This week I took a class to visit a pre-school. It was a field trip for an entrepreneur class I’m teaching this semester. One of our students is interested in child development and has dreams of opening up a pre-school one day.
It was a wonderful school. Colorful classrooms. Student artwork hanging on the wall. The kids were all well behaved and engaged in what they were supposed to be doing.
I asked the director a question about free play.
Have you heard of Ken Robinson? His TED talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity,” has been viewed 72 MILLION times. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it.
Right now I’m rereading his book “Finding Your Element.” I’ve listened to it several times and even read the actual book once. This time I’m taking the time to annotate, do the suggested activities, and take notes.
It is that good of a book.
Full confession. I have some bad habits.
One of them is not taking care of myself. For example, during the last few months not only was I doing everything for the Realizing Genius Homeschool Conference, but I was also moving my mom into my home – on top of all the classes I’m teaching this semester. I didn’t take time to take care of myself and I crashed HARD. Big wake-up call.
Another bad habit I have is getting sucked in by television series. I have a really hard time not doing something so when I crashed I started watching TV. It helped keep my mind busy enough that I didn’t go stir crazy. But I get so involved in the storyline that I have a hard time turning the TV off. And then I would fall asleep and miss half of it anyway!
It’s not just TV. My family and I are big Harry Potter fans. We would go to the parties at the book stores when the books came out and I would buy the book and then go home, send the boys to bed, and stay up all night reading. The boys would be on their own until I finished.
I don’t read a lot of fiction due to this problem. Somehow nonfiction is easier (most of the time) to put down.
Today when I go to the grocery store in the middle of the week with my son he usually isn’t the only kid in there but twenty years ago I really stood out when I’d take my four sons to the store. I’d regularly get the question, “Aren’t they supposed to be in school?”
What kind of story are you stuck in? The kind you want to read about? A real page-turner (in a good way)? Or is it a little bit boring and predictable? Is the protagonist (you) living up to their full potential? Or are they living someone else’s life by getting caught up in video games and TV shows?
It takes some work and planning to realize your genius and write the story you want to live. A genius paradigm is easy to talk about but not always easy to implement.
It’s worth it, though.
As a homeschooler, I’m always so excited to get started at the beginning of the year. We have all the materials, and I’ve taken the time to plan and organize. We begin losing momentum a little after Thanksgiving, but I change things up for the holidays, and we make it through. I re-evaluate at the first of the year and then get going again, but it hits me big time after a couple of months. Burn Out.
After almost 20 years of homeschooling, I can see the cycles. Each year in February or March, I feel it again. If I’m going to think about giving up, this is when it happens. I start questioning why I am doing what I’m doing. I’ve talked to other veteran homeschoolers, and I’m not the only one.
So, how do I keep on going?
I love quotes. You probably figured that out by now if you follow me on social media. I’m continually sharing what other people have said. Quotes inspire me.
Recently there has been a quote that keeps following me around. It keeps coming to me and pushing me. I put it on a sticky note on my computer, but I feel like I need to do more and share it with you. Here it is:
When family or friends come to me with a challenge, I usually send them away with a list of books. It has gotten so bad that my boys will laugh, and before I even get the words out, say, “Let me guess. You have a book that I should read?” This month I’m going to continue my series to explain the six characteristics that will help you live and share your genius. The fifth characteristic is Action-Oriented. Enjoy!
When family or friends come to me with a challenge, I usually send them away with a list of books. It has gotten so bad that my boys will laugh, and before I even get the words out, say, “Let me guess. You have a book that I should read?” This month I’m going to continue my series to explain the six characteristics that will help you live and share your genius. The fourth characteristic is TALENT, which I define as resources. Enjoy!
Gratitude changes things and things right now need to change! With my Gratitude Project I suggest writing in a gratitude journal each day, but what if that doesn’t sound interesting to you? Here are some activities that you can do to share your gratitude in other ways. I’m all about individualizing and being the protagonist in your own story so do what works for you!