Homeschooling for 3

Although I always did well academically in school, I had few aspirations of attending college. Being part of the "Witness Protection Program" as my husband jokingly refers to the religion that I grew up in, higher education was frowned upon. It was even implied that those who chose to pursue a college education were "spiritually weak" and need to be helped. If you knew the hierarchy as I do, you'd understand that anyone who is taught to think logically would be a threat to their absolute power, and so much be thwarted at every turn. Now, back to the topic at hand -- the true purpose of education. Although I didn't attend college, most people assumed I had some college background. This used to punish me until an older person told me that all college taught them how to do was research to find the answers they sought. And that's when I knew why people always assumed I was "properly" schooled – I'm intellectually curious and once I am int...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am taking a 30 day mental cleanse to help my family life, my business and myself. I have been learning a lot about how my own mind works, and consequently how other people's minds work too. One of the most beneficial things to come out of this course, however, is my newfound compassion for my four year old daughter, Alaya. She's always been a challenge for me because she's very strong-willed, but clingy at the same time. Teaching her is more challenging that it was teaching her older sister. And now I know why. We're different colors. My lovely little girl is Yellow. What does that mean? Well, in a nutshell it means that she's an open, but indirect personality. It is harder for her to express herself than it is for me. She's more thoughtful and "mystical" if you will. We can go on a walk, and while I enjoy the scenery, she wants to examine each leaf, stone and twig. She can become entranced by a caterpill...

The Power of Autosuggestion I guess the one thing that stood out for me in this chapter is how unfocused my powers of concentration are. I was all prepared to be able to nod my head in agreement at the brain’s ability to deal with challenges as long as you prep it correctly from the beginning. My mother is a big proponent of this and emphasized this to me while growing up. I have convinced myself numerous times before undergoing an invasive dental treatment or other physically uncomfortable situations to think that I was lounging on the beach or doing something else pleasant. And this worked for me during the majority of my unpleasant visits. I just knew that I had this chapter already under control. But as with all aspects of life, the universe has a sense of humor. I learned that not only don’t I have this skill under control; I don’t even have the ability to make my imagination work on demand! I have written a goal statement (but I’m unsure if I’ve done it correc...

This chapter didn't resonate with me as strongly as the previous ones. Perhaps because I have always been a person of strong faith (not just religious, but in others and their abilities). It's one of the things that keeps me going when life becomes inexplicable. It's what keeps me calm when others wonder why I'm not panicking in situations. I remember when my son was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and his vital signs being low, one of the things my midwife told me afterwards is that she was impressed by my calm and obvious faith that things would turn out okay. At the time, I was of course concerned about Michael, but I had faith that Andrea would do all that she could to get him stablized . I had faith that the hospital that I had chosen was well-equipped and knew what they were doing. I also had faith that regardless of the outcome, God would sustain me through it. And because of that I wasn't crying, screaming or panicky. Faith is a ...

I never realized, until this week, why I am not in a better financial position. But when I read Chapter 2 the answer smacked me in the head with the force of Mt. Vesuvius' explosion. Financially I live in what I now call "survival mode" because that's what I asked for long ago. I have unwittingly set myself to always struggle with money. On the other hand, my "twin" (actually my neice but we're a month apart in age and extremely close) has always had the mindset that she's going to be rich and she's going to have things. And she does. She has investment property, her own cleaning company, is a realtor and works a regular 9-5. But she does all of that because she was determined to prove the negative people in our family to be liars about her abilities and ideas. And she has proved it not only to herself, but to the naysayers as well. And the only difference in our situations is that she had a goal and I just wanted to survive. What led me...

I have not been able to find the time to sit down and do my blog lately because I've been very busy learning about a most intriguing subject -- myself. Part of my New Year's Resolution is to begin working on myself so that I can be the type of mentor, friend, mother, teacher that I have always wanted to be. Part of this process has been to engage in a 30 Day Mental Cleanse with the help of the publication "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. I was introduced to this process by my newest friend and mentor, Pat Crosby (pat.mentoringforfree.com) and it's been a great help to me. Each week we consider one chapter from the book and see how the lessons contained within can help each of us to be a better person. It's so great to hear how differently each chapter affects (and reveals) portions of the group's life and belief system. I've included one of the first lessons from the book that I did, just to "prove" ( LOL !) that I haven't just bee...