Being Present Increases the Enjoyment!
The more fun we have the more we learn
Here are some excellent comments, insights and feelings from the Spark Station Mastery Pilot Group. I just had to share!
Time is a relentless river and it rages on, respecter of no one…And the only way to slow time is this: Enter fully into the current moment and the stream of time slows with the weight of a souls full attention…We slow the torrent by being all here.
This lesson on being present [effective home school teaching strategies] had a big “aha” moment for me. In our home school situation I was very frustrated that projects and activities were difficult and I always felt like we were behind. I realized that I was never really present during our activities. Mentally I was worrying about what we should have accomplished yesterday, what still needed to be done today, and how were we ever going to be ready for next week! No wonder we were always behind, I wasn’t there and I was expecting my children to take care of things. I am looking forward to the changes this is going to bring.
Joslyn
Life at its fullest is this sensitive, detonating sphere, and it can be carried only in the hands of the unhurried and reverential, a bubble held in awe.
This theme keeps coming up for me, and it’s one I will be continually working on. [Here are] Some quotes from a book I am reading. Truly, one of the best books I have ever read. I rarely take the time to read books more than once, but I will probably keep this one in the bathroom to read over and over for the whole year, to be able to savor it a few pages at a time:
Time is a relentless river and it rages on, respecter of no one…And the only way to slow time is this: Enter fully into the current moment and the stream of time slows with the weight of a souls full attention…We slow the torrent by being all here.
Life at its fullest is this sensitive, detonating sphere, and it can be carried only in the hands of the unhurried and reverential, a bubble held in awe. Taken from One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
Melody
It took some patience, planning, and practice, but we have improved
I laughed when I listened to lesson, being present, and you gave the first example. It was me! Thank goodness for time (I think 8 or 9 months has elapsed since then.)
For everyone struggling with being present, I want to share the progress I have made since I shared the story(the mom with a 10 year old and 3 year old who was napping and pulled out The Spark Station box during dinner prep) with Mary Ann (the story is in principles) . Introducing the Spark Station into our family structured learning time did just what Mary Ann said, it made my kids want to have school every day, so that forced/encouraged me to have a consistent start time and a consistent length. Our family structured learning time is 9-noon every week day (except Thursday when we do some co-op classes), even through the summer! No pulling out a box during dinner prep anymore. It took some patience, planning, and practice, but we have improved in that area. It even works when we have my 2 year old grandbaby over.
Mary Ann, your information has been so useful!!!
Thanks a million,
Melissa
Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
So we are pretty new to home school and especially new to TJed. I have been struggling letting go of the conveyor belt because I was afraid of a free fall. I realize now that is exactly what we needed.
I have been doing something I thought was TJed; after reading classics every day I would pull out a different math game or reading game. I would say “this is the game we are playing”. I have been preparing and collecting these games for quite some time now.
But now I realize that these games can be made available in The Spark Station, and not all 40 of them at once. I have also been getting on myself for not including art and science in our “curriculum”. What was I thinking? I just need to make them more accessible. My son asks almost weekly to do some kind of science project, but I usually say, “I don’t think we have time this week.
The Spark Station is really freeing me to be more creative as well as not feeling so bogged down by planning curriculum. I am really excited to continue this course and really understand TJed even better.
Amanda
Possibly Related Posts:
- Make it Special – Chores and Family Work
- What Does it mean to have Our Ducks in a Row
- A Question about the Spark Station from a Reader
- The Power of Focus ie. Being Present
- Five rules to make learning fun for children and adults
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