[juliebarkley]

The sun shone brightly as Juliebarkley enjoyed her walk. Today felt much like all the other summer days before, but the calendar said otherwise. The time of warm summer days was quickly passing, and though it was hard to believe in this moment, the cold and snow would soon be here. She smiled a sad smile as she thought of how many of these lovely summer days she had wasted indoors, and began to run through the tasks and errands she wished she had done while it lasted. No use in regretting what's past, she thought with a sigh. Enjoy what's left of summer, but it's time to prepare for winter too. Besides, who knows what new adventures the winter will bring? That thought lightened her step as she continued on her way.

 

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(I need more exciting character segments. 😅)

 

This challenge encompasses the gradual cooling-off time that leads into winter. While it is still warm and pleasant outside I want to make the most of that, but I also need to squirrel away energy and good habits leading into winter. This is going to be particularly important this year, because my little family is going through a big change. My son has more or less decided to enrol in the local high school for his final year of schooling, both for the experience (as it is his last opportunity), and in order to make the university application process easier. (We still have to talk with the guidance staff to make sure it'll work out, but it's looking good.) Since we've been homeschooling up until this point, this is a major change for both of us. He's going to need support, and I'm going to need to be able to provide it. Which means I also need to work on supporting myself.

 

So with that in mind, the goals for this challenge.

 

STR/DEX: Mostly I just want to do some exercise every day, but for a change, I want to do it outdoors. I've got skipping ropes and other fun stuff that I just never use, so let's have a little fun! I also have a library book out on parkour, so this might be a good time to look for things like rails of appropriate height to practice things on (since I now live in a place where these things exist).

 

INT: Continue my plan of 1 non-fiction and 1 fiction per month. I haven't picked these out yet for this month, but I now have a nice organized pile to choose from, thanks to my success last challenge.

 

WIS: I let my faith practice slide again the last couple of months, so I'd like to brush it back off and improve it. Participate in a weekly service OR watch one recorded. Read a small amount of scripture by stacking on already established habits. Daily prayer in some form. I'd love to get some formal prayer in; we shall see.

 

CHA: I've been lax in my volunteering. Four hours a week is hard. I've been getting too tired by my scheduled time to do it, then I do nothing. But something a week at whatever time should be doable, and would break the cycle of "not perfect, so do nothing". Log in and do something at least once per week.

 

Occupational: This is also lax, and another thing where I fall into the "if you can't do everything, do nothing" trap. Either do something in front of a microphone/editor or something with books every day. No time requirement, just something to break the inertia.

 

Organizational: If you feel like it, do something from the paper pile or try pile. Just an extra, not a requirement (as long as the piles aren't being added to).

 

Language: Continue current habits. Find a new Big Goal for French this year. I was going to find a one-shot D&D session to play in, but I'm in a lot of TTRPG games right now and I don't want to add another. Suggestions welcome.

 

Other: Make a list of things that really should be done while it's still warm out (ie. things I will absolutely not do if it is cold) and do them. These can be important things or just for fun.

[Mad Hatter]

3 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

My son has more or less decided to enrol in the local high school for his final year of schooling

Wow that's huge! Hope the transition goes smoothly and he'll enjoy it.  

[juliebarkley]

6 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Wow that's huge! Hope the transition goes smoothly and he'll enjoy it.  

It really is! Not only for the schedule change, but the whole way we do learning will be different. When you're not in school, you can pause and focus on things that you don't understand, and speed through things you do, but the school schedule will plod on regardless. It's going to be especially rough right at the start when he has to deal with the adjustment AND starting the year a bit late and therefore playing catchup AND also catching up on any necessary gaps in his knowledge (we have not been following the official curriculum). But he's smart, motivated, and a quick learner. I know he can do it.

[Jupiter]

Following.  

[juliebarkley]

3 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Following.  

Welcome!

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Got a bit of a late start, so not an amazing first day.

 

STR/DEX: No. Unless I count my walking. I did a fair bit of walking.

INT: Started reading The New Right by Michael Malice. So far, it's a very personal account of the people he met and what he thought of them. It remains to be seen if this is just a way of making the account more human and first-person, or if it's just going to be self-indulgent.

WIS: Picked up a wee bit of Al-Ma'idah. Sadly not an exciting bit, but at least it's a start. No prayer yet, unless you count a prayer of istikhara last night.

CHA: Nothing yet.

Occupational: I did not break the inertia, despite thinking about it a couple of times.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: No list made.

[juliebarkley]

STR/DEX: On my night walk, I went out in search of parkourable hardware. I went to a tiny children's play park a short distance away, and messed about on the equipment there. But there really wasn't anything worth coming back to. So I just finished off the regular walking route, which also did not have any good hardware. It did have a cool rock though, so I climbed over that a couple of times.

