Click below to listen to this episode on:
0:02
Hi, welcome back to Called the Homeschool episode #263 Time Management Strategies with Brandy Coffin Brandy.
How are you doing?
I am good.
I'm so happy to be here.
Meg.
Thank you for having me.
Yes, I'm so excited.
0:18
It's always fun to connect with other homeschool moms.
Fun to see homeschooling spreading Brandy lives back east, yes?
Yes, Massachusetts.
Yeah.
So it's so fun to have just.
I love even just just having somebody from different States and seeing different things at work, 'cause I know Utah, we have a pretty big homeschool culture here.
0:39
And so even where I live, I feel like there's so many resources.
So it's great to see in other States and just how things work.
So I'm so excited to have you here.
So let's start with a little bit of an introduction.
Why don't you tell us a little bit about you?
Yeah, my name's Brandy Coffin.
0:55
I live in Massachusetts with my two kids and my husband.
We've been homeschooling for four years.
My kids are 11, just turned 11 the other day and eight.
And you know, homeschooling was never really on my radar at all.
1:11
I have a background in nutrition, so I was originally a nutrition coach and that is how I got into podcasting.
I have a podcast called Revival Homeschool and how I got into coaching and then the Lord put it on my heart to start homeschooling.
1:27
And then you know, over the years things have changed.
And now on my podcast, instead of speaking mostly about nutrition, I speak mostly about homeschooling and parenting and all of that fun stuff.
That is so fun.
That's awesome.
1:44
I bet your nutrition plays a big role still within your home, does it?
It does.
Within my home, it certainly does.
It was interesting though, because I went through a big journey of, you know, after I had my second son, I just had a ton of health problems and so did he, and trying to figure that all out.
2:02
And that's why I ended up going to school for nutrition.
But it really became an idol for me.
So it was very interesting.
The way that it played out was I had to really let go of it for a while.
When I started, you know, I started home schooling and then I started with my clients.
2:19
I actually ended up teaching more of time management because my nutrition clients couldn't manage their time effectively to be right.
So I ended up studying a lot of time management and and really teaching a lot of that.
And then as we started home schooling, that just, I mean, that was such a big part of that, Like, how do we manage our time effectively to do the things that we want to do?
2:41
So in my home, nutrition still plays a big role, but I have definitely shifted from being so obsessed with it.
And, like, this is the only way, you know, 'cause it caused a lot of strife between me and my husband.
And I ended up judging, judging not only like my husband but like, people around me, you know, like, oh, I can't believe people let her kids eat like that.
3:04
And when the Lord really convicted me, like, oh, and there's that Bible verse, like, it's not what you put into your mouth that defiles a person.
Just really spoke to me like, oh, like this is an issue for me.
So I really like, stepped away from it for a while where I I still ate healthy, we still ate healthy, but I really wasn't such a crazy person about it.
3:26
And now we talent.
With it now we have healthy balance with it, but it was a journey and something I had to learn.
Yeah, that's so neat.
Yes, when the Lord chastises us, right, whenever we get on our high and mighty horse of like, oh, you're so cute.
3:42
Let me let me help you out.
And that's so fun.
So you've been homeschooling.
I I think you told me earlier since your oldest was in first grade.
Yes.
Did he do first grade?
I can't remember.
Yep.
So he ended up doing first grade.
So it was he went through 1st grade.
3:58
And I want to say it was like, January, I was writing in my journal, like, should I homeschool?
And it really, the thought came out of nowhere.
It was like heaven.
I I just have no idea why I wrote that down aside from, like, I was called to do it.
4:14
And as I started kind of like speaking to my husband about it, I'm like, I don't know.
And he's like, I don't know, how could we do that, 'cause we knew nothing about it, you know?
And then COVID hit and doing school online really, like, opened my eyes.
4:31
I'm like, I could totally do this, you know, And it would be at this point, better than sitting in front of a a computer screen all day.
And so then we decided to do it.
And here we are four years later.
So fun.
I just I love homeschooling and what it does.
4:49
Like what?
Have you noticed the changes that's made for your family just being together every day?
I've noticed a lot of changes.
The main, the one that I think I noticed the most because it's so personal, is the changes in my own heart.
It's it's like, honestly, like, I remember I used to work at the office and I left and I started my own coaching business and it was all about me.
