Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Day 5: Baking Supplies and Spices {20-Day Clutter Challenge}
I am back on track! I finished decluttering the baking supplies and spices for 20 points. I'm so glad I decided to blog this, even though people can't be that interested. It is the fact that I had to write about it publicly that kept me going after such a rocky start. I'm still hoping I'll catch up on the days I didn't manage to get done, but if not, the fact that I've kept going means I'm blessing my house, and that makes me happy.
Monday, August 5, 2013
MM and the Mystery Mushroom
You're going to start thinking I complain too much, or maybe that my house isn't meant to be decluttered. I was playing tag with SA and JJ today, with MM watching from the stroller. MM was very excited by our game, and started to get a bit restless. So I let him out onto the grass to explore. Next thing I knew, his mouth was full. I fished most of it out, but he swallowed some of it...a mushroom.
And what a mystery a mushroom is! Apparently there are over 2000 varieties. I hunted and hunted online but could not find the correct one (A mottled reddish-brown, yellow on the underside, white and black on the inside. It smelled like an ordinary mushroom. They're all over the back yard.). I called poison control, and they said to take him to ER. Most mushrooms are safe, but you can't take the chance that it's a poisonous one, since the consequences could be so severe. So I went, and spent about 4 hours in the ER with MM. They didn't actually do anything, and they didn't manage to identify the mushroom either. They just wanted him there in case something happened (and I was happy to do that...I wanted to be there if something happened, too!). Now I need to watch for symptoms of poisoning for up to 3 days. I'm praying it was harmless...
And that's my excuse. No decluttering happened at all today. 0 points.
But my dear sister came over and did my dishes! It was good to see her and her lovely family. (Sorry I was a bit distracted, D.! I hope you had a good time anyway.)
And what a mystery a mushroom is! Apparently there are over 2000 varieties. I hunted and hunted online but could not find the correct one (A mottled reddish-brown, yellow on the underside, white and black on the inside. It smelled like an ordinary mushroom. They're all over the back yard.). I called poison control, and they said to take him to ER. Most mushrooms are safe, but you can't take the chance that it's a poisonous one, since the consequences could be so severe. So I went, and spent about 4 hours in the ER with MM. They didn't actually do anything, and they didn't manage to identify the mushroom either. They just wanted him there in case something happened (and I was happy to do that...I wanted to be there if something happened, too!). Now I need to watch for symptoms of poisoning for up to 3 days. I'm praying it was harmless...
And that's my excuse. No decluttering happened at all today. 0 points.
But my dear sister came over and did my dishes! It was good to see her and her lovely family. (Sorry I was a bit distracted, D.! I hope you had a good time anyway.)
The Nathaniel Dett Chorale - Chariot Jubilee
I was listening to the wonderful Nathaniel Dett Chorale sing "Chariot Jubilee" yesterday (on their CD "Listen to the Lambs"), and was struck again at how wonderfully the Spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is interpreted in this piece. It's truly full of the gospel. This video only has part of the entire piece, but you'll get the idea. These are all the words. They are repeated and interwoven and put together in different ways. You really have to listen to it to appreciate how wonderful it is.
Chariot Jubilee
R. Nathaniel Dett
Down from the heavens, a golden chariot swinging,
Comes God's promise of salvation.
(Amen, Amen!)
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home!
God made a covenant,
For the glory of His grace
Through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
His gospel, full and free,
Like a chariot swung from heav'n,
Shall bear the true believer home,
Safely home.
Salvation, sweet cov'nant of the Lord,
I shall ride up in that chariot in that morning.
(Tell it, tell it.)
He who doth in Christ believe,
Though he were dead,
Yet shall he live.
King Jesus triumphed o'er the grave!
His grace alone
Can sinners save.
O Hallelujah!
Day 3: Dishes, Cutlery, and Rubbermaid {20-Day Clutter Challenge}
Saturday it was me that didn't feel the greatest. I soldiered through the rest of the paper, though, and upgraded Friday's points to 20 (finished the job!). I did 15 minutes on the Rubbermaid, and didn't get to the dishes and cutlery. I keep all that stuff fairly decluttered anyway, so I'm sure I can finish that job one of these days.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Day 2: Paper {20-Day Clutter Challenge}
Well, yesterday was a challenge, all right! My poor JJ got two bee stings in the morning, and some sort of stomach bug in the afternoon. But once things settled down and everyone was asleep, I spent half an hour filing paper. So that was 4 points for me. I haven't abandoned it, though. I'm trying to finish it all this morning so I can change that 4 to a 20.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Thoughts on Math 2
I did session 2 of How to Teach Math last week, and now I'm deep into session 3. (By the way, this is a free course, and you can put as much or as little time and effort into it as you please. If you have any interest in the subject -or more importantly, any fear of it- I highly recommend at least watching the videos.)
