So far, my start of the year plan is working. After three years of
dilettantish ballet and piano lessons, second grade is here and it’s
time to get down to some serious discipline. We, or I should say I,
decided that 20 minutes of focused piano-playing per day was about
right and I discussed it with my 7-year old. She’s somewhat ambivalent
about piano, but since mom and dad both play, she takes it as more of a
given than a real lifestyle choice. Anyway, so far so good. She’s done
twenty minutes per day every day except for her lesson day and one day
on the weekend, and sometime with no coaching. One thing that helped
was getting a good timer. I opted for the Mark My Time Book Mark and Digital Timer.
It’s pretty simple and cheap, and can also be used for timing reading.
It counts both up to 20 and down from 20. When our friends at Active Allowance get their new chore charts done (Monday 9/24), piano will be right there as part of the daily rituals.