• Feb. 6, 2008
De-junking

I walked by my dresser this morning and tried to set down my coffee cup.  I couldn't.  There was too much junk.  It was all really random stuff, too.  I had crumpled paper from a dry cleaned shirt, a book, some of my husband's business cards, a lint brush, gum, and various other meaningless items.  So I walked over to the bookshelf looking for some free space.  There was none to be found there either.  I'm such a clutter bug!

I began thinking about how whenever I see something cute at an art fair (or Target ) that I want to buy, I always tell myself I don't have room for it.  At my parents' house, the Madame Alexander doll collection my grandmother left me sits, unenjoyed by me, because I have yet to figure out where I'd put it.  If I could just get off my fanny and de-junk the house, I'd actually have room for all the things I'd really like to have around me.  I don't quite recall the exact moment I decided to decorate my house with lint brushes, business cards and gum.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't a conscious decision on my part.  But it's there nonetheless and has to be dealt with.

I finally realized the same is true of my homeschool.  I have unconsiously filled my homeschool with so much junk, that I don't have time for the things I'd love to be doing with my children.  That art appreciation lapbook...nope, no time.  The Leonardo DaVinci unit study....please, where would I fit that in?  The Corps of Discovery activities to go along with our Lewis and Clark study....I'm lucky to find time to actually teach my kids about the Louisiana Purchase!  Dictation and narration....yeah, I want to use those but we never have time after the kids have finished their Language Arts workbook pages.

So I've decided to "de-junk" my homeschool.  Some of the junk going I'm glad to see go.  The dry workbooks and textbooks are gone in favor of whole, living books and dictation and copywork.  The worksheets are to be replaced with notebooking and lapbooking.  These are the easy things to toss. 

But what about the junk that's hard to let go?  There's junk in my house that I'll have a hard time parting with out of  guilt (that resin trout figurine my neice gave me 12 years ago).  And there's junk that's hard to part with because I'm just SURE I'll use it someday (the electric ice cream maker, my skinny jeans).  It's the same with my homeschool.  How can I part with curriculum that I paid $___ for!  I just have to use it!  And I can't get rid of the science textbook I bought when I thought I was going to have the kids take a science class at co-op.  And maybe I should keep the spelling and vocab books just in case.  We might use them someday.

The hardest one of all to let go, however, is going to be our Tuesday co-op.  I guess I can file that one under the "guilt" column.  Guilt because the kids love going, and also because I love the lady who runs it.  BUT.....I do not answer to this lady or even my children for my homeschool.  I answer to God.  And He's been telling me to de-junk our schedule lately.  Not only are my kids gone for basically an entire day to attend classes, but the work they are required to do at home is pushing out the stuff I'd actually like to be accomplishing with my girls. 

So just like I have to de-junk my shelves to be able to display all the lovely things in my house I'd like to, I guess I'm going to have to make some tough choices about what to toss in my homeschool.  As hard as it will be, I'm looking forward to doing all the lovely things in my homeschool I've dreamed of doing all this time.

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Comments

• Feb. 7, 2008
Hello Fellow Hoosier

Posted by Trisha

Hi! Thank you for visiting my blog! I do plan on posting some of our Charlotte"esque" inspired experiences.
I like your post on decluttering. There are a lot of good things out there for homeschoolers. We cannot do it all and it is a wise person who seeks God's guidance in the paths that He would have us travel. I like to take time in the summer and time in December to take stock and make sure our commitments and free choices are lining up with God's will. It can be a little touchy with some people, but God blesses obedience.

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• Feb. 8, 2008
Yuk, clutter!

Posted by barrellfullofmonkeys

That's just what I'll be spending a large chunk of my day doing, decluttering the back room in our basement. Ugg. The annoying thing is that I had it all cleaned out, then I left town for a week. THAT was my mistake! My husband had "helped" by cleaning out our guest room while I was gone. Guess where he threw all the junk from there? That's right, in the same spot in the back room I had just finished getting cleaned out. Grrr.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I'm excited I have a new Hoosier friend. (your guess of southern IN is spot on!)

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• Feb. 18, 2008
Untitled Comment

Posted by jenn4him

Yes, I have a similar job to do with our homeschool. We've gone in a direction that we did not start out going this year and I need to pull us back on track. That is one of the reasons we left co-op this 8 weeks.
Jenn

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• Mar. 7, 2008
Untitled Comment

Posted by jenniferwells

Amen! Toss your guilt out with the junk!

Jen

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