Systems: Academic Journaling

How do I journal? What should it look like? What goes into the journal? Should I go "old school" paper or "new wave" digital? (See more on digital journaling at the bottom of this article.)

These are very good, but also very personalized questions. One person loves lists and bullet style notes, while another loves to write in complete sentences with perfect punctuation and paragraphs that read like a good novel.

A person may start in their early years with one of two sentences about a book and end up in Scholar and Depth Phase writing a short thesis. Or, a student may be a combination of the two with bullet style notes for quotes and topics you want to remember from an informational book and longer, paragraph style reviews of books for sharing on a venue like Goodreads. (A link to my Goodreads reviews.)

...it just really depends on you...your preferences and where you are in the Phases of Learning.

People are always looking for examples. I do to! I like to see examples. So, here are some from my personal journals.

My Journals - Depth Phase

Just a few...

Right now, I am using 4 regular journals and a couple of "item specific" journals, all of them numbered. I am also making a master list of what is included in each journal. Rachel DeMille says that they leave a few pages blank in the front of each journal to add a table of contents as they fill up the journal. I didn't start out that way and so I created the master list in a blank notebook and list the journal # and page number of each item.

I started with the Master List as part of my binder (back when it was a short list), but moved it to it's own spiral notebook when it started getting pretty thick. I also need to print all of my book reviews on Goodreads and keep them in a binder for the day when technology ends (depends on your point of view here to if you feel this is necessary).

A list of my current journals:

1. Fiction reading
2. Non-fiction reading
3. Religious reading
4. Mentoring - "Student Whisperer Journal"
5. Food Storage & Emergency Preparedness
6. Marriage (I have a small notebook that I have recorded specific things about being a better wife and mother.)
7. Everyday life - personal journal

I have a mixture of how I record my reading epiphanies. 

I have some bullet style lists of quotes and topics I want to remember from the book.

Quotes from "The Jackrabbit Factor"

I have details of answers to exercises...

"Student Whisperer" exercises

I have full book reviews, many of which I duplicate on Goodreads.

I have diagrams of topics discussed...

Notes from a lecture on Child Development &
Foundations of Great Education

Digital Journaling

Technology has a lot to offer as well. I personally use Evernote and I have also used SpringPad. Both are free and come in PC and App formats. Both have unique things to offer. For journaling purposes, I find that Evernote has the most to offer, which is why I developed the Freedom Educator Planner Templates. The planner includes forms for book reviews, lecture notes, etc.

Evernote also prints nicely if you wish to print hard copies for future use or storage.

Evernote - Books Read 2013

I keep a list of books read by year and then add tags for the topic of the book. My reviews are copied from what I write in Goodreads, saving me a step in copy-and paste.

I also keep notes of other topics, especially website information that is hard to convey into a paper notebook.

Evernote - Curriculum Plans and Notes on Books we are studying

However, using a digital system can be in any method you wish. Any software that allows for typing up the information you want to store will work.

The beauty of systems is YOU decide what works for you and just start recording your information. It is not hard and it does not take a long time. Just start something and adjust as you learn what you like and what works for you. There is no right or wrong...just progressing and growing.

End of Year Records

We "school" year round, with a few well-placed breaks among the un-planned breaks throughout. We typically go from July 1st to June 30th each year, which means we are nearing the end of this "school" year (I really don't like the word school...it reminds me of mindless fish). I take all of the records we've kept throughout the year and place them in a new binder.

The records I archive on June 30th are:

• Each person's individual planner for the previous year.
• The lists of books read by each person that year.
• The calendar used for attendance.
• The Course of Study plan.
• Previous Compass outlines, the current Compass stays in their Binder.

Beginning the "new" year - the first week of July is when I usually get the Binders ready for the new year. This time of renewal is always a fun time when I feel jazzed up about what the new year will bring. I try to have new resources ready by this time, but I've learned that new resources just seem to naturally begin showing up when they are needed. More on that next month!

