Think of Me As One Who Is Truly Happy

I told Tabetha the other night that finishing a really good book is like having your best friend move away, and that is the way that I felt when I finished reading  Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart.  

Elinore Pruitt Stewart

Letters of a Woman Homesteader is the real letters written by Elinore Stewart to her previous employer, about her life in Wyoming as a homesteader.  
Elinore moved to Wyoming in 1909 with her baby daughter after her husband died.  She took a position as house keeper for  Mr. Stewart who is a cattle rancher, and as as you can tell by the last name she ends up marrying Mr. Stewart.   Her letters cover about 4 1/2 years of her life as she arrives in Wyoming and begins to settle into a new life there.  
Elinore had a such a way with describing everything, especially people.  She makes you feel like you know her friends and that her friends are your friends as well.  Elinore was kind to all her neighbors and they all took such good care of each other.  One time she and two of her neighbors took the time to make a 12 year old girl feel special by making her some new clothes.  Her mother and father were dead and she lived with her grandparents.  They were incredibly poor and when the women gave the 12 year old the new clothes,  she hugged them to her and cried and cried.
My favorite thing about this book though, is Elinore's upbeat attitude about everything.  She was just so happy to be alive and she found joy all around her, even in the smallest things.
Elinor writes,

"When you think of me, you must think of me as one who is truly happy.  It is true, I want a great many things I haven't got, but I don't want them enough to be discontented and not enjoy the many blessings that are mine.  I have my home among the blue mountains, my healthy, well-formed children, my clean, honest husband, my kind, gentle milk cows, my garden which I make myself.  I have loads and loads of flowers which I tend myself.
There are lots of chickens, turkeys, and pigs which are my own special care.  I have some slow old gentle horses and an old wagon.  I can load up the kiddies and go where I please any time.  I have the best, kindest neighbors and I have my dear absent friends.  Do you wonder I am so happy?  When I think of it all, I wonder how I can crowd all my joy in to one short life."

When the book was over I was left with the feeling that the world was a little better because Elinore Stewart was here and I was better as well for having know her even if it was just a little from her letters.

To Get Letters of a Woman Homesteader free on your Kindle click here.

Childhood and Youth Are No Time to Get An Education

"...you can set no store by your education in childhood and youth, no matter how good it was.  Childhood and youth are no time to get an education.  They are the time to get ready to get an education.  The most that we can hope for from these uninteresting and chaotic periods of life is that during them we shall be set on the right path, the path of realizing our human possibilities through intellectual effort and aesthetic appreciation.  The great issues, now issues of life and death for civilization, call for mature minds."

"There is a simple test of this.  Take any great book that you read in school or college and have not read since.  Read it again.  Your impression that you understood it will at once be corrected.  Think what it means, for instance, to read Macbeth at sixteen in contrast to reading it at thirty-five.  We can understand Macbeth as Shakespeare meant us to understand it only when we have had some experience, vicarious or otherwise, of marriage and ambition.  To read great books, if we read them at all , in childhood and youth and never read them again is never to understand them."  (The Great Conversation, The Substance of a Liberal Education by Robert M. Hutchins, The Great Books of the Western World v. 1,  p.76, emphasis added)

Online Book Club Part Two

I just posted my second post on The Headgate on my other blog. 
To read it click here

Online Book Club Part One

I'm so excited to be participating in my good friend Rebekah's online book club. This month we are reading and writing about the e-book The Headgate by Brian and Kerri Tibbets. (Click here to read.)

The Headgate: Week 1: Preface, Introduction, and Step 1: A House of Order

I was first introduced to the e-book The Headgate about a year ago by several of my favorite bloggers. There was such an online conversation going on about it that I was anxious to get a copy of it and read it for myself. When I first read it I was so inspired by the principles that it contained. Throughout this past year, I have tried to implement many of the principles talked about in the book, and I have seen amazing changes in my children and our home atmosphere because of those changes. I'm excited to be re-reading and studying the book again. By rereading it a year later, I see that there are a few key things that I had forgotten about and several things that had just fallen by the wayside, because, really, who can implement something new and get it all perfect right away.

This week as I was reading, I was struck once again with how critical it is for parents to create an environment in their homes that is conducive to learning. The Tibbets' tell us that if our home environment is right it allows our children's hearts and minds to be "free to fall in love with the most valuable and refined things this world has to offer... great books." They also tell us however, that if the environment is wrong, "they will not recognize great books as appetizing, because their senses will be dulled."

