Donna's Journey

Daily Dozen: A Way to Bring Balance Without Guilt

I once participated in a fitness program patterned after the Canadian Women’s Air Force program called the “Daily Dozen.” One day, I was pondering– How do I manage a large family, household duties, cultural enrichment, refinement, state attendance and content requirements, and all the things I felt were so important? Then the plan just fell out on paper. My title and plan for the Daily Dozen Home School System, were inspired by The Daily Dozen fitness program. That fitness program worked every major muscle group in the body and then added a 15-30 minute walk, to work the heart. When setting up my Daily Dozen program for home education, I wanted to work the heart (spirit), might (will), mind (intellect), and strength (physical health) of my children. So, I dovetailed as much as I could into my home school and included a lot more than academics. The Daily Dozen is not a curriculum, it is a method to provide an integrated structure, it is very flexible, and not too concrete; because over structuring can get derailed by life. The result is guilt when I feel that life changes my plans. I do not need that, with everything else! The Daily Dozen addresses the different areas of academics, family life, and a gospel study to affect the heart, might, mind, and strength of the child. Please do not use this as a schedule, or a rigid pattern. Blend as much into your daily rhythms as possible; dovetail.

Charlotte Mason and George Wythe influenced my educational ideas, in part. I find that many of Charlotte Mason’s (CM) teaching methods are perfect to fit with the DeMille’s mentorial / classics model (Thomas Jefferson Education or TJEd) of
Leadership Education; especially, at the core phase (0-8 years old) and the love of learning phase (relatively 8-12 years old). When children move into the scholar phase (12-16), they will have the skills, foundation, and desire, to do much sustained study, using the 5 Pillars. The 5 Pillars are: classics, mentors, simulations, field experience, and God. The 5 pillars are concepts presented in Dr. Oliver Van DeMille’s book, A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching A Generation Of Leaders For The Twenty First Century. The four phases of learning are addressed in an article by Rachel DeMille; “A Thomas Jefferson Education In Our Home.” Of course, developmental benchmarks are not fixed solidly to specific ages. Gifted children may be driven to do things ahead of schedule. Others are having such a wonderful time learning, that they may want to linger in a phase.

Distraction in ones environment or relationships, can delay benchmarks. Some distractions that might delay benchmarks include: birth of a new baby, death in the family, poor nutrition, contention in the home, chaos, lack of a good core phase, TV, and computers. On the other hand, some things might accelerate bench marks; looking up to an older sibling, giftedness, a sense of personal mission, gifts of the spirit, order, educational freedom, etc.

C.M. uses narration (retelling) to help in the retention. TJEd. uses colloquia (discussion) to add additional depth to the student’s understanding. Both narration and colloquia help parents see how well children understand what they are studying. Both C.M. and TJEd. use classics. DeMille defines a great classic as any work that you can experience over again, and you get something out of it each time. You really do not know, if you cannot explain, to someone else, what you know.

I structured the time and broke it down into 13 areas; yes a Baker’s Dozen! I tried to incorporate as many of these areas, as possible, into a natural rhythm for our family. However, rather than stipulating the amount of content to be covered in at a given moment, I go with the focus and concentration of the children. Some days we may read and discuss, narrate a paragraph, or do one activity in an area. Other days we are on a roll and may read and discuss an entire chapter and more, or get lost in a project for hours. Each area has very minimal to very grand options within them. If we have a big day planned, out side the home, we may do minimum things in many areas, to allow us time to do the big thing. We try to catch each area every day, yet, this does not always happen. We just pick up where we left off the last time, the next time we study each area. When talking with my nine-year-old son, I asked, “What do you want to learn in home school?” He said, ” Everything!” At that point I kept things varied. Really, I am actually studying what interests me, and I invite them to join me. I glance at the daily dozen to bring to mind the many options we have. As my children have interests, we start moving in their direction. Lots of exposure to great ideas and hands on projects tend to kindle interest, the children’s. After all, how can one be interested in something they have never had any exposure to? Exposure is key! I find that as I share my interests, they often find things they are interested in. This year I have a daughter in core phase, a son in love of learning, a son in transition to scholar, and a daughter in the scholar phase. My daughter in the scholar phase still wants the variety of love of learning phase learning activities, but desires to be more challenged, and makes serious study plans, and works at developing her talents.

