Ben Carson

We read this book together as a family.  My kids fell in love with Ben Carson and with the idea of reading.  A few of them even want to be neurosurgeons when they grow up.  We all hope that he runs for president.

I'm  glad that this book explains his life and all the things that he went through to get where he got.  He had to study long and hard to become one of the best neuro surgeons in the world and to go to Yale.  I especially loved how his Mom told him that they would spend all of their freetime reading and no more TV.  He learned to love learning and reading.  If only I can be this inspirational for my own kids.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Book Review:  By Georgie Porgie
The author was only 15 when he wrote this book.  I really liked this book.  Even though it's a pretty long book it's worth the time.  My favorite part was when he found the egg.  I think the author did a very good job describing everything.  I recommend it to people who've been reading for at least two years.  I'm excited to read the next ones.

Stories Are Where it's at!!

I've been thinking a lot lately (I do that a lot)....
What is an education??

We recently finished reading "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory", by Roald Dahl.  This was a wonderful book that provoked so many discussions from too much TV to overeating to creativity and to how Charlie won in the end,  because he was willing to listen to Mr. Wonka.  I love reading with my kids and discussing and learning.  It is so much fun.  To celebrate we watched the movie and had a family sleepover in the family room.  

I love learning,  in fact I would much rather be learning than doing anything else in this world.  I know that is not normal in todays' world,  but I wish it was.  Learning is fun and so interesting to me.

Right now we are reading a story about Ben Carson.  Ben Carson is a famous neuro -surgeon, who when he was younger was known as the dumbest kid in school.  His Mom prayed and asked the Lord to help her know what to do to help her boys be smarter.  She got her answer and told her boys that they were only allowed to watch 3 TV shows a week.  The rest of their free-time was to be spent reading.
Ben and his brother were told to give their Mom 2 book reports per week.  He attributes his learning to his Mom and he was able to go to Yale because he spent so much time loving to learn and read.  He also, became the smartest kid in school in high school.  It is a wonderful story and so inspiring.

In the book it tells how he prays and asks heavenly father for help in order to perform the surgeries that he performs.  Last night we read about a surgery that he performed in seperating twin boys that were siamese twins and joined at the head.  In the book it tells how he prays and is amazed by the miracles heavenly father helps him do by having faith.  My kids are loving this book and I can't wait to finish it today.

So,  how do we go about getting an education,  and what is an education?  These thoughts have been on my mind a lot lately.

Today I looked up the meaning of education online and found this on Wikipedia...

"Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and or research. Education may also include informal transmission of such information from one human being to another. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but learners may also educate themselves (autodidactic learning).^[1] Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational."

I used to believe that all education was based on facts and research,  but from what I've been feeling lately and researched,  it seems that education is so much more than facts and research,  its storytelling, discussion; it is  "The knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits transferred from one generation to the next".  Wow, that makes me think I have a lot of work to do.  I believe  parents are primarily responsible for the education of their children.  Not necessarily their schooling,  but their education.  So how are we giving our kids an education??

Education is a culmination of experiences that shape us and allow us to become who we become.  In modern society most people think education is your schooling,  but from this definition and from my personal experience education is so much more than schooling.  Education to me is life. 

Didn't heavenly Father place us here on the earth to learn and to grow so that we could be tested?  I believe that we are here to grow and be tested and that is our true education.  

"Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational."

So, how can we get the best education possible.  I believe the answer is found in the scriptures.  

In Matthew 13: 10-13

" 10 And the disciples, came and said unto him,  Why speakest unto them in parables? 

11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  

12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance:  but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even he that hath. 

13 Therefore, speak I unto them in parables:  because they seeing see not;  and hearing hear not, neither do they understand." 

I believe Jesus spake in parables or stories because he wanted us to dig deeper and find out the true meaning behind His stories and then apply them to our lives.  He knew how to educate.  It wasn't by handing us the platter and telling us directly what it was we needed to do, but it was through stories. If we so desire to know we would dig and find out for ourselves what he was teaching and then, by digging deeper we would be changed and given experiences that would change us.  Wow,  that is education.  We can learn so much from the scriptures.

So,  I choose to study stories, the scriptures and books to educate myself and my children. What better way to educate than by doing it the way the Savior taught.

