All About Me

A few months ago I had this idea - well, after scouring homeschooling blogs- to start "All About Me" notebooks.  Jason and I decided that we wanted to keep these notebooks along with the girls.  We have written lists with titles such as "I feel most at peace when..." and "I wish..."; we have lists of where we would like to go on vacation ("the lake, the lake, the lake..." ~ P; "the lake, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the lake, the Caribbean, then lake. ~ A").  The girls have lists of what they want to be when they grow up and Jason and I have lists of dreams for them and for ourselves.

I am very goal oriented.  I create lists of what I want to accomplish and cross things off as I go.  Certain people used to ridicule me for this and so I stopped for a while, but I found that I hardly got anything done and although that was all very relaxing, it left me a little depressed and dissatisfied.

Jason was not raised to set goals, prioritize or make lists of what he wanted to accomplish in a given  time period.  But over the years he has gotten into the practice and feels that it has really helped him personally and professionally.  Last night, over dinner, he started talking about setting goals and how the girls need to get in that practice.

We decided to use our "All About Me" notebooks to write 5 goals that we would like to accomplish in the next few months.  These did not have to be academic goals, but I do think we will write a list of academic goals at the beginning of the school year.

Theresa

1. Practice yoga 4 or 5 times  a week; push myself a little more

2. Practice meditation again

3. Finish the needlepoint pillow I started when A was in kindergarten

4. Knit more often; finish the scarf I started

5. Make a decision about homeschool vs. public school vs. moving

Jason

1. Become more familiar with the camera, take more photos

2. Take another photography class

3. Start the Rosetta Stone Spanish course

4.  Repair the driveway

5.  Spend more time with the family

P

1. Be able to do 6 cartwheels in a row

2. Be able to do a standing cartwheel

3. Read every single Judy Moody and Clementine book

4. Go on a scary ride at Busch Gardens

5. Practice swimming and get better at holding my breath for longer underwater

A

1. Read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2. Read all of the Little House on the Prairie books

3. Cook more often; be able to cook on my own

4. Pass the Swim test at the Swim Club

5. Go off the diving board into 13 feet at the Swim Club

I really like knowing what the girls goals are, because that will help me to encourage them to make the time to work toward achieving the things that they want to achieve :)