Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Beautifully Airred - reposted from 3 inspiring sons


This is an older post from Amys blog. Even though my 4 sisters and I, 5 husbands and combined 28 children all follow Leadership Education (Tjed) in our homeschools we all do it our own way. When Amy originally posted this I wasn't homeschooling, but I loved the idea of FEC and it became part of our life. Our FEC is a little different but the principles are the same. I love the way Amy phrases this, so I will let her post do the talking.





I'm reading Peter Pan. Have you read it recently? There is a passage at the very beginning that just mesmerized me.



"Mrs. Darling first heard of Peter when she was tidying up her children's minds. It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can't) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight. When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind, and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on."


Isn't that beautifully written? The whole book is like that. I can't put it down. But that is my favorite passage so far. Oh! How I would like to rummage through my children's minds and tidy them up! I'd love to air their prettier thoughts and stow the naughtiness and evil passions. I wish we still talked like that.


But it got me thinking...


We have a family tradition in which we do something like this. On Sunday afternoons Jake and I hold an FEC (Family Executive Council) in which we meet and discuss our family, children and our upcoming week. It's just between him and I and the Lord. This provides us the time to talk about each child specifically, their needs, and what we can do to help them. We prioritize and schedule our week based on what is most important. It's a specific opportunity to seek the Spirit in our family's life. It's wonderful.

And when we're finished we invite one child at a time in to talk. It's like an interview. Sometimes it's casual and sometimes it's more formal. We start each discussion with a prayer. The boys love it and look forward to it. They get our undivided attention. We ask questions about how they're doing, what's good and what's bad. We talk about goals, school, opportunities, whatever comes up. And we listen. Sometimes it's short and sweet, other times it lasts for an hour or more. It's amazing what comes out of those meetings.

Sometimes I'll take notes. I love scribbling quotes from the kids that we can look at later and remember.

And when we're done... I do feel like we've tidied up and put things in their proper places. We've made discoveries sweet and not so sweet {but mostly sweet}. The naughtiness and evil passions have been folded up small and placed at the bottom. And on the top, beautifully aired, are their prettier thoughts. Ready for them to put on.


 

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