Moving

I am moving to

redneckliber.wordpress.com

What is Off The Conveyor Belt?

I have been emailing back and forth with a young friend of mine. The last email I sent her got me to thinking a bit about the all cursed and dreaded conveyor belt.
Now in the Tjed world the conveyor belt can and usually means the public school system. Dr. Demille choose a conveyor belt analogy because it shows everyone going along getting the same thing at the same time regardless of talents, interests, or personality.
I have also discovered that our current public school system is based on the Prussian Factory model.
Alvin Toffler said in his book the Third Wave,
"Built on the factory model, mass education taught basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, a bit of history and other subjects. This was the 'overt curriculum.' But beneath it lay an invisible or 'covert curriculum' that was far more basic. It consisted - and still does in most industrial nations - of three courses: one in punctuality, one in obedience, and one in rote, repetitive work. Factory labor demanded workers who showed up on time, especially assembly-line hands. It demanded workers who would take orders from a management hierarchy without questioning. And it demanded men and women prepared to slave away at machines or in offices, performing brutally repetitious operations."
I have only found this quote, I have not read the book but plan to in the near future. Actually I think its on my book shelf right now. Great I can it start today.

So that all being said, is Public school a bad thing? In my opinion...No, its not.
If we know what educational program we are putting our children into and studied it out, like any method of educating our children should be studied out, we can at home overcome the deficiencies of any educational program.
Dr. Demille encourages us to get off the conveyor belt. I know of and have been one of those people who when I first heard this concept thought "Ok, I'm off that conveyor belt, but it feels so comfortable to be on one that I will now get on this Tjed conveyor belt." But guess what that's not right either. If our end goal is to have a superb liber education, or as the Demilles say on their new website www.tjedonline.com, an education to match our mission, then we need to be off all conveyor belts. Including the Tjed conveyor belt.
A friend of mine has defined off the conveyor belt and I think I will stick with it.

"To me on the conveyor belt is when I am going with the flow of society, friends,
family or whoever instead of prayerfully seeking out what is best for
each individual child and their needs and then following that path for
that child. I am off the conveyor belt when that individuals
spiritual, educational, emotional and social needs are being met in
the way I'm being inspired to fulfill them, no matter what form that
may look like or take. I know I'm on the 'conveyor belt' when I don't
feel comfortable with the way things are progressing and off when I
know deep inside that what I'm doing is right no matter what other
outside voices may say.
To me conveyor belt is not some taboo system, or formal education
but more of doing what others are doing without really questioning it
and studying it out in my mind and asking God if it is best for me and
my family in our circumstances. Thus public school may or may not be
conveyor belt as well as TJED or any other system of education."

I have also come to the conclusion that you can be in public school and off the conveyor belt.
This is not an announcement that I am putting my kids back in public school. No I still feel they are doing better, for what they need, at home.
Thank you for listening to my ramblings on the Conveyor belt.

My mission your mission

O.K. so we know that I dabble in the way of believing that all people were sent to earth to fulfill a mission. I believe that every single person born was sent here to complete a work of some sort or another. I also believe that everyone has a different one or a different way to go about it. A trap we can sometimes find ourselves in is coveting the mission of another person just as we covet another persons talent. I had a hard experience in this a few weeks ago and almost lost a friend. She is forgiving and things are better now.
If you follow the principles of Leadership Education as outlined in "Thomas Jefferson Education" by Dr. Oliver Demille. He outlines 7 or so missions (not in the book) and a dear friend of mine as added a few more to the list.
They are as follows
-Feed the Hungry
-Heal the sick
-Comfort the Lonely
-Create Beauty
-Preach the gospel/ Spread Truth
-Liberate the Captive
-Educate the ignorant

-Protect the innocent
-Ad Minister

I think some of the wording could be reworked but I hope you get the general idea. The last 2 my friend and mentor has added to the list so I keep them with my list.
Educate the ignorant could be taken as bad form so I would like to call it "educate the unlearned". (this is not my epiphany it came from a dear friend, but is one I agree with)
Some go hand in hand, Like spread truth, Liberate the captive, and educate the unlearned. They can be taken as interchangeable and the same thing, at least for me.
For example my mission is to liberate the captive. I am going to fulfill that mission by educating the unlearned and spreading truth.
I am really looking into Earl Shorris' project of the Clement course. I feel a real pull to it. He has created a program that helps to get people living in poverty out of poverty by teaching the humanity's. He created a free course, provides bus tokens for transportation, childcare, and a meal. The books are covered and he gets actual University professors to teach the courses. They study philosophy, poetry, literature, and American history.
There are a few classes in Canada at this time. There is one in Calgary, Vancouver, Halifax. I think they change the curriculum slightly to make it more adaptable to Canadians. They have one course in the Yukon and it is taught in the native Inuit language. There area few in Mexico that are taught in Spanish and other Native languages.
The whole thing is absolutely genius and I cry every time I read about it. That's what I want to do. I want to liberate the captive by teaching them how to think.
Here is the real kicker. I have to get the education first.

