Educational Planning for the Fall

I've been trying to come up with an educational plan for this new "school year".  I'm constantly revising our "educational plan" so it's not like I'm doing anything out of the ordinary, but I do find that Fall does feel like a time for new beginnings and I'm looking closely at ways to improve.

I have found that the following words, from this talk, by David R. Stone of the seventy are very true for me:

And with the encroachment of Babylon, we have to create Zion in the midst of it. We should not allow ourselves to be engulfed by the culture which surrounds us. We seldom realize the extent to which we are a product of the culture of our place and time....What an insidious thing is this culture amidst which we live. It permeates our environment, and we think we are being reasonable and logical when, all too often, we have been molded by the ethos, what the Germans call the zeitgeist, or the culture of our place and time.

Our culture tends to determine what foods we like, how we dress, what constitutes polite behavior, what sports we should follow, what our taste in music should be, the importance of education, and our attitudes toward honesty. It also influences men as to the importance of recreation or religion, influences women about the priority of career or childbearing, and has a powerful effect on how we approach procreation and moral issues. All too often, we are like puppets on a string, as our culture determines what is "cool."

Much of what I think I need to teach my children comes from the culture in which I live.  My culture tells me, not only what I need to teach my children, but at what age and in what order.  It can be a bit overwhelming to look at a school district website and see what a child needs to know in a certain grade. I haven't looked at one in a while just because I don't think a particular school district necessarily knows what my child needs to learn at a certain age, but they do give you an appreciation for the vast amount of information and knowledge that is out there for us to seek!

There is also much to avoid that drains energy and time. I liked this thought from the above talk as well:

We can create the real Zion among us by limiting the extent to which Babylon will influence our lives.

I try to ask myself what my children really need to know so I can make sure I teach it.  I've tried to categorize it into "good, better, best" (Oaks - see here) or "nice to do, necessary, and essential" (Beck - see here).  This way I can make sure that I always do the "essential", usually do the "necessary" and then try to do the "nice to do" as often as time permits.  Actually, I couldn't think of any reason I would have to schedule in the "nice to do" since I have no problem doing them when they come up so I changed that category to "important".

I'm trying to get rid of my pre-conceived notions about what an education is and see what the Lord has said in the scriptures and through latter-day prophets.  It's a process and I'm sure things will change as I understand it better, but I'm learning a lot as I try.

These words form President Ezra Taft Benson (from here) are helpful in knowing what to teach:

Not all knowledge has the same worth—nor are all truths equally valuable. The truths upon which our eternal salvation rest are the most crucial truths that we must learn. No man is truly educated unless he knows where he came from, why he is here, and where he can expect to go in the next life. He must be able to adequately answer the question Jesus posed, “What think ye of Christ?"

This world cannot teach us these things. Therefore, the most essential knowledge for us to obtain is the saving knowledge of the gospel and of its Author—even Jesus Christ...

While the gospel includes the more crucial saving truths contained within theology, it also embraces truth in other branches of learning. The Lord encouraged the early missionaries to be instructed more perfectly in “things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms.” (D&C 88:79.)

I would add here the following verse  (verse 80) which states why we need to learn all these things: "That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you."

I also like this point from president Benson:

With the abundance of books available today, it is a mark of a truly educated man to know what not to read...The most essential temporal skills or knowledge are being able to use our hands and minds to provide food, clothing, and shelter for ourselves and our families.

I won't bore you with what I wrote in each category, but here is what our days look like lately (ha, ha...don't I wish!  This is what they look like in my mind, but they usually look a lot more sporadic and interrupted in real life.  I'm learning to be happy with that, though, and to embrace the interruptions as the real hands-on work of building character and "being" as the Savior would have me be):

5:45 - Exercise
6:30 - Scriptures (children get up and start working on their morning list and then join me and read their scriptures)
7:30 - Morning lists (for me and for those who missed certain things.  Basically, zones and rooms are clean and we are ready for the day)
8:00 - Morning devotional (hymn, prayer, scripture story, journals, memory verse, history story or biography)
8:30 - Smoothie/fruit (sometimes combined with the morning devotional)
8:45 - Family work
10:30 - Brunch (I read them some U.S. history if I get done before they do)
11:30 - Afternoon Devotional (Spanish hymn, prayer, Ensign thought, poetry, memory poem, short story)
12:00 - Skill practice (times tables speed drills or math book, penmanship or dictation)
12:30 - Take turns reading out-loud to mom (everyone gets their books and reads to themselves and I call each one out individually to have them read me a little of their book).
1:30 - Free time (they often continue reading, work on a project, practice an instrument or play in the backyard).
3:30 - Dinner (I'm blessed to have a husband who's usually home by then - during dinner I'm trying to remember to have the narrate what they've learned that day or recite something they've memorized to their dad.)
5:00 - Evening Lists then some free family time or I'll offer a lesson (in art, nature, music, creative writing etc).
6:00 - Evening Devotional (includes family reading time)
7:30 - Supper (sometimes combined with the evening devotional) then Bedtime - individual reading in bed
8:30 - Lights out

That's how I would like it to look, but I haven't had a day yet where it actually looks like this - and I'm just fine with that.  Partly it's the worthy interruptions, and partly is because I'm lazy and I have a hard time establishing new habits.  I'm perfectly happy when it's the former.  I'm frustrated with myself when it's the latter.  Fortunately, the latter is becoming less frequent over time and habits are beginning to form.  Yay!  At least until I change things up again...