Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. I am thankful for Saturdays. I do believe that perhaps Saturday should come after Sunday. Or maybe the weekdays should be Tuesday through Saturday. The weekend would then be Sunday/Monday and we could have a recovery day from our Sunday day of rest. What do you think?
Back to the gratitude, I loved having my children all home. I am grateful for family, friends, good food, happy laughter, music and a warm house. I am grateful for my knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how to apply it to living in this world.
Love and ~Hugs~ to all!

Lighthearted

Laughter, I have missed it. Ad and AMS are laughing today in abundance. Last weekend when Cody was home I heard lots of giggling. I feel good hearing that sound. School has been stressful and I understand a little more about why homeschooling felt so heavy all the time. Any how, I prefer happiness and joy. Here is to a more lighthearted approach to lifes daily challenges. And some things I am exploring to bring joy and have fun.

I want to sew a dress that someone will actually wear because it fits great and feels fabulous!

I want to paint, creatively paint, get one of those pictures from childhood,I really don't have many, out of my memory and on to some solid surface.

I want to share what I know in a big way! I want to make a difference!

To start..I shall take my to do list seriously..and enjoy the outcome as well as the time progressing through it. Appreciate that I am a STAY AT HOME MOM! I love you sweetheart of the daily grind. Ask for help when needed, stop being afraid to say what I need. ~Hugs~

Six Stages of Learning

This post is simply to show the quick steps involved in order to learn. I am trying to implement these tools in creating a learning environment in my home and in taming chaos. Hmmm. I pulled eight coats out of the closet this morning. I know that they once belonged to someone, I can identify who, but what if they would like it for something sometime...If I choose to get rid of them then I need to make a conscious mental memorization that I no longer own that Item, and if I choose to keep them... again I need the conscious memorized choice that I kept them and am storing them...Here. And then someone will test my knowledge by asking "Mom, have you seen my senior sweatshirt." Ha! moving on...

1. State of Mind. "resourceful" meaning calm, relaxed, confident and motivated. Concentrate

2. Intake of Information. When taking in new information..you must do something to make that information more memorable to you. What you do depends on your preferred learning style. Visual, Auditory, Physical.

3.Explore the Subject. When you explore you create understanding. What do I already know...What don't I know? How does this apply?

4. Memorize the Information. The aim is to commit one or two key facts to memory, that way there is a trigger for all the learned information to be brought back for use.

5. Show you know. Put your information to the test. With out this you cannot measure whether you have learned.

6. Reflect on how you learn. How well did learning go? This aims to improve not only what you learn but how you learn as well. This step will help you become a better and better learner.

Response...Why yes, I discovered that senior sweatshirt in the folded down van seat which has been in the garage for how many months?

Dinner with an Apostle

I had the opportunity to go to the J. Reuben Clark Law Society dinner with my husband, where apostle Elder D. Todd Christofferson was speaking after. Tom Moss of Blackfoot and United States Attorney for years was honored for his service. People and their life stories are amazing.
Elder Christofferson spoke about his days as a law clerk at the US Supreme Court during the Watergate trials. Fascinating to say the least. Then he bore testimony of Jesus Christ and the fact that he knows each of us, he loves each and he cares and desires to serve each. Never forget that he leads this church, he is always at the head, directing and guiding. Was worth the trip across the desert.
About that...I drove the suburban to Idaho Falls so I could take AMS to the Chiropractor growing issues, and then meet DH for dinner. When driving in town it felt like something wasn't quite right with the wheels of the suburban. I ended up at Wally's on the Ammon side to discover to every ones "horror" that I was driving around with only slippery metal against metal plates to stop me with "yikes"! Two hours later I am back on the road. I know I am blessed and am truly grateful for the safety we were afforded driving around with out proper brakes. I really like the service at Wally's. I am grateful for their kindness and professionalism. And I am grateful for my knowledge of Jesus Christ his atonement and example. ~HUGS~

Two in One

Two posts in one day. Well the learning posts are good for me, but they take a lot of time. And I need to learn more about using the blog. It will be fun for me when I learn to up load pictures, but one thing at a time.
First success. Planning and preparing meals is paying off. I haven't gone formal big errand day shopping yet this month and it is already the 11th. It helps that Ralph butchered, and cooked a turkey two and a half weeks ago and we ordered from bountifulbaskets.org. Menus using turkey; turkey pita pockets on homemade pitas, Turkey chili and homemade bread, turkey vegetable soup - veggies from the garden, sweet and spicy turkey over rice, turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce, turkey and stuffing with green salad, persimmon smoothies, collard greens and fried potatoes and onions and turkey, turkey salad, Turkey tacos on homemade tortillas and more turkey sandwiches. Nice week.
Looking forward to the results of following a success model for the homemaker. Some things I have got down pretty well, others well...not so good, but I am watching for the perfect mentor. ~Hugs~

two in one

Stressed or stretched, there is a difference between feeling stressed - a negative emotion and the feeling of tension you get before you start something that you know will stretch your ability. To be stretched is positive _ it makes life fun.

One of the secrets to learning is to "get into a calm, positive mood", before you start learning.

Negative emotions need to be put away. Emotions of fear will trigger your middle brain to perceive a threat and shut down...never sending the new information on to the thinking brain.