What I learned from The discussion on Core phase.

I learned:
1. I am not alone in my trials
2. Not all people necessarily see Core phase the same way I do.
3. I have really great and spectacular kids.
4. That it is possible to not like someone but to love them anyway. (very strange)
5. I have found and am living my mission and it is so exciting.


I want to have another discussion on core phase and see how different people view it. I want to hear peoples obstacles, and successes.
Did I strengthen and uplift? I really don't know. I felt much better when I left so I was uplifted.
If you read my blog and understand what Core phase as Tjed explains it is, will you please respond and tell me what you think of it....? Please...?

My First Core Phase for moms day

Well, I have asked a very kind lady to host a project for me. Its not a hard one. I want to host what I call "Time Out for Core phase moms". I am stealing the title a bit from Time Out for Women that Deseret books put on. If I am infringing on rites I can change the name. Besides I doubt it will get that popular.
It is a group of moms getting together having a colloquium on and about Core Phase. What we have learned from it, what it looks like in our homes, where we feel we are going with it. Life experiences they may want to share. The main idea I want to give people from it is that they can do it. It is possible amid the chaos or the lack there of, that core phase is possible, natural and necessary. I am hoping to strengthen them in their resolve.
I am going to write an outline of what I hope is discussed but I will also honour the natural flow of how it happens.
I am excited and nervous at the same time.
I am also planning, with their permission, to take their wisdom nuggets and put it in the paper I am going to write on Core Phase.
I will report how it went tomorrow.

Crazy times

We have been pretty busy around here. I have taken one 3 ton truck load to the dump and there is still more. I feel lighter already.

We took the kids to the Zoo and had a blast.
Megan started what she called the Entrepreneurship club. She invited a few friends and they worked together all summer raising money. They had a car wash, a bake sale, a bottle drive and we sold goodies at the local fair in July. They made almost $150 and they wanted to spend the money by going to the Zoo.
We has a good time 2 other families came a long with us. Some of the kids didn't make it out of the parking lot awake.





De cluttering, Going to the Zoo, Girl Guides. It has been busy.

I read some great books. The Ugly American, Reading Lolita in Tehran, trying to get through Walden, but just to show my literal ignorance, I think I would rather gnaw off my leg. Some people say it changed their lives and they have reevaluated everything. I am wondering when that happens?

Organization

As I am focusing on Core phase this year I feel I need to organize my house. But the kicker is as I look around I realize how unorganized it truly is, I get overwhelmed and want to give up.
This me announcing here and now I will get my house organized by Christmas 2008.
I shall be focusing on my Core,


C - Cleaning
O - Organization
R - Relationships
E - Example

Core Phase as the foundation

In Thomas Jefferson Education people talk about Core phase all the time. It is the time of life we learn our values, our virtues, our morality and core beliefs. The lessons of core are Good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, True Vs. False. It is in essence the foundational phase of a superb leadership education.
Here is a quote I found on foundations and I think it applies to our Leadership Education.

"Foundations do not typically contribute to the architectural aesthetics of a building. Yet, without suitable foundations, a building will not function effectively, will be unsafe and its architectural merits will rapidly fade"

Core phase is the ultimate foundation.

This one makes me laugh....

Theodore Roosevelt Quote

A great quote I just read and had to share.
Theodore Roosevelt said "It is not the critic that counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again-because there is not effort without error and shortcomings-but he who does actually strive to do the deed, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievements and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat"
I am in tears.

Core Phase... Relax

Just to tell all 4 people who read my blog, I am going to write a paper on what Core Phase is to me. I have also decided that as I go along and come up with ideas I will post them here for your feed back.
I wrote an email to a Yahoo! group I belong to about core phase and a friend of mine wrote in saying you need to RELAX. The fact that she capitalized the words caught my attention so I came up with an acronym. What can I say I'm a sucker for acronyms.
We need to RELAX in core phase
R - Read to your kids in all phases, Core, Love of Learning, and Scholar
E - Example we need to behave the way we want our kids to behave
L - Laugh with your kids. There is a ton of studies on how laughing and having fun can reduce stress and lessen a stressful situation so better learning can happen.
A - Attitude have a good attitude about how you are being have an attitude of Joy
X - Explain things, explain what is good, true, and right. Be the sounding board of explanation.

I would honestly like to know what you think. If you have a comment please leave one.

Where do you want to go?

