I am a goal oriented person. I like to have goals and track progress on them so that I can see how far I’ve come and how far I’ve got to go before completion. One of the best ways I have found to track a goal is with a chart. One or two goals with one or two charts are not a problem. I can wrap my head around that. The problem arrives when you add in the fact that I am the mother of four children. Children are highly motivated by being able to see progress on charts. Teachers are also motivated by being able to see progress on charts. The result is that many goals are set for many children and many charts are given out. The task of chart management falls to me.
Right now I am tracking progress on the following charts for the following people.
Me:
A fitness graph to motivate me to be more healthy
A scripture study card to mark off chapters as I read them.
Kiki:
Personal Progress toward a church youth group award. Kiki does the actual writing, but I participate in the prodding to remind her to write.
Link:
A chore chart for the Family Life merit badge
A fitness chart for the Fitness merit badge
A homework log which records his daily efforts and is turned in monthly
A home reading card on which we mark off books as he finishes them.
Gleek:
A weekly homework log with numbers of minutes read
A home reading card on which we mark off books as she finishes them.
A Faith in God booklet for a church award
A piano chart to motivate her to practice piano
Patch:
A reading card on which we mark off books as he finishes them.
A reading chart that we mark every time someone reads with him for 15 minutes
Family:
The family calendar to track all the scheduled events
The chore chart which theoretically puts kids in charge of their own chores, but which has been languishing lately
The Family Home Evening chart which lists assignments for the week
Fortunately Howard does all of his own goal setting and chart keeping. The kids are moving toward this as well. I don’t do much in the way of chart keeping for Kiki anymore. But in the mean time I am feeling a little buried in charts and I feel guilty when I miss updating one often enough. There would be even more charts, but I have declined to participate in some optional programs that the school offers. Link will not be getting the 5th grade American History award because I simply don’t have the time or energy to make him memorize the Declaration of Independence, Preamble to the Constitution, or all of the names of the presidents in order. Gleek will not be getting the second grade school wings because I don’t want to struggle to get the necessary perfect attendance months, non-tardy months, or additional assignments necessary. If these awards truly mattered to my kids we’d struggle for them, but I’m glad to just let them slide. Most years are not this chart heavy, but for some reason this one is.
In many church meetings the speakers and teachers invite the congregation to extend themselves further, to set goals and stretch for them. There have been times in my life when I needed those admonishments. Right now I need lessons in how to not over extend, how to cut back, how to trim out the excess. Because I think I’ve got that “extend yourself” thing nailed for this year.