Keeping up with the News

I am not good at keeping track of what is happening in the real world. As a stay-at-home mom, my kids keep me fairly busy. For a while I just didn't think that knowing what was going on was a priority for me.

This week I have been thinking a lot about A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille. I have realized that I should never stop learning myself, especially since Drew and Gracie will be learning from my example as they grow up and I become a mentor to them.

One of the things that a mentor should encourage is helping his or her student learn to apply knowledge gained from the classics to situations in the real world, in a way that helps others. How will I be able to teach Drew and Gracie how to make real-world applications if I have no idea what is going on in the real world myself?

Having come to that realization, I began looking for the "perfect" news source. After some thought I realized that I was actually jumping right back on the "conveyor belt," looking for someone to tell me what to think. I need to just start reading and thinking about current events and the more I read and learn, the better I will be at evaluating what I read.

My husband always seems to know what is going on in the world, so I asked him where he looks for news. He said he usually looks at CNN or MSNBC, so those will be my starting place as I try to pay more attention to the world around me.

How do you keep up with the news? If you have a favorite news web site, please share it with me!

Getting Off of the Conveyor Belt

I have been asking my husband to read A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille ever since I finished reading it earlier this week. We plan to homeschool Drew and Gracie, and this book describes the kind of education I would like for them to have, so I thought it an important book for him to read. He finally picked it up this evening before dinner, and has barely set it down since. I'm sure he'll finish it tonight.

Near the beginning of the book, Van DeMille describes three systems of schooling: conveyor belt education, professional education, and leadership education. To describe these systems briefly, a conveyor belt education teaches a student what to think and emphasizes conformity to textbooks and standards; a professional education teaches a student when to think, applying knowledge in specialized situations; and a leadership education (what the author calls a Thomas Jefferson education) teaches a student how to think.

I am a product of a "conveyor belt" education. As a student, I was very good at memorizing the textbook and repeating it back for exams. I rarely had to think or form opinions for myself. I wish I had learned how to think instead.

I have long forgotten much of what I learned in school, and I know there are huge gaps in my education. I always excused these gaps before by claiming that the ability to look up information was more important than the knowledge itself. Now I'm not so sure that's true. If I'm not constantly learning about the world around me, about history and human nature, and making that knowledge a part of myself, a part of my life, I won't have a strong basis for any decisions I am called upon to make. This kind of education takes time. I can't look into a book to find out what I should think. If I don't work on my own education now, it won't be there to call upon when I need it, and I won't be able to set a good example for Drew and Gracie.

I am in the middle of reading a few books, but once I'm finished with them I plan to dive into the classics to see what I can learn from them. Stay tuned ...

It's really bugging me ...

My husband rented a movie to watch this evening after Drew and Gracie went to bed. When he turned on the TV, he noticed what looks like a small spider in the middle of the screen ... but it's on the inside. I hope it is not there to stay.

It's a good thing we don't watch TV much. Just seeing it there is really bugging me!

Update: The spider (or whatever it is) has crawled up toward the top of the screen now ... so it is still alive in there. It's making me shiver just thinking about it.

One Thing at a Time

I am not very good at doing just one thing at a time. I start one thing and then somehow get distracted and start something else. My house is full of half-finished projects ... things that I started but didn't finish before my next great idea came along. My shelves are full of half-read books (although most of my half-read books come from the library these days). Right now I am in the middle of reading eight different books. Eight. Why did I start reading that many books at once?

At this moment there are 25 different web pages open in my web browser. Why can't I concentrate anymore? I have a feeling that I have allowed myself to get into a bad habit of hopping from one thing to another. I need to work on that.

For now, though, I'm off to finish reading one of my library books.

Invisible

Some days I feel completely invisible.

I started thinking about this on Sunday after church. My family has attended the same church almost every week for over eight years and if we stopped coming I'm not sure many people would notice or care. I don't feel connected to the people there.

Later Sunday afternoon I posted an introduction in a Yahoo group, and asked a couple of questions. I was very excited to join the group but so far I have not received a single response to my questions. I guess I will have to try again.

I know it is mostly my own fault. I am a very quiet person and I have a hard time getting involved and offering my opinions ... I mostly sit back, watching and listening. I need to find a way to get involved and connected with others because feeling invisible is not much fun.

Paper Dolls

Gracie loves paper dolls -- and I do, too. They're inexpensive and don't take up a lot of space. If she loses them, I can always print more. What's not to like?

The first paper dolls I made for Gracie were the Emily and Sherah dolls from Marilee's Paperdolls Page. (There are links to many other paper doll web sites on her page, as well.) They are still some of Gracie's favorites. I printed them out on several different colors of paper so Gracie can dress them in different colors.

This week I printed out some paper dolls from MakingFriends.com for Gracie. She loves all the different hairstyles and outfits that are available. Today I even printed out a paper doll and some outfits for one of my friends in graduate school. She is very busy and I thought she could use a break for a dose of three-year-old fun.

Gracie and I are always looking for new paper dolls so if you know of any good websites, please let us know!

Writing

This evening as I was rocking Drew I started reading Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett. I haven't made it very far yet, but I ran across a quote that kind-of describes how I feel about writing:

"Calder sighed. If only thoughts didn't have to be broken down into words. Too much talk was hard to listen to, and writing, for him, was a brutal process. So much got left behind."

I imagine my biggest problem, however, is that I haven't spent enough time thinking and then working at putting those thoughts into words.