Even The Weeds Are Pretty

I've been homeschooling my children

for 20 years.

That's a lot of years.

Sometimes I get really tired of doing this.

Sometimes I don't do a great job at this.

Sometimes I feel like we're in such a rut.

Last week I did something about that.

Jake, Abbie and I loaded up some books

and popped some popcorn

and filled our water bottles

and had Luther jump in the back of the truck

and we drove out to the Ouray Bird Refuge

by the Green River

and I let Jake drive on the dirt roads

so he can get some driving time in

and I let Abbie ride in the back of the truck

with Luther

and we drove around as much as we could

and got out a few times to look around

and it felt good to do this. 

Years ago

before we moved to Utah

I went to a homeschool conference and

a presenter said something I've always remembered.

He said that the whole state of Utah

is one big science curriculum.

I believe him

It was a good day.

10 Days...

We have two news games that we've been spending a lot of time playing. Actually, they aren't exactly new, as in we just bought them. I bought them awhile ago, we are just now getting around to using them.

And we're having FUN!

"10 Days in the USA" and...

"10 Days in Africa".

Jake, Abbie and I spent a week playing the USA game every day and then moved on to Africa.

The point of the games is to travel from place to place either by walking, driving or flying. Each place (state or country) has to be connected in a certain way and once all 10 cards are connected properly you win! And this does take some thinking and strategy. And it is very unpredictable.

This is an example of my line of cards: I start in Sierra Leone and drive to the Ivory Coast (either through Guinea or Liberia) then fly to Nambia (which I can do because those three are all the same color) and it looks like I was hoping to drive to my next country, but I have to get the right card. In order to drive to a new destination you need another country/state to drive through. But only one. And it can be a different color. You just have to have the same color when flying.

There is a reason I don't have a job writing out instruction manuals or game descriptions. Just trust me that it is really easy to learn how to play but not that easy to win.

And you know what is such a great thing about this? We are really learning our countries in Africa! Do you know where Eritrea is? Or Burkina Faso? I didn't either. Now I do. And some day I might REALLY need to know where those countries are.

Reason #2974 of Why I Love To Home School: We get to play games for Geography. On the floor. In our jammies if we want. (But we aren't here. I'm just saying we could if we wanted to.)

Habits-7 of Them

Many years ago, I think it was in the Fall of 1980, I took an Organizational Behavior class at BYU and the instructor was Stephen R. Covey. I needed to take this class for my major and had no idea what it would be about. I was familiar with Covey because I had read Spiritual Roots of Human Relations and How to Succeed with People. What I didn't know was that this would be the one class from college that I would carry with me through my life. I also didn't know that the class notes I faithfully took would eventually be included in two future books of Covey's: The Divine Center and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. 

I was so blessed-lucky-fortunate to get to take that class that year. He didn't teach it the following semester and he then started phasing out of teaching, so I feel VERY blessed-lucky-fortunate for that semester.

I still have my class notes, yes, in sheet protectors and in a binder.

And here is the first page of notes I took in that class, and the "lesson" that made the most profound impact on my life, and the lesson I have tried to pass along as often as I have the opportunity:

This is the lesson of the 1st Habit: Be Proactive. This is when I heard it all plainly explained that in the four levels of 'being' (human-animal-plant-rock), humans have self-awareness and free agency. In the animal world there is no space between a Stimulus and a REACTION. But as humans we have a space between every Stimulus and our RESPONSE. It may only be a nano-second, but in that moment we CHOOSE what our RESPONSE will be. This is a hard thing for people to accept who don't like to take responsibility for themselves. In 1980 I found this to be one of the most exciting thoughts I'd ever had.

Covey went on to teach us that when we understand this, that we always choose our response and how we feel, then we will understand that no one can "make " us feel bad/sad/angry/happy etc. We are choosing how we want to feel.

(That makes it really hard to have an argument with your husband: "Errrrrrrrrgh! I have chosen to be so mad at you!!!)

Here are three quotes from my notes that day:

The last ultimate freedom is to choose the response. (And he referenced Frankle in Man's Search for Meaning.) 

You hurt yourself. You consent to be hurt. You are not your body. People hurt your body but don't let them hurt your soul.

The solution is to change the heart-you really can't change the environment.

These were very liberating concepts for me to think about and they are powerful concepts. This is important enough that through the years I have tried to teach it to my children. Hopefully someday they will "get it".

Until then, I'll keep trying to teach it.

Last fall I found a book by one of Covey's sons, the son who wrote the 7 Habits for Teens. This book is for kids.

I've been reading this to Jake and Abbie in our devotional. We read one chapter (habit) a week. We talk about it, what it means, how they can incorporate the habit in their lives. The habits are taught in parable, no lecture here. 

At the end of each parable is a page for the parents, so we can help make the connection.

There is a reason why the first habit is The-First-Habit. I continually work on this habit and after 29-ish years of conscious effort I think I'm getting fairly good at choosing wisely. I've also realized that this expands to the place where I want to live a life that doesn't create an environment for another person to 'choose' to feel badly. I understand that we all have a choice, but I hope I can keep trying to live my life so that I don't tempt anyone to choose poorly. 

That's a whole other level of consciousness...