Just thought I would post this for kicks...the man sat in front of us and made it quite clear that he had no obligation to hear anything we had to say to him...then or ever! Hmmmm....in a public office?
"I am writing with regards to the meeting I attended two Thursdays ago, in which the proposal for the new junior high was presented by the school district.
I was concerned that you, also a citizen of my town, would feel so threatened by the peers of your community that– despite the council of your fellow commissioners– would first, take the opportunity to arrogantly throw your authority around; second, grudgingly allow for public comment once it had been established that public comment could in fact be heard; and third, reinstate your authority following the time for public comment, even going so far as to deliberately diminish the issues that were brought up by the public.
In light of this behavior, I would like to take a few moments to address my concerns.
First, any position in healthy government, whether appointed or otherwise, is responsible ultimately to those their decisions impact; even in a monarchy. (The root of the work "king" itself denotes "servant", interestingly enough.) Perhaps there is such thing as a "natural aristocracy", as Plato and Jefferson propose, and as you seemed to believe, with your superior air. However, reading further into their works, it is clearly established that is not something an individual gains by appointment; rather something they exhibit through their deportment.
I have no doubt that you feel that you have state statutes as well as local statutes to validate the autonomy of the decisions of the council. However, the manner of your delivery reflected one of defensiveness with an intent to belittle those who had expressed an interest in the proceedings by their attendance. Perhaps you were just having a bad day.
I don’t think any of us in attendance thought that we would be able to have any type of voting power in that situation. We simply wanted to make sure all of the facts had been addressed and considered. Any good leader recognizes that they by themselves do not have the ability to consider any situation from every angle, and welcomes others who feel that they might have information to help them make a more educated decision. I appreciated the reminder given to "the public" to not simply restate the concerns already mentioned and waste the council’s time, and thought "the public" did an admirable job considering the obviously grudging consent to speak you gave them.
When your fellow commissioner asked what venue the concerned public had to voice their concerns to you, you gave no email, no recommendation to contact you or the council at a different time: you simply reinstated your right to not have to listen to anyone outside of the commission. This reflects a disturbingly narrow-minded mentality. Your defensiveness was further established when there was actually time set aside for public comment within the agenda of the meeting; yet no indication was made of this open forum at the time referred to above in this paragraph.
May I make a recommendation? If you would seek to perpetuate your role in any type of leadership position, perhaps you could benefit by the reading and application of some books designed to help in situations such as these: "Leadership and Self-Deception" by the Arbinger Institute, Covey’s "Seven Habits of Highly Effective people" (with special consideration to the sections on "synergy" and "interdependence"), and "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Carnegie.
Any healthy government should seek for the good of both the individual as well as the community. Of course this is a delicate balance between extreme socialism (exclusive good of the community) verses extreme capitalism (exclusive good of the individual). In this situation, I appreciate the intent of the council that was demonstrated to both seek the good of the community in establishing a junior high in west Kaysville as well as consider the impact on the local population. I would simply ask you to reflect upon your behavior towards your peers here in your community. No official in our government is so far removed from the people that they are not ultimately accountable to them.
I thank you for your time and consideration.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Humanity
"The tendency to avoid challenge is so omnipreset in human beings that it can properly be considered a characteristic of human nature. But calling it natural does not mean it is essential or beneficial or unchangeable behavior. It is also natural to defecate in our pants and never brush our teeth. Yet we teach ourselves to do the unnatural until the unnatural becomes itself second nature. Indeed, all self-discipline might be defined as teaching ourselves to do the unnatural. Another characteristic of human nature--perhaps the one that makes us most human--is our capacity to do the unnatural, to transcend and hence transform our own nature."--pg 53 "Road Less Traveled" Peck
Thursday, November 19, 2009
personal "Math" classics
The Scriptures (see my definition of math :)...)
A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe
Flatland
String, Straight-edge, and Shadow
The Warlord children’s picture book series
An Introduction to Mathematics
Euclid
Mere Christianity, Lewis
The Road Less Traveled, Peck
Walden
A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe
Flatland
String, Straight-edge, and Shadow
The Warlord children’s picture book series
An Introduction to Mathematics
Euclid
Mere Christianity, Lewis
The Road Less Traveled, Peck
Walden
math=the art of wonder!
My definition of "math"= The pursuit of Truth...the art of wonder.
In ancient times, "philosophers"sought to find truth and consistency in the world around them, seeking order and patterns, like the rotation of the seasons, the life cycle of a tree, etc. This was considered the study of mathematics. It included the study of astronomy, music, and others as well as the acceptable "math" subjects of today: geometry and arithmetic. The world around them was studied and observed and observations became hypothesis, theory and then a few of them achieved the status of "laws". They did not limit their study to anything, finding consistency and patterns in things from cooking, to astronomy, to religion, to accounting.
I love the passage in the LDS Doctrine & Covenants 88: 77-80, 118 (see also my posting of "Science and religion"):
We are limiting our understanding of the world by not encouraging the "why", the wonder of observation, and the marvel of discovering patterns and connections all around, what I like to call "ah-hahs!" on every level. From a child's delight at finding a bud poking out of the ground that they planted the winter before or the difference between snowflakes as they seek to find two that are identical, to the years of study that yielded the concept of calculus...these are all connected and valid paths to the pursuit of truth, ...if they are allowed to blossom.
Thus, it is with heavy heart and frustration that I hear the ever-growing cry, "I hate math!" and realize that the art of wonder is being lost.
In ancient times, "philosophers"sought to find truth and consistency in the world around them, seeking order and patterns, like the rotation of the seasons, the life cycle of a tree, etc. This was considered the study of mathematics. It included the study of astronomy, music, and others as well as the acceptable "math" subjects of today: geometry and arithmetic. The world around them was studied and observed and observations became hypothesis, theory and then a few of them achieved the status of "laws". They did not limit their study to anything, finding consistency and patterns in things from cooking, to astronomy, to religion, to accounting.
I love the passage in the LDS Doctrine & Covenants 88: 77-80, 118 (see also my posting of "Science and religion"):
Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;
Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms–
That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you,
and the MISSION with which I have commissioned you...
As and all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another
words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom;
seek learning even by study and also by faith.
The problem with today's mathematics is that we are feeding the "laws" to our children without helping them through the marvelous process of observation, the "why" of what mathematics is all about...and then we wring our hands in frustration as they don't seem to grasp the little tricks we have been taught to manipulate these laws!...crazy.Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms–
That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you,
and the MISSION with which I have commissioned you...
As and all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another
words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom;
seek learning even by study and also by faith.
We are limiting our understanding of the world by not encouraging the "why", the wonder of observation, and the marvel of discovering patterns and connections all around, what I like to call "ah-hahs!" on every level. From a child's delight at finding a bud poking out of the ground that they planted the winter before or the difference between snowflakes as they seek to find two that are identical, to the years of study that yielded the concept of calculus...these are all connected and valid paths to the pursuit of truth, ...if they are allowed to blossom.
Thus, it is with heavy heart and frustration that I hear the ever-growing cry, "I hate math!" and realize that the art of wonder is being lost.
Science and Religion
"Scientific Tradition: Methodology–
"In it’s laudable insistence upon experience, accurate observation and verifiability, science has placed great emphasis upon measurement. To measure something is to experience it in a certain dimension *see Flatland!*, a dimension in which we can make observations of great accuracy which are repeatable by others. The use of measurement has enabled science to make enormous strides in the understanding of the material universe. But by virtue of its success, measurement has become a kind of scientific idol. The result is an attitude on the part of many scientist of not only skepticism but outright rejection of what cannot be measured. It is as if they were to say, "What we cannot measure, we cannot know; there is no point in worrying about what we cannot know; therefore, what cannot be measured is unimportant and unworthy of our observation." Because of this attitude many scientists exclude from their serious consideration all matters that are–or seem to be–intangible. Including, of course, the matter of God." (Pg 226, The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck)
"This beginning possibility of unification of religion and science is the most significant and exciting happening in our intellectual life today. But it is only just beginning. For the most part both the religious and the scientific remain in self-imposed narrow frames of reference, each still largely blinded by its own particular type of tunnel vision. Examine, for instance, the behavior of both in regard to the questions of miracles. Even the idea of a miracle is anathema to most scientists. Over the past four hundred years or so science has elucidated a number of "natural laws", such as "Two objects attract each other in proportion to their mass and in inverse proportion to the distance between them" or "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed." But having been successful in discovering natural laws, scientists in their world view have made an idol out of the concept of natural law, just as they made an idol out of the notion of measurement. The result is that any event that cannot be explained by currently understood natural law is assumed to be unreal by the scientific establishment. In regard to methodology, science has tended to say, "What is very difficult to study doesn’t merit study." And in regard to natural law, science tends to say, "What is very difficult to understand doesn’t exist." (The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck, pg 228)
"In it’s laudable insistence upon experience, accurate observation and verifiability, science has placed great emphasis upon measurement. To measure something is to experience it in a certain dimension *see Flatland!*, a dimension in which we can make observations of great accuracy which are repeatable by others. The use of measurement has enabled science to make enormous strides in the understanding of the material universe. But by virtue of its success, measurement has become a kind of scientific idol. The result is an attitude on the part of many scientist of not only skepticism but outright rejection of what cannot be measured. It is as if they were to say, "What we cannot measure, we cannot know; there is no point in worrying about what we cannot know; therefore, what cannot be measured is unimportant and unworthy of our observation." Because of this attitude many scientists exclude from their serious consideration all matters that are–or seem to be–intangible. Including, of course, the matter of God." (Pg 226, The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck)
"This beginning possibility of unification of religion and science is the most significant and exciting happening in our intellectual life today. But it is only just beginning. For the most part both the religious and the scientific remain in self-imposed narrow frames of reference, each still largely blinded by its own particular type of tunnel vision. Examine, for instance, the behavior of both in regard to the questions of miracles. Even the idea of a miracle is anathema to most scientists. Over the past four hundred years or so science has elucidated a number of "natural laws", such as "Two objects attract each other in proportion to their mass and in inverse proportion to the distance between them" or "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed." But having been successful in discovering natural laws, scientists in their world view have made an idol out of the concept of natural law, just as they made an idol out of the notion of measurement. The result is that any event that cannot be explained by currently understood natural law is assumed to be unreal by the scientific establishment. In regard to methodology, science has tended to say, "What is very difficult to study doesn’t merit study." And in regard to natural law, science tends to say, "What is very difficult to understand doesn’t exist." (The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck, pg 228)
There was an old lady who swallowed...
