My youngest has been the latest culprit. Just when I had the others trained, I started finding all of his socks inside-out in the laundry. I knew this sort of thing was a habit training issue, but the question was how to train it. After all, I am not always present when he’s removing his socks! What I did, then, was call him to fix it every. single. time. they appeared in the laundry. If I was starting a load, no matter what he was doing, he had to come fix his socks. I made sure to only start loads when he was at home and awake.

After a couple weeks, I noticed there were no more issues. He was definitely sick and tired of coming to fix his socks everyday, so I guess I can say that it worked! Problem solved.

:: 3 ::

Here’re some of my favorite links from around the web this week:

• King Tut’s Burial Mask has been “Irreversibly Damaged”: The dangers of cleaning. Let this be a warning to all of you!
• Where Can the Definition Be Found?: A must-read from Karen Glass. If the definition of “classical education” changes over time, then how can we define it?
• What Happens to a Woman’s Brain When She Becomes a Mother: Besides losing brain cells responsible for memory and coordination, apparently other stuff happens.

:: 4 ::

Wanna see my latest kitchen gadget? This awesome cast iron griddle covers two burners on my stove top. We cooked turkey bacon on it last night. Do you know how many strips of bacon fit on this thing?? It was amazing! My oldest is begging to make pancakes soon so he can try it out. For me, I’m excited to try out the ribbed sides to cook hamburger patties.

:: 5 ::

Rumor has it that February is burnout season for homeschool moms everywhere. I’m going to write a couple posts on the subject, if all goes as planned. But today, I’m pointing you to Sarah Mackenzie’s discussion with Andrew Kern on the subject of teaching from rest. She’s giving it away for free right now. This is one of the four recordings that Sarah did for the audio companion to her book, Teaching from Rest, which I also highly recommend.

:: 6 ::

In Module 3 of her self-paced course, Simplified Organization, Mystie talks about the concept of ubiquitous capture. Now, Mystie has tried to convince me that I needed a ubiquitous capture system in my life for yeeeeaaarrrssss now. Ubiquitous capture is the idea that you get everything out of your head and onto paper. In her course, Mystie asks us to build the habit of writing everything down, right away.

My issue has been that I’m not too bad at writing everything down {though, admittedly, I could be better}. It’s that I constantly lose my lists after I write them. I had a huge issue with not having a set place to write things down that I could keep track of. And while the mere act of writing things down does help me remember better than if I don’t write it down at all, I was still losing and forgetting {or remembering at the last minute}.

I’m pleased to announce that I now have a system. I started the rudiments of it in January of last year, and I’ve been working on refining it and adding to it to make it really work for me. My system has two ubiquitous capture “devices,” and both of them require a pen, not a gadget. Mystie is great at going paperless, but without paper, my brain stops functioning.

1. Large daily planner. I bought mine at Target. It’s wirebound and 8.5 x 11 inches. {It’s also pink. ♥ } Each week has a two-page spread. This means that each day is large enough for me to write any appointments or plans, and also a to-do list or a shopping list. There is also a 2-page spread for a month-at-a-glance spread. So I write daily to-dos on the specific day I need to do it, and anything more long term on my month pages. Everything, that is…except the blog {which started overwhelming my planner}.
2. Bullet Journal. This is where I organize my work. Anything for Afterthoughts or Teaching Reading with Bob Books, anything for talks I’m going to give or newsletters I promised to send — all of it goes into my bullet journal. And oh my gosh is this working well. In the past, I’d think of an idea for a good post, but forget about it by the time I got to my computer. Now that I always have my journal and my pen, I have more ideas than I know what to do with.

Mystie doesn’t know it, but she’s basically my life coach.

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Speaking of Teaching Reading with Bob Books… The quarterly newsletter is going out next week, so those of you who are still teaching children to read might want to sign up for that.