Time Management

I have serious time management issues. I think I always have. When I was in high school, I had an AP History teacher, I'll call him Mr. H., and I remembering receiving a lecture from him about this very topic. 

I remember it vividly. We were assigned an essay to practice for the AP exam and this particular one was due on a Monday. However, he had a grading schedule that stated that essays handed in on Tuesday would be deducted one point, and those handed in on Wednesday would be deducted two points. After that, you just got a zero. Well, I was a procrastinator, I'll admit it, and I had a lot going on that week and decided I'd have time to do the essay Wednesday and just hand it in late. So Wednesday came and I started the essay in homeroom, worked on it in between classes and a little during orchestra and was able to finish it off on my walk to history class; nothing like getting it done under the wire. When I handed it to Mr. H. he just looked at me, astonished, and ask, "What is this?" That's when I told him it was my essay. Shocked that I was handing it in late, he told me it had been due Monday. When I explained that his grading policy stated it could be handed in late with a point reduction, he told me that it may say that, but he's never had a student hand it in late. He began to lecture me in front of the whole class about how I really need to work on my 'time management' skills so that this never happens again. He was thoroughly disappointed in me. I on the other hand now possessed a new phrase that I could use to describe why I'm often late, frequently disorganized and always feel like deadlines are looming; I've got poor time management skills.

Skip ahead a couple of decades and I'm still suffering from the same malady. It may be a personality defect or perhaps I take on more in my schedule than I should; I really don't know why I have always had this problem, but it is definitely affecting the homeschooling.

I've mentioned before that I really like having a schedule. I love when I get all organized and feel on top of things. But sadly, it just never lasts very long. I developed this detailed schedule on the inner workings of our day and have now gotten to the point where I have stopped even referring to it. After breakfast I just say, "Time for Language Arts!" We do that until we're done, and then we move onto math. We do that until Casia needs a break or I have to get Garrett ready for school. After that, I never know what's going to happen. I do make a weekly plan for each subject the week before, and we usually get a lot of it covered. But I am also prone to being distracted and I'm starting to think Casia is taking advantage of this.

Today she got me talking about Baby Boomers and we ended up having an in-depth conversation on that topic when she was supposed to be working on an essay. Well, she hates writing, and I think she got on this tangent on purpose to stall, because when I said, "Hey, you're supposed to be working on that essay," she smiled a little and said, "Oh, yeah!" 

We also spent close to an hour in search of a missing over-due library book. I've seriously checked any place it could possibly be: under couch cushions, behind book shelves, under beds, the back seat of the car. It's disappeared. I don't know how this happened since I have two a designated library book bins; one for 'not read' and one for 'read'. They are easily accessible and the rule is just one book out per person at a time. Well, nobody, including me, follows this rule and books are infrequently placed back in the return bin by their reader. Instead, on library day, I have to look up online which books are due and we make a mad scramble to find them. The bins were supposed to make it easier, but apparently my disorganization and time management issues are a family affliction.