INT: The New Right is going to be a DNF, and I'm disappointed about that. Malice can be an egotistical jerk at his worst, but at his best he has a talent for seeing the humanity in people very different from himself and understanding their perspectives. So given that this book is supposed to be about investigating the rise of the New Right (primarily the alt-right), I figured his talent for seeing that humanity and understanding perspectives would make for an interesting read. And maybe it does, later. But it's not what I'm getting now, and I don't have the will to push through. There's too much of him talking about himself and his own experiences (the egotism shining through). But what is really killing it for me is the rambliness and complete lack of organization. This does not read like a well-written book, or even a collection of essays or blog posts. It feels like a bunch of podcast transcript, barely edited, of the author talking to himself, with only the occasional glimpse of his wit and humour. I know Malice can write well - I've read things he's written well - but this is not it. So I'm ditching that book for this month, and picked up Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg instead and read the first chapter.

WIS: Read a little, no prayer today (yet). Got an idea from Tiny Habits that I'm going to try out tomorrow though.

CHA: Nothing yet.

Occupational: I put on a podcast and started sorting my sale books by weight (because it is more profitable for me to send off the heaviest books first). I am about half done, but more of the heavy ones are sorted out.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: No list made.

[Scaly Freak]

17 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

his does not read like a well-written book, or even a collection of essays or blog posts. It feels like a bunch of podcast transcript, barely edited, of the author talking to himself, with only the occasional glimpse of his wit and humour. I know Malice can write well - I've read things he's written well - but this is not it.

 

That is both disappointing, and bit insulting to his readers. Who did he think he was writing this for.....? 

[Scaly Freak]

On 9/10/2022 at 1:13 PM, juliebarkley said:

It really is! Not only for the schedule change, but the whole way we do learning will be different. When you're not in school, you can pause and focus on things that you don't understand, and speed through things you do, but the school schedule will plod on regardless. It's going to be especially rough right at the start when he has to deal with the adjustment AND starting the year a bit late and therefore playing catchup AND also catching up on any necessary gaps in his knowledge (we have not been following the official curriculum). But he's smart, motivated, and a quick learner. I know he can do it.

 

And because now one else has mentioned it yet, I will be the one to point out that while this is going to be rough, it will not be nearly as bad it would have been if he'd had to adapt to an entirely different method of learning during his first year at university. Good luck to him! It's a big change, but will undoubtedly be worth it.

[WhiteGhost]

On 9/11/2022 at 3:13 AM, juliebarkley said:

It really is! Not only for the schedule change, but the whole way we do learning will be different. When you're not in school, you can pause and focus on things that you don't understand, and speed through things you do, but the school schedule will plod on regardless. It's going to be especially rough right at the start when he has to deal with the adjustment AND starting the year a bit late and therefore playing catchup AND also catching up on any necessary gaps in his knowledge (we have not been following the official curriculum). But he's smart, motivated, and a quick learner. I know he can do it.

Not to mention the social aspect of high school, which can be an entire headgame all to its self

[juliebarkley]

4 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

That is both disappointing, and bit insulting to his readers. Who did he think he was writing this for.....? 

Honestly I have no idea. Based on the reviews, I am in the minority in finding the style of this one unreadable.

 

4 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

And because now one else has mentioned it yet, I will be the one to point out that while this is going to be rough, it will not be nearly as bad it would have been if he'd had to adapt to an entirely different method of learning during his first year at university. Good luck to him! It's a big change, but will undoubtedly be worth it.

Well, a little yes and a little no. University is a big adjustment for high school students as well, and not all of them navigate it successfully. In some ways, his very independent homeschooling, where he set his own work schedule, decided on his own what to work on each day, and mostly kept himself accountable, and has been better prep for university independence than high school students get. He's also excellent at taking initiative, identifying his weaknesses, and putting in the work to patch them up. However, he's never had to learn some basic school-oriented skills, like dealing with time management for conflicting projects (for school anyway), having school projects with deadlines more than a week out, or having to study for exams. So it will be good to pick up those skills too. I'm hopeful that he can take the best of both experiences forward with him to university (and life afterward).

 

The transition will be stressful at first, but fingers crossed by the end of the challenge it will be running smoothly. He adapts really fast, and I'm not the least worried about the academic side of things. He knows exactly why he's there and what he wants, so he's very motivated to make it work. I just want to help him through the inevitable bumps.