This has been so powerful to me as I have thought about it and sought to create this kind of enviornment in my home over the past year. The Tibbets' tell us that a child's senses were "created to guide them to the most nourishing activities, that would build and develop them into the best they can become." They also state that children are "naturally attracted to the most nourishing and staifsying, the most gourmet and refined, the most heavenly and enriching, because these things inherently provied the most growth."

Isn't that truley amazing? Our children are naturally drawn to those things that are the best things. We don't have to force it on them. They also come into the world and into our homes with a love for learning, and a willingness to educate themselves in the best things if ,the conditions and the enviornment are right.

The Tibbets' tell us though, that their senses "can become dulled through entertainment and overstimulation, they then need greater and greater stimulation all the time if they are to feel anything. It is in this way that the delecate system of the sensory is misused rather than used."

A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation said that the average 8-18 year old, spends an average of 7.5 hours per day with media. Those numbers do not reflect time spent using media at school or for homework. It also doesn't include using cell phones for talking or texting, which would include another 2 hours a day. Their study states that almost two-thirds of young people indicated that their TV was usually on during meals, and nearly one half (45%) said that the TV was left on “most of the time” in their home, even if no one was watching. And, most youth today, say they have no rules about how much time they can spend with TV, video games, or computers.

Dr. Kim John Payne, in his book Simplicity Parenting says that he is seeing and treating, more and more children from average American homes, for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTS). The same disorder that he was treating children for in refugee camps in war torn countries. He indicates the PTS symtoms these children are showing are stemming from being over stimulated all of the time, most of that stimulation coming from excessive media. He even gave these children a new diagnosis called Cumulative Stress Reaction (CSR).

Is that really surprising? That children are spending on the average 7 1/2 hours a day, the equivalent of a full time job, being stimulated and entertained by media, and that it is causing them to be overstimulated?

It seems as though we as a society have to be stimulated and entertained all the time. We can't go for a drive without listening to the radio or popping in a DVD for the kids. As soon as we come in the door of our homes we turn on the t.v. and check the computer. We have our ipods on constantly and for family time together we watch movies and play the Wii.

How are children supposed to be creative, think deeply about great ideas, develop their talents, and even hear the spirit if they are being constantly entertained?

The Headgate tells us that children exercise no self-discipline on how they spend their free time, but will spend their time doing what their heart desires. They most often will choose to do what will give them the most thrill for the least amount of effort. That is why creating the right enviornment for your children is so important. Children can't create their own enviornment. The parents must do it.

The Headgate gives us the steps to follow to create the right kind of envirnment for our children to thrive in.

Because, my post is so long this time I will start next week's post with Step 1: A House of order.  I will also be posting the rest of my book club posts at my other blog here. 

Next week: Step 1: A House of Order

Step 2: Require Work

Setp 3: Inspire Daily

Living Books Vs. Mind Candy and a Book List

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested…”--Sir Francis Bacon

My family has been after me for ages write up a list of great kids books.  I have put it off for so long because the amount of work I thought it would be.  Today while thinking about making a list once again, I had a great idea, to write up a list and then add to it whenever I remember or read another great book.  So that is what I have done.  I will leave a link at the top of the page with the book list, and I will continue to add to it, so check back.

First, before you read my book list I want to explain why I have chosen the books I have.  I have, in the past few years learned that all books are not created equal.  Some books are like wholesome food that nourish your soul and help you to grow.  Charolette Mason calls these books living books.  Other books are like junk food for your soul, there is no real substance to them and your soul is left feeling hungry for something better.  BFF Amy and I call these books mind candy. 
Just as we would never feed our children a diet of junk food, so we shouldn’t feed their souls a diet of junk food either.  Their characters and their souls are being shaped by what we feed to them through books. 

Victor B. Cline said, “Nutritionists tell us we are what we eat.  Similarly the quality and character of our spirit is a reflection of what we feast upon—Including the books and magazines we read and the motion pictures, television shows, plays, and other public entertainment we witness.” (emphasis added Ensign, April, 1984)

The books on my book list are books I consider to be living books, or the best books.  The quality of the books you read to your children is much more important then the quantity of books you read to them not only in shaping who they are, but also in creating in them a desire to read themselves. Reading mind candy to your children won't inspire a love of reading like reading living books to them will.  Living books satisfy a hunger in your soul in a way that mind candy never can.

