The yard post-Jodie
Yard post-Jodie
When my oldest daughter Jodie was in college she wanted to give me a wonderful gift. She wanted to landscape our yard. Can you imagine that. Her finances were tight making it a more difficult task. Well, she thought about what could be done and how it could be done. She realized that just turning the straight garden edges into more graceful curves, adding some small hills and extra garden beds would go a long way to improving the look of a yard that for twenty years had hosted seven children and all their friends. She took stock and realized that she needed a significant amount of large round rocks. All the other things that she needed were her two hands, a strong back and a willing heart. Once she knew what she needed she was able to pull those resources together. She couldn’t buy rock and so she went to the river and gathered rocks into the bed of a truck with the help of a friend or two.
The yard pre-Jodie
I was amazed at the transformation in our yard. It had been nice before but very utilitarian for the sake of all the children. Now it looked like something out of a magazine and warmed my heart. Once Jodie had a plan and decided what resources she would need she was able to accomplish a feat that I would not have thought possible.
Today we are going to talk about RESOURCES. What is going to be required to accomplish what you want to have happen in your family. This will be a specific list of things that you would like to use in teaching and inspiring your children. Make a careful investigation of what is available by asking friends, reading reviews and articles, looking through catalogs and on websites, visiting retailers, and attending educational conventions and seminars.
Be wise with your money. Make sure an item is really going to help you fulfill your desire to inspire before you purchase it. Don’t be taken in by bells and whistles. I have a friend who spent many hundreds of dollars on items she thought would help her children to love learning and to engage in areas she thought were important, only to find that they didn’t inspire and weren’t helpful. Take your time. Use your plan to help you decide what resources are really going to fit the bill.
If you don’t have a lot of available funds then remember that I have said before that if you choose to inspire and help your children love learning then you have to budget for it. Set aside a bit every month till you can purchase something on your list. As a family, be creative in ways to earn extra funds for educational and inspiring resources that your family wants to own. When you need something that you don’t have the money for be creative like Jodie was.
Lets take a look at the list of resources I have on my one year plan.
Drums of all kinds
Other small musical instruments
CD’s of rhythm music
Music book and bag for the autoharp
Cultural Literacy for Adults E.D. Hirsch
Books- 100 Dresses, Atlas Shrugged, survey books on the founders, math classics, Cultural Literacy for Adults E.D. Hirsch
Music book for the recorders
Begin a fund for the Hawaii trip
Embroidery patterns, floss, hoops
When I did the section on Cultural Literacy I wrote down my “best family culture”. It included music as a family. My husband plays the saxophone and other instruments. A few of our children learned to play instruments in school. I sing. However, I have always wanted music to be a part of our family get togethers. Because we didn’t have a written plan that desire just stayed in the back of our minds as a wish and was never fulfilled. I believe that it is NEVER too late to do any good thing. So I made that part of my “best family culture”.
I have owned an auto harp since our oldest was five but no one has ever played it. So I need a book and a bag to protect it. I own five wonderful recorders because I always thought we would learn to play them. Now I need some books. Drums and children’s instruments are a must to help me introduce music to my very young grandchildren. I need the CD’s so we can use our instruments to play along.
My classics list included some books that I will need to purchase in order to implement that part of my plan.
The last two items come from areas we haven’t covered yet and so I will mention them later.
As you can see, this is a simple list but will really facilitate some of the things that I want to inspire my grandchildren and even my adult children with. Take a look at your list of classics. Are there any that you need to purchase? Read over your “best family culture” and see if you need resources there. Consider the whole concept of cultural literacy and see what you need to add to your resource list to facilitate that in your family. As we cover each of the nine areas you will be able to add to this list.
Begin some type of saving plan for your resources whether it is a savings account or a change jar that the whole family contributes to. Just start. You can do this!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Fun ways to learn about Florida for kids
- The art of responding-inspiring kids to learn
- Places to Go – Master Inspire Plan Part II
- Core Cannon – Master Inspire Plan Part 10
- Family Relationships – Master Inspire Plan Part 9
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