Monday, August 26, 2013

Going Crazy Do You Wanna Come Along?


One day my mom was going out the front door and I asked her where she was going. She answered, "Crazy, do you wanna come along?" With that "lead in," life was always an adventure. I never knew if she was going crazy or to a crazy place. She took us hiking, grocery shopping, to museums, concerts, plays, and traveling across country. I learned so much and I learned to love learning.

How Did My Mom Inspire Us?


So, how did my mom inspire us?

When I was four mom wanted to take oil painting class. I got to go with her. They gave me my own canvas, my own brushes, my own oil paints and let me at it.  I fell in love with art.  There were no requirements, no texts, no lectures. It became a part of me.

Mom did not teach me to read before school. I never saw my name until my kindergarten teacher wrote it down and told me to take that to my mother and have my mother sit down and teach me how to write it. My preschool years and that of my peers were not spent learning academics, beyond being read to and told nursery rhymes and singing children's songs.

Mom was not a college graduate until the year I graduated from college.  She took many college classes while I was growing up.  We would go to the library and we studied together. We did not have much money for books.  However, when the new library opened when I was 10 years old, we all went to the library and got new library cards. We went to the library often, and I began to love the library, the mysteries that unfolded from books, as well as its quiet order. I saw my mom grapple with learning new things. It was never a question of whether I would attend college. We had monopoly, scrabble and cards. Mom played these games with us. Mom always won at scrabble. This encouraged our learning to spell.  After all, we were trying to grow up and that was what the grown ups did! We had few books.  We had one oversized, beautifully Illustrated Hans Christian Andersen book. My sister and I had her read our favorite tales to us, even when we were in high school.

When I was nine my mother introduced us to the arts.  She explained about the reverential respect one shows at concerts, museums, plays etc.  It is a respect for the artist and their works.  We are not there to compete for attention.  It is also reverential respect for those who come to be lifted by the arts.  They sacrificed time and money to attend. We understood we were to not speak except at intermission of plays, movies, and concerts. That there were appropriate times to applaud. If we were sick with a cold, we did not go, out of respect for others. I came to love the preforming arts and visual arts.

Mom wanted to teach us about hospitality.  She taught us how to cook and clean right next to her. Then she even took off work to teach cooking to my junior Girl Scout troop. She arranged for us to use the kitchen at the junior high school.  I learned to love to cook. Then when I was in Junior High, mom would call home and say she was bringing dinner guest and asked me to prepare dinner for X number of people. I would tidy the house and have salad, sides, roast and dessert made, table set, when she walked in the door. More often than not it was a general and his wife or other very interesting persons. I learned to listen and to express myself.

Funny thing, the only thing she paid us to do was weeding. She paid a quarter a paper grocery sack of weeds!  Back then I could go to movies on the base for fifteen cents. I could by a candy bar for nickel. I could buy a burger for a quarter. A new Toyota was under two thousand dollars! So, a quarter had a lot of buying power for a child. Weeding was the only work we shunned! Mom did not want to do it, and so, neither did we.  I had to learn as an adult to find joy in the process. Yard work gives me great time for contemplation and saves me the membership at the gym! 

If we were sick we stayed home from school. It was respectful to others not to get them sick.

We lived in Hawaii and often had guests from the mainland. I got to skip school to take them on the tour of the Island! I knew the history and the great spots as much as any local. My mother bought matinee tickets to the symphony and I got to cut school to go. Mom understood that learning can happen anywhere and that learning and seat time were not the same. Awful you might say.  I still graduated one of 20% that could read at the college level, even though I was not in class every day and we had few books at home. She inspired us to LOVE learning.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

To Be, Not Wannabe!


To be, or wannabe that is the question!

Every home is a school; what do you teach? Who we are and our attitudes lead our children. So, in learning to inspire we need to begin with ourselves. It is tough to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we really want children who grow up like us. I am sure we all could improve. We need to be honest with ourselves. In reality, we are the only ones we have total control over to change.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Inspire, Not Ignore

Inspire, not require is not about ignore and not require.

Now some argue God requires. Well, yes and no.  He does not require accountability for children under eight. He does not require we accept Him or believe in Him.  He invites and entices us to do so. For those who are accountable and desire to return to Him, He does have requirements. 

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Refrigerator Gallery

Several years ago I asked my mother-in-law to teach a poetry class at my home. She graduated from Stanford in Honors English Literature.  She had taught English at BYU for nine years. besides, she is an awesome poetess! She suggested we post the poem we were studying on the fridge and then repeat it at each meal. I thought it a dandy idea!

Dining Table Geography



In 2001, we remodeled our kitchen. In 2005, I decided to ditch the globe and bought a world map and a US map. I soon discovered I no longer had a place to hang the maps! One day I rolled them out on the dining room table.  They would not lay flat because they were laminated, had been rolled and were holding that rolled shape. I decided heat might relax the curve.  I got my blow dryer and began my work.  My middle daughter, age 16,  came in and said, "What is this-- National Treasure?"
I laughed and explained what I was trying to do. Then I realized the maps belonged where I had them.  We piled into the van and drove to Walmart where I purchased:
--a lovely vinyl table cloth
--a piece of medium weight clear vinyl about 18 inches longer than my table top.

 When guests come for dinner or at other times when we are practicing our manners, I can place a linen table cloth over the table vinyl and set out the crystal and china. Often guests protest and think it is novel to eat on a map.

The map comes in handy when we are studying "Currents in Time," "What Happened on this Day in LDS Church History?," studying the scriptures, studying Geography, "What Happened On this Day?," "The Family Hour," and at other interesting times. We learn the map before us as we eat.  We notice things we might never have noticed. "Dining Table Geography" is a great way to lay a foundation for the study of Geography.

Here is a link to the DIY on how I did this and supplies needed.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Spiritual Gospel Centered Pre School Lessons Using Church Prepared Resources



Below is a question we received about spiritual lessons for preschool children.

“Hi Donna,
I am feeling the need to do something more for my 3 year old daughter. I am not very creative about hands on activities and I really want to teach a spiritual lesson every day because once a week in nursery is not enough. Do you recommend any preschool programs or should I just teach lessons from the nursery manual? Thanks!”