Thursday, August 5, 2010

Implementing New Ideas - Celestial Education

So, I've been trying to figure out how to educate my children.  I know - story of my life.  It seems like once I think I have something down, I learn something new and then I have to change things up a bit.  That's how we're supposed to learn I suppose - line upon line, precept upon precept.

I'm working on the things I learned about in the Celestial Education video that I mention here.  She presented some new ideas and I've been trying to implement the ones that I liked for my family.  It can be hard to judge new ideas.

I noticed this happening with the headgates article - the ideas were so new, that people felt a need to learn more about the presenter - what are her credentials, how old are her kids, etc.  I think it might be more beneficial to look at the ideas presented and see if they are true ideas for our family or not.  We do not need to be blown about by every wind of doctrine if we are anchored to Christ.  Staying anchored to Christ is work, so it's easier to check if the presenters are trustworthy so we can trust their message without having to find out for ourselves if the message is true.   New ideas are hard to accept, but we can know if they are true or not regardless of who is presenting them to us.
For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.
And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the alight by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.
Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ. - Moroni 7:15-19
I feel so blessed to have access to the source of all truth.  If I can stay tuned to His guidance, there is no need to fear.  It is a peaceful place to be.

So that's been my focus lately.  I need to make sure I am tuned into the frequency of the Spirit.  I am so lazy sometimes and I get into little slumps where I just don't want to do anything.  Laundry and cleaning is so monotonous, scripture study takes time, I don't want to prepare yet another meal, but I have seen - over and over again - that if I just take the initial step to do it anyway, the Spirit enters my heart and it becomes a joyful, fulfilling task - even if I'm doing it for the up-teenth-thousanth time.   And I even learn something in the process.  Pretty amazing.

I mentioned on this blog that I was praying with the children one afternoon and I asked Heavenly Father to please help us use our free time in a wise way.  When I finished praying, the kids asked me if they should be praying about their free time.  This should have been a no-brainer for me, but I was in the mindset of "not requiring" and I worried that they would feel required to do specific things with their free time.   I soon realized the problem with this thinking and saw that, yes, of course we should seek Heavenly Father's will in how we use our time.

This realization led me to ponder if I was not focusing on Christ enough in my teaching.  Some of the ideas on the video resonated with me and I am working on centering our education more on Christ and not just on learning things.

I'm finding many roadblocks and distractions.  Satan always seems to work hard on getting me off track when I'm doing something important.   The last two days have been hard -  I have felt extra lazy and distracted.  Today will be better.

5 comments:

  1. you make such good points and express yourself so well. you always put my thoughts into the exact words i feel. thanks for sharing them.

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  2. I'm really curious what you've been doing.....not blogging :) What have been the challenges you have found and what things have you added. SHARE! :) I should get my copy out and watch it again...it is like the headgates article and the tjed books, and fascinating womanhood...and all those other classics...I just have to keep getting them out and reading them again and again since I always seem to be forgetting all the great things I know to be true :)

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  3. I loved the poem by Taylor Mali! That was really great! I also love what you said about using our good judgement to decide if something (The Headgates, for example) is right for our families. If there is anything I am learning about homeschooling, it's that it's completely okay to forge our own path! When I first started out, I felt like I needed to find something and follow it to the "T". Now, the wisdom is starting to kick in, and our homeschooling experiences are greatly enriched by the inspiration that comes through personal prayer and answers from a loving Father in Heaven. He helps us to find goodness, and then use it in ways that will best benefit our family! :d)

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  4. It sounds like a really good video - I'll definitely have to check it out.

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  5. Because of this post I followed your link and purchased the Celestial Education video as well as The Books of H. Verlan Andersen (which I had been searching for but could not find, so thanks! I plan to blog on my readings of his soon). I just recieved them yesterday and started to watch Michelle Stone's video today. It is wonderful. Thank you so much for recommending it. I'm only about 40min. into it but know it is perfect for where I have been in my thoughts on educating my children these past few weeks. Back to watching it now!

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