Shake Things Up, Make a Goal

The air is a brisk 58 degrees as I step into the sunshine for my daily walk after lunch. My phone rings three times before my wife picks up. Immediately following our exchange of hellos, Brittany passes me off to a friend who, she claims, "is going to try to convince you to do something."

Uh-oh.

"Hi, Luke! I'm going to be doing NaNoWriMo and I think you should do it too. Brittany's already agreed and if we all do it together it will be fun and we'll be able to inspire each other and stuff!"

Hmm... add writing two to three thousands words a day to my already packed schedule? This does not sound like a good idea...

But our friend is right: Simply by signing up and making a plan--not to mention getting others to help keep you going--is a very effective strategy to getting things done. In fact, written goals make you ten times more likely to do something than someone without a specific goal.

My life isn't dull, and I'm guessing yours isn't either. There's always something going on in a home filled with learning! But maybe you're feeling like you're getting stuck in a rut. Maybe you've thought you'd like to give your kids some variety in their extracurricular activities and free time. Maybe you'd like to help them start aiming for bigger dreams and working toward a goal. If so, shake things up a bit and do something out of the ordinary. Who knows, your child may discover a new interest or passion that you hadn't realized before.

As a mild example, some of the girls in our church's Young Marrieds group--my sister and wife included--decided to run in the local Color Me Rad race [NB: This group is rather tongue-in-cheek and joke freely about things of which you may not approve... please feel no compulsion to read about them]. My wife has never been interested in running, but as we trained together for her big day, she discovered that running was "kinda fun."

Brittany Running in Color

Other potential sources of inspiration: Our church is putting on an art show later this month. The Christmas pageant is coming up. Maybe it's time to introduce your children to the joy of baking a chocolate pie... or at least tasty 20 minute cookies.

I'm certainly not advocating adding more to your plate! But sometimes it can be good to try out new things and take another look at the goals for your homeschool.

At least, I hope that's true, otherwise next month is going to be miserable <smile>.

Is your family doing anything "out of the ordinary" in the coming months?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

P.S. If you have an aspiring writer, perhaps consider encouraging them to participate in the NaNo Young Writers Program.