5:13
You know, like, Oh well, I've got to make sure I have this time for this.
And just my attitude was much more selfish.
And my world, even though I had kids and like you know, my world revolved around them, my world really revolved around me.
Oh, interesting.
Yes.
5:28
You know, I was more of like, I remember talking to my cousin once and she was like, oh, we listen to kids music in the car all day.
And I'm like, what?
You let your kids pick what you're listening to in the car?
And I just remember saying that because that's where I the place where I was at at that time.
And how now I'm looking back and I'm like, Oh my gosh, I really was so selfish and had no idea.
5:49
Not that there's anything wrong with me picking songs sometimes in the car, but like you know the my heart behind it.
So I've noticed that the Lord has taught me so much through home schooling and having to let go of my own standards, my control.
The things that how I wanted to be just right so things could work out for me and really start seeing things in a different way come from a a place of serving and how I can help others.
6:14
That's so interesting, 'cause I don't know that I even talk about that or even think about that much, but how much I was struggling emotionally until I was with my kids and serving them in that capacity instead of that more selfish mindset.
So yeah, that's that's so good to think about.
6:31
OK, this is a great topic for today and I'm so excited because I think not even homeschoolers, but everybody struggles with time and how to manage, manage it.
And what does that look like?
So how did you you like, how did you get into that with time management?
6:49
So a lot of it was with my nutrition clients because I would I would help them to come up with plans to eat healthier and a lot of that means that you have to make food and they weren't able to to make that time or to even a lot of it came down to priorities because I think so much of our time management really comes down to what we prioritize and and not being clear on what we're actually prioritizing because what we prioritize comes out and how we spend our time.
7:18
Absolutely.
So I ended up getting into it with my nutrition clients and then just realizing, especially when starting homeschooling, Like, it's easy to spend your time right when you are by yourself for the majority of the day, right?
Like, it's easy for me to say I want to do this and then do it when I don't have children around that are demanding my attention, right?
7:40
But then when I started homeschooling, realizing, Oh my gosh, my schedule can't go exactly how I want it to go, even though I'm like, OK, this time we're doing lessons and at this we're doing this, things come up.
Like this is real life.
I'm dealing with other people and I have to be able to be flexible and figure out how to manage my time.
7:58
Even when I'm dealing with a tantrum that is lasting 30 minutes or, you know, whatever stage they're in, you know, or wanting.
My son comes in wanting to have a deep conversation about something, 'cause he's just experienced something with one of his friends and I'm like, oh, but we've got to get this done, you know, that's that's how do you manage that?
8:19
How do you balance that where you can still get the important things done, but you have time for those other important things like emotions and relationships and all of those things that really are actually more important than checking the things off the list?
Oh my goodness.
8:34
Absolutely.
Like a Hallelujah on me, on my end for you of what we're going to.
I'm so excited.
OK, so Brandy's going to teach us four different things to help with time management strategy.
So let's start with #1.
Yeah.
So number one is always going to start with your priorities, right?
8:50
So we talked about, I mean, what you prioritize comes out in your time.
But I think so often what we realize is we're not doing the things that we feel called to do or getting the things done that we really feel like we should be because we're not managing our time, right.
So we have to.
9:06
It's like this circle that we spin around in.
So we have to start by getting clear on our priorities.
And you know, I think that starts with like the big picture vision, like what is your vision?
What's important to your family long term?
Like what are your goals of raising your kids and sitting down with your with your husband.
9:25
Then like, what are our goals?
And getting really clear on that, 'cause just having that big term picture really helps bring structure to your weeks, right?
Like, So if our relationships are a priority now, I'm making sure that I'm putting in time scheduling in time to connect daily and weekly with the kids.
9:42
Like one of our, like we have play in our schedule, you know, like because they're like, oh, is play like one of our priorities today?
And like lots of days it is.
And like, no matter what, we'll play at some point.
But like some days we have, like play is like our priority, you know?
And today, you know, I was like, well, we actually, we had a big long weekend of playing, 'cause we had birthday parties, and then Sunday we played like all day.
10:04
My kids, we did a Nerf gun war on Saturday with their friends.
And so yesterday as a family, we like Nerf gun like multiple times.
Yesterday so I'm like.
You know, I think we're going to focus on this other thing today and let them know like this is when we our big play time is.
