The Education Journal

In past posts, I've talked  extensively about our Planners. These various stages of Planning tools have evolved over time and been very useful in our Leadership Education journey, especially during Core and Love of Learning phases. I still have book lists and record what books we read in a large 3 ring notebook that houses all my 6 Month Inventories and miscellaneous lists.

Mostly, these planners helped me to feel:

• Productive
• On top of things
• Like a good parent
• Organized
• Calm

This year we have developed into the next stage of recording our progress, which I call "The Education Journal". In The Student Whisperer, Tiffany Earl calls them her Academic Journal. I just can't bring myself to call it that with my teens, but they are one and the same.

Why the switch?

One reason for the change is that my two at home are both in various stages of Scholar Phase. I am in Depth Phase. I've been keeping both a Planner, to track what I do with the children and what they do individually, and my own personal Education Journal. 

As they have progressed, a typical planner just isn't enough. Sure, they could write essays about each book read, but that wasn't enough either. Been there, done that. What they need now is to record THOUGHTS, not just what they learned. The need to record what they are thinking.

After all, isn't the purpose of TJED or a Leadership Education to learn how to think? 

If so, then isn't the purpose to also record the processes that leads up to:

• what they think, 
• how they arrived at these thoughts, 
• and what action/reaction these thoughts might bring to their life?

Making the Switch

After Christmas, I felt restless to figure out why we, as a family, were in such a rut. Had our routine become...well, too routine? What were we missing? What could we do to shake up the need, the real fire, for learning? We all seemed to be somewhat....meh? 

I wrote about my own malaise, but through much prayer and meditation I determined that the loss of my mother was not what was at the root of our slump. The root of our slump was a loss of desire to take that next step, to step out of our current comfort zone and make the leap to the next level.

Yikes!

Sometimes those leaps are scary. Sometimes they are painful on the landing. And, sometimes we don't quite make the leap and have to try again.

We had a family meeting, discussing what changes can we make, what will be the "thing" that makes the next 6 months "work" for our family. We debated. We argued. I even cried. Coming up with the next level was not an easy task.

In the end, once the switch from Planner Mode to Education Journal Mode was mentioned, the feeling in the room suddenly shifted in a significant way. We felt lighter, like a switch had turned on. I saw that each of my children and my husband were nodding their heads and looked thoughtful. 

As we've made the switch, I can see more energy in our daily studies. My son, Chris, mentioned to me today how much he loves the Education Journal and how he feels it is just the thing he needed. That "Ah HA!" moment has made a major difference.

Easy, Cheap, and Profound

Making the change to an Education Journal cost about 50¢ a person. Simple spiral notebooks have been effective. No need to spend a fortune on the next new curriculum, or that book everyone tells you that you need.

My notebooks are numbered and the date range is written on the front so that I can easily look back over my progress. While filling in a planner only took about 15 minutes, the Education Journal takes anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on how much one wants to record about what they are learning/thinking.

The change in how we are perceiving our education is profound. I am so happy, and just a little surprised, at how effective this is for us and how much more we are learning with it's use. Give it a try for a few weeks! You might find it helps your education too.