Gantt Chart

Last night we watched the documentary The War On Kids on Netflix.  It has been criticized as irresponsible, showing only the worst of the public school system and not the best of it, and failing to offer any hope or solutions.  I'm sure the filmmakers would say that they did exactly what they set out to do.  My answer to the critics is if you don't believe that this is a real problem, spend a day volunteering in one of the schools that serve stressed populations.  I have, and all I could think of was what these children's parents might do if they could see what was really going on in their child's school.  And if you don't care because your child is in one of the better schools, consider that your offspring will one day be one of the adults who will have to deal with the problems left behind by our generation.  One thing I did learn about was the direct link between mass shootings at schools and drugs prescribed for conditions like depression and ADD.  Additionally, increased security in schools does absolutely nothing but make the parents feel better.  I did not know that.  Anyway, I highly recommend watching the documentary and forming your own opinion.  There are ways to get involved, such as organizations to join for youth rights.

My son was public schooled until 11 1/2 years old, and since taking him out of school, he comes downstairs nearly every morning, sits down next to me at the computer where I am checking emails and reading the news, and waits for me to begin teaching him.

One of my goals is to help him learn to set his own goals and manage his own time.  We started by writing daily "to do" lists.  From there we found different schedule templates for him to try, where he decides what he will work on and when.  He's had some success with that, so today we tried something a bit more advanced.  I showed him this Gantt chart, and then we created a simplified model of the chart in the illustration.  The timeline across the top was in 1/2 hour increments instead of weeks.  The summary elements were chores, schoolwork, and self care.  The project name is, "A Successful Day."

I told him that one day I hope to see him write out his own ten-year plan.  Where does he want to be in ten years?  Five years?  What does he need to accomplish year by year to get there?  Where does he need to be one year from now?  What does he need to get done this month, this week?

I said, "When you write out your daily schedule, how do you figure out what to write down?"
He replies, "You tell me what to write down."

"What if there was no one to tell you what to write down?"

(silence)

I said, "You'll be twenty two years of age in ten years, where do you want to be?"  He says, "In ten years, I want to be working at Disneyland."

"Okay, so when you are done with your exercises, let's take a look at what Disneyland looks for in their employees."

It's a process.