But...  just reading a book or story is not going to educate us.  We have to dig deeper and find the true meaning and discuss.  Then we can learn and grow. 

When I first began homeschooling I fell upon " The Family School".  In this curriculum they teach using the 4 r's  Reason, Research, Relate, and Record. 

I like this Principle of  "You, not Them" from Leadership Education: Principles of Great Teaching.  

So, I decided to apply the 4 r's to my own education.  I have been studying this curriculum and wanting to teach it to my kids,  but struggling,  because my kids love stories, but not so much listening to me talk.  So, I decided to apply the principle of the 4 r's to my life.  It has changed me and the way I think and study, and hopefully by applying this principle to myself it can help my kids.  

The 4 r's

So,  when I read,  I try to find a reason for what I am reading or studying,  then I try to research and dig deeper into topics that provoke my interest,  then I relate it to my life and to my values which are grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ and then, I record on my blog or in my journal.  This process has solidified my experiences and I truly believe that this process is helping me receive a  great education.

I am so grateful  for the things that have fallen into my path as I have embarked into this journey of education.  I have learned more than I could have ever dreamed and have enjoyed the experiences that I get to create with my family.  If experiences are what shapes our education,  why not have those experiences with those whom you love and receive a great "family education"?

SPIRIT ANIMALS

Hooray for Georgie Porgie!!!  He recently finished the Special Edition of this series.  He loved it!! He said  "It was amazing".  I think he has enjoyed all of these books immensely.  He says they're about kids that when they turn eleven years old,  they drink a special magic potion, otherwise they might get sick or go mad.  This potion sometimes yields the result of a natural bond to a certain animal  so that you don't get sick.  The kids begin to have powers with those animals and can call animals into a passive state.

This book was mainly about the great beasts of Eridas.  It tells about their characteristics and how they fight.   Needless to say  I think this is a great book for Boys and Girls ages 8-12 years old.  I'mm glad to find a series that I think all my kids will enjoy.

My Quest for Strength

" And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  Ether 12:27

This morning I had a chance to squeeze in one verse of scripture study.  It was a sleepless night and a stressful morning,always happens when I wake up late, but I have a goal to read every morning no matter what because the scriptures give me strength to face anything.

When my oldest son woke up this morning he said that he wants to move to a new house.  I told him that I want to move as well, but we need to learn to be happy in the moment.  "Come what May and Love it."  Joseph B. Wirthlin.

"Secure not Stressed", 

 is a principle of Leadership Education, that I am working on at the moment.  

When I tell people that I home-school, I inevitably hear "I am not patient enough for that",  or "I could never do that".  A question that comes to my mind is one that comes to a lot of Mom's minds that home-school.  

When are we planning on acquiring the attribute of patience?

  Jesus said "Be ye therefore perfect."  It is a commandment that Jesus is giving us to constantly be striving for perfection.  

I believe no one is born patient,  believe me, I know that.  My babies are not patient (when they want to eat,  they do not wait).  

So, it is up to us to learn patience through our experiences in life.  We can either accept the fact that Heavenly Father is going to give us weaknesses and decide that we need to learn how to make those weaknesses into strengths or Heavenly Father will teach us those lessons in other ways.  

No matter what....

He will teach us patience and give us many experiences to learn to be patient.  Because this is what life is all about.

 I chose to learn how to develop this attribute of patience through spending time with my kids.

I love being a Mom, and homeschooling,  but the idea of 

"Secure not Stressed"  is vital...

Today,  when my kids were not listening to me,  I decided to go upstairs and take a shower. 

I took care of myself.  Then I came downstairs calmly and said "Let's have some free time for 20 minutes and then we will do family jobs.  They needed that and so did I!!!


No one wants to spend time with someone who is yelling at them and nagging them to do something.  When homeschooling you need to spend a lot of time with eachother and your kids should enjoy being with their Mom.  

One thing I've learned instead of saying "Go do this..."  or "Go do that..."  I say "Let's do this...."  or "How about we do this..."  This way it's a joint venture instead of my kids singling them out telling them what to do.  They shut down when I'm ordering them around,  but when I get down and do things with them,  then they love it,  and then usually,  they will begin to enjoy whatever it was that I needed them to do. 