I had a thought last night as I read "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" to my children and initiated a little discussion. That old lady was continually consuming larger and larger animals in order to "take care of the problem". Now did she tackle that fatal horse right up front? Of course not! It would be to formidable! However, she gradually kept allowing the problem to get more and more out of hand, even in the face of reason.
It reminded me of my life, and how, sometimes, I feel that in order to solve that problem that is in front of me, or "fix" things or myself, I need to continually do more and more, bigger and better. What if I just digested the problem (aka the fly) and moved on with my life? Do we gradually fill our lives with bigger and bigger things, thinking, "oh, it’s just a little more time" or "oh, my children need just a little more....in their schedule" (you fill in the blank), until we are all ambling about awkwardly chasing that proverbial horse, determined to do "just one more thing"!
It reminded me of my life, and how, sometimes, I feel that in order to solve that problem that is in front of me, or "fix" things or myself, I need to continually do more and more, bigger and better. What if I just digested the problem (aka the fly) and moved on with my life? Do we gradually fill our lives with bigger and bigger things, thinking, "oh, it’s just a little more time" or "oh, my children need just a little more....in their schedule" (you fill in the blank), until we are all ambling about awkwardly chasing that proverbial horse, determined to do "just one more thing"!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Empowering quotes, etc.
Elder M. Russell Ballard (Ensign, Nov. 2008): The challenges we face today are just different, but no less demanding. The Lord isn’t asking us to load up a hand cart; He’s asking us to fortify our faith. He isn’t asking us to walk across a continent; He’s asking us to walk across the street to visit our neighbor. He isn’t asking us to give all of our worldly possessions to build a temple. He’s asking us to give of our means and our time despite the pressures of modern living to continue to build temples and then to attend regularly the temples already built. He isn’t asking us to die a martyr’s death; He’s asking us to live a disciple’s life.
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.
And he replied,
"Go into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!"
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.
So heart be still!
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.
And he replied,
"Go into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!"
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.
So heart be still!
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Nelson Mandela
We might as well have been born in some other...dispensation, unless we can feel that we have a mission in Zion. We are living to be Saints. (Eliza R. Snow, as quoted in Dew, pg. 203)
We need to get a celestial education and share it with others along the way.
Jesus taught that each of us should exhibit an active love and benevolence towards every one of His Father’s children.
I want to be my children’s greatest cheerleader, not their greatest critic.
I want to fill their lives, hearts, and dreams with love and confidence, not doubt and insecurity.
What I say reaches their soul--
What a gift, what a privilege,...
what a responsibility.
“Our only confidence can be in God; our only wisdom obtained from Him; and He alone must be our protector and safeguard, spiritually and temporally, or we fall.” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of, pg 161)
FAVORITE SCRIPTURES
Be of good cheer, little children; for I am in your midst, and I have not forsaken you. (D&C 61:36)
Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom of heaven is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. (D&C 78:18)
Ether 12:4
Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the
souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
Romans 8:16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
D&C 5:34
Yea, for this cause I have said: Stop, and stand still until I command thee, and I will provide means whereby thou mayest accomplish the thing which I have commanded thee.
D&C 123:17
Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
James 1:27 : “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Psalm 23
2 Nephi 4
D&C 84:88
Mosiah 18:12
“O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that (she) may do this work with holiness of heart.”
1 Nephi 19:9
And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught: wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.
Mosiah 4:14-15
And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another...But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
FAVORITE POEMS/SAYINGS
A Mother’s Prayer
Oh give me patience when tiny hands
Tug at me with their small demands
And give me gently and smiling eyes;
Keep my lips from sharp replies.
And let no fatigue, confusion, or noise
Obscure my vision of life’s fleeting joys,
So when, years later, my house is still–
No bitter memories its room may fill.
Author Unknown
Alexander Pope Quote
’Tis education forms the common mind: Just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.
It is our duty to make the world better for our having been in it
The question, then, is: Which will give the more abundant life–pampering our physical nature or developing our spiritual selves? Is not that the real problem? –Heber J. Grant
Come unto me,” the Savior said, “all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28) So you come unto Christ to be yoked with Him and with His power, so that you’re not pulling life’s load alone. You’re pulling life’s load yoked with the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and suddenly your problems, no matter how serious they are, become lighter. That’s what we mean by coming unto Christ, being yoked to Him. (Elder Nelson, Ens. June 2005, pg 18)
“Every noble impulse; every unselfish expression of love; every brave suffering for the right; every surrender of self to something higher than self; every loyalty to an ideal; every unselfish devotion to principle; every helpfulness to humanity; every act of self-control; every fine courage of the soul, undefeated by pretense or policy, but by being, doing, and living of good for the very good’s sake–that is spirituality.” Heber J. Grant
“The man who...[has] in mind making better the world in which he lives, desiring to contribute to the happiness of his family and his fellows. And who does all things for the glory of God, will, to the extent that he denies himself for these ideals, develop his spirituality.” Heber J. Grant
What are we working for? Wealth? Riches? If we have embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we are working for eternal life...It is far better if it is possible for us to start the children out in the battle fo life with nothing recorded on the pages of their years, except good deeds and faith-promoting thoughts.
[I] hope that parents will realize that the example of integrity, of devotion, of loyalty to the Gospel, and the disposition not to find fault, but to labor diligently and unceasingly for the advancement of truth, it a marvelous heritage to leave to their children. –David O. McKay
Contend not with others, but pursue a steady course–
Gordon B. Hinckley
LEST WE FORGET
She came tonight as I sat alone
The girl that I used to be...
And she gazed at me with her earnest eye
And questioned reproachfully.
Have you forgotten the many plans
And hopes that I had for you?
The great career, the splendid fame
All wonderful things to do.
Where is the mansion of stately height
With all of its gardens rare?
The silken robes that I dreamed for you
And the jewels for your hair?
And as she spoke, I was very sad,
For I wanted her pleased with me...
This slender girl from the shadowy past
The girl I used to be.
So gently arising, I took her hand,
And guided her up the stair
Where peacefully sleeping, my babies lay
Innocent, sweet and fair.
And I told her that these are my only gems,
And precious they are to me;
That silken robe is my motherhood
Of costly simplicity.
And my mansion of stately height is Love,
And the only career I know
Is serving each day in these sheltering walls
For the dear ones who come and go.
And as I spoke to my shadowy guest,
She smiled through her tears at me;
And I saw that the woman that I am now
Pleased the girl that I used to be.
Rowena K. Lewis
Horror gripped the heart of the World War I soldier as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his lieutenant if he might go out into the No Man's Land" between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back. “You can go,"said the Lieutenant, “but I don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your own life away.”
The Lieutenant's words didn't matter, and the soldier went anyway. Miraculously he managed to reach his friend, hoist him onto his shoulder, and bring him back to their company's trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, then looked kindly at his friend. “I told you it wouldn't be worth it," he said. Your friend is dead, and you are mortally wounded.”
“It was worth it, though, sir," the soldier said.
“How do you mean, worth it?'" responded the Lieutenant. Your friend is dead!"
“Yes sir," the private answered. “But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say, ‘Jim, I knew you'd come.‘”
"This Little Light of Mine" Editor: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Barry Spilchuk
Quotes from “A Discussion with Russell M. Nelson”: “What counsel would you give people who wish they were more committed but find it difficult?” His answer: “Those people need to have a little private time and ask themselves what they really want in life. Is it entertainment? Is it wealth? Is it fame? They need to decide what they really want to accomplish. No runner ever starting a race would ever start without knowing whether he’s doing a hundred-yard dash or a marathon. Many people, in and out of the church, have not really named their objectives, what they want to accomplish more than any thing else. But once they have made the decision to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, to emulate His example, to live according to His precepts, then their commitment is secure. That has to be done individually....
“Repentance is more than just undoing the wrongs you’ve done. It’s a whole change of your outlook on life. You want to think like the Lord. You want to talk like the Lord. You want to act like the Lord. You want to believe, you want to pray, you want to love the way the Lord does.”
A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, while the bearer delivered only one and a half pots of full water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day
by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself and because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all
the way back to your house."
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the
path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw and I
planted flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day while we walked back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace this house."
Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
Elder Robert Whetten (Ens. May 2005, pg. 91)
“Conversion means consecrating your life to caring for and serving others who need your help and sharing your gifts and blessings. The Lord didn’t say, “Tend my sheep when it is convenient; watch my sheep when you aren’t busy.” He said, “Feed my sheep and my lambs; help them survive this world; keep them close to you. Lead them to safety–the safety of righteous choices that will prepare them for eternal life”...Every unselfish act of kindness and service increases your spirituality. God would use you to bless others...In your journey through life, you are to reach out and bless the lives of your fellow travelers, to give of yourself to those who need you. “For whosoever will save his life,” the Master said, “shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”
"I REALLY LIVED"
By Sister Marjorie Hinckley
"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."
