Family Builder Month 6 Master Inspire Plan
As I look back over my 3 objectives I am a bit disappointed in the progress we have made. Although I have learned so much and I feel like I'm getting so much more clarity on where we want our family to be headed, I feel like some relationships have suffered in the process. I feel less in the box toward my children but am quick to jump back in the box with my husband (Objective 1). I realize that this relationship is vital to our success as a family. I'm not sure if my expectation of him is higher after learning about all of this or if I'm just feeling overwhelmed and wanting to share the weight of it with him but we have been struggling. We are still working on our vision story for our family and for us as a couple. It is easy for our conversations to turn into a power struggle as we realize that our visions are not exactly the same. I'm sure glad we are clarifying things now and not 20 years from now when the results are in! Even through our struggles, I can tell that we are getting stronger and closer. The uncomfortable questions are worth the answers. I just have to remember to inspire not require with my husband too!
I've got to keep the focus to fixing self. I remember to apply that principle with the kids and over all I do feel like we have created a more inspiring environment (Objective 2), except cleaning day, still working on that. I will do even better at creating the environment as I consistently plan the sparks to work on (this is where I'm really excited about the closet). We are doing really well keeping to our schedule (structure time not content) and holding regular couple meetings and kid dates.
Thanks to Jim Trelease's book “The Read Aloud Handbook” we are reading like crazy at our house (Objective #3 read more classics). We have scripture snack everyday and baskets of books everywhere. We have book lamps and new shelves and lots of trips to the library and lots of time just reading. I love it! I love seeing my kids choose to curl up and read during "free play time". Even my 2 and 4 year old have caught the book fever. They play with letters and retell each other stories, they have even learned quite a few sight words on accident. They just want to fit in with a family obsessed with reading! I can't believe how things have progressed in such a short period of time.
I think the master inspire plan is just going to give us a clearer destination and will help us to find our way to getting there faster.
Master Inspire Plan
1. Classics
· Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
· The Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
· Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
· 7 Habits of highly Effective Kids/Teens, both by Stephen Covey
· Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles and Mary Lamb
· The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien
· Where the Red Fern Grows
· Anne of Green Gables, by Montgomery
· Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson
· Little Britches, by Ralph Moody
· Little Men, by Alcott
· The Indian and the Cupboard, by Lynne Reid Banks
· Holes
· Hatchet
· A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
· Peter Pan, by J.M Barrie
· 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
· Swiss Family Robinson
· Sherlock Holmes
· Journey to the Center of the Earth
· Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
· The Incredible Journey
· King Arthur and his Knights of the round table
· Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin
· Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austin
· The Count of Monty Christo
· Think and Grow Rich
· How to Win friends and Influence people, Dale Carnegie
· The Secret
· Le Miserables
· Jane Eyre
· Drawing on the Powers of Heaven, by Grant Von Harrison
· Mathematicians are people too
· Secrets of a Millionaire Mind, by T. Harv. Echler
· Rich Dad, Poor Dad Conspiracy of the Rich, by Robert k
2. Cultural Literacy
· Current Family culture to be captured in a family blog that is to be updated weekly and printed off as a book yearly.
· Each member of the family will also keep a personal Journal.
· We will read Daddy's mission Journals, Moms Journals and Grandads personal history during devotionals.
· Daddy will continue to write and share more stories from his childhood.
· Read the Family History compiled by Grandad.
· Study the Culture and traditions of our native lands (Holland, Canada, Spain and Ireland)
· Call Aunt Darla and get some more info on Norton Family info, write it down
· Areas of Study
o Era's in History
o Art
o Poetry
o Technology
o Wars
o Presidents
o Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other founding documents'
o Geography
o Science (major fields, writings of great scientists)
o Government forms
o Philosophy
o People of Influence (Biographies)
o Music periods and Composers
o Foreign Language
o Current Events
o Future Trends
o Foreign affairs
o Law
o Religion
o Health
o Logic
o Business management and marketing
o Mathematics/ great mathematicians
o Language Arts
o Shakespeare
o Mythology
o Classic Tales
o E.D Hirsch Core Knowledge Series
3. Resources
· Project Seel (Early reading)
· Kimber Curriculum
· Sequential Spelling
· Sing Spell Read and Write
· Themes to Remember 1&2
· E.D Hirsch Core Knowledge Series
· Cornerstones of Freedom Series?