Yearly Breaks

We used to take all of July and December off as our yearly breaks, but as the kids became teens we discovered there are many other conflicting things in the summer that get in the way. This year is no exception. There is Girl's Camp in June and Scout Camp in July. Seminary lasts into the first week of June. We've already had several visitors who feel we are sufficiently settled and can come visit on their terms. My mother is nearing the end of her life and we are taking more trips to visit her...and a wedding in another state at the end of July. With all this going on our calendar is rather disillusioned compared to the simplicity we used to experience.

We will be taking two weeks off in June and two weeks off in July instead of the whole month of July. We've already had too many breaks with the move and all the company we've had lately (I won't even get into some of the comments company made when they were here). It feels like we are really not making the kind of progress we've made in years past. We discussed these issues in our recent Family Council and discovered that we are all feeling a bit out-of-sync. With the new break schedule on the calendar, I think it gave everyone a much needed overview of what to expect this summer.

Course of Study for 2011-2012

Each year is a new experience in preparation for the next year. One of the things that I like is to get a general plan in order with some of my thoughts on what we need to study together. I like the files at donnayoung.org for helping me get organized. I'll be featuring a few of the forms that I personally use over the next few posts.

The Course of Study form is one of my favorite all-in-one-place forms to show my general outline for the entire year. I combine my two youth still at home on the same Course of Study. Many things we do together but for those things that are separate it is listed by their initial. To some this may seem a bit vague. Basically, I am outlining the mentoring portion of what we are studying. The rest will be determined throughout the year as the Scholar finds new interests and passions to study. It is important to remember that this is not a complete layout of the year, but this is a list of the things that I want to inspire them with and what I will share with them during our devotional, read aloud, and do-together portions of our education time.

Some are just resources for further study in specific ares. Some items are review, something we often turn to when we need to brush up on certain skills, like grammar and spelling. These resources are on the list for sporadic use. A few items are curriculum that has been purchased for that use. Each student chooses which resources they will use at any given time.

Weekly Planner #2

Nayna decided that she didn't want to use the Weekly Planner #1 anymore. She devised a specific planner to suit her needs. This planner includes all of the subjects she wants to study, planned out over the days she wants to study them. She checks off the subject and writes in the details (chapter or page numbers) of what she did that day.

I am really proud of her for coming up with her own study plan that is so detailed and specific for her needs. I think this is the main ingredient missing in so many homeschools. We bring our children home to give them personalized attention, but do we give them a personalized study plan or do we just bring the public school curriculum home?

Personalized Curriculum
My opinion is that if we are bringing the public school curriculum home we are missing the mark. Most of the "homeschool" curriculum out there is the SAME as the public schools. Public schools teach to the bottom 20% of students. Is this what we want for our children? It's not what I want.

When we personalize a curriculum for each child that is strongly based in classic works, we are teaching to the potential of our students rather than just to the "norms" of the public schools. If we are going to put in the effort to educate our children at home, shouldn't we make it worth our time?

Shh! Scholar in Progress

During our Mentor Meetings Sunday night, a startling discovery was made....I interrupt my Scholars too much. Nayna politely asked during the meeting to not be interrupted during her study hours. I was pretty surprised, because I thought my kids have pretty un-interrupted time, but she explained herself well and was able to make excellent observations about the issue. Mike then commented, "When did you become so grown-up?" (Overnight...almost).

Basically after discussing her needs, we realized that 6 hours of study, which is the time we had allotted for her, is not enough time to accomplish all of her studies on some of our more busy days. She often chooses to use some of her Free Time hours to complete her studies. A new plan is now in place to allow her to complete her studies on days we have to travel into town for events. She has devised her own study plan and a new format for documenting her studies. She used to use a weekly planner as discussed in this post. Last week she created her own weekly checklist with room to write in the chapters, lessons, and other details of what she did that day for that subject.