"Cheshire Cat, would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where----" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"---so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

This year I have decided to focus on our Core Phase (look on the Right hand side of page). We will be structuring time not content and will be inspiring not requiring this year. I really think we have neglected this side of development and I am going to honour the natural phases of leadership education this year.
I feel like I know where I am going. I have a direction and it feels good.
I am not going to go back to school. Part of my mission is to be a mother and after the incredibly stressful year we just came through I have decided to focus mainly on my family and being a mom, we need to heal.
I have given myself some assignments though. I am going to look very deeply into Core phase and write on my findings and share them hear. If you are interested. If not that is fine to.
It will be the year of honouring senses, and following my intuition regardless of others thoughts of uncomfortableness. (is that a word.) (Thats why this is Redneck Liber).
I am feeling confident in a humble out of the box way.

Laziness Gene

I knew it wasn't my fault.....

The Call

I am going to take a plunge. I am feeling the call. Has anyone here heard of the Hero cycle. Joseph Cambell has studied mythology and has drawn the diagram as above he calls the Hero Cycle. Its not quite as I learned it but its close. He has written a book called the hero of a thousand faces.
I am about to embark on an adventure of my own. I am feeling the call to go back to school. How very exciting. I will be taking distance study classes, one at a time because keep in mind I still have 6 children that I home school. I am on the 10 year plan to a bachelors degree. It will probably take that long but I feel it needs to be done. The thought keeps me up at night. I want to study the humanities, Philosophy, History, Literature, Art, Music, and yes I guess Math. I guess because math is truth math is beautiful. I need to search more to find the beauty in Math.
I will be starting this fall, and away I go.
Dr Demille of George Wythe College teaches the hero cycle slightly differently, but the call and roadblocks are still the same. Needing a mentor, knowing your Tests, Traps, and trials. This can be the path to success.
But the Call is coming in loud and clear. I will answer or I will stay on the path to mediocrity.


Just an update on August 18 I have decided not to go back this year. It is a right thing for me to do but not a right now thing... Odd but true...

Warming of the Heart

Somethings just warm my heart. I saw this today and got emotional about it. I am getting emotional about a lot of things lately. But this will be my research project for the day.
In the Lift organization that I am a part of my Friend Stacy Nicol talks about See a Need Fill a Need, and to me this is a great example. 77% of people involved turn their lives around.
I will be learning more on this.

Update
I love Wikipedia, it can answer so many questions.

How great for the world to unite on this. This is a good thing happening in the world.
Canada is having a championship game in Calgary to see who represents Canada in Melbourne in December. Do you think TSN will air it?

Service is love

In Joshua 14 Joshua says he has strength yet for another mountain. I hear this and it makes me tired.

I understand Valleys are a natural part of taking on a mountain and maybe I should realize I am in a metaphorical valley at the moment. It seems to me that a way out of my Valley is to serve others and to love them.






My kids are angels because even thought I am not a picnic to live with right now they are still really really great kids.

We are going to learn to serve each other this week. I have decided that when there is a fight or quarrel we will work together. So we will either learn to love work or learn to love each other.

There are days when I feel completely at ease that I am creating the village I want my children raised in, I am planting the Oaks to shade them. Then there are days when the Laundry isn't done in 5 loads and I think I am drowning in house work and realize that I have neglected the home front a little to long. Where is the balance?
I have a mission yes that I know, but some days I feel that my mission is doing laundry. H.G. wells said that "Men who think in lifetimes are of no use to statesmanship." Meaning, and I agree with this, that we need to think Generational. What kind of mothers am I raising? Another scary question.
To many rhetorical questions going through my head today.

So much on the go

I have been busy planning and writing and organizing the Second Annual Thomas Jefferson Education Forum. It is going very well. I have 85 people signed up and who knows how many people will come to the door.
We have a great line up this year and I am so excite for it to happen. Anyway thats why I have been busy.
Thanks,
Peggy

Guilty

I am guilty of this one.

They were seperated

Due to the miracle of adoption my youngest 2 are 7 1/2 months apart in age. People always ask if they are twins, I say no, they ask how far apart are they I tell them 7.5 months and then I get looks of great wonder. I have actually thought of carrying around a camera to take pictures. I usually say well I am wonder woman,... no one was adopted.
Any way I digress. Yesterday Birth dad came for a visit. Fred, Haley, Kirsten and birthdad all went into town yesterday. Poor Hunter stood at the door in total and complete shock that Haley was leaving without him. Then it hit me this is probably one of the first times they haven't gone out together. They do everything together. He couldn't believe it. All day he kept asking to go in the van. "I go in van mom". He kept opening the door to see if they were home yet. I finally talked Megan into taking him to the park across the street from our house.
It was kind of interesting. I never realized how much they were together until yesterday.
Should they do more separate things? Should we take them out one at a time?