The 'Journal' Blog

I am a homeschooling mom.   I have been at it now for a coon's age, and we are pretty comfortable in our methods and our abilities, but there is always room for improvement.  I spend a fair amount of time looking for better, more interesting, more efficient ways to educate my children.  I seem to be slipping steadily further out into unschooling as we go along.  I don't hold to the theory that there should be no structure or restrictions and that everything should be child led and interest driven.  Interest is key, but I think it is necessary to cultivate interest in different things.  If my child led all of his own education he would probably study games and snacks!  He needs a bit broader interest spectrum, and I can guide him in that.  I believe structure is necessary.   Simple or complex, there has to be structure. 


I do not believe everything needs to be the same for every child.  Each of my children responds differently to different things.  They all learn in different ways.  I do not believe every child has  to have stacks of textbooks and workbooks and test pages and quizzes.  I believe that if a child learns to learn, and learns to love to learn, he will learn and he will understand what he has learned. 


I am a poor salesperson.   If  I do not have confidence in what I am selling I will not be able to convince you that you should have it.  I want to satisfy my own need to understand why things are important to know before I teach them to my own children so that there is some underlying passion present. It helps me create that atmosphere of interest and I can 'sell' it.  For instance, I think teaching my children "the three 'R's" is necessary.  I also believe that logic and reasoning is more important than simply teaching them facts and figures and acceptable answers for them to commit to memory.   Citizenship, character, integrity and honor come before many things that state sanctioned schools teach such as P.E., music, art, or theater.  That is not to say my children wont receive any instruction in those areas, but it is to say that the emphasis will be on the other more important ones.  I believe in this, strongly.  My kids know that, and they receive it.  


I said all that to say this: I saw that some of the kids at the public high school were using journals, but I disregarded it, thinking that I would hit the highlights of it in high school English class someplace along the way.  I misunderstood its purpose. For a long time I thought it was little more than a glorified planner.  I was wrong.  This is something that I have not taught my children to the degree that I think they need to know it.  I have been looking into journaling.   


I decided the time had come to research it and teach it to my children.  I have come away from my time studying its merits with a new understanding.  It is horribly underrated.  There is tremendous value in keeping a journal. I hope I still have the time to impress on my kids the importance of it.  


Through a journal you can experience the many benefits of writing on a regular basis. Here are just a few of them:


Discipline:
Who couldn't use a little more discipline?  Whether doodles and sketches or intense times of purposeful writing, whether weekly or daily, a commitment to journaling on a regular basis will establish a dedicated routine and contribute to a more disciplined life.  As you grow into a life of journaling your level of discipline will grow as well.  


Satisfaction:
There is a wonderful sense of self-fulfillment and satisfaction when you write something you are happy with.  There is also great satisfaction in looking through a journal and realizing that with the passing of time you have gained in skill, or knowledge or understanding in some area, or in accomplishing a certain goal you had laid out for yourself.  Many times they are things that could have gone entirely unnoticed without a written record. 
  
Keeping accurate accounts: 
We always think we will remembered what we planted in our gardens, and where, or which materials we set aside for which projects.  We always think we will remember which child said what, or which year some event happened.  The truth is, we don't.  The memories get foggier as the years go by.  Whether it is a progress journal for a garden, a child's learning journal, or a historical journal such as a chronicle of your own daily life, a journal will keep it all straight!  Your family will thank you some day.


Organizing or clarifying your thoughts:
When I am emotional, confused, excited, distracted, overwhelmed, or if I just have too many projects going at one time, journaling helps me see things in black and white.  I can gain some perspective and clarity.  I can gather my thoughts and organize myself.  Sometimes the results are so dramatic that I can find solutions to problems almost immediately just by seeing them written down.    


Goal setting:
A journal can be a very valuable tool in tracking your progress from day to day.  The very act of writing it down can help keep you motivated, too.  An example would be a Bible reading program.  Writing down your progress as well as what you may have learned from your daily reading can be a record of goals as well as achievements.  A prayer journal, a weight loss or exercise journal, a child's yearly home school journal, any plan or goal you make can be recorded and followed in a journal.  Over time many discoveries can be made about your accomplishments or your shortcomings through the process of journaling.
  
Insight:
You can learn a lot about yourself by journaling.  You will see and understand things not only as you write, but also when you go back later and read what you have written.  You can begin to see patterns and recognize thought processes and habits that you were never aware of, both positive and negative.  You are going to become more aware of your own thoughts and feelings.  
  
