Fwd: Norton Family Objectives

I'm cleaning out my old emails and I found this little goodie. Interesting to know where our family was a while ago. 

From: Jerry Norton <jlnorton1234@gmail.com>
Date: August 11, 2011 at 10:31:40 PM MDT
To: "Nicholeen Peck (HomeschoolUtah.com)" <nicholeenp@homeschoolutah.com>
Cc: AnnMarie Norton <agroenorton@yahoo.com>
Subject: Norton Family Objectives

Dear Nickoleen,

We have not forgotten about you! Our house has been in total disarray as we have just moved this last week. I really wanted to send you our objectives with our family mission statement, Master  Inspire plan,  and family schedule (along with some other things I did with Diann) so I have been waiting till I could get my computer out of a box!!

We are so excited to have you in our home! We are inspired by your methods and want to make the very most of your special visit. I'm not sure all that my husband has told you but we have been taking the family builder course with Diann Jeppson and I think it has prepared us in many ways to be mentored by you. We have done quite a few exercises that have pushed us to ask the hard questions and find the right answers of what we really want for our family. We have been so divinely inspired and have a pretty good vision of where we want to be. I just loved all of the thinking and proactive planning that went into our family as we took her course.  Where we need your help is in implementing the vision that we have created, into our everyday lives.

These last 3 months have been very intense for our family! As you know our second son Nathan became very ill and was diagnosed with Crohns disease in May.  We thought we were going to move out west but because of Nathans illness we are forced to stay in MI so we sold our house and moved down the street.

Nathan is on the Selective Carbohydrate diet which is very restrictive and between caring for him and packing and unpacking I feel like our family has been a mess! There has been no consistency or follow through on our part. My 2 and 4 year old fight for attention constantly.  All of the things we have been trying to implement have been put on hold as we have gone into survival mode. I want your help to go from survival mode to thrive mode. It has gotten so overwhelming lately that I haven't really liked being a mom, which is not like me.

I am attaching a few of the documents we put together for the family builder program to give you an idea of where we would like to be. They are…. Our Family Mission Statement, Master Inspire plan, family schedule,  Kids Education spread sheets and my personal educational assessment (so you can get to know me a little better).You can also check out our family blog which will give you a good idea of what we are about (inspirationstationfam @blogspot.com) If anything maybe this could be an interesting plane read? I know you are a busy woman and that this will be a sacrifice for your family especially with the long travel. I just can't tell you how thankful we are.

These are the main objectives I would like your help with and some of the things we struggle with.

 Objectives

1.     Understand and teach us the children the 4 basic skills and when to use the rule of 3.

2.     Help us create a family Vision (write it down)

3.     Help us develop  family economy/family standard (write it down)

4.     Look over our planned family schedule, Master Inspire plan and Education spread sheets and give any feedback to help implementation. Help me to learn how to plan for homeschooling in a leadership education style

 

Things we need to work on…

1.     Self control.  Both parents and children need to work on this. We would like to have more "calmness" in our home. No more yelling.

2.     Kindness and inclusion (older boys with younger siblings)

3.     Obedience (Bedtime, potty)

4.     Being consistent (no more empty threats). Come up with some positive and negative consequences.

5.     Prioritizing time to create better relationships within the family (family activities etc)

6.     Learn how to manage time so I have time for my own education. Kids seem to be needy often. Kids need to be able to occupy themselves sometimes.

 

 

I think this pretty much sums up what we are looking for from you and what we need help with. What do you think? Do you think this is realistic amount of stuff to a least get started on over a three day period? I know we will have lots to still implement once you have gone and my hubby said something about some calls with you for follow up.

What else can I do to prepare for you coming? How would you like our schedule to work? My Mother-in-love usually comes over during the school year 3 times a week so she is planning on being with us from 10-3 on Tues and Thurs. I wanted her to be here too so she could learn about how to handle things with the kids and so you could see how that dynamic works in our family. She can also watch over the kids if we need to talk.   Also I would like to record many of our interactions and conversations, I want to make the most of your visit and I know that it will be way too much for me to remember. Is that OK with you? Of course I would not share it with anyone without your permission and if you wanted to use any of it for your teaching purposes I would be just fine with that.

Here is what I thought our tentative schedule could be (of course if you have any other ideas I'm totally open to that)…

Tuesday morn- Teach us all about the 4 basic skills and rule of 3

Tues afternoon (Meme will help with kids) - Work on family vision, economy, and fam standard (come up with consequences)

Tues evening- Parenting discussion with friends (I think we will have quite a little crowd)

Wed morn- Observe interaction with kids (kids do chores)

Wed afternoon- Go over our planning spread sheets

Wed evening- Practice 4 basic skills with Daddy.  Finnish up family vision etc after kids are in bed.

Thurs morn- Go over homeschool plans. Talk about ways to inspire not require!

Thurs afternoon- Pack and leave for the airport. Give me a plan of action that I can return and report on the next time we speak.

I hope I have not given the impression that I don't love what I do because I do! I am passionate about our family and I am willing to do whatever it takes to help my children to become successful adults and to fight for good for the generations to come. This is why we are able to justify such an investment for tools that will help our family succeed. I take my job very seriously and I am looking forward to any feed back (good or bad) that will help us so don't be shy in letting me know what you think. I think you have had a lot of experience and a talent for what you do and I am just so hopeful for the things you can mentor us on. 

Please don't hesitate to call or email if you have any suggestions, questions or concerns.

Thanks again from the very bottom of our hearts.

AnnMarie Norton and Family (my email agroenorton@yahoo.com my phone 248-467-7788)