One of my New Year’s resolutions was to discover what most needs to be done and then to do it, month by month.
The Pantry Challenge was January’s big home project.
Homeschool paperwork was February’s big project: planning the rest of the school year for my teens and documenting everything I need to validate my ‘mommy marks’ for Mr. 17’s university application. Those tasks are completed. I was also going to keep up with the homeschooling, read the Omnibus selections, and whiz through my to-do binder. Instead I flew to Manitoba to visit my parents, which was wonderful.
For March, I feel overwhelmed by the number of projects on the go. Rather than one huge one, there’s a mountain of smaller ones. It’s going to take a lot of self-discipline and careful daily decisions to get everything finished. But I also have a number of wonderful resources to review, and that, to me, is relaxing.
Homeschooling:
Get Mr. 17’s university application sent off; verify that everything was received and the application is considered complete.
Homeschool diligently, since this is the last month of winter and soon the outdoors will beckon with all sorts of distractions.
Read Omnibus selections, which I’m still behind in after my Manitoba trip—almost completed
Catch up on Miss 15’s high school records so that I will not get behind as I did with Mr. 17.
Prepare for the homeschooling conference where I’ll be on two panels, one about teaching multiple levels, and one about teaching high school.
Prepare for the used curriculum sale; I would really love to clear out the piles of books and resources we no longer need.
Beta test a Canadian part-time business course for teens and young adults.
Visit a sugar maple farm—although we may postpone this until early April.
Family:
Research our B vitamin intake and increase it. Some of us have health issues that could be related to low B vitamin intake; before we went gluten-free we used to rely on wheat germ, but obviously that no longer works. Current options: organic liver, making yoghurt more regularly, and different grains.
Be diligent about fighting warts with one of the children.
Exercise daily with Miss 15.
Gardening:
Root geraniums and call it a science project for Miss 10’s botany studies.
Prune the orchard.
Plan the vegetable garden.
Order seeds, and plant the early ones inside.
Learn how to clone fruit trees; order and read library books and write up instructions for myself.
Plan new landscaping for our front flower bed; one tree died last year and the perennials and stonework need revamping. I may hire a talented neighbor girl to draw up a plan for me, but she would probably need to see everything without snow, which would move this project into April.
Home:
Get rid of the curriculum we no longer need.
See what I can do about our crumbling windowsills.
Personal:
Exercise, keep calm despite the busy-ness, and get the gluten free website going.
It feels good to have a list of this month’s projects, even though it’s such an intimidating one. Now when I plan my days, I’ll know what I’m focusing on, and when I get that aimless, wandering feeling, I’ll just be able to look at my list and get to work. I’m praying that I will have the energy to accomplish what needs to be done.
What projects do you plan to work on this month?
I’m linking up with Crystal’s goal-setting group, although her focus is on weekly, not monthly, goals. Oops, I had forgotten about her monthly goal-setting group. If you want company as you set your goals, be sure to check out these links.
Wow, that list is ambitious! Next time my hubby tells me I’m trying to do too much, I’m going to show him this. :-). I just started reading your blog and am enjoying it very much. My kids are young, so it’s interesting to hear about homeschool routines with older children.
I like what you said about it taking “careful daily decisions” to accomplish your goals for the month. This was a good reminder for me on some of my goals for this month – accomplishing them day by day. Found your post through Money Saving Mom’s link up. I hope you are able to complete your goals.
I think I have too many projects to even think about right now. 🙂 Sounds like you have quite a list. I can’t wait to read your new site. I look forward to it being up and running. 🙂
You are so diligent! Most people try to coast through March to May! At least, I am fighting the urge to coast, myself. I try to write monthly goals, too. But, I limit them to the top 5. Interesting you should mention vitamin B. I have started to wonder the same thing. I need to look into it more.
Hah, Leanne, that’s so funny! We’re all at different seasons in our lives…and because I am unable, physically, to do much strenuous work, I concentrate on other things. There is a lot on the list, true, but some of them don’t take too long, and all of them can be done in baby steps.
Thank you, Leah. It is certainly all about careful daily decisions! I need to turn off my internet for most of the day to make it work, especially since I do my Omnibus marking on the computer. That’s my biggest daily decision. 🙂 I hope you will accomplish your goals too.
Hang in there, JoAnn, you’ll be able to do what really needs to get done. That new site…well, it’s the first post that’s stopping me. I have lots of second and third and other posts ready. LOL Hopefully this Saturday I’ll have time to do it. I need to be sure that it doesn’t take away from other projects…as you can see.
Oh Jenn, I usually try to limit them to the top 3 goals! But this month there are just a few more things to do. Sigh. Today we’ll root the geraniums, I hope. And I’m almost caught up on Omnibus. It’s amazing how one week away can make me so far behind for so long!