by Lauren Okely

Created on: May 20, 2008

As a homeschooled student, I sometimes find it a wonder that I completed school, knowing how easily I am distracted. Motivation was something I learnt during my 12 years of schooling. Now, I am in my first year of university and the motivation my parents gave me for my school work has carried over.

Measurable Goals

One of the most difficult aspects of the transition to university has been the less well-defined goals. During primary and high school, I would have specific goals that needed to be completed each day set out for me, or set out by myself, as I grew older.

The curriculum with which I studied made this easy. It was simple to calculate how many workbooks needed to be completed each term and then how many pages needed to be completed each day. Even if the curriculum you choose does not have a workbook format, it is important to find measurable goals that cost a similar amount time-wise.

Knowing there was an end to the work helped keep me going. The goals also meant when it came to test time, I was sure to know the necessary information. And it ensured I wasn't trying to pack too much information into my head at once. All these factors stopped me getting discouraged with my work and earned me many 100% scores on my tests!

Organisation

An organized structure is very important. I find I am most motivated when I first get up. By ensuring I started my work immediately, I avoided distraction. My weekdays, with some variations to the exact time over the years, always followed a schedule:

7:30 Wake Up
8:30 Start school
10:00 Morning Tea break
10:30 Back to school
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Back to school
5:30 Dinner

For most of my homeschooling, I had my very own desk where my workbooks were stored and where I would do my school each day. This enabled me to stay organized. It also meant we could create an area mostly free of distraction.

A uniform is another organization tool that got me into the school-time' frame of mind. We always wore a uniformusually one we still had from my older siblings' former school. We couldn't change into our play clothes' until the day's goals were done.

Time Out

Breaks are important to maintaining concentration and hence motivation. Each day we had a half hour morning tea' break, which sometimes involved PhysEd, and an hour lunch break that was ours to spend as we wished.

We also adhered to the Western Australian school terms meaning we worked for about 10 weeks, four times a year, with two week breaks in between. Of course, if we hadn't finished our assigned

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