Simply Convivial: Organization & Mindset for Home & Homeschool

Season 4: Classical Education Basics The liberal arts are the tools of learning. These are not subjects, not really. These are modes, ways of thinking, practices that teach us how to think and how to learn. They are not seven topics to study, but seven paths that prepare us for thinking, for philosophy, for virtue, for life. They are the prerequisite skills for an understanding of the world. Grammar teaches the skill of “grasping concepts”; it includes not only formal language grammar (English and Latin), but also the material that informs our understanding, our grasping, of language: literature and history. Logic, or Dialectic, teaches the skill of reasoning, questioning, and thinking. It includes research and of dialog as dialectic modes. Logic is taught so reasonable, stimulating, edifying conversation may be had. Whereas logic is more about expressing oneself correctly, rhetoric is about expressing oneself winsomely and beautifully. The persuasive essay more than the book report is part of rhetoric. Rhetoric could include the subjects of debate or media studies as well as composition. The first of the four number-centric quadrivium studies, arithmetic comprises what we would know as elementary mathematics: knowing the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts, as well as how to figure all the long forms. Geometry studies is the study of geometry, but deductive reasoning is part and parcel of that study. Historically and definitely classically, it has been astronomy that has been the area of study requiring the scientific method and abstract mathematics. It is about creating mathematical theories and systems that fit the observed data best. Music as a liberal art is not primarily about playing an instrument, but about seeking and seeing harmonies of all sorts. If you are at all interested in a historically-sound classical education, The Liberal Arts Tradition is a must read. Whereas Consider This: Charlotte Mason and the Classical Arts Tradition deftly explains the philosophy of classical education, The Liberal Arts Tradition provides a rich yet readable explanation of what the liberal arts truly have been and should still be. Read the original posts: Learning the Liberal Arts Tradition Listen: Recommended Books: Simple Sanity Saver: A Morning Attitude Alignment Sheet When do you use an attitude alignment sheet? A morning attitude alignment sheet is an attitude focusing tool. It’s simple and straightforward, and might even seem silly. But I promise it’s crazy effective. So, when do I use my attitude alignment sheet? I’ve had several different scenarios that work. Sometimes I’ve read a page of my selected favorite quo...

Season 4: Brain Dump to the Rescue Whenever you feel overwhelmed or scattered, sit down and brain dump. First, pick a place to keep your notes; either a notebook or index cards or Evernote, whatever thing would be convenient for you and just easy to jot things down. It doesn’t have to be structured – it shouldn’t be structured. It’s just a quick ‘get it out of your head and onto paper’ so that your head can be used for thinking about things rather than holding things. You want to use the paper for holding (containing) your ideas and things to do (and whatever else pops into your head) and then you can look at the things outside of your head and use your head, your mind, for thinking about them and then you’ll make a better processing list later on. But doing something about them later comes later. First do the thorough, thorough Brain Dump. This isn’t going to be a sit down and do it all in one sitting, or even once. I don’t know how many brain dump lists I have done, even this year. It’s something that I just do when I start feeling scattered and distracted. I sit down, make a list, get it out of my head, and then I can look and say, “These are the things that are always on my brain dump list, I’m OK.” Life’s not going crazy, just my head. It’s all in my head. When you get it out of your head, you see it on paper, and at least eventually, hopefully, sometimes, it’s all in your head and not as crazy as you thought it was. It makes it easier to handle. But maybe it’s not all in your head. What you need to do is get it out of your head so you can see it. Just get it all out of your head. So, let it be a week, two weeks, even a month and just add to that list as you have time. At home with kids, with other responsibilities, you can’t dedicate an hour or three hours to getting everything out of your head in one-sitting. So just coming to it for just little chinks of time here and there throughout the day or even once a day for a week or more will help you get a better list, get everything out of your head as different things trigger different ideas or responsibilities you just add it to the list. So give it some time. Let the thoughts percolate in your head and just give yourself time to get everything out of your head and onto paper. Recommended Reading:

