Let's face it. Your brain is busier than a Texas Buccee's on a summer Sunday. (Don't know about Buccee's? It's a crazy giant gas station that rivals Disney World. It even has a giant costumed rodent walking around.)
You're making all sorts of plans and choices right now for your homeschool schedule next year, and you're going to forget a lot of those choices. As a stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, former public school teacher, Community Homeschool Founder, and small business owner, I've forgotten SO many plans, and found them at the end of a semester, or a the end of a month, or sadly, even at the end of a child's schooling journey! (So sorry, first born!) 😬
Picture this:
There I was, staring at that note jotted on a scrap in my desk drawer... in my fuzzy slippers in the darkened hallway "office." My eyes try and focus, and my brain jolts, "Oh, that's right! He was really into Sherlock Holmes, and for his senior year, I was going to.... "
Yes, his graduation from high school had been the previous week, and I was planning for the remaining four kiddos. So, I determined that would NOT happen again! Not because my gingko biloba was going to suddenly start working better, or that I was going to get some app with annoying alerts, emojis bouncing around, or check points! I simply PLANNED on forgetting from then on. And my plan worked. I forgot EVERYthing, EVERY single year, EVERY single planning session. But it was ok, because I knew I was going to do it, so nothing got left out. I had planned on my brain failing me. Here's how YOU plan to forget.
1) STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING (unless you're driving and listening. Don't stop that.) Grab a piece of paper that is big enough to list your kids' names on the left side, and 4 or five entries on the right side for each kid. Like a grid.
If you follow me at all, you know I love charts and grids! It just organizes that spaghetti noodle path I have for all my thoughts!
2) Find a pen that writes and write down your kids' names on the left side. Draw a horizontal line across the page for each kid, so they have their own space. Leave enough space for each subject that is important to you next year.
3) Fill in what you know. - If (when) you remember other stuff later, just add it in. When the page gets full, re-write it and adjust. The most important question - WHERE SHOULD YOU put it??? Flip the paper over, or write at the VERY TOP. Write these word CLEARLY on it: FORGET PLANS and SILVERWARE DRAWER. Then take a picture of BOTH sides, and put it underneath your silverware drawer organizer. :-)
Just weird enough to work, right?
When your brain does that thing where you remember something while you're cooking, you can grab the paper, add to it, adjust, etc. If you truly DO forget your plans, but you remember making them, you can search in the photo search bar: "forget" or "plans" and it'll come up in your photos... right next to the clue of where you stashed it! Seeeeee? GENIUS!
Plan to forget. Because we know you'll never forget to plan! Here's a video of what my grid used to look like with five kids at home during their school ages of around 6th grade through 12th grade.
PS> Speaking of PLANNING to forget, I have a little free service for you - you can "buy" this product, and I'll email you on August 15th to remind you to subscribe to SpanishGeniuses.com, PLUS I'll have a discount code for you! It'll work before Aug 31. If you don't need to wait, that discount code is CONVENTION. It'll get you 15% off your monthly subscription for a full year! Here's the free service to check out. No commitment. Just a plan for you to forget. ;-)