“It is not for you to be led by the women of the world; it is for you to lead...the women of the world, in everything that is praise-worthy, everything that is God-like, everything that is uplifting and that is purifying to the children of men.” (Joseph F. Smith, as quoted in No Doubt About It, Sheri Dew, pg. 43)
“Gordon B. Hinckley; “You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And that good that is in you must be spread to others.”“ (No Doubt About It, Sheri Dew, pg 3)
Ideally, the family is a place where we may safely retreat, where we may safely be vulnerable, where we develop resilience and replenish our emotional supply, and where we are taught what is important, what is good, and where happiness really comes from. (No Doubt About It, Sheri Dew, Pg 57)
“Our young people need love and attention, not indulgence,” taught President Benson. “They need empathy and understanding, not indifference, from mothers and fathers. They need the parents’ time. A mother’s kindly teachings and her love for and confidence in a teenage son or daughter can literally save them from a wicked world.” “Praise your children more than you correct them, “ he counseled. “Praise them for even their smallest achievement... Encourage your children to come to you..with their problems and questions by listening to them every day.”
“My plea...is a plea to save the children,” President Hinckley has said. “Too many of them walk with pain and fear, in loneliness and despair. Children need sunlight...They need kindness and refreshment and affection. Every home, regardless of the cost of the house, can provide an environment of love which will be an environment of salvation.”
It is time to give ourselves to the Master and allow
Him to lead us into fruitful fields where we can
enrich a world filled with darkness and misery. Each
of us, no matter who we are, no matter where we serve,
must arise and make the most of each opportunity that
comes.Jeffrey Holland
"Our world needs straightening up. It needs leadership. It needs
enlightenment. It needs those who are able to analyze problems and
suggest solutions, those who can draw upon the past to make
intelligent decisions for the future, those who understand the
ramifications of certain kinds of actions, those who appreciate fully
the interplay between virtue and morality and integrity and the fabric
of society." Pres. Hinckley
"It is not enough to just live, just to survive. It is incumbent on
each of us to equip ourselves to do something worthwhile in society -
to acquire more and more light, so that our personal light can help
illuminate a darkened world. And this is made possible through
learning, through educating ourselves, through progressing, and
growing in both mind and spirit." Pres Hinckley
"Each of us, regardless of our circumstances, can find a way to study
and grow. Our industry in so doing will cause the years to pass faster
than we might wish, but they will be filled with a sweet and wonderful
zest that will add flavor to life and power to our personal influence
and ability to teach and lead." Pres. Hinckley
"If our hearts are fixed on the Savior, we will have a solid reason
to rejoice, to rejoice in spite of adversity and to rejoice even in
our adversity. Sometimes we make our burdens heavier because we
think we shouldn't have problems. We feel guilty. We compare
ourselves to (others) . . . we don't need to compare ourselves to
anyone else. We are okay, just the way we are, each of us, with our own needs, our own abilities, our own desires of righteousness, and
our own set of obstacles to overcome. . ."
"If you're doing the best you can, that's good enough. I don't know
many men and women who aren't doing their absolute best in every
way, but plenty of them keep track only of the things they don't do
perfectly. Many people I know accomplish a phenomenal amount, but
often they don't pay attention to what they've done. Rather they
concentrate on what's left undone or what remains still to do. Their
hearts are literally downcast. They have given their hearts to their
burdens, not to the great Helper and Lifter of burdens. . ."
"When you feel discouraged, when all of your courage has leaked away
and you feel downcast and your lower lip is getting too close to
your jogging shoes, I give you permission to pat yourself on the
back for what you are doing. The savior did not suffer in Gethsemane
and die on the cross to rebuke you, to chastise you, to turn his
back on you, and to despise you. He did all of these things so that
he could redeem you and save you and lift you up to meet him in the
clouds of glory at his second coming, "and so . . . ever be with the
Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). That is the glorious message of the
gospel to all of us." Chieko Okasaki
You can have the utmost assurance that your power will be multiplied many times by the L0rd. All He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart. Do it cheerfully and with the prayer of faith. You will feel at some time, perhaps at many times, that you cannot do all you feel you must...The forces arrayed against you will try not only to frustrate your work, but your desire to do Dis will, and your asking in faith will determine how clearly the Master can guide you by answers to your prayers...He chose you...The Lord knows you...He has prepared a way so that He could issue your call.
–Elder Eyring, Oct 2002
♡So trusting my all to thy tender care, and knowing thou lovest me, I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere,... I’ll be what you want me to be.”♡
Faith is not only believing that God can, but knowing that He will...
Out of clutter, find simplicity
From Discord, find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.--Einstein
We must be the change we wish to see in the world- Gandhi
“If Americans should ever come to believe that their rights and freedoms are instituted among men by politicians and bureaucrats, then they will no longer carry the proud inheritance of their forefathers, but will grovel before their masters seeking favors and dispensations” –Ezra Taft Benson (“The Proper Role of Government” 1968)
WEAKNESSES
Weakness in seeing perspective in trial: Elder Damiani (Ens. May 2005, pg 95) “Jesus Christ told the Twelve Apostles some of the things that can destroy our hope and make us give up: allowing ourselves to fall into temptation; not enduring affliction, tribulation, and persecution; fearing “the cares” of the world; seeking wealth first; giving us instead of enduring to the end.”
Questions to ask: What does the Lord want me to do in this situation? How can we know whether we are being tried or whether the Lord is punishing us?
Scriptures to remember: Whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance. (D&C 95:1)
Favorite Random Quotes
Both abundance and lack of abundance exist simultaniously in our lives, as parallel realities. it is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend. When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present--love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us happiness--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth. --unknown :(
What I CAN do
"The God who gives us each day as a treasure will require an accounting...This day is a precious gift of God... "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me"...A morning prayer and an early search in the scriptures can set the course for a day. We can know which task, fo all those we might choose, matters most to God and therefore to us...such a prayer is always answered if we ask and ponder with childlike submission, ready to act without delay to perform even the most humble service...all would be possible for the humblest of us. The temptation to delay will come from two feelings...one to be complacent...and the other to feel overwhelmed.
"Lovingly pray: "Please let me serve this day. It doesn’t matter to me how few things I may be able to do...Just let me know what I can do. I will obey this day. I know I can, with thy help.
"Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart...when your burdens become too heavy, the Lord, whom you have served, will carry what you cannot. He knows how. He prepared long ago. He suffered your infirmities and your sorrows when He was in the flesh so He would know how to succor you.
When you go to sleep: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things..."–Elder Eyring, May ‘07
"Lovingly pray: "Please let me serve this day. It doesn’t matter to me how few things I may be able to do...Just let me know what I can do. I will obey this day. I know I can, with thy help.
"Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart...when your burdens become too heavy, the Lord, whom you have served, will carry what you cannot. He knows how. He prepared long ago. He suffered your infirmities and your sorrows when He was in the flesh so He would know how to succor you.
When you go to sleep: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things..."–Elder Eyring, May ‘07
Powers greater than yours--Eyring
"Don't be discouraged when things look bleak nor too proud when things go well, because powers greater than yours are shaping events," President Eyring advised. "The Lord really does reign. Our primary contribution is to help when we can and be wise enough not to get in His way. He makes the history while we write our supporting parts in it." --Oct. 2009 Church News
Messages from the Hymns
"The Time is Far Spent" fourth verse: Be fixed in your purpose, for Satan will try you; The weight of your calling he perfectly knows. Your path may be thorny, but Jesus is nigh you; His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose, His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose."
"How Firm A Foundation" last verse: "That soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I cannot desert to his foes! That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never, no never forsake!"
"How Firm A Foundation" last verse: "That soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I cannot desert to his foes! That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never, no never forsake!"
Land and Liberty in Alma 43-44
Reading this morning in Alma, I have been struck by a couple of things. First of all, in Alma 43:48-50, I love how Moroni, when sensing the depression of his army/people around him in the face of the extreme harshness of the Lamanites, sent forth, and "inspired their hearts with these thoughts–yea, the thoughts of their lands, their liberty, yea, their freedom from bondage....and it came to pass that they turned upon the Lamanites, and they cried with one voice unto the Lord their God, for their liberty and their freedom from bondage, And they began to stand against the Lamanites with power; and in that selfsame hour that they cried unto the Lord for their freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them." How amazing! I felt like this went hand in hand with verse 23 of that chapter where Moroni, knowing Alma to be a prophet, asked him where they should go to confront their enemies. We must have the connection with God to not only give us inspiration about where and when to pick our battles, but to give us divine inspiration and strength as we "battle" in causes that are just, even in the face of overwhelming or daunting odds!
Vs. 45: Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor for power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.
I also came across the following and felt it had interesting implications: Alma 44:5: "by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country". It was their liberty that tied them to their lands and country, because they had the liberty to work it, to farm it, to become connected with it and have stewardship over it. Amazing! It reminds me of "Little Britches" by Ralph Moody, which I am reading right now with Vanguard Youth, and where it talks about how Ralph felt a sense of pride and ownership in their dilapidated property, even upon first viewing it, a craving to care for it, a sense of stewardship. We must have the liberty to own property, for in a very real sense, it gives us those same feelings that Ralph experienced so quickly. Of course, we must work for it, because, like anything else in our lives, it will fall into disrepair with neglect. But with that labor, comes that sense of ownership, that sense of stewardship, and an underlying sense of responsibility...the kind of feelings that enable men and women to defend it, when necessary, as in the above scripture.
Vs. 45: Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor for power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.
I also came across the following and felt it had interesting implications: Alma 44:5: "by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country". It was their liberty that tied them to their lands and country, because they had the liberty to work it, to farm it, to become connected with it and have stewardship over it. Amazing! It reminds me of "Little Britches" by Ralph Moody, which I am reading right now with Vanguard Youth, and where it talks about how Ralph felt a sense of pride and ownership in their dilapidated property, even upon first viewing it, a craving to care for it, a sense of stewardship. We must have the liberty to own property, for in a very real sense, it gives us those same feelings that Ralph experienced so quickly. Of course, we must work for it, because, like anything else in our lives, it will fall into disrepair with neglect. But with that labor, comes that sense of ownership, that sense of stewardship, and an underlying sense of responsibility...the kind of feelings that enable men and women to defend it, when necessary, as in the above scripture.