Her subjects include:

• Home Study Seminary - Doctrine and Covenants
• Reading - Classics and personal choices
• Math - Math-U-See Algebra I
• Latin - Wheelocks Latin
• Music - Choir and Piano
• Physical Education - Wii Fit Plus, Yoga, Walks, etc.
• History - Early Modern Times
• Government - The 5,000 Year Leap
• Logic

I was thoroughly convinced by this admission that Nayna is over a year into the "Self-Directed Scholar" phase:

The Self-Directed Scholar studies eight to twelve hours a day, five to six days a week, ten to twelve months a year for three to four years.  This 5,00 to 8,000 hours of intense study builds a huge base of knowledge and skill which can be applied to whatever mission the later adult embarks upon.

It is exciting to see that she is really taking charge of her education in every way. I do not do much more than try to stay out of her way now!

The Compass - How to Set Goals

I've written about the Compass before, but I thought I would share our exact outline for how we use this important ingredient of Leadership Education. Personally, I think it is useful to all families anyway since it is about setting personal goals.

The Compass

The Compass is part of Ingredient #16 – The Binder, of “Core and Love of Learning: A Recipe for Success”. Also found on pages 101-102 of “Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning” by Oliver and Rachel DeMille. There is not a lot of detail about the Compass. Here is what we do in our family. Please adapt for your needs.

This should be done every six months. Keep it in the front of your binder and read it each week. If you have a mentor, going over this Compass and reporting back on the things that you have worked on or added will help you tremendously. Use a notebook, notebook paper or type it up on a computer document. Whatever works best for you.

Part 1 – Strengths

A . Things I Do Well – List all of the things that are your favorite things to do, things you excel at, and things that you feel confident about doing. This can include academics, hobbies, anything!

B. Top 30 Books I’ve Ever Read – This can be adapted for older Love of Learners to be 10, 15, 20…whatever number you feel fits. As people progress in their reading skills, this list can grow to 50! Do not list every book you have ever read. List those that really impacted your life.

Part 2 – Areas I Need to Strengthen

Include everything that you know need work – academics, life skills, self-improvements, etc. Don’t feel like this area is a “put down” of everything you have ever done wrong. It is simply a list of things that need work. We all have things on this list!

Part 3 – Objectives

A. Books I Want to Read – Strongly consider all of the classics, self-help, and especially your central canon, that you want to study over the next six months.

B. Skills and Things I Want to Learn – Life skills, social skills, academic skills…everyone needs skills in this life. Don’t forget to consider fun things that you love to do as well as things you know you need to do.

C. What is my mission? – This is hard to do the first time you write a Compass. But, still try to think about what you are created to do with your life. Over time, this step will get a little bit easier. However, don’t skip it! Write something even if it is a basic outline of what your mission might be. Children should not skip this step! My children have written profound things like “be a good dad” or “to help people”.

New Plan - Check!

With the addition of substitute teaching, I needed to come up with a new plan. I have become more of a list maker now that I am older. My brain just can't seem to store things in it's proper place as it used to. Things on the "priority list" seem to get dumped to the "things I can't remember list". Things I don't need to obsessively think about end up on the "priority list" and clog my thoughts with mundane tenacity. Thus... planners and lists have become my friends.

Planner #1
It first started with foster parenting that I began keeping a simple weekly planner for appointments and such. When we moved and stopped fostering I was happy to place that little planner in a drawer. Five months later I pulled it out when I realized that work, callings, and homeschool commitments were getting missed or I would reschedule because I couldn't remember something else was already planned. The main thing missing from my current planner is a weekly "To Do" list, a must have in next year's planner.

