Experiment Results
Well ... the results of my "weekly reporting" experiment are in. Though there were some positive aspects of the ritual, the overall result is: thumbs down.
On the negative side: #1: the reports take a long time to write. I don't have that kind of time to spare on a weekly basis. It has limited the time I have to visit other blogs and post about other things. Which leads me to negative #2: weekly reporting has made my blog too narrow in focus - becoming more of a "homeschool" blog than anything. I am a homeschool mom, but our life is about way more than just school, and I want my blog to reflect that. #3: The reports are too long - I don't want to burden my dear readers. #4: It's too repetitive. Some subject areas, like Bible and history, see progress every week; but others consist of "doing the next lesson" - after a while I fear half the reports will be identical to the week before. That's boring, even for me! And the last reason: it was beginning to feel like a chore.
On the positive side: I enjoyed seeing our week "on paper" - it made up for the feelings of failure and lagging behind I felt during any given week. But from now on, if I make a report, it will be for my own use, to file in my planner. I also enjoyed your encouraging comments (though the praise was probably more than I deserved.)
There may be one reader out there who is disappointed in this (Hi, Mom!), but never fear. I will still post glimpses of school on the sidebar, so check there every now and then. I will also occasionally post about the happenings in our homeschool. Just not every week...
On the negative side: #1: the reports take a long time to write. I don't have that kind of time to spare on a weekly basis. It has limited the time I have to visit other blogs and post about other things. Which leads me to negative #2: weekly reporting has made my blog too narrow in focus - becoming more of a "homeschool" blog than anything. I am a homeschool mom, but our life is about way more than just school, and I want my blog to reflect that. #3: The reports are too long - I don't want to burden my dear readers. #4: It's too repetitive. Some subject areas, like Bible and history, see progress every week; but others consist of "doing the next lesson" - after a while I fear half the reports will be identical to the week before. That's boring, even for me! And the last reason: it was beginning to feel like a chore.
On the positive side: I enjoyed seeing our week "on paper" - it made up for the feelings of failure and lagging behind I felt during any given week. But from now on, if I make a report, it will be for my own use, to file in my planner. I also enjoyed your encouraging comments (though the praise was probably more than I deserved.)
There may be one reader out there who is disappointed in this (Hi, Mom!), but never fear. I will still post glimpses of school on the sidebar, so check there every now and then. I will also occasionally post about the happenings in our homeschool. Just not every week...
Comments
I've really enjoyed seeing if but a small glimpse of what you do. I'll be in touch to try to set up a coffee date!
I saw the Frog and Toad book on the side. H. LOVES those books and J. reads with a great Toad voice.
With illness and yucky weather, we've all been a bit Toadish here this week.
It really is hard to get the bloggin time in without sacrificing the important things though!
Andrea
I am glad you shared this because it was thinking about doing that next year, but wondering if it would make me a "homeschool" blog, which isn't bad, but makes me "narrow in focus" like you said. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!