FAMILY JOBS

Another,  aspect of being "Secure, not Stressed"  for me is having a clean house.  I believe that when homeschooling  you really need to get to know yourself and know your triggers. 

Mine is a messy house.  I don't believe learning can take place in a messy house .  So, we have Family Jobs.  It would be a lot easier for me to tell my kids " Do this job or do that job",  but again they do not like to be nagged, plus they don't know how to do most jobs the way I do them,  Instead,  I say we have 30 minutes to do our family jobs,  they each have a job in an area of our house that I am working on with them,  I help them with their jobs and we learn to work together and work fast.  This has helped me become a lot more "Secure not Stressed".  I sometimes offer them an incentive for when the time is up and if we have completed our task, then we can read and have a snack like popcorn.  This usually works.  Family Jobs are great!!!

One last aspect of being  "Secure not Stressed" , is I have to have time for myself.  I try to do this by waking up early,  but with a baby this doesn't always happen.  When I have a good day,  I wake up do the elliptical, read my scriptures, read my book while I'm doing the elliptical or when it's nice outside I listen to LDS conference talks or TJED audio seminars while I go for a jog.  
Then,  I come back take a shower,  make my bed, do makeup and hair and then I am ready for the day. My kids know that I need this time in the morning, so my older kids usually help with the babies while I get ready.

Finally,  I divided up morning jobs to two kids emptying the dishwasher and 1 kid is in charge of putting one load of laundry each morning.  All of them would rather take laundry than dishwasher, so I assign them the laundry job for a week at a time.  This has worked great,

Having routines, not necessarily scheduled times,  timers, family jobs and taking care of myself have all helped me be "Secure not Stressed".  

I am grateful that I am given weaknesses so that they might become strengths unto me. 

I better go get to work now...

How Chocolate Saved The Day

      "...He desperately wanted something more 

     filling than cabbage
and cabbage soup.   
     The one thing he longed for 
more than      
anything else was ...
CHOCOLATE."

  

-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

...And this is why I love studying Classics.  According to Oliver Demille,  "A classic is anything worth reading and re-reading again,  every family has their own classics."  Roald Dahl is one of my favorite authors, he is definetely on our list of family classics, we have had so much fun reading his books. I remember my teachers reading his books as a young girl and I loved them.  So I want to share these books with my kids.

I had a really bad day with very little sleep the night before.  I love my kids and I love homeschooling, but sometimes it is just plain hard.  The morning came and I prayed, not knowing what to do and feeling so uninspired. The thought came to me in the morning after I had been up all night.  "Why not learn about Chocolate?"

I am trying to implement a lot of the principles found in the Thomas Jefferson Education Model and one of the principles is to share what's yours with your kids in the morning for a Family School or Kids School.  Chocolate is definetely mine. Not in the sense that you would think.  I love chocolate, but most of all I love my younger years of going to Mexico and picking the cocoa bean plants off of the trees in the jungle of Chiapas, Mexico.

My Mom is from Mexico and at least every other year growing up we spent some time at her house in Mexico on the border of Guatemala.  I have so many fond memories of adventures that we had as kids visiting this different and extraordinary place.  

This thought of sharing chocolate saved me. I was about to give up.  Feeling that I had nothing left to give.  Then I realized  I have so much more to give.  

We began reading "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl.   We talked about the Mayan Indians who are our ancestors.  We looked at the jungle of Guatemala and called my Mom to have her tell us stories of our Great Grandma Ana Maria who was a Mayan Indian who escaped from the jungles of Guatemala and fled to Mexico.  We watched how Cadbury makes their chocolate in a factory and learned how to crush our own cocoa beans.  Oh, and we even made a volcano hot chocolate explosion!!  All because of Chocolate. Wow! I bet you didn't know you could learn so much from Chocolate. 

 I am so grateful that the 
Lord shows His tender mercies to me through 
small and 
simple things, 
He does let me struggle and then 
he gives me 
HOPE
and tells me
I can do this.

This is how chocolate saved the day ...    

Here is a picture of my two little munchkins on our walk later on that day.  What a day!!

And Then There Were Five...

I can't believe we have five kids.  It's already been five months since we had my Son John and it still is hard to believe.  I'm grateful for friends who are great photographers.