After devotional this morning, Pipalicious (10) asked the question: what is the difference between doodling and drawing? We came to the conclusion that the biggest difference between them is that with drawing, you start out with a goal in mind, while with doodling, whether with a pattern or method or abstract, doesn't begin with an end in mind.After another song of reflection, Hava (8) piped up and said, "I think that doodling is like us in our life. Sometimes we are wandering around and don't know where we are. And then when God comes in it is like He helps you to draw your life and it helps you."
Profound.
I have felt so blessed as I have just sought to follow the Spirit in our homeschooling curriculum. I am still very imperfect at trusting my promptings and sometimes default to "overplan"/"overschedule" mode, but I have become better at recognizing what that feels like (blegh!) and so try to stop what I am doing when I feel that way and re-evaluate and seek inspiration once again.
After talking with my missionary Lek, I have also been considering on the value of an inspired schedule and the blessing that come with being obedient to it. If it is truly inspired, I need to have faith that it is important.
Some "patterns" that are helpful and inspiring for our family, some patterned after D&C 88:
-meals together
-basics/jobs done by 9 am
-exercise
-worship at church and at home
-four lenses (one week a month loosely dedicated to each one)
-temple attendance (whatever regularity God tells us to do)
-family history daily
-monthly themes to help us revisit important fundamental questions about ourselves and the world around us. (I use these to guide the topics of my devotionals and family reading...among other things.)
One of the biggest, constant components of our regular, inspired schedule is devotional which, some mornings like this morning, last over an hour. But to have the results of the above conversation?...priceless.
Earlier in the devotional, we talked about patterns we can follow (following up on our FHE last night on "A Pattern In All Things" talk from 1990:https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1990/10/a-pattern-in-all-things?lang=eng). Good patterns. Bad patterns. I read from two sweet kids books that Hava "happened" to give me, saying, "why don't we read these?" The books fit perfectly into the idea of patterns. ("If You Plant a Seed" and "Cinderella CTR.") We talked about patterns of God, like being honest. Choosing the right. We talked about consequences. We drew pictures of flowers and talked about how everyone's daily pattern, like those flowers, will look different. And each is beautiful. And then we had the awesome discussion sparked by my girls at the end of reflection time, another part of our inspired plan for us.
I have been just trying to follow the Spirit with my homeschooling. I have a loose focus on a different lens every week. If it is the Geo-conquest week, I will cover geography from wherever we are reading in history or in our read-aloud book. Eureka week, we will play more math games or pick up my "In the Beginning" science book and have a few days of fun immersion in science. Imaginative Arts week, we will bring out the paints, art, whatever. Every week is Leadership week in my home :). That is my main focus. Sometimes I use those in between weeks for "getting back to basics." You could definitely term them "leadership academy
However, I am not limited to this pattern. The biggest "pattern" is this: pray, offer my loaves and fishes to God, read my scriptures, go to the temple as often as I feel I can and then move forward with what God tells me to do. If He has no new inspiration, I can settle comfortably into my sub-patterns. I seek to engage in spiritual experiences as often as I can and then when God tells me to be still and move on, I will. The Bread and Water of life which is our Savior and His enabling Atonement are truly life-giving and sustaining.
Look at Joseph Smith! He learned so much in the middle of an insane life full of tribulation and sheer busy-ness. We, too, can, when our focus is on God.
Patterns. We are each trying to take a look at the patterns, good and bad, that have in our life. Each of us in our family. It is neat to hear the unique tweaking God has for each of us.
One thing I felt inspired to do was to prepare the play, "Antigone." We found a translation online and we are memorizing most of it, with only major parts edited out for our little Pipalicious, who is the chorus with many lines. As we have reviewed and rehearsed it, it is amazing all that we are learning in the process: political questions, moral questions, elocution, memorization, presentation, clarity, emotions. As in any good play, the writer has captured many extremes of human emotion and by acting them out, we can see their reflection in ourselves. Ahhhh....the beauty of the arts.
I put this inspiration off for a few months. I mean, what kind of crazy person puts on an ancient Greek play with 6 people ranging from a mom to an 8 year old?? But here we are. And I am learning through the lens of God's pattern for my family. I love to sit back and watch the Spirit through books, media and other arts work the miracle of education in our home!
Just need to remember this moment of happiness and trust more when it seems there is so much more my children could be learning when they are all giggling together with the baby in the front room like they are now :D.
I have been hesitant to post anything here for a little while. Like when we spent two weeks after learning about the 7 Wonders having the kids do prezi "7 Wonder" presentations of their own...finding whatever they thought was wonderous about the world. We learned about animals, the Outback, extreme sports and the Restoration...all examples of wonders that were covered. It was meaningful, self-education and teaching that taught so much! And it all came after learning briefly about the Ancient Wonders and thinking, "What would I consider the 7 most wondrous things ever?" I had each kid assigned a day to present on and we did it! Super cool.
But to blog about that, I can just see someone saying, "Oh! I want to do that idea!" Well, it will be an awesome idea if it feels right and not just that you are trying to duplicate someone else's awesomeness because you don't have faith in your own.
Revisit Oliver DeMille's "Eighth Key" speech so many years ago, wherein he spoke about how all mentors need to have a firm conviction of the genius of everyone. Including themselves. It is hard for children to believe they have genius and awesomeness when they are daily confronted with an adult who does not see the genius and awesomeness of themselves. And says so. God can work with all of our geniuses. Begin to trust. Begin to experiment with God-inspired schedules and patterns that are unique to your family. It is incredible. It is freeing. It is true, individually-tailored leadership education. It is a pattern for peace as you rest each night knowing that you did exactly what God told you to do and having confidence that what He has to say is enough.
(Link to DeMille's speech: $5.99...might be worth it. If you feel prompted to :D.)
