Gospel Study

Kelly - that's so funny you mentioned Sunday night gospel study time because J. and I were just discussing this same dilemma of older kids and younger kids.  I told him, "Why don't we try doing an older gospel discussion on Sunday nights with the kids and have a younger FHE for the littler ones on Monday?"  We haven't started yet, it was still in the discussion process.  BUT it's nice to know that is successful and something worth trying.  :-)  Thanks for that!

And, I agree with Andrea that time management is very much personality.  John (11) and Addie (8) were born with internal "get it done and play the rest of the day" mentalities.  They love, love, love checklists and just "get" the concept of time.  Brooklynn and Joel are both a bit more flighty in how they manage their time.

And, I didn't mean to discourage you from trying the planner, Andrea!  :-)  It just might be what Miriam needs right now . . . or not . . . but like you said, if you don't try it, you'll never know!  :-)  I will be doing the same thing this year with my kids, so we can compare and contrast what works and what doesn't.  I also want my kids recording better what they learned each day (like a commonplace book of sorts).  I was thinking one thing that might work for my kids is after dinner saying, "Okay, now you can go record what you learned today or you can help clean the kitchen."  This would just be for the older three while the younger two would help clean the kitchen.  It's a thought I might try.

Anyway, I think again, with time management and planning a lot of it is really learned by Mom setting the example.  But it's like Andrea has said, too, about how Miriam doesn't pick up on how to spell by reading like others do.  Some kids just don't pick up on things by observing others.  A couple of my kids are like that with spelling, too, and so I have to "drill" them rather than just say "keep on reading."  Does that analogy make any sense?

Okay, that's all I have to say.
JULIA