Peck's "balance" of communism and capitalism
I am reading "The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck, MD, and found an interesting connection to concepts I have been thinking about over the past few years with regards to political economy:
"The problem of separateness in close relationships has bedeviled mankind through the ages. However, it has received more attention from a political standpoint than from a marital one. Pure communism, for instance, expresses a philosophy not unlike that of the aforementioned couples–namely, that the purpose and function of the individual is to serve the relationship, the group, the collective, the society. Only the destiny of the state is considered; the destiny of the individual is believed to be of no consequence. Pure capitalism, on the other hand, espouses the destiny of the individual even when it is at the expense of the relationship, the group, the collective, the society. Widows and orphans may starve, but this should not prevent the individual entrepreneur from enjoying all the fruits of his or her individual initiative. It should be obvious to any discerning mind that neither of these pure solutions to the problem of separateness within relationships will be successful. The individual’s health depends upon the health of its individuals."
He then compares this concept to an analogy of a base camp for mountain climbing. "If one wants to climb mountains one must have a good base camp, a place where there are shelter and provisions, where one may receive nurture and rest before one ventures forth again to seek another summit. Successful mountain climbers know that they must spend at least as much time, if not more, in tending to their base camp as they actually do in climbing mountains, for their survival is dependent upon their seeing to it that their base camp is sturdily constructed and well stocked."
In this book, he is dealing more with the marriage aspect of this analogy, however, reading this left me to ponder about it’s implications for a healthy society, one in which the individual is allowed to climb the proverbial mountain, but how he cannot do so indefinitely selfishly...he must take time to nurture/care for/invest in those around him to provide a stable "base camp" (Pgs 166-167, Peck.)
"The problem of separateness in close relationships has bedeviled mankind through the ages. However, it has received more attention from a political standpoint than from a marital one. Pure communism, for instance, expresses a philosophy not unlike that of the aforementioned couples–namely, that the purpose and function of the individual is to serve the relationship, the group, the collective, the society. Only the destiny of the state is considered; the destiny of the individual is believed to be of no consequence. Pure capitalism, on the other hand, espouses the destiny of the individual even when it is at the expense of the relationship, the group, the collective, the society. Widows and orphans may starve, but this should not prevent the individual entrepreneur from enjoying all the fruits of his or her individual initiative. It should be obvious to any discerning mind that neither of these pure solutions to the problem of separateness within relationships will be successful. The individual’s health depends upon the health of its individuals."
He then compares this concept to an analogy of a base camp for mountain climbing. "If one wants to climb mountains one must have a good base camp, a place where there are shelter and provisions, where one may receive nurture and rest before one ventures forth again to seek another summit. Successful mountain climbers know that they must spend at least as much time, if not more, in tending to their base camp as they actually do in climbing mountains, for their survival is dependent upon their seeing to it that their base camp is sturdily constructed and well stocked."
In this book, he is dealing more with the marriage aspect of this analogy, however, reading this left me to ponder about it’s implications for a healthy society, one in which the individual is allowed to climb the proverbial mountain, but how he cannot do so indefinitely selfishly...he must take time to nurture/care for/invest in those around him to provide a stable "base camp" (Pgs 166-167, Peck.)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Games and Activities I use in homeschooling
These are all things that have developed over time, suited to the comfort of our homeschooling. They are almost all geared towards every age, so these are activities we can do together, with everyone inspiring each other. I do some of these consistently, and some I pull off the shelf and dust-off for a few weeks or days and then put it back "on the shelf", so to speak. I just like having specific titles/activities, so that when I mention it to the kids #1 they know what I am talking about, #2 what will be expected or tried for, and #3 they will be excitedly anticipating it (some more than others). As with everything I do, sometimes the kids are all there, sometimes it ends up being one-on-one because the others are fighting or too busy playing to join us, but most of the time I have the whole group there by the end.
*Devotional: Pledge of Allegiance after marching around to a sung patriotic tune, Story from Friend or other inspirational piece, selection from our stories of the Bible, religious song, prayer, sometimes we work on memorizing together at this time. Each child "has" a day of the week where they get to pick the movie we watch for that day (typically one or less total for our complete screen time...and I try to encourage valuable ones), choose the marching song, hold the flag for the march and Pledge, pick the Friend story, and the song to be sung.
*The M&M dice game: everyone tries to add up the dice they have rolled before the others so they can get ONE M&M!!! WOOHOO!! And then the fun begins all over again with a new roll :). Tova has 3-4 dice and typically throws in some multiplication or subraction, Kel 2-3, .....Piper just rolls it and shouts out numbers, letters or names.
*"Authors in the Attic" a take-off from Little Women. Anyone who has written anything (whether I did "dots" for them to trace it, or they copied it out of a book) is invited to either my room, the darkened kitchen at night, or our crawl space. We light candles and use flashlights, someone takes a turn welcoming us to AUTHORS IN THE ATTIC! Then we share by candlelight or flashlight, using pen names, whatever amazing literary creation we have done for the week.
We have had everything from dramatic plays (Tova, aka Sophia Bell), letters soliciting money for education (Mary aka Zoey Zephyr) , the copying of random letters out of a shark book (Drew, aka Lightning Man), stories of high adventure (Kel, aka Lloyd Alexander...now Rick Riordan), illustrated "books" about beautiful places (Lily, aka Princess Penelope), and poems about zucchinis in bright pink bikinis talking to linguinis riding in lambriginis (sp?) (Quinn, of course...known as "Mark Wilson" in our crowd, who always titles his creations with the title of a Beach Boy tune.) A special treat is served, and then we are excused, after a time for random comments and praise.
*The Time Machine! I use some type of chronological history (workbooks from CostCo to Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer), throw out our "world atlas" blanket (some fancy or unique blanket saved for just such an occasion would work), let the kids punch the buttons, we wiggle and bounce as we are "thrust backwards in time". I paint an image of the place we have landed, allowing the kids to help if they know anything about that place in the world, and show them picture in books from the library, the national geographic or our world book encyclopedia to help them get a flavor of where they are. I like to get a unique treat or fun activity to go with it: combat with foam swords for our visit to the crusades, wafers/crackers and cheese as a type of way bread for the caravans across Egypt, building pyramids out of legos/blocks/sugar cubes, etc. for Egypt, writing in Chinese on long, taped-together pieces of paper for China or using chopsticks for dinner that night...etc.
*Anatomy "class": I get fun books from the library and go through the body system by system. There are some great Dover coloring books to go with this. There is a great deal of self-examination compared to some awesome dissection images of the human body.
*Table Time: a great time where mom is available to help the youngers with their oh-so-cool workbooks! We go through them randomly, based on what they are ready for, and throw out what is useless "overhead". The kids love to hear..."Oh, don’t worry about finishing that page...I think you have it" or "Wow! You are doing those so well, I bet you could finish those in five minutes and show daddy when he gets home!" and then set the timer. It’s all about "love of learning!"
*Art Class: I use a book from the library titled "Art for Kids" by Kathryn Temple, which is a very no-brainer, step by step way to teach any person how to draw better, and even draw some cool things! It is also sooooooo important to teach art to develop that right brain to help in analzying and seeing things from a different perspective (it goes into more detail about that in that book). Another art resource is the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal program. You can order kits from that to use...not that I have yet, but it looks wonderful!
*Games I use to teach:
The Farming Game–a taste of real farm economy, money math
M&M dice–(see above)
Rummikub–number sequence
Scrabble-spelling
Doodle Dice pattern distinction
Set-intense pattern distinction; a Mensa game, for what that is worth!
Blokus–strategy, shapes
Battleship– graphing
Monopoly–money math, real estate
Risk– geography
Pirate’s Dice– probability
Got It! –probability
Settlers of Catan– economy and trade
Chess–strategy, thinking ahead, memorizing and analyzing
*I don't use a lot of computer games, because it is so easy for my kids to get sucked into those, but will occasionally bring one in. I always hesitate when I hear incessantly "can I play on the computer?" rather than "I really want to learn about math on that cool math program we have!" One thing I do use is a "system" called "Geo-Safari" with fact sheets about everything from the parts of the body (goes great with anatomy) to geography around the world, from simple to complex. Apparently, you can even program your own fact sheets for them to work on, incorporating things like the presidents, things about your church, anything. I think you can get these at places like Amazon, etc. I got mine for $25 at a garage sale...it's amazing what you can get when you know what you are looking for!
*Devotional: Pledge of Allegiance after marching around to a sung patriotic tune, Story from Friend or other inspirational piece, selection from our stories of the Bible, religious song, prayer, sometimes we work on memorizing together at this time. Each child "has" a day of the week where they get to pick the movie we watch for that day (typically one or less total for our complete screen time...and I try to encourage valuable ones), choose the marching song, hold the flag for the march and Pledge, pick the Friend story, and the song to be sung.
*The M&M dice game: everyone tries to add up the dice they have rolled before the others so they can get ONE M&M!!! WOOHOO!! And then the fun begins all over again with a new roll :). Tova has 3-4 dice and typically throws in some multiplication or subraction, Kel 2-3, .....Piper just rolls it and shouts out numbers, letters or names.
*"Authors in the Attic" a take-off from Little Women. Anyone who has written anything (whether I did "dots" for them to trace it, or they copied it out of a book) is invited to either my room, the darkened kitchen at night, or our crawl space. We light candles and use flashlights, someone takes a turn welcoming us to AUTHORS IN THE ATTIC! Then we share by candlelight or flashlight, using pen names, whatever amazing literary creation we have done for the week.
