My Thoughts on the TJ-Ed Conference

"On Nest Building"
by Carol Lyn Pearson

Mud is not bad for nest building.
Mud and sticks
And a fallen feather or two will do
And require no reaching.
I could rest there, with my tiny ones,
Sound for the season, at least.
But—
If I may fly awhile—
If I may cut through a sunset going out
And a rainbow coming back,
Color upon color sealed in my eyes—
If I may have the unboundaried skies
For my study,
Clouds, cities, rivers for my rooms—
If I may search the centuries
For melody and meaning—
If I may try for the sun—

I shall come back
Bearing such beauties
Gleaned from God’s and man’s very best.
I shall come filled.

And then—
Oh, the nest that I can build!

I spent the last two days at a Thomas Jefferson Education seminar. I don't know how many of you have heard of a Thomas Jefferson Education (TJ-ED), I did a book review on it not too long ago, it's written by Oliver Van DeMille, and I definitely recommend it. I LOVED the conference.

Some background on me first. I have had several pretty strong experiences in my life that have made me feel that I am very much responsible for the education that my children will receive. I don't feel like I can delegate that responsibility to someone else (i.e. the public school system). Home schooling had crossed my mind a few times, but I didn't really know anything about it. Then, I married a wonderful, smart, intelligent, thoughtful man who had been home schooled. It gave me a lot of confidence, not in myself really, but in the method. Now that we have kids and the time for their education is rapidly approaching (still a few years off, but trust me that's plenty rapid!) I have been feeling this pull, this constant almost nagging feeling, that I needed to learn something about homeschooling if I was going to do it. Because, even though I've graduated high school, and done a lot of college work, I still feel like I know nothing. So, I've been researching. In my research I came across the book A Thomas Jefferson Education, and we actually read it for a book club I'm in. I loved the book. Absolutely loved it. The things they said about education made sense....and it's not a homeschooling book necessarily, by the way, it's a book about a way of life, where continuous learning is your way of life. I love that idea. I am always wishing I could remember what I learned in school, or could know about certain topics in more depth. But I always felt like we just learned a bare minimum to pass a test and then moved on. But this isn't a post about the book, if you want to know more about the book - read it. You won't regret it. After I read the book, I wanted to know more. I went to the George Wythe University web site and found out that they travel all around the country and do seminars on this stuff. They were doing one in Lehi. I convinced Aaron to let me sign up. And then, because I'm the kind of person that hates new situations, I begged and begged my mom to sign up with me, until she gave in. True love right there. :)

I was so nervous yesterday, but there was no need. Dr. Brooks was the main speaker and he was wonderful, enthusiastic, and the things he talked about made so much sense! We talked a lot about how the public education system was failing. For example, in Oklahoma, they did a survey, and only one in four high school students can identify George Washington as the first president of the United States. Sad! We talked about lots of things, that hit home to me. We talked about what providence is: there is a god, we are his children, and he sent us here for a purpose. Does this sound familiar? We talked about the purpose of education, and how it is NOT to be able to go out and get a good paying job, but rather to be able to identify your life's mission, to prepare for that mission by gaining the skills necessary to fulfill it, and lastly to execute it. We talked about the stages of learning, and how there is no "one size fits all" way to teach that works. We talked about some ways to be great teachers

1. Classics not textbooks-going to the original sources, instead of what someone said about what someone said about what someone said. And a classic isn't necessarily a book, but anything you experience that you can learn from again and again. We learned that you absolutely CANNOT take the challenge out of education. It's supposed to be hard, and with good reason. We learn and grow the most when things are hard and we have to stretch.

2. Mentors not professors-a mentor being someone who has something to offer you, usually someone you seek out yourself. Not just the person who stands up in front of a bunch of people and gives his opinions on things as the law.

3. Inspire not require- Great education occurs when students study. Students study when they choose to. Students choose to study when they are inspired.

4. Time not content

5. Quality not conformity.

We talked about phases of learning, and this was my very favorite part. First of all we learned that behavior determines what phase your in not age. A lot today we worry about what age we should be preforming at what level, and in reality it has nothing to do with age, but what we are ready for, and when we are ready for it, we'll start behaving in a certain way.

The first phase is the Core phase. This is where you start. It's your foundation. There are no academics in this phase, what you work on is being able to identify good & bad, true & false, right & wrong. Values. In this phase you establish values. And the method through which you do this is by working and playing.