 

1 hour ago, WhiteGhost said:

Not to mention the social aspect of high school, which can be an entire headgame all to its self

True. It's a very small high school (only 500 students, 650 if you count grades 7/8), so if you run into problems, there's no way to avoid those kids. But he already knows a bunch of them through work, and he says they've been speaking very highly about the school and the teachers and were very excited to hear he was thinking of signing up, so at least he will know some people when he gets there.

 

I think one of the more interesting things to adapt to is going to be that it is a Catholic school, and we are not at all Catholic. So he gets to go to the school Mass for Thanksgiving, for instance, and has to take a mandatory religion course. It's going to be kind of neat to have that experience, I think.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STR/DEX: Haven't done yet, and therefore might not do. I will walk though.

INT: I tried to sit down and read for a bit, but couldn't really focus. I may try again before bed.

WIS: Tried out the Maui habit today (saying "Today is going to be a great day" and then smiling as soon as you get out of bed) and stacked it with a quick prayer. Flowed very naturally. I'm going to keep trying this. Also read a (very) little.

CHA: Nothing yet.

Occupational: More podcasting and weighing. All the stuff that is high priority to send to Amazon has now been sorted; only light stuff is left. My packing supplies aren't in yet, but I may be able to pick out what will fit in a box or something tomorrow.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: No list made.

 

The main focus of the day was dealing with the school enrolment. We went down to see the guidance counsellor, who answered our questions and showed him what his schedule would be. Then we got a tour of the school and a bit of info on the enrolment process. I sent in all the paperwork and forms once I got home, so we could get him in ASAP. Don't want to make things harder by starting any later than necessary! Then we talked a bit about what subjects we might continue doing at home (he's doing very math/science oriented courses, so a bit of humanities and art is a nice balance as long as we keep it low-stress), bought some second-hand uniform pieces, and other such odds and ends. If there are no problems, he might be able to start on Monday. It's all moving so fast, which is good for him, but also doesn't give much time to mentally adjust. (Mostly for me.)

[juliebarkley]

STR/DEX: Not a chance. Didn't even have a chance to walk. The whole area is under a rainfall warning and will remain so until tomorrow, with risk of severe thunderstorms as well. So I stayed inside today.

INT: Read another chapter.

WIS: Much the same as yesterday.

CHA: Nothing yet.

Occupational: Somehow couldn't motive myself to go get the boxes from the garage, so I listed a book for sale that had been awaiting listing.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: No list made.

 

The stress and side effects of the changes got the better of me and I didn't sleep well last night, which meant I was low-energy today, with said stress also not putting me in the best of moods. And I got a call that my work schedule is changing for the third time in two weeks to top it off. So it's not been the happiest of days, but I still got some things done and I feel a lot better now than I did at the start of the day.

[Scaly Freak]

On 9/12/2022 at 9:37 PM, juliebarkley said:

However, he's never had to learn some basic school-oriented skills, like dealing with time management for conflicting projects (for school anyway), having school projects with deadlines more than a week out, or having to study for exams.

 

This and the social aspect is actually what I was thinking of. The further along in a school system students go, the more it will be assumed that they have certain skill sets, such as time management, how to navigate group dynamics for a group research project, as well as understanding how to navigate school bureaucracy, and everything that comes with that. Again, better t learn this in high school than at university.  

[starpuck]

I realized that since we play D&D together now, I should find you on here and follow along!   So hi D&D friend!

Like the breakdown of your goals, and the goals themselves!   Some great stuff up in here.

 

[juliebarkley]

13 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

This and the social aspect is actually what I was thinking of. The further along in a school system students go, the more it will be assumed that they have certain skill sets, such as time management, how to navigate group dynamics for a group research project, as well as understanding how to navigate school bureaucracy, and everything that comes with that. Again, better t learn this in high school than at university.  

Very true, especially since engineering doesn't have a reputation for being easy on its students in the first year.

 

8 hours ago, starpuck said:

I realized that since we play D&D together now, I should find you on here and follow along!   So hi D&D friend!

Like the breakdown of your goals, and the goals themselves!   Some great stuff up in here.

Howdy, and welcome to these parts!

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STR/DEX: Went down to the main park in town. They have a skate park I'd forgotten about, which has walls at a nice height for vaulting, rails, and hills and slopes that must be good for something non-skate related but were also a lot of fun to run up and down. Everything covered in perhaps the most wholesome graffiti I have ever seen.

INT: Just a little.

WIS: Keeping on with the same things as before. Nothing new, but at least keeping up those things.

CHA: Logged on for one conversation. It turned out to be a person at imminent risk of suicide, so I was not exactly eased back in gently (it was my first ever imminent risk conversation). But it went well.