Session 2 was all about the mindset with which you approach math, and how important it is to have a growth mindset rather than a fixed one. Just to quickly define terms:
Fixed mindset: a mindset in which you assume your areas of giftedness and weakness are "fixed". For example, I'm good at music and grammar, but not mechanics and art. With a fixed mindset, I would tend to embrace things I'm good at, and avoid things I don't excel at. Obviously, it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy (I would become better at the things I'm good at, and worse at the things I'm weak in.).
Growth mindset: a mindset that assumes that intelligence (even in weak areas) can grow. It may take effort, but your weak areas do not have to remain your weak areas, and your strong areas can be challenged to grow stronger. This mindset is actually correct based on the science regarding the plasticity of the brain. Your brain actually grows and makes more connections as you learn something new.
I found this session very interesting. It actually cleared something up for me that I've never understood before about my husband. He has a growth mindset, while I've always had a fixed one. I've often been puzzled by the fact that he believes he can do anything. He's a computer tech, and has learned it all on the job. (A lot of his job involves going into an unfamiliar situation, figuring out what's wrong on the spot, and fixing it.) He can write, he can speak, he can play music, he can do math. Car is broken? He can fix it. Plumbing? No problem.(I could go on, but I figure that's enough for now...) In contrast, I have always believed that there are things I can do, and things I can't do. I can do cooking, I can't do home renovations. I can do accounting, but I can't fix the car. When it comes down to it, I don't even try to do a lot of things, because they're just "not my thing." If Stephen doesn't try, it is usually because of time constraints, or perhaps the effort to learn it isn't worth it to him at the time. It's never because he doesn't think he could learn it and do it well. I'm starting to realize that part of the reason he's smart in so many areas is simply a result of a combination of his growth mentality and his wide-ranging interests. He was born with a good amount of natural intelligence, but that only took him so far. By contrast, I have retained many of the same gifts and weaknesses that I had as a child (with a few exceptions, but we can't all be consistent...).
So. Does it matter? I was talking to Gertrude last night, and she made the comment that in many cases it doesn't matter if something is "not your thing." You don't have to be good at everything. This was a breath of fresh air, because I'd been thinking anxiously about how I could possibly "fix" my fixed mindset after living with it for over 30 years. Which, now that I think of it, is a very "fixed mindset" way of thinking about it...of course my brain can make new connections and learn new things. Anyway, just thinking out loud here. Don't mind me.
I can think of a few ways it does matter, especially as a parent of children who are developing the habits of mind that they will take into adulthood.
1. Now I can say for sure about anything (possibly barring some specific learning disability) "I know you can do it. If you work hard and persist, you will learn it." There doesn't need to be any hesitation in the back of my mind that maybe math is not his thing, and maybe he really can't do it. I may need to find a better way to teach him, but the problem is never going to be that it's too hard for him to do.
2. I can be an example in learning new things that are difficult for me. OK, maybe that's not going to happen. But, my excuse should never be that I can't, but rather that I won't (for good reasons...at this point, probably mostly time related).
Is anyone else thinking of the Charlotte Mason PNEU motto right now: "I am, I can, I ought, I will"? All this growth mindset information is just giving new meaning to the "I can" part of that motto.
One question I had going away from this session is how developmental stages fit with this information. Part of the takeaway of growth mentality thinking is that you should regularly challenge children to do things that are hard, but they can do. Now I've worked on toilet training a couple of children already, with more to come. I know that children can be trained young (lots of mistakes, lots of opportunity for brain growth, right?), but if I wait until they're a bit older I can train them in a fraction of the time, with much less frustration. I could probably say similar things about reading, or certain math concepts. How do we strike a balance? Maybe the answer is individual to each child. I think a consistent sense of frustration (either with too much challenge, or too little) could be a sign that the balance is not being struck.
How about you? Any thoughts on session 2?
Session 2 was all about the mindset with which you approach math, and how important it is to have a growth mindset rather than a fixed one. Just to quickly define terms:
Fixed mindset: a mindset in which you assume your areas of giftedness and weakness are "fixed". For example, I'm good at music and grammar, but not mechanics and art. With a fixed mindset, I would tend to embrace things I'm good at, and avoid things I don't excel at. Obviously, it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy (I would become better at the things I'm good at, and worse at the things I'm weak in.).