How do I keep track? I have designed a Junior Scholar Notebook, and a Personal Scholar Portfolio for that purpose. I used my computer to generate record keeping pages; each with uplifting quotes, to help us remember why we are doing things. I have done away with my traditional schedules and I use my Daily Dozen as a reminder and a tool to jog my imagination. I have record pages for planning, pages to record accomplishments that I fill in what we did in each category on a given day, and pages to write down future interests that I want to pursue. Since learning is a continuum and not a cram session, it is better to pickup where we left off, than imposing a strict, rigid, lock step, cram session style of learning schedule. Picking up where we left off is easy, I simply pencil date the page; lightly, so I can erase it later, if needed. When I follow someone else’s lesson plan, I find that my children’s unique pace is ignored and much learning is defaulted. The children keep a record of what they learn each day.

Daily Dozen:
I. Anchoring – Devotions; scripture study, discussion, scriptural vocabulary building, hymn singing, scripture/quote memorization, scripture episodes, Jubilee devotionals, Sunday Gospel discussions, Church Meetings, Family Home
Evenings, and church activities.
II. Duty Calls – Citizenship and Patriotism; pledge, song, study of patriots, quotes, and documents.
III. Currents In Time – Current events- your children are part of history!
IV. It Came To Pass – History; biographies, history and Book of Centuries
V. Wisdom In Action – Hygiene, Fitness, Nutrition, and Healthy Lifestyles
VI. Publish It – Writing; calligraphy, copy work, correspondence, journals, family history research, personal histories, creative writing, commonplace books, writing books and articles, etc.
VII. Simply Science – Science; nature study, gardening, astronomy, nature walks, experiments, nature notebooks, science logs, weather stations, etc.
VIII. Math Matters – Math; history, manipulations, memory work, practice, life experience, and math narration (demonstrating and sharing the concepts that they have learned).
IX. Heart Sense – Cultural Refinement; music study, art study and lessons (apprenticing me in my studio), study other cultures (and their language),
refinement (or grace- etiquette and hospitality), practical arts (sewing, cooking, cleaning. etc.), poetry, literature, creative writing, drama, concerts, plays, etc.
X. Speaking Up – Speech; recitations and memory work, colloquia, narrations, presentations, talks, Stepping Into Character, etc.
XI. Margins – Time and Resource Management; keeping on top of their own commitments, planning, goal getting sessions, and tracking their own money.
XII. Family Work – Stewardships, Family Work, Family Service, Relationships,Family Council, Sunday recitals, Family game night, Family Activities.
XIII. Baker’s Dozen – Gospel Principles (on Sunday ); Core Knowledge (E.D. Hirsch), we just read it aloud to find things to spark imagination.

Do not be blown away. Like I said earlier, though we try to cover all of the bases each day, we are flexible enough to expand the time in any area or have “one minute lessons” if need be, or to choose not to cover and area, on any given day. This is a Labor day to Memorial Day schedule or 36 weeks with 1 week for Christmas and 1 week for Easter- break. I also throw in an occasional “Wild Day” and an occasional “Crazy Day.” Wild Days are for nature walks and nature studies. Crazy Days are field trip days. There is beauty in this. What can be covered, studied, and loved in 36 weeks? More than one can imagine.

“Crazy Days?” My mother taught me a valuable lesson when I was a young child. She would be leaving to go somewhere and we would ask her where she was going. She would respond, “Going crazy! Wanna come along?” I followed her to concerts, plays, the library, hiking, the beach, to museums, shopping, oil painting, to places of refinement, travel and so much more. She was full time employed and was a single mother. She still managed to enrich herself and left a legacy to her posterity a love for learning, a zest for life, and the desire to create beauty in this world. Though she is no longer with us, her lessons of life are being passed on. She showed me how to be a mentor. The foundation of my daily dozen is, that the daily dozen is what I do, not something I do to my children. I invite and encourage them along. I do not sweat it, if we do not complete all the daily dozen in a given day, learning and life are a continuum…One step at a time, one bite at a time.

My invitation to my children, “Going crazy, Wanna come along?”

Copyright©2005, Revised 2009 Donna Gene Jasper Goff