But then scheduling in those other like, OK, like I have time to connect with you just in my normal daily rhythm, you know.
10:25
And having like that rhythm and routine of the day where, you know, we connect at these certain things that the kids can expect every day at bedtime, at meal times, wherever it is for my family and wherever it would be for for your family when you're prioritizing that.
But like, when you're not clear on your priorities, it's easy to let that go, you know, and not put that time in.
10:47
Or even if you have it, like, Oh yeah, I want to connect with them at meal time, let it get pushed aside because now something else came up, you know, And it's easy to just what is that the tyranny of the urgent?
Have you ever heard of that?
I haven't.
The tyranny of the urgent is the I think it was a book and it's the idea that there are so many things that come up that seem so urgent that we'll that we'll just put our time into, because we're not.
11:15
They're just like like a phone call.
The phone rings.
You have to answer, but like do you have to answer, you know, like maybe it's actually more important for you to actually spend that time with your kids right now because this is, this is what is important right now.
So just big picture priorities, but then taking it down to our short term priorities, right.
11:36
So you have that big picture goal that kind of gives you like the the, the routines that you want to put into your life, into your family, but then like the short term priorities, breaking them down.
So for like instead of like, OK, this is our goal for you know, relationships are our priority for our family long term.
11:55
What are the goals for like the week, the day, getting really specific because if when you have like a focus, like a weekly focus and a daily focus, it can really help you when things come up like those tantrums or like even like a friend.
12:11
Like today I had a friend call, she had to take her husband to urgent care.
Can my can, can our son come over?
Well yeah, he can come over.
But then also remembering, OK, now we have we're having three hours of you know what, that we didn't expect taken out of the day of what we planned to do, what was most important for us today.
12:30
So I knew today that my priority when it came to lessons or when it came to, you know, relationships.
I knew what my priorities were for today.
So like for today, our lesson focus was we're learning about philanthropy and we're doing a fundraiser for my niece who has spina bifida.
12:47
And I was introducing that topic today and I knew that was my main focus.
So like, if we didn't get to math or we didn't get to whatever, I knew that this is the one thing that I wanted to do today.
So when my friend called and it's like, hey, can you help us out?
I'm like sure the one thing that we're going to do is we have time for this one lesson.
13:07
That's the one I'm going to pick.
And I feel that it really helps us to not be overwhelmed when we start thinking like, Oh no, I want to help or this other thing came up, but like, we had this, this and this.
And now I'm getting overwhelmed.
I don't want my kids to fall behind in math or I don't want whatever goes through our minds.
13:24
How do we make a good choice without being overwhelmed?
And I think those those daily and weekly priorities really help us to make good decisions and be flexible at the same time.
That's so interesting.
I love that you're saying this because when I was home schooling, when all seven lived at home and I had to protect the school hours as there was just a lot of them, right.
13:48
And so if I didn't, then it was it wasn't going to happen consistently.
And so it's interesting.
So I actually would turn my phone off on a if we had people that would come over, there was a sign on the door.
This is we're in the middle of school, right?
I'm just really protecting it.
But as you were saying that too, because now I'm a little bit more LAX because it's the two boys and so I can be a little bit more flexible, but it made me think of learning to say no to.
14:13
What?
Yes, I like your priority.
Oh.
OK, I don't.
I don't want to jump in.
You can keep going though.
No, but it was so interesting because you knew what that priority was, was the, I'm going to say it wrong philanthropy there we.
Go I've said it so many times today that I think I've got it right.
14:31
You know what I'm talking about.
But you said yes to that because it was your priority.
And then which allowed you to also say yes to serving.
Mm hmm.
And so just knowing and understanding for sure of what it is that you do want, so that you knew what to say yes to and what to say no to, which is beautiful.
14:48
Yeah, you know, I do feel like I'm prone to like that decision fatigue where I'm like, I start to get like frantic when things change.
I don't know.
This has always been my personality.
Like, I like to make a plan.
I like for it to work, like to the point where like, I Remember Me and my husband were going out for like, ice cream one day and we were in line at Dairy Queen.
15:07
And this was my plan.
I'm like, we've got to get a Blizzard, right?
This is my plan.
And he's looking at me and he's like, this line looks like, it's like like 30 minutes long.
I don't know if we should stay here.
And I'm like, what?
What do you mean?
This was our plan.