We have had everything from dramatic plays (Tova, aka Sophia Bell), letters soliciting money for education (Mary aka Zoey Zephyr) , the copying of random letters out of a shark book (Drew, aka Lightning Man), stories of high adventure (Kel, aka Lloyd Alexander...now Rick Riordan), illustrated "books" about beautiful places (Lily, aka Princess Penelope), and poems about zucchinis in bright pink bikinis talking to linguinis riding in lambriginis (sp?) (Quinn, of course...known as "Mark Wilson" in our crowd, who always titles his creations with the title of a Beach Boy tune.) A special treat is served, and then we are excused, after a time for random comments and praise.
*The Time Machine! I use some type of chronological history (workbooks from CostCo to Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer), throw out our "world atlas" blanket (some fancy or unique blanket saved for just such an occasion would work), let the kids punch the buttons, we wiggle and bounce as we are "thrust backwards in time". I paint an image of the place we have landed, allowing the kids to help if they know anything about that place in the world, and show them picture in books from the library, the national geographic or our world book encyclopedia to help them get a flavor of where they are. I like to get a unique treat or fun activity to go with it: combat with foam swords for our visit to the crusades, wafers/crackers and cheese as a type of way bread for the caravans across Egypt, building pyramids out of legos/blocks/sugar cubes, etc. for Egypt, writing in Chinese on long, taped-together pieces of paper for China or using chopsticks for dinner that night...etc.
*Anatomy "class": I get fun books from the library and go through the body system by system. There are some great Dover coloring books to go with this. There is a great deal of self-examination compared to some awesome dissection images of the human body.
*Table Time: a great time where mom is available to help the youngers with their oh-so-cool workbooks! We go through them randomly, based on what they are ready for, and throw out what is useless "overhead". The kids love to hear..."Oh, don’t worry about finishing that page...I think you have it" or "Wow! You are doing those so well, I bet you could finish those in five minutes and show daddy when he gets home!" and then set the timer. It’s all about "love of learning!"
*Art Class: I use a book from the library titled "Art for Kids" by Kathryn Temple, which is a very no-brainer, step by step way to teach any person how to draw better, and even draw some cool things! It is also sooooooo important to teach art to develop that right brain to help in analzying and seeing things from a different perspective (it goes into more detail about that in that book). Another art resource is the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal program. You can order kits from that to use...not that I have yet, but it looks wonderful!
*Games I use to teach:
The Farming Game–a taste of real farm economy, money math
M&M dice–(see above)
Rummikub–number sequence
Scrabble-spelling
Doodle Dice pattern distinction
Set-intense pattern distinction; a Mensa game, for what that is worth!
Blokus–strategy, shapes
Battleship– graphing
Monopoly–money math, real estate
Risk– geography
Pirate’s Dice– probability
Got It! –probability
Settlers of Catan– economy and trade
Chess–strategy, thinking ahead, memorizing and analyzing
*I don't use a lot of computer games, because it is so easy for my kids to get sucked into those, but will occasionally bring one in. I always hesitate when I hear incessantly "can I play on the computer?" rather than "I really want to learn about math on that cool math program we have!" One thing I do use is a "system" called "Geo-Safari" with fact sheets about everything from the parts of the body (goes great with anatomy) to geography around the world, from simple to complex. Apparently, you can even program your own fact sheets for them to work on, incorporating things like the presidents, things about your church, anything. I think you can get these at places like Amazon, etc. I got mine for $25 at a garage sale...it's amazing what you can get when you know what you are looking for!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Structuring Time, not Content :)--my basic schedule
A look at my day...and remember, you can only hope to have 1 out of every 10 days really "work" :) For individual activities like "Devotional", and "M&M dice" see my "Games and Activities I use" post.
(As with everything I post, this has evolved over the years to become something that works for us...take what you want, bag the rest! I have found with schedules, you need to have infrequent "Walden Days" when you let the "bells ring" as it were and get a realistic outlook of what is do-able, and then go from there. For more on "Walden Days" see my soon to bedesperately un-editted version of "Walden")
--get-up whenever my mind is so awake it drags my unwilling carcass out of bed.
7-8-ish: feed kids breakfast (it's easier to do it earlier with the time change!)
until 9 am: kids do basic stewardship over areas: personal and family (see work chart to be posted later :)!)--awesome resources for "work"....article on Family Work, BYU magazine Spring 2000
9 ish: Devotional: Ideally, they all hang out and listen, enraptured...typically, this is done amidst much chaos and occasional bickering.
'tween time: Group study! I choose from the following. Some, most or all of the kids usually will decide to participate, especially if I am trying to visually have a great time doing it :).
--Read aloud whatever I want to them while they color out of the "just for this time" coloring books (I ordered some amazing one in bulk from Dover.com for all ages)
Bauer's "Story of the World", "A Year with Miss Agnes","Little Britches", and "The Once and Future King" are ones we have either just finished or are slowly working through
--Play "file folder" games
--Teach anatomy or science using books from the library, coloring books, or ideas from Science project books.
--"Art class" using "how to draw" for young artist books
--play math games like Rack-o, Set, Rummy-O, Pirates' Dice, Monopoly, the Farming Game, M&M dice (everyone tries to add up the dice they have rolled before the others so they can get ONE M&M!!! WOOHOO!! And then the fun begins all over again with a new roll :). Tova has 3-4 dice and typically throws in some multiplication or subraction, Kel 2-3, .....Piper just rolls it and shouts out numbers, letters or names.)
--Do workbooks...they pick the pages (although sometimes they will listen to my excited suggestion) while I talk about how awesome it will be when they know all that information so they can either read, do money math so no one cheats them someday :), or just be that genius I know they were meant to be :).
--Write a selection for our "Author's in the Attic" somewhat weekly gathering (although we have gone months before without it! :)!)
--Go on a time machine
--Bake with them
--work on outdoor projects
--go on field trip (but usually this is in the afternoons)
--read aloud their choice of books
--do GeoSafari
Lunch--a needed, yet dreaded interruption!
Typically they run outside before or after this for tramp time, basketball, or just alone time.
Quiet time 1-3: They can do whatever they want in their own area. Sometimes I shorten it, but not if I can help it! The older kids are doing more of their own, self-directed studies; the younger ones build, color, do puzzles, look at books, rest...This is when I can do one-on-one mentoring better, have the occasional piano lesson for the kids who want them, and do my own things!!!!
Free-choice time ("free time" is getting weaned from our vocabulary after some lengthy discussions about "stewardships"!) This is the time for friends, when they watch the movie if they pick one, we play games, work, fight,...you know, all those good family things!
Dinner
Family time, games, chasing, bathing
Family scriptures/treats/reading aloud by Daddy when we can
Bed-time 7-8:30 range
where do the little ones fit in? all over! we get snuggles during devotional, play along with the "bigger kids" during group time, learn how to love, work, play nicely, resolve fighting, communicate. Core phase at it's best!
(As with everything I post, this has evolved over the years to become something that works for us...take what you want, bag the rest! I have found with schedules, you need to have infrequent "Walden Days" when you let the "bells ring" as it were and get a realistic outlook of what is do-able, and then go from there. For more on "Walden Days" see my soon to bedesperately un-editted version of "Walden")
--get-up whenever my mind is so awake it drags my unwilling carcass out of bed.
7-8-ish: feed kids breakfast (it's easier to do it earlier with the time change!)
until 9 am: kids do basic stewardship over areas: personal and family (see work chart to be posted later :)!)--awesome resources for "work"....article on Family Work, BYU magazine Spring 2000
9 ish: Devotional: Ideally, they all hang out and listen, enraptured...typically, this is done amidst much chaos and occasional bickering.
'tween time: Group study! I choose from the following. Some, most or all of the kids usually will decide to participate, especially if I am trying to visually have a great time doing it :).
--Read aloud whatever I want to them while they color out of the "just for this time" coloring books (I ordered some amazing one in bulk from Dover.com for all ages)
Bauer's "Story of the World", "A Year with Miss Agnes","Little Britches", and "The Once and Future King" are ones we have either just finished or are slowly working through
--Play "file folder" games
--Teach anatomy or science using books from the library, coloring books, or ideas from Science project books.
--"Art class" using "how to draw" for young artist books
--play math games like Rack-o, Set, Rummy-O, Pirates' Dice, Monopoly, the Farming Game, M&M dice (everyone tries to add up the dice they have rolled before the others so they can get ONE M&M!!! WOOHOO!! And then the fun begins all over again with a new roll :). Tova has 3-4 dice and typically throws in some multiplication or subraction, Kel 2-3, .....Piper just rolls it and shouts out numbers, letters or names.)
--Do workbooks...they pick the pages (although sometimes they will listen to my excited suggestion) while I talk about how awesome it will be when they know all that information so they can either read, do money math so no one cheats them someday :), or just be that genius I know they were meant to be :).
--Write a selection for our "Author's in the Attic" somewhat weekly gathering (although we have gone months before without it! :)!)
--Go on a time machine
--Bake with them
--work on outdoor projects
--go on field trip (but usually this is in the afternoons)
--read aloud their choice of books
--do GeoSafari
Lunch--a needed, yet dreaded interruption!
Typically they run outside before or after this for tramp time, basketball, or just alone time.
Quiet time 1-3: They can do whatever they want in their own area. Sometimes I shorten it, but not if I can help it! The older kids are doing more of their own, self-directed studies; the younger ones build, color, do puzzles, look at books, rest...This is when I can do one-on-one mentoring better, have the occasional piano lesson for the kids who want them, and do my own things!!!!
Free-choice time ("free time" is getting weaned from our vocabulary after some lengthy discussions about "stewardships"!) This is the time for friends, when they watch the movie if they pick one, we play games, work, fight,...you know, all those good family things!
Dinner
Family time, games, chasing, bathing
Family scriptures/treats/reading aloud by Daddy when we can
Bed-time 7-8:30 range
where do the little ones fit in? all over! we get snuggles during devotional, play along with the "bigger kids" during group time, learn how to love, work, play nicely, resolve fighting, communicate. Core phase at it's best!