Season 4: Classical Education Basics Although the idea of classical homeschooling can be intimidating and appear unreachable, it is far more down-to-earth than we might think. This task is not too lofty for us, homeschooling moms with households to run; in fact, our very lifestyles are an asset, not a hindrance. If you’ve ever thought you needed to focus more on character than your curriculum checklist, you might be more classical than you think. We don’t need to abandon structure or high standards in order to focus on character, though we are right to swing the pendulum that direction. After all, one’s soul is more important than one’s resumé. Read the original post: Virtue as the Goal of Education Listen: Recommended Books: Simple Sanity Saver: What’s on my attitude alignment sheet? A morning attitude alignment sheet is an attitude focusing tool. It’s simple and straightforward, and might even seem silly. But it’s effective. Try it. I dare you. Here’s one of my favorites from the Conviction attitude alignment sheet I created for the first module of The Art of Homeschooling: We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. –Frank Tibolt When I read this – maybe even copy it – I am reminded that it doesn’t matter whether I feel like starting the school day or not, it’s what I need to do. Start, and the inspiration follows – sometimes, anyway. It doesn’t matter if I feel like doing the dishes or folding the laundry. It doesn’t matter if I feel like exercising – it’s in the middle of choosing to do the right thing instead of the convenient feel-good thing that I actually do feel good and become inspired to keep going. Instead of letting my momentary desires dictate my path, I can make a conscious decision that will change my trajectory and that trajectory will increase my inspiration and my productivity. If an attitude and motivation readjustment is what you need, check out The Art of Homeschooling, a five-step program for weary, overwrought homeschool moms. Download your own free attitude alignment sheet below. Then use discount code podcast to get $10 off The Art of Homeschooling – you’ll love it, or I’ll give you your money back, right away. Get started with a free attitude alignment cheat sheet that will help keep you focused on what matters: Spread the word! Leaving a review on iTunes will help other homeschooling moms discover this podcast!

Season 4: Brain Dump to the Rescue A complete and thorough brain dump is an integral part of both the Simplified Organization Self-Paced Course, and Work the Plan. Starting a brain dump list is the best strategy for combating the feelings of overwhelm and chaotic thoughts. It’s a quick get it out of your head and onto paper trick, not a structured list. When you get all those crazy thoughts out of head and onto paper, you will often see that the craziness was all in your head. With it solid on paper, you can then analyze it without being overwhelmed. Completing a thorough brain dump is the first and necessary step to declutter your head. Recommended Reading:

Season 4: Classical Education Basics A label is a tricky thing. Just when you decide to take on an adjective as an identity, you find people including shades of meaning that you don’t personally want to own. For this reason, it’s common now to eschew labels altogether and call them useless and misleading. However, I think we should be comfortable generalizing and allowing ourselves to be generalized. One generalized label is classical education. Under that umbrella, you can find many different – sometimes seeming contradictory – definitions and applications. But, if we look at principles rather than methods, then I think we will find many of those different voices agreeing more than not. However, what is meant by education has remained principally the same until the Industrialization. Education has meant a pursuit of Truth and understanding, the pursuit of wisdom. An educated person was one who is conversant with ideas and history and knows how to comport himself properly in light of this. Read the original post: What does classical education mean? Listen: Recommended Books: Simple Sanity Saver: What is an attitude alignment sheet? A morning attitude alignment sheet is an attitude focusing tool. It’s simple and straightforward, and might even seem silly. But it’s effective. Try it. All it is is a page of hard-hitting, convicting quotes that will make you sit up straight and take your day and your life and your actions more seriously. If you review these same few but punchy quotes – and Scripture selections – daily for a period of time, they sink into your mind and heart in a new way. They also spring to mind when you need them in the midst of a foggy morning or an irritable afternoon. Acting on them is still hard work, but at least we’ve taken the 3-minute step to reminding ourselves of truth. It will work, over time, with repetition and growth. Reviewing specific truths to focus ourselves on our intention and our motivation is at the heart of The Art of Homeschooling , a five-step program for irritable, fatigued homeschool moms. Download your own free attitude alignment sheet below. Then use discount code podcast to get $10 off The Art of Homeschooling – you’ll love it, or I’ll give you your money back, right away. Get started with a free attitude alignment cheat sheet that will help keep you focused on what matters: Spread the word! Leaving a review on iTunes will help other homeschooling moms discover this podcast!...

