Any resolutions for the new year?

[Carrie]

Hello ladies,

For the new year, I want to strive for a few goals specific to each of my kiddos. I just thought it would fun to share with all of you! With our youngest son, I want to be more patient. He is a very time conscious child, and I can often lose track of time. This is really hard on him, so I want to be more aware of his personality and how he likes to do things. With our third son (who is finally more stable after a year of medical issues), I want to consistently keep going with his math. It has been the last subject we have added back in for him, and he is finally going strong with it. With our second and first sons, I want to be more mindful of what we eat in our household. Both boys have digestive issues requiring new health goals.

So, how about all of you? What are a few of your goals for this year?

Blessings,
Carrie

[spiderpetal]

I’ll try to keep this short

With my 18 ds we are focusing on responsibility. I’m hoping to set him up well for college.

My 16 ds is focusing on spelling and finishing the day in a timely manner. He is my out door farm boy and runs lots of outdoor projects on his own. He is very responsible on those so trying to apply some of that to schoolwork

My ds 14 is a hard worker and has always enjoyed school so we are focusing on slowing down and review his work for mistakes.

DS 11 is very precise and cerebral. So we are working on understanding and patience when others are not.

Dd 9 is focusing on a positive attitude toward math. She loves all things school... except math. Having a girl around is a nice change I’m focusing on enjoying her more

DS 5 learning the joy of reading! He’s my happy funny guy.

Ds 3 he actually loves school. He’s just too busy sometimes to remember he need to use the potty. Little boys! This kid is a ham

Kristen

[Norrfam0506]

This is a good thread! I’ve been thinking about this lately.

For my 12-year old daughter, I want to work on my own patience, while still working on her diligence and persistence with work. We are really trying to work on time management with her. She is ADHD and could easily stare into space all day if we aren’t careful, which leads to me becoming angry. It’s something I’ve really had to work on this year. I don’t want to ruin our relationship over this. I feel like coming back to Heart of Dakota is really helping both of us. On her good days, she can finish Creation to Christ in 4 hours, but if she’s super unfocused it can literally take all day. If anyone has some suggestions, that would be great. We are trying some new supplements since we don’t medicate her.

For my 10-year old daughter, I’m working on having her slow down. She is a quick worker but tends to be messy in her written work. The work is correct but messy. She eats up school and easily completes Preparing in about 2/12 hours per day (3 at the most). We are also working on her spelling skills this year. She’s coming along.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I am enjoying reading about your kiddos and your goals for the coming year. So much of what you said resonates with me too! I think it would be fun to have a daughter in the mix too, spiderpetal. Definitely a different vibe.

Norrfam, when your daughter is staring into space, it may help if you are able to either jump in and help her quickly wrap up whatever subject she is on (even if you have to write for her or have her dictate to you)... or if you just set aside whatever subject she is on and move her on to her next subject. Then, you can return to that subject later. Moving her to different table or room may help too. Often just getting up and moving and then resettling with a different subject will help refocus a child. Charlotte Mason mentions becoming "stupid" over one's lessons as something we can help our kiddos avoid. Not a lovely word choice by CM, but a good message to all of us as we work with really distractible kiddos.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Robbi]

My goal is to have consistent meeting times with my oldest 2! Checking their work sometimes (often?) gets pushed to the wayside. They are good about telling me when they have a narration or something in the guide specifically says to discuss with teacher but I would really like to go over everything!!

[Norrfam0506]

Ladies,

I am enjoying reading about your kiddos and your goals for the coming year. So much of what you said resonates with me too! I think it would be fun to have a daughter in the mix too, spiderpetal. Definitely a different vibe.

Norrfam, when your daughter is staring into space, it may help if you are able to either jump in and help her quickly wrap up whatever subject she is on (even if you have to write for her or have her dictate to you)... or if you just set aside whatever subject she is on and move her on to her next subject. Then, you can return to that subject later. Moving her to different table or room may help too. Often just getting up and moving and then resettling with a different subject will help refocus a child. Charlotte Mason mentions becoming "stupid" over one's lessons as something we can help our kiddos avoid. Not a lovely word choice by CM, but a good message to all of us as we work with really distractible kiddos.

Blessings,
Carrie

Definitely! This is what I try to do when I don’t forget to breathe or lose my mind. I do actually scribe for her some to hep keep her engaged. My girls actually got up for some dance/wiggle breaks today. So funny that you mention it! They are both plugging along though and doing well! My oldest started unit 5 of CTC today and my youngest began unit 4 of Preparing. We’re making some steady progress!

