SC032: Planning for Real Life

Summary: <a href="https://www.simplyconvivial.com/ch-season6">Season 6: Homeschool Planning</a><br> I love new year goals and resolutions, but they can lead to discouragement unnecessarily.<br> Sometimes we conclude that because we can never reach and maintain our ideal, then it is the ideal bringing us down. We’re tempted to stop trying to clean the house, organize the toys, lose the weight, balance the budget, or train the children because we never reach our desired (usually unrealistic) goal, or if we do, it doesn’t last long. However, the primary problem is our own paradigm, not our goal.<br> Focus on habit-building rather than goal-reaching, and your abilities to reach goals will be dramatically increased as a side benefit. <br> Read the original post: <a href="https://www.simplyconvivial.com/2015/planning-real-life">Planning for Real Life</a><br> <br> Listen:<br> Recommended:<br> <a href="https://edsnapshots.com/plan-year-planning-kit/ref/2/">Plan Your Year Planning Kit</a> will not only give you the beautiful forms you need to make a complete plan, it will walk you through each step of the way, clearly and succinctly. I highly recommend it.<br> <br> <a href="https://edsnapshots.com/plan-year-planning-kit/ref/2/"></a><br> <br> Clever Curriculum Connection: Latin<br> Because we are following the classical model of education in our homeschool, we have added Latin to our average days. I have zero background in Latin and only 2 barely-passed years of Spanish under my belt. Yet, I agreed with the principles of classical education so much that I decided we’d take the practice of Latin on trust and see what happened.<br> There are generally three reasons given for studying Latin:<br> <br> * It helps with vocabulary and thus with high test scores.<br> * It helps with logical thinking, because it’s grammar study that actually makes sense.<br> * It is the language of Virgil and much of the literature of Christendom, which we should be trying to read in the original.<br> <br> When my son was 9 and had just taken his state-mandated standardized test, he asked me afterward, “Mom, what does donor mean?” “A donor is someone who gives something,” I replied. “That’s what I guessed!” he exclaimed, “because dono means I give.” That vocabulary word had been in a Latin lesson from the previous year. There is certainly something to the first reason for choosing Latin, but I hate to let state-mandated tests determine my curriculum choices.<br> No, it is option 2 that got me on board with Latin and keeps bringing me back to it every time we have fallen off the boat. I love grammar, and I know how much my smattering of Spanish helped with my understanding of grammar. I am also an Elizabethan history buff and I knew that simply translating Latin into English and English into Latin constituted a large part of Queen Elizabeth I’s education – and that seemed to turn out pretty well. So, we take a grammar-heavy approach to Latin rather than an immersion approach, which would be nearly impossible for us anyway.<br> But grammar, grammar I can do.<br> <a href="https://www.simplyconvivial.com/latin">Find out more about how we homeschool Latin</a>.<br> [thrive_2step id=’16067′][/thrive_2step]<br> <br> Spread the word!<br> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/simply-convivial-audio-blog/id1150854418">Leaving a review on iTunes</a> will help other homeschooling moms discover this podcast!<br> <br> <br>