I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have to admit that ours was a bit bumpy with stomach flu going through the house, and celebrating on Friday instead of Thursday. My poor husband was so disappointed that the feast had to be postponed. "It's the biggest feast of the year," he said. BUT, it tasted just as good the following day and I'm happy to report that we are all on the mend. That being said, not only did we have to show some flexibility with regards to our Thanksgiving plans this year, but I was reminded again, that flexibility with our homeschool schedule is also possible AND important.

Those of us who are homeschooling high school students, realize that with the end of the year approaching, we are quickly approaching the end of the semester as well. For me, this is always a good time to stop, observe and adjust. Recently, I realized that we had gotten ahead on some subjects and needed to put some extra time into some other subjects in order to stay on schedule. Thus, our daily schedule of "classes" and assignments were adjusted. Flexibility! YEA!

In addition, with the approach of Thanksgiving I realized that we had some holes and some foggy memory regarding some of the specifics of the Thanksgiving season and the holiday itself. (Don't tell anyone!) Once I realized this, we flexed again, and went online, found some resources to help us, and revamped and adjusted our approach to history leading up to Thanksgiving. Once again, I was reminded that it is important to always keep the desired "end result" in mind. To have those desires written down so that I can refer to those goals frequently and be reminded of where we are on track and where we may be missing the mark and need to adjust in order to reach our goal.

As an example, part of the result John and I desire, is that our children really understand the spiritual heritage they have in America's founding. Knowing that, when we realized that there was some confusion on the specifics of Thanksgiving, we felt it absolutely necessary to use the ideal time of Thanksgiving week to focus on reinforcing those specifics and meeting that goal. At the beginning of this semester, I spent several weeks talking about "beginning with the end in mind" and how to set goals for your child and for your school year.

However, it's hard to hit a goal if you forget what your goals are. I used to hear someone say quite often, "If you don't know where you are going, you will end up where you are headed." In other words, you better know your desired destination and keep focused on it, or you will get caught in a bunch of U-turns and deadends.

May God keep the goals clearly fixed in our minds and may WE stay flexible enough to adjust to meet those goals. For more on this subject, please be sure to listen to my recent blogtalk radio interview with Diana Waring of Diana Waring Presents/History Alive. She spoke about this in many areas of our homeschool lifestyles and philosophies and I know it would be a great encouragement to you. Just visit: www.blogtalkradio.com/theendinmind

Faith and Courage, Lori Lane

Lori is married to the love of her life John and together they have four sons ranging in age from 22 down to 10. She is the author of “Beginning With The End In Mind”, a frequent speaker on home education, family and the arts, as well as serving as the Executive Director of The Artios Academies. (www.artiosacademies.com) You can see some of the pictures of their home in the central Colorado Rockies by visiting Lori’s website at www.theendinmind.net where you will receive encouragement for the journey.

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