[my3sons]

Oh yes! Always. I vacillate between being inspired and being downtrodden by them.

For HOD for Riley, I have a goal to write comments on Riley's creative writing assignments. I have read them, so I know he did the work and did well with it. However, I have yet to write comments and to do final editing. Otherwise, he's smooth sailing for me.

For HOD for Emmett, I have a goal to separate grammar and math in my teaching block. We run a looser schedule this time of year. Once they've learned how to do each part of their guides well, I allow more flexibility in my last meeting times. Somehow though, my teaching of grammar and math have ended up next to each other in our last teaching block, and it is not a good thing. I've separated them the last week and things have gone much more smoothly. I also have a goal for him to do a quick oral review at the start of math each day (I did a post on that recently - it's helping).

For Wyatt my college student, I have a goal to ask him LESS about what he is doing. We still have a morning meeting time, which is usually a great time for us to connect and work out plans for the day/night/week. He's my oldest driver, and he goes many places with one or both of our other sons. So, this is a good chance to chat and make plans. However, I can tend to still try to give my advice a little too readily for this new stage of life for him. So, trying to hold my tongue more these days.

For me, well, I'd love to lose about 15 pounds and stop late night high calorie intake. Hmmm. Still working on THAT. Feeling good about exercise, water intake, and healthy meals... until night comes. I'm also trying to personally ask each of our sons and my hubby if they want me to pray anything specific for them and jotting these in my prayer journal. I'm also making time to pick up the phone and give my mom my full attention whenever she calls, as well as call her. She's turning 80 this March. Having lost my dad, I just want to soak up the time with my mom.

For our family, we are attempting to all read through the Bible in a year. I've enjoyed yearly Bible reading plans 3 other times on my own (once with the NIV Life Application Bible and twice with the Sonrise Daily Devotional Bible), but we have not done this all together. We have a reading plan we are following each on our own - we shall see. Bible Gateway helps on the go! But Joyce Meyer's Everyday Life Bible is my favorite!

Whew! There you have it. How about you?

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

I’ll try to keep this short

With my 18 ds we are focusing on responsibility. I’m hoping to set him up well for college.

My 16 ds is focusing on spelling and finishing the day in a timely manner. He is my out door farm boy and runs lots of outdoor projects on his own. He is very responsible on those so trying to apply some of that to schoolwork

My ds 14 is a hard worker and has always enjoyed school so we are focusing on slowing down and review his work for mistakes.

DS 11 is very precise and cerebral. So we are working on understanding and patience when others are not.

Dd 9 is focusing on a positive attitude toward math. She loves all things school... except math. Having a girl around is a nice change I’m focusing on enjoying her more

DS 5 learning the joy of reading! He’s my happy funny guy.

Ds 3 he actually loves school. He’s just too busy sometimes to remember he need to use the potty. Little boys! This kid is a ham

Kristen

These are great resolutions, Kristen! My thoughts as I read them...
responsibility - HUGE in college - great goal
time management, oh yes, so important - farm boy - I have a few of those too!
slowing down, 14 yo's need that reminder
11, oooh, this was a hard age for all of our sons, patience needed by all
a daughter, what's that ?!?, just kidding! we just don't have those around here, but what fun - yes, do enjoy!!!
learning to read, a whole new world - everyone needs one happy funny guy in the home at least!
potty training - may the Lord be with you, Kristen! This little guy being a ham will help.

Loved reading about your family and your resolutions, Kristen! Thanks for sharing!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

This is a good thread! I’ve been thinking about this lately.

For my 12-year old daughter, I want to work on my own patience, while still working on her diligence and persistence with work. We are really trying to work on time management with her. She is ADHD and could easily stare into space all day if we aren’t careful, which leads to me becoming angry. It’s something I’ve really had to work on this year. I don’t want to ruin our relationship over this. I feel like coming back to Heart of Dakota is really helping both of us. On her good days, she can finish Creation to Christ in 4 hours, but if she’s super unfocused it can literally take all day. If anyone has some suggestions, that would be great. We are trying some new supplements since we don’t medicate her.

For my 10-year old daughter, I’m working on having her slow down. She is a quick worker but tends to be messy in her written work. The work is correct but messy. She eats up school and easily completes Preparing in about 2/12 hours per day (3 at the most). We are also working on her spelling skills this year. She’s coming along.