· Excellence in Writing
· Power Glide language Instruction?
· Math u See?
· Aleks?
· The Children's Garden of Verses? Random House book of Poetry?
· A History of Us (Joy Hakim)? or Story of the World (Susan wise Bauer)
· Winston Grammar?
· Childhood of Famous American Series
· Handwriting program?
· 7 Habits series for kids
· Hero Classic DVD collection
4. Adult Skills
· Money management (budget, balance check book, quick books etc)
· Tutoring children
· Mentoring (Leadership skills)
· Food prep
· Shopping
· Survival
· Preparedness
· First Aid
· Birthing
· Nursing
· Safety
· Cleaning
· Laundry
· Home Maintenance
· Gardening
· Auto Maintenance
· Parenting
· Dating
5. Organizational Programs
· Scouts
· Faith in God
· Personal Progress
· Toast masters
· Suzuki Institute
· Various TJEd organizations to be looked into
6. Experience
· Lead Groups
· Public Speaking
· Lead and Participate in colloquia
· Create and run a successful small business
· Perform (music, poetry, plays solo and in groups)
7. God
· Study Book of Mormon (using readers and Kimber curriculum to augment also Living Scripture DVDs)
· Bible
· Primary Yearly Curriculum (Provides scriptures themes and songs to memorize to go along with monthly themes taught in Church)
· Articles of Faith (Primary Song book)
· Church History (Children's Readers)
· Prepare for Mission (Preach my Gospel and Daddy's mission journals)
· Prophets lives and words (Friend Magazine)
· Be Attitudes (Matt 5)
· F.H.E
· Devotional
o Prayer
o Family Mission Statement
o Pledge
o Song of the month
o Article of Faith
o Scripture of the month
o Friend magazine
o Scripture reader
o Someone's Journal
8. Family Relationships
· Be attitudes (Matt 5)
· Five Love Languages
· Listening skills, communication (Covey for kids)
· Supportive and building of each other (Attribution Theory)
9. Places to go
· Europe (Switzerland, Holland, Spain, Paris, Ireland)
· Grand Canyon
· Washington D.C
· Virginia
· Zion’s Park
· Salt Lake
· Israel
· Mexico
· Greece
· Asia
· Java
· Australia
· Myrtle Beach
· Argentina
· Hawaii
· Florida (Disney, Universal, etc)
· Bahamas (Atlantis)
· Nauvoo (Church History trip)
· Palmyra
· Handcart Trek
· Niagara Falls
· Survival Trek
· River rafting trip
Closet
Of the 5 rules of engagement I think I have the hardest time we staying present. I do spend lots of time planning but I don't think it's always in the right things. I'm always looking ahead to the next thing which makes it hard to stay present.
As for our structured time we are pretty consistent about having a morning school time from about 9:30 to 12:30, at least 3 times a week. During that time we do devotional and read a lot, play educational games and do some roll play.
I want to do better about taking time to plan for school time. I plan for meals and scheduling and our family is very structured in making blocks of time for important things like reading, cleaning, eating, sleeping, doing meetings and playing. I need to somehow fit in some planning for some content during school. We often all go downstairs for school and start to get things done but sometimes we are not sure just what to do or it just doesn't seem as inspiring as it should be. I think I can make my planning time for the closet be on Thursday evenings. Right now I use a lot of that time to work on the family builder assignments. I'm just going to have to make it work. We can talk about things to plan for as a couple at our meetings on Sundays. Guess I put it off because I'm overwhelmed as to what to plan or what to follow. I’m excited to look through the web site to get some more ideas of what to put in the closet exactly.
As for a place in our home we have a nice bright basement that is set up perfectly for our school room. We have bins and shelves and tables and book cases. We also have a nearby storage room that houses the toys and games that are in rotation to go into our school room. Everything is organized into bins and they come out of hiding in a library like rotation. We do not have a closet but we do understand the benefits of changing things up and keeping them organized so pick up is less time consuming. I can see where a specific closet would be a valuable learning tool and so I think we will go and buy a free standing one from Ikea. I have already got a few ideas of things to put in there that would make them 'special" if they were in the closet and could only be used at a special time.
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