And I had to, like, check myself, like, oh, it's OK to be flexible.
15:24
That's just like my my personality.
And I don't know, you know, I can dig deep into where it where it came from.
But you know, having that those priorities in place are so beneficial, when I'm realizing like, oh, things can't go as planned always, and maybe they always go as planned, you know, 'cause our plans are great, but, you know, sometimes the Lord has better plans for us always.
15:49
Yeah, no, that's so good, Kay.
I won't skip ahead to anything else.
So what was #2?
So number one is to know your priorities.
What's #2?
Is task partitioning.
So basically we're breaking our larger tasks into smaller tasks and I literally do this with almost everything, so like cleaning my shower.
16:07
So basically, you know when you're able to take a larger task and split it into something smaller and makes it more manageable, so then you're not gonna put it off as often, right?
So especially if you're having things that you like you put off, if they don't get done, try splitting it into a smaller, more manageable task.
16:24
So my example of cleaning my shower.
I don't have 30 minutes to scrub my shower straight, Like, to get it really clean and more correctly.
I should say that I do not want to scrub my shower for 30, right?
Like, I'm sure I could do it and I could find the time, but I do not want to, so I don't.
16:43
And even no matter how many times I say I'm going to, I'm not going to do it for 30 minutes.
Like I'll do it every once in a while when it's awful, you know?
But like, I would like to keep it up more like better than that, you know?
And breaking it into smaller chunks makes it more manageable.
17:00
So for like this example, what I'll do is before I get in the shower every other day, I do 5 minutes.
I have all the tools up there underneath the bathroom cabinet.
I I scrub one section for 5 minutes.
I even put a timer on so I don't get distracted and I put a timer on.
17:15
I did my 5 minutes and then I get in the shower and I enjoy my wonderful shower but I rotate right.
So I'm cleaning a different section of the shower every time I do this.
So it's constantly staying clean, but I never felt like I had to put in that much effort.
17:31
OK.
Yep.
So I do this for lots of different things, mainly like my cleaning.
I I don't love cleaning.
It's not my my favorite thing to do.
But like, I do like to have a clean house.
I agree.
So I tend to break up my cleaning in some more manageable tasks.
17:48
My projects like even a lot of stuff that I do for the podcast, you know, I'll break into smaller tasks.
And one thing it really helps me with is not spending too much time in one area and neglecting other areas.
Now there's something obviously to be said for uninterrupted work.
18:04
Like we can get in the zone and sometimes it's really good to be there and we can be more productive a lot of times when we can have that hour of uninterrupted work.
But most of the time, as homeschooled moms, we don't have an hour of uninterrupted time, you know, And if we do, we have to choose wisely.
18:23
So is it going to be the shower or is it gonna be something else you know.
So I think it really helps to like OK I'll get some of the shower done and then I'll get some of the the podcast done and then we'll get some of the school planning done and like not breaking it up too much where I'm like I'm not understanding and keeping track of what I need to do but like maybe doing one section of the school planning at at that sit down time and doing one section of the shower at that time and breaking it up So I'm more we're more better able to handle all of the things in a more balanced way.
18:57
That's interesting.
Oh, sorry.
Go ahead.
No, you go ahead.
Well, I I want to say there's a study that your brain can only really focus for 15 to 20 minutes, right?
And so that would make sense if you're planning your school year and then you're 15 minutes in and then it's like, well, I might as well check some recipes while I'm online.
19:15
Or what about this vacation, right.
And so when you give yourself that timer 5 minutes, your brain's like easy.
Yeah, I can do that and makes it much more doable, it feels like.
Mm hmm, definitely.
And you know it works well with kids too.
19:31
Like, obviously, right?
Because even for them, their focus time is way lower than ours.
Like if you feel like your kids have a hard time focusing, that's because they do, right?
So what is it like 5 to 6 year olds?
I think in focus for like 15 minutes Max 11 to 12 supposed to be able to do 30.
19:48
I have an 11 year old and I'm like well he just turned 11.
So me and my husband were just talking about this today.
I'm like we're building up to the 30 minutes, but splitting their assignments I have found has been such an amazing tactic because it's really helped them to not get overwhelmed.
20:04
Like even like today my son was doing some language arts work and.
He started getting, like really overwhelmed.
He had like 3 left and he was like, well, like you just like, I can't, I can't finish.