How do you tell the difference between living books and mind candy?

Living books:

*can be enjoyed by the whole family/not age specific 

*bring your imagination to life

*are filled with wonderful life lessons

*feed and nourish your soul

*leave you longing for more when the book ends

*are remembered long after you have read it

*are books you want to read again and again and each time you read it you learn something new.

* teach morals and values. 

*are well written and often include beautiful language and imagery

*teach truth

Some examples include:  The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, The Little House on the Prairie Series, The Chronicles of Narnia Series

Mind Candy is the opposite of living books.

Mind Candy:

*is usually a fad book, meaning it won’t stand the test of time, popular one day and then forgotten,

*is just entertainment

*doesn’t really include any morals/values or life lessons, in fact…

*the lines between good/bad may be blurred

*Doesn't require you to use your imagination much

*not something you want to read over and over
*may be targeted for a specific age/ not something the whole family can enjoy together 

Some examples include:  Captain Underpants Series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Most books featuring the latest popular TV character like Dora, or Barney

Where can you find living books?  A good place to start is with a list of classics.  They have already stood the test of time, usually with good reason.  However, the only true way to know if a book is a living book or mind candy is to read it.  You can usually tell in the first chapter or so if it has any real substance or not.  If it doesn’t, don’t waste your time reading it, put it down and pick up something else.  Don’t feel obligated to read the whole book simply because you started it.

If you are not sure if a book is a living book, or not, compare it to one of your favorite books that you know is a living book.  What do you like about the living book?  Does the book in question have the same characteristics as the living book?  Is it on the same level as far as language and imagery goes?  Does it promote the same kinds of lessons and values?   I have cleared a lot of books off of my book shelf by comparing them in this way. 

In assessing any book ask yourself questions like:  What is the purpose of this book?  Is the purpose simply to entertain me or does it teaching me something?  If it is teaching me something, what is it teaching me?  Did I enjoy it enough to read it again?   If I read it again will I learn anything the second time around?  Ask yourself these questions about the books you are reading to your children as well. 

The more you read living books the easier it is to recognize the difference between a truly great, living book and a book that is simply mind candy.

Click the "Book List" tab  at the top of the page to see my recommend list of books click here

For a more in-depth view of how I decide what to read and study read my blog post here.

A Journey with Edward

I love to read to my children and a long car ride is the perfect place for a great book. So, yesterday when Shawn said, “Load up, I need to take some tools back to Raymond,” I looked around the living room for a book to read to everyone. I almost grabbed Farmer Boy, as I have been reading it to the boys during school time, but just as I was reaching for it my eyes caught sight of another book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. I bought the book just days ago at school book fair when I noticed that the author was Kate DiCamillo, the author of The Tale of Despereaux. I read The Tale of Despereaux last year to my kids right before the movie came out. It was an excellent book (the movie was terrible.) We fell in love with the little mouse Despereaux and the Princess Pea.  Kate is also the author of Because of Winn Dixie (a newberry Award winner), and The Tiger Rising, also great books. I therefore, expected great things from this book about a rabbit named Edward.

As we pulled out of the driveway I gave Shawn and Jarom a synopsis of the first 3 chapters that we had read two nights before without them. The other kids insisted that I start in at chapter 4 and reread the story Grandma tells Abilene and Edward about a beautiful princess.

“Once there was a princess who was very beautiful. She shone as bright as the stars on a moonless night. But what difference did it make that she was beautiful? None. No difference.”

“Why did it make no difference?” asked Abilene.

“Because,” said Pellegrina, “she was a princess who loved no one and cared nothing for love, even though there were many who loved her.”

At the end of the story the Princess met a terrible fate, and Grandma ended the story with the ever familiar words, “The end.”

“The end?” said Abilene indignantly.

“Yes,” said Pellegrina, “the end.”

“But it can’t be.”

“Why can’t it be?”

“Because it came too quickly. Because no one is living happily ever after, that’s why.”

“Ah, and so,” Pelegrina nodded. She was quiet for a moment. “but answer me this: how can a story end happily if there is no love? “

Edward was like the Princess. He was beautiful, but he loved no one. As I read on, page after page, and chapter after chapter the kids were spell bound, Shawn took the extra, extra, long way around to ensure we could continue on with the story.

