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Weekly Course on Time Management – Week 6 – Work Backwards For Smarter Time Management
“Raising kids to be responsible, empathetic, and successful adults require a lot of thought and planning.”
If you look at the statement above, it shows some of the end goals you want to accomplish as a parent. Now you may be wondering how to develop these key characteristics in your children’s personality.
What you are doing right now is precisely what working backwards is. It is a critical time-management tool that can revolutionize your homeschool and your sanity.
Today’s lesson on time management is all about working backwards so you can be a lot more relaxed, and your homeschool can be a conducive place that facilitates learning and personal development.
What Is Working Backwards?
Working backwards is a simple planning tool that allows you to start your tasks with the bigger picture in mind and planning backwards. It is all about coming up with steps that can take you closer to your end objective.
But how can working backwards help homeschool moms? How can it transform your homeschool? And how can it help you manage your time more effectively? Let’s take a closer look.
No More Last-Minute Planning
For every teacher, lesson planning is critical. And of course, it is one of the most time-consuming activities for a teacher. If you are a homeschool mom, you would still need to plan but think of it this way. You have loads of laundry, piles of dishes, a cranky toddler and a 7-year-old, sleepless nights and a marriage to take care of, and a homeschool.
Time is crucial for you. And when you prepare for your homeschool at the very last minute, instead of a well thought-out lesson plan, you end up with frustration and anxiety. Don’t forget that a teacher’s actions translate into student action and eventually reflect in your kid’s learning.
But when you work backwards, you know that each of your lessons has to tie closely to the bigger objective. You have more clarity of what you want to accomplish, and you end up with a more creative lesson plan.
The result?
Less frustration on your end and improved learning for your kids.
So why get into something as unsustainable as last-minute planning? Instead, work backwards.
Leaves Enough Time For Discussions
If your kids are super curious (which is the case with most kids today), you are likely to get into rabbit trails. But when there is a lot to accomplish in one learning session, rabbit trails can be frustrating. Let me reiterate that most learning takes place during the rabbit trails.
So how to enjoy rabbit trails?
Working backwards can help.
When you plan backwards, it leaves enough room to address kid’s questions in a natural flow, so they learn more and in a better way.
A bonus for the kids: It gives you more flexibility to conduct the homeschool session in a park, or on a hike, or possibly even a last-minute field trip.
Don’t be a slave to your schedule; instead, make your homeschooling a fun learning experience.
No Ticks On The To-Do List
Are you one of those who like to keep track of checkboxes and ticks on the to-do list?
You are not alone. It keeps you motivated and tells you how much you have accomplished.
But pause for a second and realize that you are dealing with humans, and not every human learning can be translated into actionable words that you can tick.
When you work backwards, you can put your box-checking mentality on hold and deal with your kids in a more relaxed and engaging way.
You will surely get the desired results.
Can Working Backwards Revolutionize Your Homeschool?
Working backwards is a great tool that can revolutionize your homeschool. If you enjoy unstructured learning opportunities and your kid is a more curious one, you can surely benefit from this approach as it can bring joy (and learning, of course) into your homeschool.
Ashley Yeo
I don't think these moms are necessarily more intelligent or have better lives than the unhappy ones but they exude the MOM POWER from within due to the way they react to things.
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