I can't finish.
And like, you know, part of me sometimes the, the control schedule part of me wants to be like you have three left.
20:24
You can do it, you know.
And sometimes that is the the right tactic, you know.
But you have to be able to read your kids.
And so, like, OK, right now, would it be beneficial for me to, like, encourage him and push him just a little bit harder or is he gonna break?
You know, so and I could tell from his attitude, I'm like, you know what?
20:43
You can, if you want, you can do those three questions later.
Like, you don't have to do them right now, But it just really helps, helps them to be able to not get overwhelmed.
So if you're having like a subject that your kids are frequently overwhelmed with, teach them how to task partition, teach them how to split it up.
21:01
And at first you'll do it for them.
Like here.
Here's a smaller section.
You can work on this.
And then next time you come to work on it, work on this section, you know, and split it up even like chores, bigger chores, like organizing their room and stuff of like, especially like my younger one.
21:18
I mean, he's 8.
Like, I can't expect that he's going to be able to do organizing his room.
But when I help him and I'm like, oh, hey, we're going to do make the bed, you know, make the bed 1st.
And then the next task, we're going to put away our stuffed animals, you know, and break it up.
21:34
He canmore manage that and learn how to go through the steps without being overwhelmed.
That's awesome.
OK, So what is the tip #3?
#3 is habit sacking.
21:50
So have you heard of heard of habit?
Sacking I have.
Yes.
OK.
So it's the idea of when you're trying to create a new habit, you're going to link it to an existing habit.
This is so beneficial when we're trying to keep up with something that we don't like doing.
22:06
Or if there's something that you've really felt called to do that you haven't just been able to be consistent with yet, have a second can be really helpful.
So say you wanted to start, like, consistently studying the Bible with your family, linking it to something that you do consistently already.
22:23
Like, what are you already doing together?
Like, maybe you have family dinner together most nights.
Maybe you have TV time in the evening most nights, or maybe Saturday mornings.
You're all lounging around the house together, you know?
What are you consistently doing?
That's already a habit that you could stack that onto.
22:40
Another example would be like laundry.
So, you know, I task partition my laundry and then I have it stack it because I am not naturally good.
Like I said, I don't love housework.
Like, laundry is not my thing.
And so, you know, I split it into the three tasks I need to put it in.
22:59
I need to switch it.
I need to fold it.
Now, if I don't have that linked to another habit, I'm not doing it.
And like, sometimes I fall out of it.
Like, I just went through a season of, you know, I was really tired and we had some other things going on and the first thing to go was the laundry.
23:16
I'm like, I know my limits right now.
I have to let some things go.
And so now I'm getting back into it.
Like, OK, now I have more energy.
I have to get back into doing this.
And I had to remind myself, what were the habits that I was stacking this to, right?
23:33
So I'm putting the laundry in 8:00.
We always like, it's kind of like our bell for the day.
Like, hey, it's 8:00, Everyone start getting together for the day.
So everyone will go and do like their bedroom chores, make their bed, get dressed.
And that's when I take the laundry down, 'cause I do that every day.
23:50
I'm gonna go make my bed and get dressed every day around 8:00-ish, take the laundry down, put it in the wash Now, another thing that's consistent is dinner.
I used to try to do lunch, and we are consistent, but sometimes we're out of the house for lunch.
Yeah, more often than dinner.
24:05
Like dinner.
We're like always home for dinner.
So dinner I switch the laundry and then kids, bedtime.
That's when we bring it up to be folded and then either I or my husband, depending on who's free in the evening.
24:21
We'll get that done, but literally without the the habit stacking.
I am like, no good at laundry, but it's so much easier when we have habits.
We all have habits that we do throughout the day, whether they're good habits or bad habits or whatever.
We have routines, we have rhythms that we have in our lives, and when we're trying to start something new, if we can attach it to something that we've already do consistently, it's so much easier to really follow through.
24:47
Yeah, I couldn't agree more with that, right?
Even if you wanted to start flossing, just setting it out by your toothbrush, right?
Just those teeny tiny things to make it easier.
And you can add that with your kids school and teaching them these deals, right?
So something that they already do consistently.
25:04
So they put on underwear every day.
Do you have something by their undies?
Right.
Like whatever that is of something that's doing consistently?
Like, oh, that's right.
Now I see it and I remember I'm going to be start doing this thing.