We wound our way through the hills, and I read about a very selfish, ungrateful rabbit who was lost and moved from owner to owner. He endured many mishaps and trials, but along the way he learned to appreciate what he had, he learned to open is heart, and he learned to love.

The story sucked us in. We were held captive as we followed Edward on his miraculous journey. As I read, I wiped my eyes and held back tears, and when I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore I cried and read, and wiped my eyes. Shawn patted my shoulder, Tabetha sniffed, Mya slept, and the other kids sat silently.

Shawn kept driving. We finished the entire book, and then we talked about Edward, and about how he came to love others. We talked about selfishness and pride, and we talked about how trials make us grow.

Edward’s was a miraculous journey that ended happily, because he learned to love.

I rate it 4 out of 4 stars

for ages 5+

No Book Discussions This Week

I'm not leading any book discussions this week and that means two things around here:  1.  A little time to blog, and 2.  I get to read whatever I want this week.  We went to Anchorage over the weekend and I spent the whole drive home reading.  It was awesome!  So this is what I am reading:

The Book of Mormon 
As a ward we are reading the Book of Mormon together in 100 days.  I am happy to say that I am on schedule and I just finished day 49.  Yah! Half way there!  I have never read it this quickly before.  I am learning so much and my testimony is growing by leaps and bounds. It's awesome!

To request your free copy click HERE. 

The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

The Real Thomas Jefferson
I got this book a few months back.  I thought since I am doing Thomas Jefferson Education with my children I should know about Thomas Jefferson, right?  The book is great, and he really was an incrediable man.

"He studied not only the law, but also languages, physics, agiculture, mathematics, philosophy, chemistry, anatomy, zoology, botany, religion, politics, history, literature, rhetoric, and virtually every other subject imaginable--always recording quotations and observations in his personal notebooks." 
"But he is most remembered most for his profound influence on man's istitutions of self-government.  His thinking, his writing, and virtually his entire adult life were dedicated to the overthrow of tyranny and the protection of individual freedom." 

A Patriot's History of the United States

Got this in Anchorage when I went to Target.  (Yes, Target was awesome!  The anchorage area now has 3, when am I going to get one here?  Just wondering!)  I just started this and I am very excited to read it.  Glen Beck has recomended it over and over again on his show.  I'm excited to read about how great America is for once, because evern though we have our problems we are still the greatest country on this earth. 

"The authors of A Patriot's History think that an honest evaluation of the history of the United States must begin and end with the recognition that, compared to any other nation, America's past is a bright and shining light.  America was, and is, the city on the hill, the fountain of hope, the beacon of liberty."

Dare to Do Right

Dare to Right!

Dare to do right! Dare to be true!

You have a work that no other can do;

Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well,

Angels will hasten the story to tell.

Dare, dare, dare to do right;

Dare, dare, dare to be true,

Dare to be true,

Dare to be true.

I love this song! When I was little we would sing it in primary all the time. Over the years this song has been replaced in the primary's weekly repertoire by new and other favorite songs. A few days ago as I was perusing the pages of the Children's Song Book I came across it and was amazed as I was reminded of it's message. It gave me chills. It's message is something I have been trying to instill in my children. It's some thing our church teaches and it's one of the core principles of Thomas Jefferson Education, or Leadership education-- everyone was born with a mission and a purpose to fulfill in this life. I know my children were born with a mission and a purpose. God has sent them here to do great things. Things no one else can do as well as they can. I also know God has given each of them all of the talents and gifts that they need to be able to fulfill their missions. They will have to work hard to get an education and develop those talents, that's what an education is for. Doing great things isn't easy, it will take hard work and courage, but they can do it. I know they can!

Dare to do right! Dare to be true!

Other men's failures can never save you.

Stand by your conscience, your honor, your faith;

Stand like a hero and battle till death.

Dare, dare, dare to do right;

Dare, dare, dare to be true,

Dare to be true,

dare to be true.

Want to Join Me For An Online Discussion

I'm leading an online discussion and you're invited!

Orchard House Academy
is sponsoring a discussion of:

The Great Depression of 2012?