Small and Simple Things
This is a book group with the theme of "Small and Simple Things" based on the book written by Marjorie Hinckley (a woman of the LDS faith). It is a no-cost, monthly book discussion with the purpose of coming together, discussing uplifting, meaningful books (classics, modern and ancient), and applying what we learn to our lives to make our lives more simple and beautiful--in the areas of educating our children, enriching our marraiges, and strengthening ourselves and our faith. (We may later have some yearly nominal fee for paper products for the goodies :-).)This group is open to everyone-- homeschoolers and "public schoolers", people of any faith-- with the understanding that we will be able to speak freely and without apology about our personal preferences of faith in God and methods of instructing our children. The purpose is to meet together, share ideas and beliefs, and create synergy, --something more than what we could come to on our own. It is empowering!
Some of the books we have read: "Hamlet", "The Road Less Traveled", "The Giver", "O Pioneer", "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Some of the books we have read: "Hamlet", "The Road Less Traveled", "The Giver", "O Pioneer", "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Young Actor's Guild
This is a fun group where we get some youth together and put on plays (approx. 2 per year). Again, the age range is merely open to whoever is ready for it and desires to do it. It is for three hours weekly, and we try to include some games and techniques to improve acting skills. We like to do Shakespeare and other types of plays as well, some of which have been written by the advisors to minimize cost and customize to our group.
Email me directly for specifics of performances.
Email me directly for specifics of performances.
Children's Choir
This is a choir open to any age that thinks it would be fun or valuable to them. It is held for one hour once a week, with a range of songs, like Fiddler on the Roof's "If I were a rich man", Les Miserables "Castle on a Cloud", and camp songs like "The Lord said to Noah" and "Zoom, golly, golly".
Vanguard Youth
Vision
The purpose of this group is to empower the youth with a sense of personal mission and enable them to move forward with that mission by:
(1) Teaching service-oriented leadership
(2) Giving them the modes/means of individual communication
as they find value in their own unique mission
(3) Creating an environment of respect, decency, trust, and confidence
(4) Encouraging faith in personal source of truth
Mentor’s Code of Honor
No student will be pressured or even asked to accept any mentor’s core faith. We are going to create an environment where faith in God and faith in Christ are openly discussed and linked to personal education and mission. No one will feel that they need to be apologetic
about their belief.
We will strive to provide:
outside positive influences; an inspiring peer environment allowing them to feel confidence in themselves; caring mentors; and opportunities to grow in faith and testimony.
We seek to:
allow all participants to feel free to develop uniquely; challenge them to develop their personal inner strength, and encourage them to strengthen their faith in Christ as we show connections between personal beliefs/religion and education; encourage an increased sense of responsibility for own actions in their home (also with regards to work ethic); and provide a setting free of demeaning or harmful criticism.
The youth and leaders in this group will adhere to high moral standards, dress modestly, use clean language, show respect towards mentors, visiting instructors and each other, abiding by the principles found within the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet
available through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
No student will be pressured or even asked to accept any mentor’s core faith. We are going to create an environment where faith in God and faith in Christ are openly discussed and linked to personal education and mission. No one will feel that they need to be apologetic
about their belief.
We will strive to provide:
outside positive influences; an inspiring peer environment allowing them to feel confidence in themselves; caring mentors; and opportunities to grow in faith and testimony.
We seek to:
allow all participants to feel free to develop uniquely; challenge them to develop their personal inner strength, and encourage them to strengthen their faith in Christ as we show connections between personal beliefs/religion and education; encourage an increased sense of responsibility for own actions in their home (also with regards to work ethic); and provide a setting free of demeaning or harmful criticism.
The youth and leaders in this group will adhere to high moral standards, dress modestly, use clean language, show respect towards mentors, visiting instructors and each other, abiding by the principles found within the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet
available through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
We will be meeting at a specified five hour block each week. This group is intended to be a transition-to-scholar/practice scholar group for youth ages 12 and up. We limit it to approximately 10 youth. My goal in this group is to create an inspiring environment with elements of personal challenge, positive peer encouragement, and inspiring mentors that will motivate our youth to be passionate for the Scholar phase referred to in the Thomas Jefferson Education educational philosophy. I also want to expose them to the "five environments of learning": tutorial, lecture, mentor, simulations, and coaching, and give them the opportunity to experience the practice-scholar phase.
We have the class set up to allow them to progress at their own speed and volition through three levels of scholarship, which we have dubbed, "Apprentice", "Journeyman", and "Master". For many of the classes, we have a set of "inspirements" suggested to them to help them both come to class better prepared to engage in a discussion about it, and to allow them to pursue areas of interest beyond what our limited class time allotment will allow.
We also feel that it is important to include elements of faith in God and religion in this group. We treat this like a LDS private school, where people of other faiths are invited to attend. No student will be pressured or even asked to accept any mentor's core faith. However, we are going to encourage an environment where faith in God and faith in Christ are openly discussed and linked to personal education and mission. No one will feel that they need to be apologetic about their belief.
Parent's vision: Outside positive influences, inspiring peer environment, impactful experience, grow in faith and testimony, free to develop uniquely, challenging/develop inner strength, strengthen faith in Christ (show connections between personal beliefs/religion and education, caring mentors, increased responsibility for own actions in their home (also with regards to work ethic), environment to instill confidence in themselves, free of demeaning or harmful criticism.
Mission statement:
We will engage in a respectful and inspiring peer environment
that will not only help us grow in our faith, but will help us feel free to develop our unique strengths as well as a passion for learning that will allow us to better ourselves,
our families, our communities, and, ultimately, the world.
We, the Vanguard Youth, accept the challenge to move forward in our pursuit
that will not only help us grow in our faith, but will help us feel free to develop our unique strengths as well as a passion for learning that will allow us to better ourselves,
our families, our communities, and, ultimately, the world.
We, the Vanguard Youth, accept the challenge to move forward in our pursuit
of right and truth.
Each week we will begin with a devotional, which will include a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, quote and a brief, seminary-like lesson based on the Bible and Book of Mormon.
(The first three will be conducted and assigned by the youth). The scriptures will reinforce the central issue/principle we are talking about that month. The lessons will also rotate through or include: heroes in the scriptures, memorized scripture challenges, scripture chases, and object lessons.
Each of the following categories of classes will be held each week. The order on some of the classes are subject to change, based on the activities planned:
Monthly set-up:
Geo Geniuses: The idea behind this class is to get the youth familiar enough with the world that they will not only be able to easily recognize the location of many of the countries and major cities of the world, but they will have a feeling of some of the cultures within each continent/country. They will be filling a "passport" and be participating in Geography Bee challenges to keep their knowledge and interest sharp.
1st week: Overview of particular continent–will introduce a new continent with maps/activities, feature a country or culture, etc.
2nd week: Ancient history about some aspect of that continent
3rd week: Youth/Mentors projects: the youth will be encouraged to come with some kind of project to reflect what they have learned or want to learn more about a country or the whole continent. In their folders we will have list of ideas for them, like drawing a physical feature map, highlighting a country of interest with a story, guest, food dish, 10 words in a language from that country, a report, picture of flag, dance...whatever! It could be a scribble of the shape of Africa on a piece of paper with "Africa" printed on it. The focus of this part of the class is "Inspire, not Require" and I really believe they will catch on the vision of this part.
4th week: Modern history about that continent. We encourage the youth to come with snippets from the news about the continent of focus for that month and we record them on video camera as an ongoing "Vanguard World in a Minute--documentary", to be shown at the end of the year "cultural dinner" for our families we will be hosting. We will also have our Geography Bees at this time. The youth will be on two teams that they will remain on throughout the year. Each team will earn points each month and they will be cumulative through the year. The questions are provided by the youth onto index cards based on information presented during the previous three weeks.
Face to Face with Einstein: the study of Math/Science/Logic: The first two weeks we will focus on living math and biographies of those who contributed to these areas...ideas from "A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe", "String, Straight Edge, and Shadow" and "Mathematicians are People, too" volumes I and II. We also be play a lot of math games. One of these weeks we will also be working on what we call "Synergy of the Mind": group projects that introduce or reinforce math/science skills. The final week we will have our Face-to-face with Einstein project where each of the youth will take a turn immersing us in a science project or concept. They each have one month out of the eight (some months we have twoyouth do it). Weplay "Scum", a board/card game I have that actually centers on the food chain which we will play if we ever have time :). We will honor who is at the top of the food chain at the end of the year . (Maybe with a steak :)?)
Service=Success: Service Projects and Business mentoring
1st week will be an ongoing, world changing project.
2nd week: discuss some business concept/play business game led by business mentors, who work with the youth in starting their own unique business plan and will follow through to help them succeed, or, if they fail or change their mind, give them the tools to start again. We will also be teaching basic budgeting skills, like those in Dave Ramsey's books, Janine Bolon's, and Junior Achievement.
3rd week: each youth has one chance over the course of a year to lead us in a service project. These will help satisfy church and scouting requirements, as well. These will many times be local, which is an important concept–to be able to reach out to those in our very community who are in need.
4th week: visit experts or field trips to areas of business to find out how they operate or have guest speakers come.
Leadership Academy: this is the heart of Vanguard Youth. The concept of this class is to teach underlying components to a successful society based on the basic tenets taught and studied by the founding fathers: the right to life, liberty, property, the pursuit of happiness, right to worship God, the role of the citizen, the role of the government, common decency, individual responsibility to care for family and community, all men are created equal, and the issue of trading freedom for security. Eventually we will tie in these concepts as found and preserved in the Constitution.
We will also focus on a specific principle that was a foundation of our country, found in "A 5,000 Year Leap", the Catechism for the US Constitution from 1828, and the concept of "Natural Law" by Cicero that I have studied. These include common decency, individual responsibility to care for family and community, all men are created equal, we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness , and the issue of trading freedom for security.
