I am convinced we take altogether too much time to learn things. Generally speaking, in life we do not need to "master" much in order to thrive and succeed. As we grow into adults, we adapt and learn and obtain a "working knowledge" of many things. This is true in our jobs, in parenting, in managing a home, you name it! It's more than just "getting by", but not quite to the level of mastery. A true working knowledge of things allows you to accomplish tasks, participate in activities, and succeed in small areas that otherwise might not be your main life interest.
I, for example, have gained a WEAK working knowledge of cooking. It is just enough to provide meals for my family. However, I am not nearly as proficient as I would like to be, AND it has taken me 14 years of marriage and I still feel like I'm barely getting by in the kitchen. This all got me thinking about how we learn, learning curves, and available time. I believe that most tasks, skills, and subjects can be learned to a strong working knowledge in just a week of dedicated study and practice. I am thinking along the lines of a boot camp. After that, the skill must be practiced, refined, and rehearsed if it is to stick and improve, but the bulk of the knowledge can be accomplished in just a week. Here is the rub. Most of us do not have a dedicated week to learn a new skill because our time is spent tending to a myriad of other responsibilities. I do not have the luxury of dedicating a full week to learning a new skill because I have a home and family to manage. I have, however, taught myself a few things during the wee hours of the night when the children are in bed, and in relatively short amounts of time! In just a few minutes I learned how to order multiple items at a restaurant in Swedish. In just a few hours I learned how to knit. In just a few nights I learned how to play the tin whistle, and in just a couple weeks of nights I learned how to play the ukulele. There are so many more skills I would love to learn, but long nights get hard on me! How I wish I had the time to dedicate a week to gaining a new working knowledge in so many skills. But I do not. However, our children do--at least, those children who are home-schooled. So now I'm thinking about what all can be learned in just a week. I came up with a list of 50+ skills that can be learned from zero to working knowledge, even maybe to mastery, in just a 40-hour week. From this list, I think it would be fun to pick one and teach it to my whole family for a week. Just one. Everyone learns, even me! I haven't decided which to work on... so many good choices!!! What do you think I should try? Which would you choose for yourself or your kids? What would you add to the list? I have begun linking the below topics with free lessons online. The ones with an asterisk* are ones I have personally used and recommend. The others are ones I just found doing a quick search. (I am not sponsored or compensated by any of these.) If you know of a good free resource online for any of these, let me know and I will link them! I would like to challenge you to choose one and dive in! See what you can accomplish in just a week of dedicated learning! And I will do the same! 50+ Crash-Course Ideas for Homeschoolers From Zero to Working-Knowledge or even Mastery in just one week!
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Overall I'm the type of person who doesn't have much difficulty maintaining my weight, or even dropping a couple pounds when things start to creep up. However, during my last pregnancy, I battled gestational diabetes, and finally beat it without medication only toward the end. Praise God she and I were and are both healthy, but I'm pretty sure the diabetes didn't altogether disappear. If I am careful with my diet, I feel fine, but I can tell when I indulge too much that my body is responding in a manner consistent with Type II Diabetes. Plus, since her birth, I've been prone to huge indulgences and lack of self-control as a result of "depriving" myself during my pregnancy. So I need to get things under control. I am nursing my baby, so I can't make too drastic a change, but I've been mulling over a list of simple "10 Skinny Girl Rules" that I can try to follow. So here goes!
I decided to start a new hobby. Glass-blowing. I am not really an artist, I don't have any experience or training, I've never really been shown how or taught, but I think it will be nice and beautiful and fun and will be a blessing to my family.
Here's the problem. Every time I try my hand at glass-blowing, my neighbors come over and smash my work. I don't think they always do it on purpose, but it happens every time they come into my workspace. And of course, they don't help me clean it up or pay for the materials. I have tried to show them how to be careful around my work. I have tried to involve them in glass-blowing so they take an interest in it as well, but they just aren't interested in the process, nor do they value the results of my work, amateur as it may be. I have tried keeping them out of my workspace, but they show no regard for my requests. Nothing seems to work. But I keep trying. I mean, I really want to be good at glass-blowing, AND I really want to have my neighbors over. So in the interest of maintaining good friendships and not driving myself batty I choose to limit my glass-blowing efforts. I would just give up altogether, but I feel like this is REALLY important! Now I have a confession. I'm not a glass-blower. I'm a home-maker. The "neighbors" are actually my 6 children. I would love for my hobby to be keeping an orderly home as a blessing to my family and guests, but try as I might, every effort I make is thwarted by the little neighbors I can't kick out! Of course, I love my children, and only tease about kicking them out, but the struggle is real, friends! I have tried systems, training, rewards and consequences, but to no avail. My home is a home of chaos, and I'm losing interest in perusing this "hobby" with any more effort than enough to purely survive. Which is where I always seem to be: in survival mode. Is this the way we are meant to be--constantly in a place where we feel like we are two dips shy of drowning in every area in which we dream of excelling: home-making, home-schooling, parenting, marriage, work, our relationship with Christ? Certainly not! For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:33 NKJV Yet here I stand. I can write encouragements to you and to myself, tips and tricks for decluttering and cleaning and maintaining the home, Scripture references, and kitschy sayings, but for the moment it won't change the way I am feeling about my struggle. And it won't change that I do struggle. And it won't change the way my house looks or the way my kids undo my every effort. So I will nurse my baby and quiz my kids on their Bible Bee passages, and continue to dream of a tidy, orderly, peaceful home, while I continue to live in survival mode, while in my heart desiring excellence. |
Crystalmommy & teacher to four daughters and two sons, & four asleep before birth Jump to These Posts!
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