Find the free brain dump guide. As the holidays wind down, the crazy schedules should let up and let us catch our breath. But if we were whirling all month from thing to thing, trying to track presents and events and guests and extra baking and so much more, we feel more like crashing than catching anything. Even though much is over, there’s now a new year approaching and thoughts of self-improvement and resolutions can hardly be fought off. Don’t fight off those thoughts, but don’t start with them, either. Before you can set realistic or intentional goals for the upcoming year, you need to start with an empty head. Write it all down and get all your swirling, swimming thoughts out of your head and onto paper. When you take some time over the course of a week or so and just start jotting down everything that’s on your mind, you’ll start clearing mental space so you can think about what’s on your mind instead of merely having the bits of information and pressure be tossed around in a jumble. In fact, I have a free guide that will lead you through the process of a thorough brain dump. I’ll give you assignments and questions that will help you get *everything* out of your head so you can start the year with intentional plans rather than vague obligations. To start your brain dump, simply grab a notebook or loose paper, your favorite pen, and a clear table to sit at. Just start listing out anything and everything that pops into your head as you think about what’s on your mind. What do you have to do? What do you want to do? What do you think you should want to do? What needs to fixed around the house? What improvements do you hope to make to your home or to yourself and your routines? What do the kids need? What do you need? Etc. Etc. Etc. As things come to you, write them down without a filter. Filter them, process them, delete as many as you can **later** - but let it all flow out of your head, through your hand, onto the paper at this point. Unstop the dam and let it all go. You’ll be amazed at how simply writing it all out will calm you down and bring you clarity.

Season 3: Personality Matters Don’t miss the free homeschool personalities reference page! Isn’t homeschooling a sure way to drive an extrovert mom out of her mind? It depends on the homeschool and on the mom. As an extrovert homeschool mom you can set up your schedule and methods to take advantage of your strengths and fully come alive in your role. Download the free Homeschool Mom Personality Cheat Sheet Listen: Read the original post: 5 Tips for an Extrovert Homeschool Mom Recommended Books: Although teaching is extroverting, learning is introverting. It is an internal process of making connections, seeing relations, and filing away information. It is something that happens internally, in each person’s mind. So while introverts might have a natural advantage in that their dominant process is internal, even extroverts have an introvert function they can call into action to make learning happen “in the zone” for their type. * a Ti will prefer to keep records, to work out information into logical relations by analysis and theory. He will prefer to reason things out than actually do things.* an Fi will prefer to connect concepts and information to an internal standard of values or priorities, doing gut-checks about how he feels about what he’s experiencing.* an Ni will prefer to see the interconnectedness of motivations, ideals, world views, and how everything relates back to their central priorities. He will wants to have goals and problem-solve to reach them.* an Si will prefer to collect all the data, all the information, about his interests. He will learn by filing experiences as memories and relate the new to previous experience and knowledge naturally. Perks of Personality: Free Reference about MBTI Cognitive Functions Perks of Personality: free 1-page reference explaining MBTI cognitive functions Find out what those letters really mean.

Season 3: Review Required Survival mode is a reality sometimes, but we shouldn’t accept it as normal. Many of us live in survival mode for long stretches of time during different seasons of mothering. That’s simply part of the gig. However, too often I think we forget that there are other modes we can live in. We can fail to recognize that we could rearrange our days to provide ourselves with some predictable and uninterrupted moments. Once we do that, we must also take the next step and use those moments not for shopping, not for pedicures, not for Facebook or a novel. We must use the times we’ve carved out for prayerfully getting our priorities in order. These other recreational activities are all acceptable and sometimes refreshing (not always) ways to chill, but we should only add them on top of or after using time to sort through the junk in our head and align our perspective again with what we know to be true. The truth is you need some time reserved to think and wrap your head around your day and what’s going on.   Follow the bibliographic trail     Read the original post here: Take Time to Reset Your Perspective A weekly review is the secret to making plans happen. This free checklist will walk you through completing a weekly review and make it a habit.