Occupational: The things I ordered are at the post office waiting for me to collect them, so though I haven't done it yet, I plan to take my boxes to my books tonight. Might pack one so that I have some items ready to label.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: No list made, though I did think about it.

 

It was quite cold tonight, not even double digits by walk time, and it looks like that's our new normal. Winter is definitely coming.

[Cheetah]

7 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Winter is definitely coming

 

Don't you wish that it wouldn't?

 

[juliebarkley]

17 hours ago, Cheetah said:

Don't you wish that it wouldn't?

VERY MUCH SO. But I live in the wrong country for that.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STR/DEX: I walked a lot today. Hit 10,000 steps while running errands, mostly because the packages at the post office were too big for my little cart, so I had to take them home before continuing.

INT: Just a little.

WIS: I did the morning things, but no reading today.

CHA: I have my assignments for the plowing match, and got my free access passes delivered.

Occupational: I picked up my stuff from the post office, but didn't do anything else.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: Thought about the list again, but wrote nothing down. This is not the way to get the things on said list completed.

 

It was not a good day from a challenge point of view. Apparently I just totally forgot to work on all of it. Darn.

[juliebarkley]

STR/DEX: I did not have time today. My goal to get a bit of a habit going before it gets cold is not going super well.

INT: Just a little.

WIS: I even forgot the morning thing today.

CHA: Nope.

Occupational: Nothing.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: More thinking.

 

I had D&D tonight, which meant I had time to eat and rest for a few minutes before the game began. At least I got a little bit of sewing done during the game - since it's so narrative-based, I can keep my hands and eyes busy with something fairly mindless while I listen and think. But now I am very tired. I didn't sleep all that well last night, and I am feeling it now. Good night all.

[juliebarkley]

STR/DEX: I have zero desire to exercise, move, or leave the house. Therefore, I will shove myself out the door for a walk after this post and call it a win.

INT: I did not read my main book, but did read a graphic novel standalone. Sadly, it was not very good.

WIS: Remembered the morning thing! That's as far as I got.

CHA: Nope.

Occupational: Very little (sorted the boxes into appropriate sizes based on the sizes of books I have to pack in them). But it was something.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: Started the pre-winter list. There's not a lot on it, but it gives me something to shoot for anyway.

 

Still feeling really tired, more than just physically so. Some stuff got stirred up and now I need to tamp it back down (and use my fancy new CBT skills on it too). Goal for tomorrow: much more side hustle work stuff, and going through the volunteer info in preparation for my plowing match shifts (I am working an info booth). The town is running a barn dance on the Friday of the plowing match too, so I guess this next week is sort of our last hurrah before everything starts winding down.

[KB Girl]

Breaking that 'perfect or nothing' cycle is hard work but so worth it- I've been telling myself 'all or something' instead of 'all or nothing'. 

 

On 9/13/2022 at 5:37 AM, juliebarkley said:

Well, a little yes and a little no. University is a big adjustment for high school students as well, and not all of them navigate it successfully. In some ways, his very independent homeschooling, where he set his own work schedule, decided on his own what to work on each day, and mostly kept himself accountable, and has been better prep for university independence than high school students get. He's also excellent at taking initiative, identifying his weaknesses, and putting in the work to patch them up. However, he's never had to learn some basic school-oriented skills, like dealing with time management for conflicting projects (for school anyway), having school projects with deadlines more than a week out, or having to study for exams. So it will be good to pick up those skills too. I'm hopeful that he can take the best of both experiences forward with him to university (and life afterward).

 

The transition will be stressful at first, but fingers crossed by the end of the challenge it will be running smoothly. He adapts really fast, and I'm not the least worried about the academic side of things. He knows exactly why he's there and what he wants, so he's very motivated to make it work. I just want to help him through the inevitable bumps.

Isn't this why university's are interested in having homeschooled kids, because they (generally) are highly motivated and self directed. Picking up 'school' skills should be easy when you know why you're doing it and freely chose to do it. 

[juliebarkley]

19 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Isn't this why university's are interested in having homeschooled kids, because they (generally) are highly motivated and self directed. Picking up 'school' skills should be easy when you know why you're doing it and freely chose to do it. 

I believe so. And on the whole, they are less likely to be going to uni just because that's what you do after high school, without really knowing why they are there beyond social/parental expectation. He's been cramming math and chemistry while we wait for the enrolment to process.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STR/DEX: Once again, did not exercise outdoors, today because it was raining all day. Will once again go for a walk (as it is now not raining) and call it good.

INT: No reading yet today.

WIS: I did the morning thing again, nothing else yet. 