Mike likes to rub it in that he has a Palm (which I bought him two years ago for his birthday). I wish I could afford the fancy cell phone with data service and Blackberry apps. How sweet that would be! But, alas, our budget can't handle that kind of luxury. I guess I'll just have to cowboy up and use pen and paper. *sigh*

Planner #2

The second planner change was to add a check list type of planner for Nayna and Chris so that on the days that I am at work they do not get off track (keeps me on track too). They are both in Scholar Phase, but not all levels of Scholar Phase are the same. You can see this week's plan here. This is a form of Structure Time, not Content. They have certain criteria that needs to be done each day, but there is some choice as to fulfilling that criteria. We have been doing this for four weeks now and it is working really well. We had a few trial and error moments, but make-up work is a consequence...so my kiddos are much better at completing the list. ;-) The 2 child-planner sheet is from donnayoung.org. I filled in the basics that are the same each week and then copied the sheet. The things that change I just write in every week. I prepare this on Sunday during our Mentor Meetings (same as FEC meetings).

We still have our individual binders with student planners that I shared before. This one-page plan also has the appointments that affect them and the days that I work listed at the bottom.

Planner #3

My kids are very proficient at making meals, they have been for some time. We have come up with a system that the kids and I each make meals two nights a week, except Sunday. Mike is not home for dinner or he would take a turn in the rounds also (working 60-70 hours a week I figure makes up for it). You can see our meals listed here and who is cooking that night. The kids typically cook on the days that I work. Chris and Nayna can make a pretty awesome spaghetti from scratch.

Sunday is a day of rest for us. We typically eat left-overs or simple meals. I remember reading about Sister Kimball and that she didn't want to spend all day preparing meals on the Sabbath so she would prepare on Saturday. I felt that this applies to me, I also don't want anyone to slave away on Sunday in the kitchen.

Over time I have learned a great deal from Mike on organizing and planning. I'm thankful that I have a husband who values a "house of order" both temporally and spiritually.

Chris' Binder - Practice Scholar

Chris has been Transitioning to Scholar Phase the past 6 months or so. It has been an exciting thing to see as he begins to value studying more and he has asked me to oversee his work more - a sure sign of him turning himself over to a mentor! (See Leadership Education pages 193-211.)

Chris studies the following subjects:

• Fractions (Math-U-See)
• Literature - American frontier stories and settling of the West, mythology, and some science fiction.
• Grammar - Winston Grammar for review to help him in his writing.
• History - The Middle Ages - He is learning about the Anglo-Saxons and the various wars and turnovers of leadership.
• Science - Chemistry from a Creationist point of view.
• Physical Education - Chris is studying various sports and how to train to be an athlete.

Books on his "To Read" List Include:

• Finish the Ender's Game series - Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind.
• Louis L'Amour's Sackett series - Sackett's Land  and Too the Far Blue Mountain 

I encouraged each of my children to "own" their binders this year and organize them as it suits them best. 

Chris's Binder Tabs:

1. Compass - His personal plan for the next 6 months.
2. Weekly Planner - This is the first year that Chris is keeping his own weekly planner. When my kids are in Love of Learning, I typically keep their records for them. His planner includes - yearly calendar with vacation dates marked, weekly schedule of subjects and the materials available for those subjects, daily record keeping planner for recording each day's work by subject.
3. Book lists and records of the books he has read and when.
4. English - Winston Grammar practice and vocabulary notes.
5. Handwriting - He is improving his cursive writing.
6. Scouts - He keeps all his Merit Badge worksheets here.
7. Mentor Log - This is a weekly meeting log where we can each write what about how the week went and if there are any improvements that need to be made. It is a quick way for him to look back over his progress and for me to remember what each meeting is about.

Marly's Binder - Self-Directed Scholar

During the Scholar Phase, I have noticed that my youth really do naturally follow the progression through the different levels as Oliver and Rachel DeMille describe in Leadership Education pages 193-211. I believe that Marly has been in Self-Directed Scholar Level for the past few months. She initiates almost all of her own learning.

She studies the following subjects:

• Latin (First Form Latin) - Covers Latin as well as the English language and grammar for both languages.
• Pre-Algebra (Math-U-See)
• Literature - Science fiction, fantasy, mythology, and American literature are her focus right now.
• History - Early Modern Times - She is beginning the Agricultural Revolution and the Colonial War.
• Science - Chemistry from a Creationist point of view.
• Music - Piano and homeschool choir.
• Sign Language

Books on her "To Read" List Include:

• The 5,000 Year Leap (second half)
• The Fourth Turning
• Joan of Arc
• and to work on the TJED for Teens classics list.

