Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Habits vs. Information

Lately  I've been thinking about the idea of developing habits versus learning skills and information.  We are trying a new method of scheduling this year and though we are only in our fifth week, I feel it is going remarkably well and is teaching us all a lot more than I expected and pushing us to grow in ways I didn't anticipate and I can't help but ask myself why this is.   I don't know for sure and I'm guessing I'll keep learning as the years carry on, as is always true, but I'm starting to think it has to do with the fact that it seems fairly easy to learn information but fairly difficult to develop habits.  And the tricky tricky darn darn part is that it seems more helpful to life in the long run if we have good habits and not quite as helpful to have oodles of information memorized.

Not that I'm saying we should stop learning and memorizing things!  Oh gosh.  Never.  But bear with me a minute.  If I say that the A#1 primary GOAL, goal with a capital GO, in life is to attain heaven (I'm trying to find a way to infuse some jokes into this post but I'm just not finding them yet.  Pray with me?), it seems like learning good habits- a habit of prayer, a habit of trust, a habit of intentionally ordering our lives rather than jumping haphazardly from one task to the next- would be pretty important.  It seems like that sort of learning, the developing of habits, might be primary over other sorts of learning.

Also, habit habit habit.  The word is starting to sound like a frog noise.

Habit.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaabit.

Is there another word I can use?  (habithabithabithabithabithabithabithabit)

{Whew!  Found a joke in there.  Thank you, Lord.}

habiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Focus.

A habit of focusing, that's what I need.




So let's say in our home we are learning about and appreciating all sorts of interesting things about the world, her people and animals, and we are doing so much and practicing so many new skills that we feel too exhausted or are too distracted to tend to our chores.  Or to say our prayers before bed.  Or to be patient with  our younger siblings.  If that is what is happening, is all that information pointing us in the direction we want to go?  Is it serving the A#1 GOAL with a capital GO?

The method we've started employing, using a checklist instead of schedule, is forcing us to really pay attention to our habits.  To note what we have become accustomed to and force ourselves to realign our behavior so that we can fulfill all of our responsibilities, not just SCHOOLING as the main event and everything else in the home, including care for each other, happening later if we have the time and energy.

And do you know what the best part of all of this is?  That the better habits have actually resulted in more and better information learning despite the fact that we are not trying to put Information Learning in the captain's chair.  The good habits are resulting in better everything else automatically!  It's pretty sweet.
Anyway, that's all I got.  My habit (habithabithabithabithabithabithabithabit) of staying online too long is being curtailed these days.  Thanks for hanging out with me and I hope this stream of consciousness/frog impression whatever it is happens to be helpful or interesting or....something.


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15 comments :

  1. Yes! I think this is the reason that bullet journaling (checklist based) is so effective at improving productivity. It forces a hard look at where your time is going, and what you need to change.

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  2. Love this, Dweej! Can you do another post on the how of this? What helps you stay the course? How are you choosing particular spiritual practices?

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  3. This is awesome! When I made the switch from being homeschooled to attending a school, I started seeing the problem crop up where there was so much information thrown at me during the day, then loads of homework assigned at night, where all I could do was work work work, cry over my math book,and struggle through. Is this really the point of it all? (There's a little bit of my anti-homework-overload for ya haha) I'm so glad your homeschool method is working out for you this year!

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  4. What FarmAndAway said - can we see that checklist? I need this more than anyone in my family ...especially since the oldest is 4. But if I start good habithabithabits now maybe it'll be ingrained in all of them by the time we start serious school?! One can dream.

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  5. This is great! Could you post about how you do this? Maybe an example of a day in the life?

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  6. Dwija, I love this post. I'm drowning in homeschooling right now, though I try to be patient with myself as this is only my second year. For me, I think it is the checklist that has me stressed out, feeling like I have to check all the boxes and do all the things, which are all academic. Maybe I need to make a checklist of all the other (more!) important things that need to get done along with the academics...
    Also, I'm looking for something, anything- to do with my precious and precocious 4 1/2 year-old while the bigger kids work. I'm not worried about pre-school, but she's dying to do school alongside her siblings and her little mind is such a sponge right now. Can you enlighten me on those alphabet coloring sheets and maybe even the workbook I spy in the first picture? It seems to include coloring, cutting, and glueing all in one place. Perfection!

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  7. I was just having a conversation with my mil about this! Our middle child, 7yo, has developed a disrespectful, flippant attitude towards authority. We have been barraging him with time-outs and deprivations to no avail. Tonight we brainstormed and decided we needed to stop taking from him and start giving guidance on the honorable way to behave. He will write apology notes to those he treats with disrespect, accompanied by a picture of how he should and will behave in the future. If he is disrespectful to us, we will stop him patiently, ask him how else he can respond, and coach him if needed. If after three attempts he continues to be flippant, there will be a consequence (probably a time-out, maybe copy work of a Bible verse? Not sure...). Also we are cutting back on carbs and sugar and giving him more veggies and proteins. It helped my moods and he is his mother's son!

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  8. YES! This is part of our school philosophy, and over the past few years it has trickled into my mothering philosophy and just my own personal life. HAAAAAABIT! *splashes into a pond*

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  9. I love this so much. Our life feels very scattered right now, especially since I am juggling morning sickness with everything else. I love your idea of getting away from schedule and using checklists instead. That is one practical change I can make today, so I thank you for that! I hope you are feeling well!

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  10. I love this so much. Our life feels very scattered right now, especially since I am juggling morning sickness with everything else. I love your idea of getting away from schedule and using checklists instead. That is one practical change I can make today, so I thank you for that! I hope you are feeling well!

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  11. Preach it, sistah! We are (attempting) learning a la Charlotte Mason, which is allll about development of habits. I am struggling with just this issue right now -- I've been backing off from the academics to spend a little extra time focusing on instilling good habits which (hopefully) will make the day run more smoothly. With homeschooling a large family, I have to trust that the necessary household things are getting done without my having to nag someone every. single. day, which just wastes so much time, which we could have spent learning!

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  12. Yes. This school year I have been really trying to listen, be quieter and slow down. It has helped me feel that everything got done in one day that really needed to get done. I will think about this more but I think you are on to something about developing good habits. All good things should flow from that. Great POST!

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  13. One more thing: for Lauren- I also include in our checklist/ plan for the week things like: 1) read to the baby for 10 min 2) have catch with the 7 yr old 3) say prayers on your own, etc. This way, you get to see what the child really loves doing b/c they do those things first. It's always time with the baby but hey, the baby needs lovin'! Anyway, adding chores, prayer and fun things helps the checklist seem more like what we should all be doing in a day. I hope that helps!

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