CHA: Watched a long and not very interesting (but mandatory) volunteer orientation for the plowing match. (Most of it could have been replaced by just reading the manual.) But we did get the amusement of one of our councillors accidentally telling us all that if we get wasted in the volunteer tent, we should take our shirts off. So of course, Doreen telling us we should take our shirts off became the running joke (and we must never let her live it down).

Occupational: After the walk, I want to pack things and print things and just get stuff reading in general. I really want these boxes full of books ASAP!

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: Nothing.

 

Not too much to report on other than that. Off to walk now! Then work on books! Yay!

[juliebarkley]

STR/DEX: Got one of my bikes up and running (it only needed the tires pumping up) and went down the rail trail to see the site where the plowing match is taking place (and figure out how long it takes to get there). Saw lots of people hard at work. It's been ... a while ... since I was on a bike and it was more tiring than it really should be. Or at least, I lagged behind my son and annoyed him just like I do when we go walking. 😂 I had never been down that part of the trail (and seeing the trains and the old train station down there is on my Before Winter list). We discovered a whole set of trails that I didn't know existed, and explored them (and got a bit lost). We also passed a sign that stated that we were crossing the 45th parallel, marking the halfway point between the North Pole and the equator and took pictures with it because that's pretty neat.

INT: A little bit, but I want to read more.

WIS: Just the morning thing so far.

CHA: See STR/DEX. Also communicated a bit with my contact. My job is going to be "information booth", which is mostly handing out small maps and answering questions (so, probably "where is the bathroom" about a million times).

Occupational: I got four boxes packed via book tetris yesterday, which means I currently have five. But only one has its labels and has been processed through the website. So I want to finish the box I have nearly done, and perhaps do another tonight as well. But I confess I'm not feeling the urgency right now when I can't actually ship them until the rain stops.

Organizational: Nothing here.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: Nothing listwise. But getting a bike working was on my list. The other (electric) bike is going to be a lot more work though...

 

It was a good day. Even though it was raining a little bit, the outing was quite fun. Got to spend the day with my son, which we won't have too many days left to do. (We still haven't heard back from the school; I really hope the principal doesn't decide to refuse his application.) And though I haven't mentioned it, since the start of the challenge I have been trying to dispose of a chunk of my old emails every day. Including today, since the beginning of the challenge I have purged more than 20,000 emails. (I'm running out of easy stuff though.)

 

Edit: I finished the box I had started before the Esperanto event, swapping out the problem book for different ones. I was so excited by the time I got it finished and showed it to my son that he said I was squeaking with happiness. 😂

[Jarric]

11 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

And though I haven't mentioned it, since the start of the challenge I have been trying to dispose of a chunk of my old emails every day. Including today, since the beginning of the challenge I have purged more than 20,000 emails.

 

That's mega impressive! I've spent all morning today clearing about 200, but 2,000? Just, wow.

[juliebarkley]

14 hours ago, Jarric said:

That's mega impressive! I've spent all morning today clearing about 200, but 2,000? Just, wow.

It's easier when you neglect your email for long periods of time and therefore have many outdated and irrelevant items.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not going to hit any of my challenge items today. The school has requested more proof of learning before they will go through with the enrolment, so we have been preparing lists of courses and curricula, the topics they cover, and finding examples of work from all of the various subjects to send them. The latter is easier said than done for some subjects, as we have long preferred oral narrations to written, and some of our curricula also do not emphasize written work. I'm trying to be as thorough as I can, so that they will feel comfortable and admit him ASAP so he doesn't miss more class time. I really hope I've done enough.

 

Writing out a summary of what we've done in the last year is making me feel good about what we've done thus far though. We've really done a lot, on a wide range of subjects.

[juliebarkley]

I didn't finish up the proof of learning stuff until after 2am, and probably got five hours of sleep afterwards. I'm not totally with it right now. ... To the point that I just forgot I was writing this post for ten minutes. 🤦‍♀️ Don't expect wonderful accomplishments.

 

STR/DEX: No.

INT: I read a little. I'm not sure I can focus to read more.

WIS: Almost forgot the morning thing, but I went back for it.

CHA: Have to review the booklet before my shift tomorrow. not anticipating anything too earth-shattering in there.

Occupational: Was going to finish up one of the boxes I've packed, but couldn't get there. Finished sorting the remaining books instead.

Organizational: No.

Language: Basic Duo.

Other: No.

[Jupiter]

3 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

I didn't finish up the proof of learning stuff until after 2am, and probably got five hours of sleep afterwards. I'm not totally with it right now. ... To the point that I just forgot I was writing this post for ten minutes. 🤦‍♀️ Don't expect wonderful accomplishments.

 

Oh boy. Hope you're able to get some rest tonight. *hugs*