Lots of Choices or Over Stimulation?

Does clutter impede learning? I grew up in a house that was full of stuff. There was always something around to grab and learn about, like a book, an object, or a puzzle. I thought to provide that same full environment for my kids. And so I have! There are plenty of different types of toys, and books, and puzzles, and computers, and games, and, and, and.. yeah, you get the idea.

At this point though, I am starting to question is there is such a thing as too much. If there are too many things to explore, too many things to learn, too many THINGS, does that make it harder to learn? I am thinking that perhaps it can become overwhelming, and provide over stimulation.

To this end, I am almost ready to try an experiment in the other direction. How would it affect learning to minimize possessions. It would most certainly give us more time that we no longer need to spend cleaning up!

I don't know whether I will try it, but I am sure to tell you all about it if I do. It is just another installment on my own personal life learning journey!

Pollution in China

Most of the time I believe that we each go about our ordinary day in our own lives without worry about other people's problems. I will admit that I am no exception to this. I have my own problems to figure out and solve.

The toilet needed a new apparatus for flushing, and requires specialized parts, and it still needed to be used in the meantime. The hot water in the kitchen that has been slowly dripping, that the landlord wouldn't come look at, finally got bad enough to be a hissing leak to be heard. Then the cabinet, the wall, the carpet needed to be attended to so that mildew or mold would not grow. The boys hadn't cleaned their room, and I choose to believe that they were running several science projects that had gotten away from them. The oven stopped working, but we still need to eat. The desktop died, the laptop constantly overheats, and I still have websites to maintain. The internet speed keeps randomly dropping to nothing, and the ISP can not figure out why.

I'll leave it at that.. I have a lot going on, and there is only so much of me to go around. I don't list this to complain, but to point out that we each have our own dramas to live. Most of the time, we forget about the big picture. I think the most common thought is, "I am only one person. How much of a difference can I really make. It is probably not even worth the effort." Have you ever had that thought cross your mind?

I saw a link today that took me to an article with plenty of descriptive pictures about the pollution in China. Why does it take something so dramatic to make us take notice? Will we be able to learn the lesson about pollution before we do that to ourselves? Does anyone want to take the time to care? Is anyone even reading this far?

See the pictures for yourself. http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/

Just Keep Going

Everyone has been through days where they are plagued by thoughts that perhaps they made the wrong decisions once upon a time. Today has been one of those days for me. I wonder if I made the right decision all those years ago. I wonder if I have been defending some higher purpose, or just a lie. I wonder if I really have done my best, and if I have then why can't it have been better.

These days are a challenge. They are tear jerking, gut wrenching days. I'm not sure if it makes me feel any better to know that everyone has gone through days like this at some point.

So here I sit wondering where the other road might have gone.. wondering if it would have been any better. But that is a bittersweet thought. Even if it might have been better, it is not where I am now. And where I am now is just a single point on the path of my choices. I am in control of my choices, and therefore my path.

It is time to pick myself up, and dust myself off. It is time to look once again to the future, to where I am going. It is time to start taking little baby steps down that path toward my future, and just keep going.

Laughing at the Recoil

I can't believe that immigration law passed in Arizona. I am so disgusted by it, that I have been attempting to ignore the whole thing. Fairly easy to do.. no one is going to come harassing us, we are most definitely white.

I caught a ray of hope in the news tonight though! The San Diego school board is actually going to vote on BOYCOTTING the state of Arizona! Have you ever heard of anything so crazy?! They will encourage students and families to NOT visit Arizona if the vote passes. After all, 50 % of their students are Latino. Can you imagine the hassles they would go through just to come see the London bridge in Lake Havasu City, or coming to see the Grand Canyon?! Wonderful family trip sidetracked as they get pulled over to be asked for their birth certificates.. like we all carry those in our pockets everywhere we go. Perhaps they should just be warned to factor in an extra day of time for questioning to make sure they are legal citizens!

Does anyone else see the asinine humor in all of this?! Wow!

Then on the news we see that Boston.. yes that is Boston, MA, all the way on the other side of the country, is boycotting Arizona. They will be boycotting all goods coming out of Arizona. Another four cities in Massachusetts are going to be voting to initiate a boycott against Arizona also. Again.. Wow!

