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Sincerely,
Russell Keppner
TJEd.org Administrator
I've recently made the decision to homeschool using the TJed model. However, after reading through many of your posts I'm now feeling rather nauseous and nervous. Do I have what It takes? Not only am I plagued with self-doubt, but I'm having trouble fully committing to all the principles of TJed due to some deep rooted conveyor belt educational... road blocks? Sometimes I wonder, how did I get here?? Reallt, my arrival to this point has been nothing less than a spiritual journey. I honestly feel that I've been led by the Divine and yet I've never felt more inadequate in all my life. Monday, I will begin...with my larger than life vision. Will it really work? Can I really educate myself, inspire greatness in my children while raising a growing family? I have three children, an eight year old being my oldest. He hates school. That's what I'm starting with. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Trust the Process
I have several thoughts to share. I hope they help. They have helped others in your position many times.
#1- Trust the Process: If you believe that the principles of a Thomas Jefferson Education are true, eternal, right principles, then apply them as best you can, and then just give the rest over to your higher power. It is a very spiritual thing. You will feel out of control frequently (if you are anything like me...and a dozen other moms whose shoulders I have cried on, and whose tears have wet my own.)
#2- Remember that YOU are the expert on your home. Dr. DeMille reminds students/mentee's of this frequently. And it's true. No one else can exactly tell you what you need to do. Trust that YOU know what your children need. You know them best. Pray for them. Pray with them. Make decisions based on true principles and then trust the process again.
#3- Here is advice that I need to remind myself of for the umpteenth time: Remember the YOU NOT THEM principle. (I keep falling back to conveyor belt ways and then looking at my kids wondering why the heck they aren't more driven, why they aren't reading good books, why they aren't playing with math...duh...I'm not!!!) So, apply this principle and then...you guessed it: trust the process :)
One last thing, Aneladee Milne and Tiffany Rhoades Earl taught in one of their seminars that if you feel "called" to do TJED, then consider it just that: a calling. A message from a higher power. It is not a random choice you have made. That spiritual path you speak of is very real and must be remembered throughout the process. Your children have a work to do. They are geniuses, as are you. And perhaps the spirit that is guiding you is telling you that they must MUST must have a leadership education in order to fulfill the mission they were sent here to perform. (Hmm..another reminder to self...thanks for letting me REMEMBER these things as I share them with you!)
Oh, and remember: When you are off the conveyor belt: "Gardening is botany, raising and butchering animals is biology, shopping is economics. The home lessons are a practical way to live and learn." School is life. Life is school!!!
Good luck. Take Care. Trust the process (I think this really means Trust YOURSELF!)
From an equally intimidated sister,
Mindy Hardy
Sounds like you are right
Sounds like you are right where you need to be right now. We all had to be humbled or choose to humble ourselves in order to ask for help and in order to change. Those conveyor belt road blocks I've had to let go of, too. It's easier for me to let go of them than it is for my dh, because I'm home all the time and I see what works in action. But he's also a work in progress; we have both changed a lot since we began homeschooling 10 years ago.
It's said (in GWUAn abbreviation of George Wythe University (formerly George Wythe College), a private liberal arts college headquartered in Cedar City, Utah, which Dr. Oliver DeMille helped found, and where he formerly served as president. There are also plans underway for building a much larger campus in Monticello, Utah, and plans have also been announced for a remote campus in Alberta, Canada. seminars) that in ten years you and your children will be ten years older; you will have learned and they will have learned. If in 10 years you have tried to give your children a leadership education, it may or may not produce fine upstanding people of principle. But if you give yourself a leadership education, they will get one, too. They will see you becoming a different person and they will want that. Will they be clones of you? Of course not. But they will see you doing the hard work of educating yourself and they will be more willing to do hard work themselves.
You can do it!