Greater understanding:
There are so many areas to gain greater understanding in when journaling.  You will learn about the craft of writing and being a wordsmith as you progress, and grow more proficient in grammar and composition through practice and habit.  You will tend to do more research as a result of topical journals.   You will expand your skill and style as you progress and experiment with new ideas while journaling.  


Comprehension and observation skills:
Writing changes your understanding of things.  The very act of articulating what you have experienced makes you think harder, analyze things, contemplate, and find depth in an ordinary situation that would have been overlooked in the mundane business of the day to day had you not stopped to write it down.  Over time it will help develop a habit of seeing things in a more meaningful way.    


This is only the beginning!  I believe that journaling is an important skill to learn and to teach to my children.  I never learned it in school, and actually I found it pretty intimidating.  I can't really explain why.  I think it had something to do with feeling like messing it up would be unredeemable.  Like the artist's fear of the blank canvas, it seemed like a mysterious thing, "a journal," and I wasn't sure what it's purpose was.  Now that I know I can not stress enough the importance of teaching it to our children.  It's never to early or too late to begin journaling!  I'm sure that opening our children's lives up to journaling at an early age will be a benefit to them for the rest of their lives. 

Dead Reckoning

I've been making a lot of plans in my head. I've been collecting things, learning skills and trades and crafts and lots of 'needful' things for as long as I can remember to go along with these nebulous plans of mine. I get frustrated at the lack of forward motion and obvious progress. I can be very self-critical, but after a half century of life I have come to a brilliant conclusion. That does not solve anything or even help. So I stopped myself and thought, what would my advice be to someone else if they were thinking about the things I think about and facing the same circumstances. My advice to me is this: I think it's about time I get something down in writing.

I have heard that for years, literally. I have asked people how they accomplish things and they have told me to set goals, make lists, get a planner. I have listened to speakers or teachers that I have respect for. They all say prioritize. People have told me unbidden, which indicates my issues were obvious, that a clear plan helps. I have taught these things myself, and taught them properly and I think I taught them well. I just don't think I have ever kept them in practice long enough in my own life to actually see the results of a deliberate, well organized plan. What a shame. What a waste, and what a loss of a blessing, to not experience the feeling of real accomplishment.

I was told that it was my artistic nature that made me that way. I was a free spirit, the creative type and all that mumbo jumbo. Actually I was told that many times, which served to make it more believable. That was my best excuse for many years to come. What a bad bit of 'encouragement' that was! Of course I realize now what a detriment that mindset has been to me in my life. If I can organize my thoughts long enough to get these creative ideas, plan them out, start and finish them, then obviously it can be done in any area of life even if I am the 'artistic' type, whatever that was supposed to mean. Besides, God told me to be a good steward. I must be good with my talents, my obligations, my finances, my home, hobbies, habits, relationships, my time and whatever else He has given me. It may be easier for me to be a good steward in certain areas, but that does not excuse me from being a good steward in the areas that are not so easy.

For me the problem has always been that I didn't know I didn't know until I did know, and no amount of telling me, teaching me, nagging me or even threatening me could cut through the fog and make me know it any faster. I just had to get it on my own. I'm a relatively busy person and I have always known that it does me a world of good to put things in order and look at them on paper, and to re-arrange them until they resemble a plan. I know that. A simple list of errands shows me that. I do it when I write sermons. I do it when I write lesson plans. Yet in bigger issues of life, in areas that can become overwhelming or things that stall out and frustrate me, I do not do it without being prodded or otherwise made mindful that it should be done. In the past, when I finally would make an attempt at it I tended to misplace the list or set it aside for issues more pressing at the moment, but typically it would never make it back to the top of the stack.

There is no excuse for me to have been so discombobulated all these years. I could have saved myself tons of time and energy if I had determined to do this way back when. Plain for others to see, I didn't see it. I just did not. Now I do.

Thankfully, I have one redeeming quality. Once I know, I don't let any grass grow under me. There's no time like the present to make the changes and get it done.

So, I scolded myself well and committed to myself that with so many big and wonderful changes in my life, so many new horizons, I should make this sort of thing a priority in my life. Organization, list making, and prioritizing are all things I would and have counselled others to do, but have been so pathetically lazy about in my own life. I'm not even sure how to start, or where, but start I will.

I will at the very least begin a list, or a plan, or whatever I will call it, and start sorting my ideas. Maybe once I have a cohesive outline I'll share it here. I'm actually pretty excited about it all. With a fix on my present location, and with occasional recalculations and corrections for unseen roadblocks and detours I think my course is set. I feel better already.