But my favorite, and saved for last on the news broadcast for its obvious humor, was Governor Schwarzenegger. He was speaking at a commencement ceremony at a school in California. He shared that he had been invited to speak at a school in Arizona. With the new immigration law passing, he quickly cancelled the scheduled appearance. He didn't want to get deported back to Austria because of his accent!

I'm dying here! Can't breath! I am laughing too hard! Thanks Channel 12! I needed that!

Choose Your Perspective

Sometimes, you just have to sit back and look around you. Life can be so fast paced. There are times that we just run from one activity to the next, and never stop to see what is actually around us.

I often wonder what force it is in the Universe that decides that it is time to stop, and arranges for it to happen. Does that ever happen to you? It can be the smallest thing that makes you stop. And once you have stopped, you start to look around and really see what is there again. How often do we take all those little, every day things in life for granted? How often do we see everything that doesn't go our way as bad?

When things don't happen the way you want them to, perhaps it is really a blessing. Perhaps it means that something better is coming. I have been having a lot of little, and not so little things, start breaking down lately, and a few just down right quit for good. It has not been a pleasant experience. But, I decided that there were two ways I could see things.

I could choose to see things as a victim, and complain about everything breaking. I could sit down and cry over the amount of money it seems I will have to spend to replace these things. I really could.. And this is the path I used to choose, the only one I ever saw before me. And when I would keep going, people would tell me how strong I was.. but there is a reason I keep going, and it is not strength.. it is simply seeing things from a different perspective.

I choose to see that you have to clear space in order to receive new things, that it is always darkest before the dawn, that the old or sick part of the plant dies off to allow the whole to live and grow strong, that the prairie can live through the brutal wildfire burns because their roots are deep and they regrow stronger than ever before. This is what I see in my life. I see the dark, I see the dying stems, I see the brutal wildfire. Through all of this, I KNOW what comes after, what I have to look forward to. This is why I keep going, because I KNOW what comes next.

When life seems to be spinning out of control, it might just be time to sit down and look around, and choose what perspective you want to see things from.

Cooking in a Tin Can

I was reminded today why so often while living in the desert we have chosen a night schedule. There was a cold front that had passed through last week, that had us looking for the heaters, socks, and sweaters. We pulled open the curtains, and raised the shades to let the sun shine in to each room to warm it up. And somewhere during that short cold spell, we had already forgotten the heat we normally have this time of year.

As the hours of today passed, the house started to warm up. This afternoon it became enough that we thought to turn on the fans. As it continued toward evening, the heat continued to rise inside becoming quite unbearable.. at one point it was 95F/35C inside. That is a far cry from needing the heater 2 days ago! That prompted me to look around at what I could do to cool the house down.. other than turning on the air conditioner. It IS only May, and the summer will get a lot hotter before it is over. We will have to acclimate to it at some point.

That was when I realized that the windows were all still closed. Getting a nice breeze going is one of the best ways to cool down anywhere, but in the desert it is an extreme way. Add a tiny mist to a breeze and you drop the temperature almost 20F/11C instantly. It is a beautiful way to cool down! So I started opening the windows a bit to get a breeze going. About halfway through the house I realized that I was not having to move shades out of the way to open those windows.. hmmmm. Geesh!

You would think at some point earlier I would have thought to block that wonderful hot sun out of the house! With that done, the house finally stopped heating up. And now as I write this at 10:30pm, it is finally starting to cool off enough to start thinking straight again. The problem is.. now it is bed time.

I suddenly remember why we gravitated to a night time schedule the last couple of years while we have been in the desert. It was out of simple practicality. How could I have forgotten that. When it is not possible to keep the house at a wool enough temperature to work at comfortably, and everyone spends the days to worn out to move, it makes sense to rest in the heat. Then we have full lives after dark, full of work, and learning, and playing.. the only thing they lack is the ease of going to the stores. Not many stores here are open at night.

But it would seem that we will be spending the summer in a different sardine can that heats well in the sun, albeit a nicer one than the last two years...

Feeling Lost in The Sea of Knowledge

I am feeling lost in the sea of knowledge, except it is written in Ancient Greek, and I never learned to read that.

