The Self-Propelled Advantage

I love teaching.  I love sharing in the learning of my children.  It brings me joy and I feel fulfilled.  I love planning our school days and spending them with my children.  I could even do a decent job of it when I had just a couple young children.  But then my family grew and they started growing up.  I became way too busy.  I even found myself spending up to 8 hours a day teaching only three of my children.  Something was a miss, and I was quickly becoming overwhelmed, the one thing I preach against being.

Even when my children were young, I saw the wisdom of working myself out of a job.  I wanted my children to become self-motivated, self-learners.  This has always been my desire, however it didn't seem to be happening.  For some reason, my methods were not giving the desired outcome.  But I wasn't sure where the problem was. 

So, I do what I usually do when I find I am in over my head: I PRAY.  

And what do I find? Underwhelmed Mom, Joanne Calderwood from URtheMom.com.  She teaches the why and how of teaching self-learning.  I browsed her website and learned some very valuable things.  The first one struck me as a DUH!!  That "duh", was simply this: Give them the planners.  I had a beautiful school planner wherein I kept track of everything.  I had check lists for the kids but I kept the control.  I realized that if they were going to really own their own education, they needed more power.  I quickly made some planners for them.  That simple thing did WONDERS.  They could see what they needed to do, how long it would take, and then have the joy of crossing it off when done. 

 I decided to order her new book (the Kindle version is less than $8.00).  I am glad I did.  I had many of the tools already, but in this format, I was able to put the pieces to create a better whole.

Not just for Home Schoolers:
The Message is for All Students

She also has several hours worth of audio over at Blog Talk Radio that is fascinating to listen to.

The thing I like most about Joanne message is that it is Not just for Home Schooled Kids.  Her message is for all students and all parents. 

My days are already easier.  I am less stressed and have the time and energy to do more fun things with them.  In other words, the quality of our time is better.  My vision for them has expanded.  

The kids are less stressed and they have more time to enjoy.  I still have a lot of heart training to do (mine as well as theirs. After all, it was mostly my attitude that needed tweaking.)  But I am so much closer to my goal of having self-motivated learners.  

I challenge you to give your children the Self-Propelled Advantage.