I encouraged each of my children to "own" their binders this year and organize them as it suits them best.

Marly's Binder Tabs:

1. Compass - Her personal plan for the next 6 months.
2. Book lists and records of the books she has read and when.
3. Weekly Planner - She records all of her own work every day for record keeping - yearly calendar with vacation dates marked, weekly schedule of subjects and the materials available for those subjects, daily record keeping planner for recording each day's work by subject.
4. Cursive writing pages - One of the areas she wants to improve.
5. Latin - All her notes on vocabulary and grammar.
6. Mentor Log - This is a weekly meeting log where we can each write what about how the week went and if there are any improvements that need to be made. It is a quick way for her to look back over her progress and for me to remember what each meeting is about.
7. Classes - She has her notes from the various classes, seminars, and conferences we go to.
8. Projects - A place to hold her current project notes, plans, and results.

New "School" Year (I hate that word)

x

Every year previous to this year, I was searching for...something...that would work better than the last year. I've come to the start of the 2010-2011 "school" year and realized I am finally comfortable in our educational plan (or un-plan in some cases). I no longer feel the desire to plan out every little detail or even a "Course of Study" like I used to. I've come upon something better...the individual Compass, the Binder (similar to the TJED Planner) and our family goals.

The Compass
I wrote about this in the past and we are now doing our 3rd Compass (we rewrite our Compass every 6 months). Chris is only on his 2nd Compass. I was trying to do our Compass writing together until Chris pointed out that I am expecting the same things out of him as I am of Marly. I took his advice and we now sit down, mentor and student, one-on-one, to write our Compass. Marly did most of hers before our meeting and she just filled me in on what she wrote (anybody thinking "Self-Directed Scholar" here?).

I was happy to see more depth and thought is being put into the Compass each time we rewrite them. I encouraged them to keep their older ones, making sure the new one is on top. I want them to see their own progression and enjoy the new things that they have learned and to not forget where they have been.

The Binder (Planner)
Oh yes, we still have our binders, but they are taking on a new shape as well. Each student is now customizing their own binder. We added a couple of new things this year and re-organized for finding things better. I'm going to create separate posts on each student's binder that will post in the next few days. I'm trying to document the different things I see as each student progresses through the different levels of Scholar Phase.

Family Goals

I've been adding more books to my "to-read" list. Some I have found only needed a skimming for specific information. One of those books was "A Charlotte Mason Home Companion". I do think some of Charlotte Mason's philosophies fit with Leadership Education. One such philosophy is living an "educational life". I do believe that the TJED version is "life-long learning" and being "self-educating". I believe living an educational life is in direct correlation to our religion. Christ wanted us to learn and grow in the gospel and in our earthly life.

Methods and Madness

I posted a couple months ago about Transcripts and Diplomas where I talked about how I plan on graduating my children. I have looked into several university acceptance policies and the main requirement for students with a non-traditional education is good ACT/SAT scores. We are also planning on taking CLEP exams for them to earn college credit by "testing-out" of classes they excel in. I wish I would have studied harder as a high school student and done this route. It saves a lot of time and money.

New "School" Year
The law in Missouri states that home educators school years should run from July 1st to June 30th each year. This is the same "school year" we have followed in Arizona, so we finished up our binders for the 2009-2010 year and packaged them up in simple 3-ring clasp folders as we usually do. I keep these in an Archive box to use as our proof if anyone ever asks.

We are in the process this week of preparing our binders for the 2010-2011 year. You can see this post about the Binder and the Compass and My Brain where I wrote about how we set up our binders. I am working with each youth individually this year in developing their Compass. Sometimes I lump them together without thinking how they are at different levels of Scholar Phase. Chris has mentioned to me that he feels I expect the same out of him that I do out of Marlayna. Chalk this one up to another one of my mistakes. I learn so much from my kids!