Somewhere along the way I have gathered all the tools and knowledge I need. Somehow this is not a comforting statement when you consider that I really do not know what it is I need. I am sitting in that state of not knowing enough to have a question. It is not that I understand it all, just that I don't understand any of it! Ugh!

Have you ever been in this place? It can be quite frustrating. Especially when you do not even know where to look to get more information, to get help. Consider how often your children must go through this. We have a tendency to talk about things, teach if you will, from our level of knowledge. This often means that you pass over all the basics that are second nature to you. It reminds me of speech class in high school where everyone had to prepare a how to speech on a simple every day procedure, like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I remember my teacher sitting towards the back of the class following the directions exactly as given by the speaker. What an eye opener! It really made me consider how to teach or instruct.. how to really get down to basics and start at the beginning.

This only fuels the importance of encouraging the love of learning, or exploration, to me. As my daughter once said, the most important thing is knowing HOW to learn. Imagine feeling lost and not knowing where to go. That feeling of helplessness is quite overwhelming, and not conducive to creativity or learning. Once we learn HOW to learn though, the world becomes a different place. Once you know how to look things up at the library, how to research a subject online, the world is open to whatever you want to do because you KNOW how to go learn about it.

I think that is the most precious gift you can give to your child.. that and unconditional love.

Drill Sergeant or Mother?

Today has been one of those days when I am glad for my vocal training. I learned how to breathe into my diaphragm and use it to really project my voice. Anyone that knows me, knows how soft spoken I am. My voice is naturally so quiet that I am often passed by and missed for not having been heard. When I speak loudly it is one of those things where everyone around me drops what they are doing and just stand there is awe.

There must be something in the air today. Maybe the energy is out of whack or something. Are you sure it is not a full moon? My boys have been obnoxious, rowdy, and loud. And I am being generous and nice right now. I have spent the day feeling more like a drill sergeant than a mother. Worse, at one point today I was picturing the movies where you see the matron of the orphanage or live in school with the black dress and hair pulled back, wooden ruler in hand, standing at the top of the stairs, or looming in the doorway. The one that you can never please and has unreasonable expectations that can never be lived up to. For a short moment, I felt like her. Then I realized that I was asking for simple respect that any other day of the week would have been freely given. And so I am grateful for my vocal training. Is that a strange thing to be grateful for?

I really do not know what happened today. For now, I will just be grateful that the day has ended. The boys are settled down, and for the first time all day long, we are all sitting down together quietly watching a tv show. Not my favorite family activity, but today I will take it.

Tumbling Thoughts On Learning and Life

This is supposed to be easy... finding little tidbits to write about each day.. providing meaningful, thought provoking content for my readers! But alas, I find myself a bit drained lately. It seems that all of my witty, thought provoking, repertoire has been used up on dealing with the trials that have decided to insinuate themselves into my life these days, and my children.. who always get my best first.

That is just how it goes sometimes.. and yet life goes on. We pick ourselves back up and keep moving because life is about the journey. Life is about the side trips to explore.

Life learning doesn't just describe an educational model for children, it describes my theory to life. I am as much a life learner as my children are. For each of us that takes a slightly different path. For me, it is about reading and writing, learning and teaching.. For my daughter it is about drawing and artwork, learning and teaching.. For my oldest son it is about computers and robots and how electronics work, and learning and teaching.. For my youngest son it is about animals and plants and mud, and learning and teaching..

Did you catch that common theme? I know.. pretty hard to miss.. just wanted to point it out to you. Learning and teaching is a model to life. We all learn, and then we can all pass on our knowledge to other people. When my 7 year old tells you about how to play a game on the Wii, he is not being bossy, it is not show and tell, it is not look at what I learned. It is his genuine concern that you know how to play and find all the goodies that he already knows about. It is his genuine love for what he is doing, and his genuine concern for all people that shows through at these times..

Did you know that one of the best ways to really get something you have been learning is to teach it to someone else? I think that might be the basis for our love of learning and teaching. It is our desire to learn it better, to really integrate it into ourselves.

When was the last time you stopped to let your child teach you? Have you passed on that new thing you have been learning about? Perhaps today is a good day to learn and teach.