You must do things that trigger pleasant emotions. Learning that involves color, illustrations, games, and sometimes music - engage the brain positively and we learn better. Someone suggested to me to put a chocolate bar broken into little peices to eat in your pocket to eat while taking a test, I suggest m&ms, easier and less messy, nothing like a little chocolate to give a sense of happiness right.

How you feel about learning is extremely important.

If you lack confidence because of past negative experience, it is important to know that you are not stuck with those feeling.

Positive attitude begins with:

1. Understanding how your feelings are formed and how you can choose to change them. Take deliberate action to create the strongest possible belief in your own ability. Self-belief is key.

2.Being able to set clear goals, because to spend time to learn means choosing from competing possibilities. Motivation to choose study time over a more immediate pleasure, depends on how clear your vision of your future success is.

3. Being able to relax and calm yourself whenever you need. (watch for more tips on accomplishing this in the future.)

When people say "I don't like math," what they are really saying is; "I don't like the feeling and thoughts I get when I'm faced with math". This is an example of a learned response to an original occasion of learning something new and being threatened by it. If you learned one response - you can choose to learn another. This is true in all areas of your life. But that is another post.

Some people unconsciously over generalize a single error into an overall feeling of defeat, so you can consciously generalize a single moment of success into a general feeling of confidence.

Recognize what shuts you down. What thoughts or feelings are you experiencing?

Set goals. What do I want? How well do you want to do? Create a vision of what you desire, feel really good about it, now create an action plan to get there.

Think about, feel and remember a time of success...when you did well. see it, feel it, say it, believe it.

Taking a few moments to breath deep, moving your arms in a figure eight from one side of the body to the other, sitting up tall and proud in your seat and wear a smile. These things will have an immediate calming effect on you brain.

Writing this post is more difficult than I thought it would be. Is my audience me, or am I trying to help someone else. I will keep working on that because I don't know how much detail to go into, what do I know, what is new to me, and how does it relate to where I want to go , or what I want to know. I hope to get to the more concrete helps, but understanding our brain and its ability to function is important. Let your mind organize and think about what you know and what you still need to know. Until next time. Hugs

Learning intro.

I am sharing what I learn this week about learning faster and retaining more. But I also would like to say I learned that time management is vital to success and in any arena home, school, work ect. The best way to succeed is to follow a success model. Meaning if you want to be a good homemaker...find people who are good homemakers and do as they do, If you want to be an excellent student successful and well learned, then do what good students do, manage their time and use effective study skills..not more just trying to spend more time or study harder, finding the right ones for you, to maximize your time, learning and understanding. These two principles are what I am seeking to live by more fully, time management and success modeling. Will I follow through?
"The brain may very well be like a miracle computer, But it is also the only on that runs on glucose, generates 10 watts of electricity and is created by unskilled labor!" David Lewis.
We are all capable of genius status.
It helps to understand how the brain works, you see we really have three brains. At the base of your skull you have a rather primitive brain that keeps you breathing, tells you to fight or flight when threatened ect. or when someone is too close. Safety
Next is a mid brain. Mammals all have mid brains. It is very important to learning. Your middle brain controls your hormonal system, your health or immune system, your sexuality, your emotions and our long term memory. When something is attached to a strong emotion we remember it well. Feelings of Love, death, fun, enjoyment ect. are all attached to memory in the mid brain. Thus the reason some things are never forgotten. Of course we only focused on the positive emotions...they create the best learning environment.
The third brain is incredibly powerful. A brain cell looks like an ocean creature with its branches streaming out from the center of the cell. Each time your senses are activated the thoughts or impressions are sent out the branches called "dendrites" Greek for branches. There is then a split-second mental chain reaction..conducted by electrical activity.
Your intelligence is not determined by the number of brain cells you have, but by the number of connections created by experiences that stimulate the brain. Intelligence is not fixed. The more connections that are created between your brain cells, the greater your potential is for intelligent thought.
Barring injury or major illness, you do not lose brain capacity as you age. It is important to continue seeking new experiences and learning through hobbies, reading, work, sports, art music ect. The brain is excited and healthy when it is processing new, and declines with lack of stimulation.
The left brain specializes in Speech, Step-by step- logic, and numbers.(logical)The right brain specialized in melody, patterns and intuition(creative) the brain is too complex to put into simple categories so we do a little generalizing realizing that the goal in any learning is to engage both sides of and as many areas of the brain as possible for greater understanding and retention.

Now a bit about learning.
Most traditional educational materials rely too heavily on a linear presentation, ie. a slow detailed, build-up of information. The more global learner gets frustrated. They cannot see where it's all leading to. So they get bored and switch off. Most of our learning experiences are based on the type of instruction that linear learners like. this is sad for people who like intuitive thinking. Here's a tip for learning something you are stuck on, unable to retain or maintain interest in...
Look at the war you are approaching it. Can you identify your approach as linear or global? For example, if you are laboriously working your way through a textbook taking careful notes - try something radically different. try using some visual images - take a range of colored pens and create a poster that represents what you are trying to learn. You will have changed from a linear approach, to a more whole - brain mode of learning.
I hope that makes some sense to you. It is a condensed version of my recent study. Tomorrow, I will talk about being stressed - a negative state vs stretched to improve your learning ability.
Happy learning. ~Hugs~