Oct. 8, 2005
Clashing of Organizational Styles
Man the canons! Sound the alarm! Assume battle
stations! It’s time for another knock down drag out battle of the
sexes over the organization of the home school. “You are so
disorganized.”, he accuses. “Well you never help out with
anything”, she counters. The battle explodes and ends up with
some new hopeless plan to be more organized which will inevitably end
in more disappointment. The plan is only dealing with the surface
issue. At the heart there is a much deeper concern. The
perceived disorder and disarray is in fact something else.
It is a clashing of organizational styles between husband, wife, and
child.
Men in general tend to think very linearly. In our home this is compounded because I am a computer programmer. I have spent most of my life telling machines what to do in a very explicit step by step manner. This is comfortable for me. Although, I am a hard core hyper-intensive linear thinker most men engrossed in the western corporate world are pounded into this thought mold.
Women also follow a general trend of thinking which tends toward the spiral. In our home this is again compounded because my wife spent 10 years ministering to Chinese people as a missionary firstly in Chicago and later in Taiwan. Linguists assure us that Eastern Culture is dominated by spiral thinking as deeply as the Western Culture is by linear thinking. A spiral thinker is rather unappreciated in Western Culture because organization begins with a central idea and spirals outward toward infinity hoping to cover as many details as possible. The common western accusation is that he is running in circles.
The stumbling block to the home schooling family is in misinterpreting differing organizational styles as a lack of organization. This is nothing more than common myopia. In fact our Lord’s teaching style of using parables demonstrates a spiral organization as the Apostle Paul with his Greek schooling illustrates linear thinking though his masterful logical arguments. If the two styles work so efficiently together to spread the Word of God then the same harmony could be found in the home school as well. All that is needed is love, respect, and communication.
A first step is in tossing out the years of indoctrination of a typical western education. If the system had all the answers then what is the point of home schooling the children at all? The strength of linear organization is in efficient completion of a focused singular task. The strength of spiral organization is in multi-tasking. The nature of home schooling and a woman’s world in general is multitasking. The list is endlessly comprised of interruptions such as crying babies, ringing telephones, and nagging spiral thoughts that seem random to a linear thinker.
A second step is in identifying the common central goals. Many home school families have goals such as instilling spiritual values into the child, helping the child learn, building relationship with the child, and having a great time. In many ways if the central objectives are being obtained then the method of accomplishing them is trivial.
In our home school a mind meld is beginning to ensue. That is her spiral thinking and my linear thinking are beginning to merge into a complimentary organizational strategy. Typically my wife will sit down and brainstorm by naming off all the things that she needs to get done throughout the day. I will take these ideas and add a few of my own and build them into check lists. The method and chronology of accomplishing these checklists is not important to us. Instead they serve as a measuring stick to determine if our central objectives are being accomplished. This leads to more success and less clashing of the strategies of two parents who were always dedicated to the same outcome.
There are in fact many other organizational styles worth researching that are beyond the scope of this article. This becomes exceedingly important if a home school crosses cultural or racial boundaries. The beauty of a home school is that it can be what ever the teachers want it to be. As we sink deeper and deeper into the Love of God shared between one another then all of these differences seem to vanish into nothing and that is the most important lesson of all for a home school.
Men in general tend to think very linearly. In our home this is compounded because I am a computer programmer. I have spent most of my life telling machines what to do in a very explicit step by step manner. This is comfortable for me. Although, I am a hard core hyper-intensive linear thinker most men engrossed in the western corporate world are pounded into this thought mold.
Women also follow a general trend of thinking which tends toward the spiral. In our home this is again compounded because my wife spent 10 years ministering to Chinese people as a missionary firstly in Chicago and later in Taiwan. Linguists assure us that Eastern Culture is dominated by spiral thinking as deeply as the Western Culture is by linear thinking. A spiral thinker is rather unappreciated in Western Culture because organization begins with a central idea and spirals outward toward infinity hoping to cover as many details as possible. The common western accusation is that he is running in circles.
The stumbling block to the home schooling family is in misinterpreting differing organizational styles as a lack of organization. This is nothing more than common myopia. In fact our Lord’s teaching style of using parables demonstrates a spiral organization as the Apostle Paul with his Greek schooling illustrates linear thinking though his masterful logical arguments. If the two styles work so efficiently together to spread the Word of God then the same harmony could be found in the home school as well. All that is needed is love, respect, and communication.
A first step is in tossing out the years of indoctrination of a typical western education. If the system had all the answers then what is the point of home schooling the children at all? The strength of linear organization is in efficient completion of a focused singular task. The strength of spiral organization is in multi-tasking. The nature of home schooling and a woman’s world in general is multitasking. The list is endlessly comprised of interruptions such as crying babies, ringing telephones, and nagging spiral thoughts that seem random to a linear thinker.
A second step is in identifying the common central goals. Many home school families have goals such as instilling spiritual values into the child, helping the child learn, building relationship with the child, and having a great time. In many ways if the central objectives are being obtained then the method of accomplishing them is trivial.
In our home school a mind meld is beginning to ensue. That is her spiral thinking and my linear thinking are beginning to merge into a complimentary organizational strategy. Typically my wife will sit down and brainstorm by naming off all the things that she needs to get done throughout the day. I will take these ideas and add a few of my own and build them into check lists. The method and chronology of accomplishing these checklists is not important to us. Instead they serve as a measuring stick to determine if our central objectives are being accomplished. This leads to more success and less clashing of the strategies of two parents who were always dedicated to the same outcome.
There are in fact many other organizational styles worth researching that are beyond the scope of this article. This becomes exceedingly important if a home school crosses cultural or racial boundaries. The beauty of a home school is that it can be what ever the teachers want it to be. As we sink deeper and deeper into the Love of God shared between one another then all of these differences seem to vanish into nothing and that is the most important lesson of all for a home school.
• Post A Comment!
Posted by spunkyhomeschool
Comments
Oct. 21, 2005 - Untitled Comment
Posted by spunkyhomeschool You're a winner in the Juggling with Hamsters Writing contest
Please see Spunky's post
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/spunkyhomeschool/35881/
to claim your prize.
Spunky
Please see Spunky's post
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/spunkyhomeschool/35881/
to claim your prize.
Spunky