Yeah, definitely.
I know that's what we do.
Like the kids at bedtime, often they read every night at that.
25:23
So I had started thinking, I'm like, you know, they really should be or not.
I really would like them.
And I think it would be beneficial for them to be reading the Bible on their own a little bit.
So it was so easy to incorporate that in.
I'm like, here's your Bible and here and you hear your books that you always read, you know, read this for a little bit.
25:41
We'll talk about it in the morning.
Tell me what you what you learned or what you had questions about or whatever, and then you know.
And then they read their their book.
And it was so easy to start that habit, because they consistently are sitting there reading every night anyway.
Absolutely.
25:56
That's brilliant.
OK, what is #4?
#4 is to eliminate busyness.
So we kind of alluded to this in the beginning about picking and choosing and what you're going to do.
So you know, it's just if you feel called to do certain things in your home school, if you have a vision, which we all do, You know, we all homeschool for certain reasons and we have a vision of how we we thought it would play out or how we feel it in our hearts that it should be playing out.
26:26
And if we don't make time for those things, they're not going to happen.
But in order to make time, we have to pick and choose, right?
There are so many good things that can be done, whether it's, you know, a million lessons or getting work done or chores done, or volunteering or all the sports or all the dance and gymnastics and all of the events.
26:49
There are lots of good things to do.
But just because they are good and sound good doesn't mean it's for you in the season.
Absolutely.
I if you've ever read the book Essentialism is that's one of my favorite books to really hone in on what to say no to.
27:06
No, I've not read it, but I think that I would love to.
Yeah.
And you know, that's one thing that I walk my clients through is getting that we start with the vision, right?
The big picture in the priorities.
And now walking through like brain dumping, What are all the things that you are doing and which ones are helping you get to that vision in the season?
27:25
And which ones are really just not for you?
And sometimes letting go of something that seems really good is the best choice for you to get to where your feeling needs to be.
Yes, absolutely.
It's so interesting.
So when I had all my kids living at home, I didn't work right because I was homeschooling all of these kids and we were creating habits and we were doing creating a lot of skills.
27:46
And it wasn't until I had kids start getting older and started to move out that God was like, OK, now you have more bandwidth.
And so giving me an opportunity and space to work, but also being very intentional when I am willing to work because my top priority is my family.
28:06
I love being able to help other families, but like, I'm still the steward of my own family, right?
And so sometimes I think you can get really excited to work more or serve more or do more good things, right?
Put your kids in all the classes.
28:23
But like you're saying, go back into your vision and is that what you want at the end of the day?
And if it is, then fantastic.
Say yes to it, right, 'cause maybe your vision is like, we serve at every opportunity.
Yeah, So your friend who needed help, it was like we we don't even worry about school if we're serving right.
28:40
But I love that you had a a very clear priority of what you were going to say yes to.
And so you still got those things done and still had time to serve and do the things that speak to your heart.
Yeah, you know, and it's hard to get rid of things sometimes.
You know, it really is like, I remember just recently I had, I really felt that I shouldn't teach children's church anymore.
29:03
And I'm like, oh, but I love with being with the kids.
But I knew that for my family, there was just some things going on, like the big emotions that were going on with some changes that my kids were going through.
And I'm like, no, I know that my family needs me here consistently.
29:19
And having the energy to do that, to to make the plans and to teach the lessons and to stay later at church.
I know it's not for me right now, but it seems like such a good thing, you know, it seems like, well, how can I just say no to that?
But I knew it was right and it's ended up being a real big blessing.
29:38
Although I was sad to say no, you know?
And there's things that will be sad to say no to.
But if we when we do it, when we know that it's what we're supposed to do, when we do it, the benefits and the blessings outweigh the loss.
Yes, it's interesting that you say that because when I started working a little bit more, the thing I had to give up was Co-op, 'cause it was a full day Co-op and I loved it.
30:04
These girls are still some of my dearest friends and my kids are still friends with them, but it was our season was over with that.
And so by saying no to that, it gave me space then to say yes to podcasting, yes to a coaching business, yes to the things that I'm doing.
30:20
But yeah, absolutely eliminating something so I can have the thing that God needs me to be doing right now.
Right.
And it's all in season, right?
That was your season and now that season was over and just being really aware and taking that time to sit down and pray about it and write all the things down and get clear on like what is it, what is for this season?
