It's time for an update on our lives!
I've been busy, and mostly staying off the computer, which I find to be a very effective Man in Gray (read Momo by Michael Ende if you want to follow up on that reference--the Men in Gray are Time Thieves). My best computer-avoidance strategy is to actually disconnect my monitor and hide it away in a closet. I really have to think twice about getting online "just to check on something" if I have to reconnect cables and boot the whole thing up first!
I've been reading "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver DeMille and its two companion books. Lots of really good ideas, although I find the tone of "I am the authority and this is the Right Way to educate!" to be slightly irksome... The whole premise that all leaders must be educated in a particular way is frankly not one that I subscribe to. I do believe in principles, and I think there are good principles in these books. My hope is to take the best of this and others great thinkers and practicers of education, and create my own synthesis. Charlotte Mason, Ruth Beechick, Maria Montessori, Susan Wise Bauer, Raymond and Dorothy Moore...these are all thinkers and educators worth studying and learning from. In the end though, my children are mine and my husbands to raise up and educate, and we need to find the path that works best for our family and best meets our particular objectives.
Lily has another violin concert coming up on May 9th, and one on June 27th, with a piano recital in between--so we have a lot of practicing to do. I've been on something of a book-acquisition spree, which my husband hopes will not last much longer. One of my favorite finds is a beautifully illustrated edition of "The Secret Garden", which I hope to read to the children soon.
We had a fun weekend, including a visit to the parking lot at Knott's Berry Farm. Yes, just the parking lot, not the park itself! There was a hand-built autos show, which my husband was eager to see. We looked at neat cars, had lunch at a McDonald's with electric trains for entertainment, and then stopped at a local Goodwill store where we found a few more nice books, a great pair of shoes, and an inflatable wading pool referenced in my last post.
Life is good!
Living, Loving, Laughing and Learning Together
About Me
- Paula
- United States
- I am wife to a wonderful man, and mother to four rambunctious blessings: seven year old Lily, five year old Luke, two year old Esther, and baby Mark (names have been change to protect the innocent) My greatest desire in life is to be a faithful daughter to my Father in Heaven, and to do His work in my home and in the world. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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celebrate the family
“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.” Marjorie Pay Hinckley
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5 comments:
You know, I've noticed that tone, too, and though I LOVE the principles, I'm not too sure about all the methods. I really like Charlotte Mason, too, and I'd like to read more of Susan Wise Bauer.
We need to talk soon, I think. You and your sister are so wise, and I need to soak up some of that. I agree that our children are our own, and yet it helps to talk to people who are actually doing what it is we want to do with our kids.
I like the idea of hiding your monitor away! That's what we do with our TV - we just have a small 13" monitor that hides in our closet. It's so much more complicated to pull it out, haul it to the desk, and plug it in that we hardly ever use it (besides the fact that nothing really appeals to me to watch). I think this one helps the kids more than me because they could watch PBS all morning if I let them. I do occasionally turn off our computer when I feel I've been on it too much. Just having to turn it on and log in creates enough of a stop for me to really decide if I want it back on at that moment.
Maybe I should also try hiding our pc monitor, not for me but for dh. He spends most of his time in the computer, specially now that he has launched his project for overseas Filipino bloggers. If I don't remind him, he can stay on the pc till 2 am. I'm teasing him he's a computer addict.
The TJed book is good and inspiring, I think, yet it bothered me as well. I have been to seminars, and applied to GWC, and talked with the "leaders" of this group. I was really bothered by the attitude of many of them. They started adding more levels to their phases, I think in part just so they could be higher up than you. Anyway, some really good ideas, but the holier than thou tone does not work for me either.
Hiding your monitor... now there is an idea.
Computers are addicting! There's so much you can do on them. I have a designing (scrapbook kits) as a side job, just for fun, and I can easily spend all day on the computer. I have a hard time limiting it. So I asked hubby to lock me out of the computer all day. He set up parental controls on my account. I tell him when I want to be on the computer, he sets it that way, and we're good to go. So I can get on up until 9am. Then it will sign me out. I can't get back on until 7pm when kids go to bed. Then it signs me out at midnight so I go to bed.
Lame, I know. But it works!! I don't get to be on the computer that whole time either. My baby seems to enjoy being awake for at least half that time:-). And I'm writing this on my phone as I rock my baby to sleep:-)
Didn't mean to write so much!
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