1st week: Art class: we focus on pieces of art from the "Picturing America"series (which we actually use throughout the other classes as well), and do an art lesson associated with that. We will also explore different mediums of art and ways art has been used to affect our heritage. We are also going to coordinate occasional field trips to art museums.
2nd week: we will utilize the precepts found in the "Start Something" packet (free) found on the internet and originating with Tiger Woods. (Order one for your family and check it out!) Wel have many activities with this class that encourage personal development, character building, and responsibility to the community around us. We have also been fortunate enough to have a mentor teach us about diversity this week.
3rd week: simulations and biographies
4th week We will be discussing books that tie into the principle, and are interesting and thought-provoking. This year to start on a more basic, easier level we are reading "The Door in the Wall", "Chasing Vermeer", "The Red Scarf Girl", "Little Britches", "The Seven Wonders of Sassafrass Springs", "The Giver", "The Whipping Boy", and "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", "City of Ember".
In addition to the weekly classes, we hold monthly or bi-monthly optional activities. These activities are not exclusive, and we open it up for the youth to invite friends from their local communities to join them as well for these positive peer environment evenings. Part of this intent is to eliminate any feelings of elitism that could arise from too strong of a specific peer environment.
1. movie nights featuring media entertainment that reinforce the principle we are studying that month. We encourage parental supervision over these movies.
2.family nights where the youth coordinate and organize a fun family-centered activity that enables them to interact with different ages and provide activities to suit a broad range of individuals. Then our youth will play host that night, and help them learn even further how to lose themselves through service.
3. game nights where the youth can get together and play those games that reinforce what we are learning so well but just take extra time, like Risk, Settlers of Catan, Monopoly.
4. outdoor activities: hikes, outdoor explore /experiences etc. (Like snowshoeing in the winter...)
We will also have an optional "Baptisms for the Dead" group going once a month, for those who would like to participate.
Each youth has a Tome outlining the above with the "inspirements" that we expect or hope to have the youth complete with each class. Some classes have no "inspirements", and some have consistent "inspirements", with others lying somewhere between those two extremes.
Promise Club
This is a group for girls ages 10-11. It is a 18 month, 6 semester program that concentrates on helping the young ladies focus on a "virtue" for that month through classical books, mentoring by the mothers, and activities and service to reinforce that virtue. They also are introduced to life skills and etiquette as they begin developing talents more in earnest as a young woman.
Knights of Freedom
This is an awesome budding leadership group for boys 8-12 years old. We meet weekly for 2 hours on Friday afternoons, with a featured monthly biography to inspire them to be great men, leading meaningful lives. The activities of the club are described below:
"knight presentations": when they bring examples of anything they are excited about (a step above "show and tell" which normally descends into "who has the coolest and most expensive toy"). It can be something they have built from home, their dad who is a police officer, an article from the National Geographic, a power-point presentation, their pet lizard, their favorite 10 books about dinosaurs, something they made at Cub Scout day camp...anything! Then the other boys have a chance to pepper them with questions and comments.
"knight-led activity": this is an activity that the knight designated for that particular week plans and carries out. We have decorated valentines for our mothers, played "Jack Pot" (like "Fly's up" for you old-timers like me!), played chess, made paper airplanes...you name it!
Lesson on knighthood: This is a 10-60 minute lesson/discussion about a particular virtue of knighthood the "Lady" (advisor) in charge of that month thinks could be helpful: friendship, courage, hope, mercy, intelligence...and, it can only last as long as their attention spans allow. They are young, active boys after all!
Book discussion: We like to either pick themes (innovators: Hershey and Disney) or contrasting individuals to meet different knight's interests (George Washington, Jim Thorpe, and Langston Hughes).
Book-related activity: just what it sounds like...we made fudge for "Hershey" and paper airplanes for the "Wright Brothers".
Field Trip: This is a fun element--we went to the gun museum as we studied Gettysburg this last month in our focus on the Civil War for this semester.
Our schedule is as follows:
1st week: 6 knight presentations, 1 knight-led activity
2nd week: 3 more presentations, Lady-lesson on Knighthood, I knight-led activity
3rd week: 3 more presentations, book discussion and book-related activity
4th week: Field trip
The best thing about this group is it is love of learning (which means, if they aren't having fun and aren't engaged they are learning and move on!), and knight-led. Sure, the advisors mentor and monitor, plan the bigger field trips and help with the discussion and book activity, but many times the knights help with those too. Everything else is conducted and carried out by the knights, either through their presidency, or by taking turns. They teach and inspire each other!
If you have concerns, you take them to your fellow advisors (yeah for support!), and then to the knights presidency (elected by themselves) for them to inspire the knights to be more sharing, caring, giving, etc.
For more information on the specific ways to start a group like this, go to americanyouthleadership.org
"knight presentations": when they bring examples of anything they are excited about (a step above "show and tell" which normally descends into "who has the coolest and most expensive toy"). It can be something they have built from home, their dad who is a police officer, an article from the National Geographic, a power-point presentation, their pet lizard, their favorite 10 books about dinosaurs, something they made at Cub Scout day camp...anything! Then the other boys have a chance to pepper them with questions and comments.
"knight-led activity": this is an activity that the knight designated for that particular week plans and carries out. We have decorated valentines for our mothers, played "Jack Pot" (like "Fly's up" for you old-timers like me!), played chess, made paper airplanes...you name it!
Lesson on knighthood: This is a 10-60 minute lesson/discussion about a particular virtue of knighthood the "Lady" (advisor) in charge of that month thinks could be helpful: friendship, courage, hope, mercy, intelligence...and, it can only last as long as their attention spans allow. They are young, active boys after all!
Book discussion: We like to either pick themes (innovators: Hershey and Disney) or contrasting individuals to meet different knight's interests (George Washington, Jim Thorpe, and Langston Hughes).
Book-related activity: just what it sounds like...we made fudge for "Hershey" and paper airplanes for the "Wright Brothers".
Field Trip: This is a fun element--we went to the gun museum as we studied Gettysburg this last month in our focus on the Civil War for this semester.
Our schedule is as follows:
1st week: 6 knight presentations, 1 knight-led activity
2nd week: 3 more presentations, Lady-lesson on Knighthood, I knight-led activity
3rd week: 3 more presentations, book discussion and book-related activity
4th week: Field trip
The best thing about this group is it is love of learning (which means, if they aren't having fun and aren't engaged they are learning and move on!), and knight-led. Sure, the advisors mentor and monitor, plan the bigger field trips and help with the discussion and book activity, but many times the knights help with those too. Everything else is conducted and carried out by the knights, either through their presidency, or by taking turns. They teach and inspire each other!
If you have concerns, you take them to your fellow advisors (yeah for support!), and then to the knights presidency (elected by themselves) for them to inspire the knights to be more sharing, caring, giving, etc.
For more information on the specific ways to start a group like this, go to americanyouthleadership.org
How to like myself while doing a Thomas Jefferson Education at home
How to like myself while doing TJEd
On my way home from my plodding jog with a friend, I started composing this idea in my head :-). I really feel that having a good self-image (where we are at, where we are heading) is the basis for being able to winnow through the excess and draw what is good and necessary for ourselves personally in the books we read, the lectures we attend, the advice we get. If we are stable in our core, we can decide what is truly worthwhile in what is around us, and can establish that same stability in our homes. My first thought was this: Don’t listen to people who could be considered OCD give lectures on organization
Self-image:Take 1 minute to list your strengths: areas of knowledge, skills, passions.
Mine? Reading to children, snuggling, listening, serving, math, English.
When we hear that we have great things to do in this life, it is because we came with greatness born in us. If we don’t verbalize it to ourselves and to our children, we give them license to doubt themselves. It is too costly an indulgence to belittle yourself in front of your children. Let them hear you rejoice in your successes, let them hear you shout, "I’m a genius!!" because by so doing, you give them license to recognize the genius within them. My cousin pointed out, when surrounded by a group of gifted women, that she could do a number of those amazing things if it mattered enough to her to take the time. Very likely, there will always be someone, somewhere better at something than you are. Accept that, move forward in the areas you are inspired are part of your personal mission, and only look at others for inspiration, not comparison/competition.
Analogy of Rug: Some are more red, more vibrant, but only you are the special blend of colors, the special weave, that creates the unique beauty that is your life.
When we hear that we have great things to do in this life, it is because we came with greatness born in us. If we don’t verbalize it to ourselves and to our children, we give them license to doubt themselves. It is too costly an indulgence to belittle yourself in front of your children. Let them hear you rejoice in your successes, let them hear you shout, "I’m a genius!!" because by so doing, you give them license to recognize the genius within them. My cousin pointed out, when surrounded by a group of gifted women, that she could do a number of those amazing things if it mattered enough to her to take the time. Very likely, there will always be someone, somewhere better at something than you are. Accept that, move forward in the areas you are inspired are part of your personal mission, and only look at others for inspiration, not comparison/competition.
Analogy of Rug: Some are more red, more vibrant, but only you are the special blend of colors, the special weave, that creates the unique beauty that is your life.
Recognize their (and your) genius even when they are content being mediocre. It will pass a lot more quickly if you are patient and love them through it..as it will for you! If you keep beating yourself up for what you are not doing, you will not only be less productive when you actually do study, you will also study less, giving up more easily.
Take another minute and write down what is the most important thing you need to get done on a daily basis to strengthen your CORE. You will find that what is possible to write in a minute, you can probably do in half an hour to an hour or less. Sometimes you can sneak in a smidgeon of each item on your list here and there throughout the day. Now I’m not talking about what you’d like to get done. I’m talking about taking care of your core. I heard a lecturer once say at a convention similar to this that if your core is not there, everything else is hard to take care of.