30:42
That was so good.
This list is fantastic.
So do you check in with yourself weekly or daily of like, OK, what are what are my priorities this week?
I think you kind of talked about that a little bit, but like, what does that look like?
Practical application for you?
Yeah.
Usually on a on a quarterly basis, I'll like do like a whole, like I need to sit down and make sure that like I'm clear.
31:06
And a lot of times the the priorities are going to stay the same, but what they're going to look like is different.
You know, like the deep priorities of relationship or serving these things, the big term, the priorities stay the same, but how they're going to play out in our lives.
31:21
So just doing like the philanthropy thing recently.
So that was something that I'm like, oh, I I want to teach my kids how to serve more in like a different way.
Like, yes, OK they see me, you know, helping friends and this and that.
31:37
But I want to teach them how to how to be passionate about it.
So we so we started that.
But so I sit down weekly after I do the quarterly, I sit down weekly and I think of like, OK, what is the the lesson that I want to teach this week.
31:53
So when I go through like we do like a family lesson throughout like like every day usually we'll do like our learning together and then they'll have their independent learning.
So usually it's that family lesson that I'm more focused on than they're like, I mean, math is easy, like I can you can pick up a math book, you know what's next, you know.
32:11
But the family lessons are more of what I kind of ruminate on and and decide like, what is priority right now.
So I do that weekly and then like, I'll schedule out like the week, like, OK, I know that.
And I'll look at the weather.
I'm like, Friday's an awesome day.
32:27
I know that Silas just got a kayak and he wants to go out kayaking one day this week.
Friday is the day, you know, and I'm like, you know, we had a real busy weekend having birthday parties and all this stuff.
We need a day where it's just us.
We're in the house.
We're so I'm like, Monday is the day we're focusing on our philanthropy lesson.
32:45
And I'll put these priorities and daily focuses in.
But then I also, I sit down at the end of the day and I think of, OK, how did it go?
Did we get it?
Did we get it done?
Did something come up or did things change where I'm like, oh, our focus has to shift.
33:01
We're having a hard time with this or that, and we need to shift focuses.
So I like to sit down too.
And most of the time they stay similar through the first half of the week.
And sometimes, usually in the midweek, I'm like, oh, we have to shift a little.
But I do check in every day.
Not it doesn't.
33:16
It's 5-10 minutes.
Thank you, Pray and see if things need to shift.
Yes, this is so great because I feel like when you are actually accomplishing your priorities, you feel accomplished, right?
That when you.
So let's say my priorities are my family and the relationships in our home school.
33:35
And then I'm out all day with some girlfriends or I go and I did some yard work or something And so then I feel like I didn't do anything today.
Yeah, because I didn't do the things that were a priority to me.
Yeah, I totally, I got sucked into that.
You know, when we first started homeschooling, we do have such a good homeschooling community here.
33:55
And it was easy to be like, oh, our friends are going hiking or, you know, they're people are doing this and people are doing that.
And, you know, some of our priorities are our relationship, like our relationship with others, but more but our relationship with each other is going to come first.
34:11
I'm going to put my relationship with my kids as a priority and with my husband as a priority over, you know, our outside community and learning and creating a love of learning.
That is a priority.
So when we were out hiking, that was great and we still do that.
34:27
But I had to cut back a little because I'm like, oh, we're out doing this stuff.
And and although that is a priority, I'm neglecting these more important priorities.
And we had to shift because I felt that way.
We would do all the stuff and it was great stuff.
And the kids would be learning out in the woods and like, they would be learning, but it wasn't what I had felt called to do.
34:48
It wasn't what was priority in that season.
And I would feel that way.
I would feel overwhelmed, like I'm not getting anything done because I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing.
OK, these four tips are so awesome Brandy.
Where would people go to find more about About You?
35:05
Yes, so my website isrevivalhomeschool.com and I have a podcast called Revival Homeschool.
I'm not big on social.
I like we'll post the graphics of my podcast, but I'm not huge on there.
But I do have a Facebook group, you know, where people chat about all things homeschool as well, and I that's always linked inside my podcast notes.
35:28
Oh awesome.
Thank you so much for taking the time to come and share your wisdom with us and have a great rest of your week.
Yes.
Thank you so much for having me.
It was a pleasure.
Comments