I enjoyed reading these, Norrfam0506! A few thoughts I had, not formally written... Patience. That is a tough one! I think patience and time management are goals for lots of 11-12 year-olds (and for their parents as they tread through that time with them)!!! I can get upset with my 12 year-old son too. Tough for both of us to remain calm and patient. Clipping along and hopping in to make that happen if need be help us through these times! Movement is key too, as is checking on him more often than I do my other kiddos.

Slowing down. A good goal! Isn't it funny some kiddos need to speed up and others need to slow down? Rest assured there is a mom out there reading this thinking how wonderful it would be to have a speedier worker that actually answered things right. But 2 1/2 hour hours is pretty fast for PHFHG, I totally get this goal!!! Neat work. Another good goal along with proper spelling! Keep at it. I have seen HUGE growth in these areas with my 12 year-old in the past 2 years! He now writes neatly, in straight lines, with pretty great spelling most the time. (Now, If I can just get him to close his 'o's - every 'o' looks like a 'u'. The good news is we've conquered his giant "S"s! I have no idea why, but he wrote all his "S"'s to be very tall for a long time.

I love your goals, and it looks like you are already making progress with them from your most recent post - hooray! Thanks for posting!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

My goal is to have consistent meeting times with my oldest 2! Checking their work sometimes (often?) gets pushed to the wayside. They are good about telling me when they have a narration or something in the guide specifically says to discuss with teacher but I would really like to go over everything!!

Robbi - this is a great goal! I would not get things corrected without my meeting times. I saw a post about this and answered with some ideas! (I thought you were the author, but I see now you were not. Well, a kindred spirit going through the same thing posted - there's encouragement even in that, right?!?) I'll link that post here...

https://heartofdakota.com/board3/viewto ... =6&t=17972

Sorry in advance for the length of my posts on that thread. I'm a detail gal. Just pull from it what works on your end with your family!!! I hope something there helps because meeting times make my life doable!!! Hopefully you find the same to be true!

In Christ,
Julie

[Norrfam0506]

This is a good thread! I’ve been thinking about this lately.

For my 12-year old daughter, I want to work on my own patience, while still working on her diligence and persistence with work. We are really trying to work on time management with her. She is ADHD and could easily stare into space all day if we aren’t careful, which leads to me becoming angry. It’s something I’ve really had to work on this year. I don’t want to ruin our relationship over this. I feel like coming back to Heart of Dakota is really helping both of us. On her good days, she can finish Creation to Christ in 4 hours, but if she’s super unfocused it can literally take all day. If anyone has some suggestions, that would be great. We are trying some new supplements since we don’t medicate her.

For my 10-year old daughter, I’m working on having her slow down. She is a quick worker but tends to be messy in her written work. The work is correct but messy. She eats up school and easily completes Preparing in about 2/12 hours per day (3 at the most). We are also working on her spelling skills this year. She’s coming along.

I enjoyed reading these, Norrfam0506! A few thoughts I had, not formally written... Patience. That is a tough one! I think patience and time management are goals for lots of 11-12 year-olds (and for their parents as they tread through that time with them)!!! I can get upset with my 12 year-old son too. Tough for both of us to remain calm and patient. Clipping along and hopping in to make that happen if need be help us through these times! Movement is key too, as is checking on him more often than I do my other kiddos.

Slowing down. A good goal! Isn't it funny some kiddos need to speed up and others need to slow down? Rest assured there is a mom out there reading this thinking how wonderful it would be to have a speedier worker that actually answered things right. But 2 1/2 hour hours is pretty fast for PHFHG, I totally get this goal!!! Neat work. Another good goal along with proper spelling! Keep at it. I have seen HUGE growth in these areas with my 12 year-old in the past 2 years! He now writes neatly, in straight lines, with pretty great spelling most the time. (Now, If I can just get him to close his 'o's - every 'o' looks like a 'u'. The good news is we've conquered his giant "S"s! I have no idea why, but he wrote all his "S"'s to be very tall for a long time.

I love your goals, and it looks like you are already making progress with them from your most recent post - hooray! Thanks for posting!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Oh man, yes. Patience is so the key. I think we forget as we get older what being 12 feels like. I’m trying my best to tame my own high strung nature.

You’re telling me! She isn’t even my best reader/speller, but she’s very bright and has always been my fast worker. It makes it so hard to not make my oldest feel like she is behind. Her spelling has improved my leaps and bounds. This 2 1/2 hours sometimes includes DITHOR as well. I do think we may be adding in the extensions for her soon. I’m not fully decided yet.