Gearing Up!
Getting ready for this year has been a fairly painless process. I'm feeling more comfortable in how we work things in our schedule, curriculum, and the general flow of our lives. The main things I am still working on is choosing where to place my efforts in building the Leadership Education community and which classes/activities my children will participate in for the Fall. I have several things "simmering" and we'll have to see which ones the Lord tells me are the right ones.

The Binder and The Compass

I wrote previously about My Brain (what I call my binder). I've come to realize that I am not utilizing this Recipe Ingredient for Success (see Leadership Education by Oliver and Rachel DeMille) properly for my kids. Yes, I need my own binder to organize our homeschool and to complete my Scholar Phase, but my children also need their own Binder. I had binders for them, but they were not truly learning to record their own learning and organize their own education.

Today we each organized our own binders, cleaning and archiving the previous year's work. Each person completed a Compass (see Leadership Education by Oliver and Rachel DeMille, Ingredient #16 - The Binder) in the following key areas:

1. My Strengths
2. Top 5 Personal Classics (including their Central Classic)
3. Areas I Need to Strengthen
4. Skills I Want to Learn
5. Books I Want to Read
6. What is my "Mission"?

Formerly I called this list "What I Want to Learn or Do", but I realized this was falling very short of what each person needs. It did not list strengths, it did not include the classics, and most of all - it did not lead them to their mission. I was not inspiring them to keep records since I was doing so much of that work for them. Now they will be bringing this Binder with them to FEC (Family Executive Council) meetings each week to "Return and Report" on what they are doing.

We will revisit and rewrite our Compass every 6 months. I previously used the Educational Self-Assessment and MAP, but I feel for my kids we'll start out with the Compass as organized above. This was a lot for them to think about and took about an hour. For now, it is enough. Later maybe they will be ready for the more detailed items I am using.

Getting Ready for Homeschool

For Planning My Education and What I'm Going to Do for Those I Mentor - I keep all of these in a notebook that I lovingly call "My Brain" with the following tabs: Curriculum, Planner, Each Child's Name, and My Name.

Curriculum Tab

• Course of Study - I type in all the books I plan on using for the family by subject and print it out.
• Curriculum Key - to keep track of what I abbreviated each item to be. (Ex. - Story of the World, Volume 1 = STOW1 in our planners.)
• Classic Book Lists - Classics For Young Children, Classics for Youth, Classics for Adults
• Curriculum Purchasing - I love this form to help me choose where to buy and the cheapest price I find it for.
• Other Curriculum Lists - School of Abraham Good Books List
  

Planner Tab

• Weekly Planner - to write in what we actually do. I do not plan assignments at all. The blocks are empty to write in whatever you need. It includes a To Do list and Notes area. My blocks are: Devotional & Read-A-Loud, Do Together, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3, and My Reading.
• NOTE: During the Transition to Scholar Phase, the Scholar begins taking over their own planner and book list responsibilities and reports to me as part of their accountability. This usually starts in about the Project Scholar phase.

Each Child's Tabs

• Book Lists - I fill in the books, journals, videos, etc. that each person uses. Scholars are to keep track of their own.
• Individual Forms - Scouting or Church Achievements or Awards that they are working towards. I have checksheets for the things each person is working on. (If you are LDS you can go to http://www.scoutsoft.net/sb05071.htm.)
• Misc. things that apply to each person.

My Name

• Moor House Academy forms - Educational Self Assessment, Family Vision, and Master Actualization Plan.
• TJed Notes - from A Thomas Jefferson Education and Leadership Education.
• Book Lists (same as children's).
• 5 Pillars Checksheet - This is an important part of my education. I keep track of my progress through the 5 Pillar Certification.
• 100 Books from the George Wythe College Reading List Checksheet - Again, this is another important part of my education. It feels wonderful to see my progress and know that I am truly moving forward in my own Scholar Phase.

Other

• I have to have a catch-all place for stuff I might need.