Season 3: Personality Matters Don’t miss the free homeschool personalities reference page! Homeschooling is made for introverts. So say the extroverts. Sure, we get to stay home and keep our circle of influence strong and consolidated. In our day-to-day lives we don’t have to conform to a group or put on a show for others. However, homeschooling means we are constantly at the beck and call of our children’s needs, being at the center of our bustling homes, and living a full and perhaps cluttered life. These aspects wear us introverts down. But it is precisely because so much of ourselves is poured into our family that we must ensure we have something to pour. Giving takes energy, and introverts regain their energy in very specific ways. The more we give ourselves the time and activities that build our energy back up, the better we’ll be able to tackle our daily duties with gusto. So here are five ways we can ensure we’re giving and refilling, appropriately and meaningfully. Download the free Homeschool Mom Personality Cheat Sheet Listen: Read the original post: 5 Tips for an Introvert Homeschool Mom Recommended Books: So, we’ve looked at how each type extroverts and introverts and how each plays a valuable role in society. How does this apply to a typical homeschool Tuesday morning? Teaching – even of your own kids – is extroverting. It is managing other people and making things happen. Introverts have to move to their secondary function – their extroverting function – to find their sweet spot for homeschooling. It’s not only about finding alone-time after the fact, it’s about extroverting in the best way for your type. * a Te will need to feel like she’s off to a strong start, with a good plan. Even if deviations occur or if everything is derailed, at some point she needs to cycle back to her plan and work through that path.* an Fe will need to feel connection with her kids,

Season 3: Review Required Write your plan the night before and supercharge your day. The day was over. The kids in bed, the house quiet. Time to sigh, breathe deep, and decide how to relax. I glanced down and I caught sight of my daily index card plan I’d made that morning. Ugh. I’d totally forgotten about it after the hubbub of the day had begun. I had begun with such high hopes and ended up feeling like I’d simply held on for dear life. Oh well. I thought. That’s just my season of life right now. Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve told people to be sure to plan their days. Just 10 minutes in the morning makes a big difference. I was wrong. What really makes a big difference is if you make your daily plan the night before. Making some sort of plan first thing in the morning will probably help more than making no plan – as long as you look at it during the day. A plan made during the evening, however, has much more sticking power for two very potent reasons. Follow the bibliographic trail Read the original post here: One Quick Hack to Improve Your Plan

Season 3: Personality Matters Don’t miss the free homeschool personalities reference page! When we realize that we’re trying to imitate a type totally opposite our own, we can realize why we feel defeated and beat up. Not only that, we can take a step back, value that other type’s abilities, yet shift our own energies toward what will work for us. When we know our own type and what that means for us, we can automatically filter out curriculums and opportunities that won’t work for us. We don’t have to try it and crash and burn first. We can see that it’s not going to mesh. We also don’t have to feel bad about what doesn’t work for us, and we can better understand why something works for our friend when it doesn’t work for us. When we know our personality type we can also see where we need to outsource, where we need to get help, where we’re going to have to budget recovery time and just what kind of recovery time we need. Recovery and refreshment plans for each personality type will be a post all it’s own. :) Download the free Homeschool Mom Personality Cheat Sheet Listen: Read the original post: What’s Your Homeschool Personality? Recommended Books: Simple Sanity Saver: The Perks of Personality Just as each type has a preferred way of extroverting, of making change happen in the world, so each type has a preferred way of introverting, of living a life of the mind. Even extroverts need to think, to connect what’s happening inside and outside of themselves to previous experience and to their core values. * a Ti will connect information in order to analyze it, put it into categories and conceptual constructs.* an Fi will connect experiences and information to her own gut and values.* an Si will connect experience and ideas to her previous experiences, filtered according to what’s important to her and seeking out details that support her interests.* an Ni will connect experience and ideas to a unifying principle, her core obsessive interest, usually. This type is primarily a worldview thinker.