Now do those things daily, and don’t let the fluff–the things that will never be truly done get in the way. If it is important enough for you to feel good about yourself and set a tone for the day, you will find a way either early in the morning, late at night, or those five minutes of freedom while the kids are off fighting in another corner of the house .
Now do those things daily, and don’t let the fluff–the things that will never be truly done get in the way. If it is important enough for you to feel good about yourself and set a tone for the day, you will find a way either early in the morning, late at night, or those five minutes of freedom while the kids are off fighting in another corner of the house .
Keep journals–I will be the first to admit that I am not good at faithfully recording in my journal. However, I do have several different "areas" that I try to record ideas when I can. After I had a personal huzzah about how important it is to me, it has become part of my core routine.
1. Personal School journal –an ongoing list of books I have read, authors, page #s, short synopsis, whether I would recommend it or not...I realized I have been getting an education; I could look back and see a shape to my developing ideals and growth! The beautiful thing, it just takes a few minutes (
2. Personal family journal:
1. Gratitude
2. Funny things for blessings
3. Book notes: those quotes that you just don’t want to get away from you, from friends, books, church
4. Homeschooling journal: I have a friend who likes to jot down what they do at the end of each day so she can see what they have actually accomplished amidst the chaos. I just like to take a day every few months and carefully record every seemingly small detail of what we have done, to keep a running idea of how our homeschooling is developing.
1. Personal School journal –an ongoing list of books I have read, authors, page #s, short synopsis, whether I would recommend it or not...I realized I have been getting an education; I could look back and see a shape to my developing ideals and growth! The beautiful thing, it just takes a few minutes (
2. Personal family journal:
1. Gratitude
2. Funny things for blessings
3. Book notes: those quotes that you just don’t want to get away from you, from friends, books, church
4. Homeschooling journal: I have a friend who likes to jot down what they do at the end of each day so she can see what they have actually accomplished amidst the chaos. I just like to take a day every few months and carefully record every seemingly small detail of what we have done, to keep a running idea of how our homeschooling is developing.
Schooling: Perspective
Take another minute and write down the most important things you want your children to know. For me it is that they have a God in Heaven who loves them; that they can reach Him through prayer and studying our core book; and that they each have a genius within them that they will have eternity to develop to accomplish their part in God's grand mission...but they better get started as soon as they can :). It is also that they know how to work and be decent to those around them. And finally, that they know I love them. At the end of the day, sometimes this is pretty much all we have accomplished, but I can look back and see this and know that even if math wasn’t so great that day, and we didn’t have any ah-hah’s, the most important things were taken care of.
Take another minute and write down the most important things you want your children to know. For me it is that they have a God in Heaven who loves them; that they can reach Him through prayer and studying our core book; and that they each have a genius within them that they will have eternity to develop to accomplish their part in God's grand mission...but they better get started as soon as they can :). It is also that they know how to work and be decent to those around them. And finally, that they know I love them. At the end of the day, sometimes this is pretty much all we have accomplished, but I can look back and see this and know that even if math wasn’t so great that day, and we didn’t have any ah-hah’s, the most important things were taken care of.
Your children are also your classics. Angie Baker, at a UHEA convention a few years ago, when asked about her personal studies with so many children, said that at that time, her new baby, only a few months old, was her classic that she was studying on a daily basis, a classic that was changing daily, and would only stay that way for so long.
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
For babies grow up, I’ve learned, to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, got to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby, and babies don’t keep.
Author Unknown
For babies grow up, I’ve learned, to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, got to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby, and babies don’t keep.
Author Unknown
Remember, sometimes only one day in 10 will be perfect. Expect that. I heard that at one of my first homeschooling conventions several years back, and it has stuck with me. Our definitions of "perfect" may range, but mine is one where the kids do their jobs on their own flawlessly (or with minimal help). They are excitedly participating in Momschool and eagerly do what they have committed for their daily studies. People make up quickly after fighting (I am realistic...there will be arguments), and I will spend quality one-on-one time with each of my seven children. I will do all my studies, and dinner will be ready on time.
have a Walden Day–let the bells ring! Keep a basic time schedule (don’t tell the kids your having a Walden Day (), but don’t force anything. See what happens, where your limitations are (like mentoring four children 6 and under while inspiring your oldest two to keep focused on their areas of stewardship (), and then realize,...that is probably what happens on most days!
Free time is not a bad thing. If the kids get finished with their commitments early, let them play outside, run around, read a book, play a game...and don’t feel like you are failing since they are not working on their next publication or reviewing their Latin!
Free time is not a bad thing. If the kids get finished with their commitments early, let them play outside, run around, read a book, play a game...and don’t feel like you are failing since they are not working on their next publication or reviewing their Latin!
Make it fun!! Don’t be afraid to improvise or throw the daily lesson into the wind if the kids decide they are done...inspire not require, remember?
KISS (keep it simple sweetie/stud) Be consistent with those things that are most important in the face of adversity. We have had a few, not many, devotionals when it is just my 10 y.o perfect daughter, and my baby girl marching around singing patriotic songs and doing the pledge...and even then, the baby likes to wander off. We just do it, and eventually they all come around.
Laugh...a lot Wear pants that don’t fall down when your toddler tugs on them
Invite your husband to witness the chaos of dinner prep with four "helpers" six and under all hovering in the kitchen, round my feet, on the counter top, adding ingredients...so he can appreciate the miracle it is to have dinner emerge out the other end of the kitchen.
Invite your husband to witness the chaos of dinner prep with four "helpers" six and under all hovering in the kitchen, round my feet, on the counter top, adding ingredients...so he can appreciate the miracle it is to have dinner emerge out the other end of the kitchen.
Talk, Listen & Read–but know when to do it!:
*Establish a habit of listening to your children, on individual date, following that parental instinct/divine direction/impulses (don’t be afraid to deviate!) to do it when it is most important (story about Kel, walking Fly, talking about schedules/fighting, "I like fighting!"
*a dear friend of mine once told me that when her kids are all wrangling, she grabs the few closest ones and plops herself down on a couch to read to them.
*Establish a habit of listening to your children, on individual date, following that parental instinct/divine direction/impulses (don’t be afraid to deviate!) to do it when it is most important (story about Kel, walking Fly, talking about schedules/fighting, "I like fighting!"
*a dear friend of mine once told me that when her kids are all wrangling, she grabs the few closest ones and plops herself down on a couch to read to them.
Let them determine what they need to learn, and then follow through. Through academic interviews/mentor meetings (whatever you want to call them!) discover what it is that they are crazy about, help them capture a vision of who they want to become, and help them set a plan. This doesn’t mean set the plan for them and then ask their approval. It means, look at their goals and dreams, tie in the different academic fields involved in preparation for those goals and dreams, and help them set realistic goals for themselves that they can be motivated to do. Then let them succeed/fail/struggle, then come back and re-evaluate during the next meeting. I like to start really small, particularly with my nine-year-old boy ("do you think you can do one math problem a day?"). He will sometimes get defensive and challenging, declaring that he is capable of so much more. I remind him of the distractions that will likely arise, but express my confidence in his ability to do whatever he sets him mind to do. Then, again, turn it over to them, where they just report back. Then it’s not mom determining what "I have to do"! Liberating! When they realize you are truly giving them ownership over their education and you structure the time in such a way to allow them to follow-through, they will get more and more excited.
This doesn’t mean you step back completely. I like to find things we can
do together throughout the week and plan for those...otherwise I find myself gravitating to my own studies or the more vocal demands of the little ones. Start small (five minutes of German a day or a week!), but be consistent in making them a priority for at least part of the day.
Then, make allowances for "core" days (Walden days) but, in our house,
when they want to throw off responsibility for their schooling in the face of immaturity, they also throw of the privileges of responsibility, like computer time or playing with friends. (
This doesn’t mean you step back completely. I like to find things we can
do together throughout the week and plan for those...otherwise I find myself gravitating to my own studies or the more vocal demands of the little ones. Start small (five minutes of German a day or a week!), but be consistent in making them a priority for at least part of the day.
Then, make allowances for "core" days (Walden days) but, in our house,
when they want to throw off responsibility for their schooling in the face of immaturity, they also throw of the privileges of responsibility, like computer time or playing with friends. (
Organization
Work systems: find out what works from other people
prioritize–start with basics then move on from there
try and adapt
See Article on Family Work, BYU Magazine, Spring 2000! It is life-changing!
Work systems: find out what works from other people
prioritize–start with basics then move on from there
try and adapt
See Article on Family Work, BYU Magazine, Spring 2000! It is life-changing!
You will never be done.Pick different times of the day where you feel it is important to have the house clean...it will never be 100% of the time.
Decide on preferred levels of cleanliness
If you just can’t stand how something looks, save it for your time, and learn to enjoy the satisfaction of working alone. It’s bad when on Sunday the most relaxing thing you can do is to wander around, straightening the house by myself without interruption...and I am not OCD!
If you just can’t stand how something looks, save it for your time, and learn to enjoy the satisfaction of working alone. It’s bad when on Sunday the most relaxing thing you can do is to wander around, straightening the house by myself without interruption...and I am not OCD!
Take ownership over your life!! The minute you decide that you are at the mercy of your schedule, you have lost control and have become a victim. Example of when I kept wanting to scrapbook "when I was done cleaning" only to realize that if I really wanted to scrapbook, I needed to clean some other time...I realized cleaning was cathartic, and now accept that I scrapbook when I can, but I clean when I must because I choose to!
Take home message!
1. Decide what is most important, plan it into your day
2. Recognize fluff
3. Realize it is you who has made this schedule, for a reason. If it is driving you crazy, identify why (is it the schedule or you and your insecurities?)
2. Recognize fluff
3. Realize it is you who has made this schedule, for a reason. If it is driving you crazy, identify why (is it the schedule or you and your insecurities?)
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