Growth mindset: a mindset that assumes that intelligence (even in weak areas) can grow. It may take effort, but your weak areas do not have to remain your weak areas, and your strong areas can be challenged to grow stronger. This mindset is actually correct based on the science regarding the plasticity of the brain. Your brain actually grows and makes more connections as you learn something new.
I found this session very interesting. It actually cleared something up for me that I've never understood before about my husband. He has a growth mindset, while I've always had a fixed one. I've often been puzzled by the fact that he believes he can do anything. He's a computer tech, and has learned it all on the job. (A lot of his job involves going into an unfamiliar situation, figuring out what's wrong on the spot, and fixing it.) He can write, he can speak, he can play music, he can do math. Car is broken? He can fix it. Plumbing? No problem.(I could go on, but I figure that's enough for now...) In contrast, I have always believed that there are things I can do, and things I can't do. I can do cooking, I can't do home renovations. I can do accounting, but I can't fix the car. When it comes down to it, I don't even try to do a lot of things, because they're just "not my thing." If Stephen doesn't try, it is usually because of time constraints, or perhaps the effort to learn it isn't worth it to him at the time. It's never because he doesn't think he could learn it and do it well. I'm starting to realize that part of the reason he's smart in so many areas is simply a result of a combination of his growth mentality and his wide-ranging interests. He was born with a good amount of natural intelligence, but that only took him so far. By contrast, I have retained many of the same gifts and weaknesses that I had as a child (with a few exceptions, but we can't all be consistent...).
So. Does it matter? I was talking to Gertrude last night, and she made the comment that in many cases it doesn't matter if something is "not your thing." You don't have to be good at everything. This was a breath of fresh air, because I'd been thinking anxiously about how I could possibly "fix" my fixed mindset after living with it for over 30 years. Which, now that I think of it, is a very "fixed mindset" way of thinking about it...of course my brain can make new connections and learn new things. Anyway, just thinking out loud here. Don't mind me.
I can think of a few ways it does matter, especially as a parent of children who are developing the habits of mind that they will take into adulthood.
1. Now I can say for sure about anything (possibly barring some specific learning disability) "I know you can do it. If you work hard and persist, you will learn it." There doesn't need to be any hesitation in the back of my mind that maybe math is not his thing, and maybe he really can't do it. I may need to find a better way to teach him, but the problem is never going to be that it's too hard for him to do.
2. I can be an example in learning new things that are difficult for me. OK, maybe that's not going to happen. But, my excuse should never be that I can't, but rather that I won't (for good reasons...at this point, probably mostly time related).
Is anyone else thinking of the Charlotte Mason PNEU motto right now: "I am, I can, I ought, I will"? All this growth mindset information is just giving new meaning to the "I can" part of that motto.
One question I had going away from this session is how developmental stages fit with this information. Part of the takeaway of growth mentality thinking is that you should regularly challenge children to do things that are hard, but they can do. Now I've worked on toilet training a couple of children already, with more to come. I know that children can be trained young (lots of mistakes, lots of opportunity for brain growth, right?), but if I wait until they're a bit older I can train them in a fraction of the time, with much less frustration. I could probably say similar things about reading, or certain math concepts. How do we strike a balance? Maybe the answer is individual to each child. I think a consistent sense of frustration (either with too much challenge, or too little) could be a sign that the balance is not being struck.
How about you? Any thoughts on session 2?
Day 1:Shoes and Outdoor Wear {20-Day Clutter Challenge}
I managed to get an hour of decluttering in! Somehow I doubt that's going to happen every day, but the important thing is just starting and sticking with it for at least 15 minutes. I got rid of 8 1/2 pairs of shoes (all mine and the boys'), and I'm still hoping to convince Stephen to part with maybe 2 pairs of worn-out, ratty sneakers. He has a lot of shoes, but I don't dare to get rid of any without asking first. I threw one pair out that had its soles flapping in the breeze once, and of course he was looking for them the very next week.
I didn't even really get to the coats and other things, though I did manage to declutter a purse, a flying saucer, and a couple of dollar store kites that don't really work any more.
My points: 10
I didn't even really get to the coats and other things, though I did manage to declutter a purse, a flying saucer, and a couple of dollar store kites that don't really work any more.
My points: 10
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