The second phase is love of learning. You can tell you are transitioning into this phase because you become more aware of the things around you and you start asking questions about those things. This stage is kind of like a butterfly, you flutter around learning lots of things, but not really going into much depth. In this phase you want to have a time set aside for learning to occur, say 2 hours, but you have freedom of curriculum, then you have to be in some way accountable for what you learned, and there needs to be a healthy environment and resources (usually provided by the parent).

After that is the scholar phase. That's when you get to the point where you want some constructive criticism, because you want to improve in a certain area. You spend a lot of time studying in this phase.

Then you reach the depth phase. Where you choose one area and go way in depth in that area.

I bought a book to read about the phases of learning, and I'm very excited to read it and learn more, because these ideas simply fascinate me. So if those explanations above seem brief, it's because they are. :) Because I haven't learned nearly what I'd like to learn about them.

All in all from this conference I just felt inspired. I felt like if I roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty and put in the work, then I can get results. It doesn't seem unattainable for me anymore. I want to know things. I want to be able to converse about the things I know, in an intelligent way. I want to take the things I know and figure out a way to use them for the positive, whether it be in society or in my family or both. AND I CAN! I have come away from this believing that I can. And that I can help my kids to do the same thing. I have a different definition for success now. I used to think that it meant that you knew everything about everything, and you graduated from college with a high paying job and you went down in history with everyone remembering who you are. And for some people that is success. But it doesn't mean that people who don't fit that can't be successful. We all have different missions in life, whether it be to be Einstein or whether it be to be a nameless person who plays music for people at the hospital. If we are fulfilling our life mission (and by the way a life mission will be something that contributes to the greater good of human kind, whether in a big way or a small way) then we will feel fulfilled, and THAT is success. That's awesome! And I believe it. I believe that I can succeed. I don't have to feel like I'm becoming dumber because I'm not in school right now. I don't have to feel like the absolutely only thing I was put on this earth to do was have and raise a family. Which by the way there is nothing wrong with, and I am happy that that is one of the things I get to do, but it doesn't have to be the ONLY thing that I do.

At the end of the conference today, Dr. Brooks had us write down on a piece of paper and sign our names to, a goal that we would accomplish at the end of two weeks. I don't remember the last time I actually had a real goal, let alone a timetable in which to complete it. It's a little intimidating. But this is what I wrote:

"By the 24th of October I will brainstorm (put some serious thought into) my life's mission (because I never have before), by defining things that I am interested in and the things that truly give me joy. "

And I signed it and dated it, and I have every intention to fulfill it. I know it might not sound all that hard, just thinking about what my life's mission might be. But really, I have seriously never thought about this before. I always just planned that I would graduate high school, go to college until I got married, and then I would have a family. Period. That always seemed so far away, that thinking beyond that seemed impossible. Well. Here I am, I'm 23 years old. I graduated high school, I attended college until I got married, and now I've started a family. And that took me what? All of 5 or 6 years to achieve? Now what? And not that I don't value my family, because I do, and I definitely think that they hold a place in what my life mission will be....but there's more. And I want to find out what it is. I believe that God gives us talents and interests that we can develop to use as tools to accomplish our life's mission. That's why I want to start there. I mean everyone has an idea of what they like and don't like right? But I want to go a little deeper. I want to pinpoint those things, and write them down, and compare them to each other and see if that will give me an idea of the direction I will be headed. I believe that God also gives us our patriarchal blessings to point us in the right direction. I want to study mine closely again with my life's mission in mind and with my interests in mind. I want to understand the things that really and truly bring me joy, and see if those things fit into my interests, or into what my patriarchal blessing says.

I want to find my life's mission. When I do I will have a purpose. And when I have a purpose, it will make moving forward, even if, and most especially when it's going slowly, a lot easier because I will have perspective.

Wow. So there they are, my thoughts, all layed out. I told you this conference was inspiring. It's funny reading back over this, I don't know if I could ever say these things to anyone out loud. I wonder if anyone would even want to listen, or if they'd just think I was a little bit whacked. People don't talk like this out loud anymore. Maybe they should. But these are the things that I'm feeling today, and I don't want to lose them. When I get frustrated, I want to come back to this, and feel what I am feeling now.