Season 3: Review Required After working to make morning review a habit, I thought I was good to go. Indeed, I was better to go.But putting a quick evening review practice into place has remarkably increased my effectiveness and my ability to carry out my plans. It’s like putting a bow on the day. In the morning, the review is a process of getting set to go. In the evening, it’s about wrapping it up and closing it out. It doesn’t take long, and it adds a note of finality and peace to the day: an ending ritual that brings calm.         Follow the bibliographic trail         Read the original post here: Review Required Every Evening   A weekly review is the secret to making plans happen. This free checklist will walk you through completing a weekly review and make it a habit.

Season 3: Personality Matters Don’t miss the free homeschool personalities reference page! Understanding differences in personality type can drastically reduce conflict and friction in relationships, and this is as true with our children as it is with anyone else. However, typing children is tricky. Personality preferences develop over time, as people exercise more and more decision-making and observation-making abilities. Children are developing, and so we need to give them space to grow and experiment and blossom rather than box them into labels prematurely. Though typing them can be helpful, we should be careful to not do so too soon and to still always treat them as an individual rather than as a type. Finding our children’s personality type should only be done as a means to understanding and shepherding them better, seeing how different responses to a given situation might not be a sin problem or even need to be a conflict if we understand that they see things and respond to things differently than we do. Knowing their tendencies helps you understand their perspective, what they’re seeing, and how to respond to them so they understand you. Download the free Homeschool Mom Personality Cheat Sheet Listen: Read the original post: Know Your Child’s Personality Recommended Books: Simple Sanity Saver: The Perks of Personality I mentioned in the last episode that introverts have to extrovert and extroverts have to introvert. It’s true. You are not either a total extrovert or a total introvert – or, if you are, you’re not functional. Extroverting means dealing with anything external to you while introverting means dealing with anything inside your mind – we all do both, though we each prefer one mode. And, there are multiple ways to both extrovert and introvert. For example, a TJ personality type extroverts by making decisions, being bossy, and getting things done while an FJ type extroverts by being a sort of emotional thermostat for people – sensing where people are and helping move them toward where they ne...

Season 3: Review Required A real review process will lead to enhanced and proactive new thinking in key areas of your life and work. Such thinking emerges from both focused concentration and serendipitous brainstorming, which will be triggered and galvanized by a consistent personal review of your inventory of actions and projects. Remember that this system does not remain rigid and dictatorial. Your system cannot be static, like a mechanical clock that ruthlessly continues to tick. Rather, it is a focusing tool that holds information so that your brain is free to engage in creative thinking. By reviewing your lists and materials when necessary, you keep your brain from taking back the job of Reminder-in-Chief. It is review combined with thorough collection that makes your lists trustworthy         Follow the bibliographic trail         Read the original post here: Review Required Every Morning   A weekly review is the secret to making plans happen. This free checklist will walk you through completing a weekly review and make it a habit.

Season 3: Personality Matters Don’t miss the free homeschool personalities reference page! Those of us educating young children tend to use the vocabulary of learning styles, though current research seems to be showing that most of the learning styles rhetoric is bunk. Still, we do know that children are different. We know that there are different modes of and avenues for learning. There is value in reading, in hearing, and in doing. I believe that some of what people are describing when they speak about different learning styles can be tied back to personality. In fact, Isabel Briggs Myers has an entire chapter in her 1980 book, Gifts Differing titled “Learning Styles” as well as another chapter called “Type and Early Learning” (all quotes in this post are from this book). Type tells us what interests this person the most (that is, what do they naturally pay attention to) and how they best “catch on” to an idea through communication. Download the free Homeschool Mom Personality Cheat Sheet Listen: Read the original post: Personality & Learning Styles Recommended Books: Simple Sanity Saver: The Perks of Personality There is no one ideal personality type. Each type serves a role that supports other types. It is only together, in a community, a family, a society, made of of multiple types, that we can have a full perspective and be in tune with what is happening and what needs to happen. None of us are complete and whole in and of ourselves. We are finite, limited. We need each other to function in a more complete and whole way. When Isabel Myers wrote her book, she called it “Gifts Differing,” referencing 2 Corinthians x – where God reminds us that we all serve different functions and it is only together that we make a whole body. Some are feet, some are eyes, and if we are missing a type, we will be handicapped. Rather than seeing other personality types as competing types or alien types, we need to see them as completing types, needed types to balance our own selves.