"If America is moving into a long-term recession then it is time to start preparing for it in the Leadership Way. The greatest classics of depression and rebuilding periods contain the best, most effective, practical lessons for success in difficult times. Yet these aren't found in any self-help books or articles from the doomsayers or the optimists. I haven't seen these vitally important concepts taught anywhere else. They are missed even by most of those who have read these books! But these forgotten and hidden keys are incredibly helpful. If you are going to ‘live’ during the next seven years of crisis, these keys will make all the difference in your happiness and success.” -Oliver DeMille

Join us for a discussion of Oliver DeMille's keynote address given at the 2009 TJEd Forum
Friday, November 20, 2009 from 7:00 - 9:00pm Alaska Time
"The Great Depression of 2012" can be downloaded at http://www.tjedmarketplace.com/forum-2009/adult-forum for $4.00
The discussion is free. You need a headset with a microphone to participate, or you can participate using your home phone. If you use your home phone you will be charged for an out-of-state long distance call.

The discussion will be limited to 10 people so sign up ASAP by leaving me a comment

Suggested supplemental material The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe and TJEd forum talk "A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste" by Dr. Shane S. Schulthies

Freedom 101 Getting an Education

I've started on a journey. A journey to get an education, or to become educated. It's exciting, intimidating, and a little scary. I've always loved to learn, it's just part of me, but now I've taken it to a whole new level. I'm reading, listening, discussing and writing(a bit). I feel like there are a million things to know and I want to know it all right now. But, I just need to be patient and enjoy the journey.

I know I have a mission in this life and I know I need an education to fulfill that mission. I don't know what my whole mission in life is, but I do know that the most important part of it is to be a good wife and mother. I want for my children what I think most people want. I want them to love God and their fellow man. I want them to fulfill their dreams and live happy successful lives. I want them to stand for truth and right, and to be leaders and statesman. I also know I need to be what I expect them to be. I am the example that they look to the most. As Emerson said, "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say."
On my education journey I have been increasingly aware of how important having an education is to our freedom, our way of life, and the things I want for my children.

"Raising children and mentoring the next generation is the most important thing we can do to change the world. It is the primary role of all women and all men, married or single. It is who we are. It is why we were born. We must train up the leaders of the future with confidence, power and grace."
-Rachel DeMille, Steel to Gold

Thomas Jefferson said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." An education is important to freedom, because we must know what brings freedom. We need an education to see the cycles in history, and how to avoid making the mistakes that have been made in the past, and an education lets us see the real issues and then come up with real solutions.
Until recently I had been intimidated by politics and current events. It was very overwhelming to me. I didn't understand the issues that were being talked about on t.v. I would listen to one person and think they had a great solution and then listen to the opposition and think that their solution was just as good. At election time I didn't understand the issues that were being voted upon or what the candidates stood for. I think I was like a lot of Americans. It all seemed so complicated I just wanted to bury my head in the sand and let everyone else worry about it. But a strange thing started to happen, as I began reading and studying the classics I began to have a desire to learn more about our government, our founding fathers, our nations history and about what freedom really is and the principles our nation was founded on.

"...[some] assume that we can leave all intellectual activity, and
all political responsibility, to somebody else and live our lives as
vegetable beneficiaries of the moral and intellectual virtue of other men.
the trouble with this assumption is that, whereas it was once possible, and
even compulsory, for the bulk of mankind, such indulgence now, on the part of anybody, endangers the whole community. It is now necessary for everybody to try to live, as Ortega says, 'at the height of his times.' The democratic enterprise is in perile if any one of us says, 'I do not have to try to think for myself, or make the most of myself, or become a citizen of the
world republic of learning.' The death of democracy is not likely to be an
assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy,
indifference, and undernourishment." --Robert Hutchins Introduction to Great Books of the Western World

Now that I'm on the road to getting an education and understanding what freedom is I know how important it is, not only for me and my children but for my grandchildren and their children. I know I have a long way to go, but I feel like I am on my way. I am by no means an expert, but I am understanding more, and as I read more I am better able to form my own opinions about issues in the news. I am better able to vote for a candidate based on what they stand for and not just what party they belong to. Right now, in our country, a lot of people are upset and angry about what is occurring in our government, but as Stephen Palmer said in an article titled Education Must Precede Activism, " It's not enough to just be mad--we must also be wise." Wisdom comes from education.

If you would like a place to start may I suggest you start by reading The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States and the article that I quoted from above entitled Education Must Precede Activism . Then discuss them with someone. Your children and your grandchildren will thank you, and they will follow your example.

(If you need someone to discuss them with I am available any time day or night, seriously)