Crossing the River challenge

Here's the original problem (from Sarah):

The five FAMILY family members and their five dogs (each family member owned a dog) were hiking when they encountered a river to cross. They rented a boat which could hold three living things--people or dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs were temperamental: Each was comfortable only with its owner and could not be near another person, not even momentarily, unless its owner was present. Dogs could be with other dogs, however. The crossing would have been impossible except that Lisa's dog had attended a first-rate obedience school and knew how to operate the boat. No other dogs were that well-educated. How was the crossing arranged and how many trips did it take?

And here is a solution:

Let the five people be represented by A, B, C, D, and E. Let the five dogs be represented by a, b, c, d, and e. [Let Lisa and her dog be A and a, respectively.]

a, b, and c cross the river. a comes back alone and takes back d. a goes back and says behind while B, C, and D cross the river. Now A, a, E, and e are on the starting shore, and B, b, C, c, D, and d are on the destination shore. D and d return; A and a cross. C and c go back, and C, D, and E cross. Now dogs c, d, and e are on the starting shore, and everyone else is on the destination shore. a goes back and returns with c and d, then goes back and returns with e

I modified the problem so we had five knights on a quest with their noble chargers. The knights and chargers had colored strings tied on their wrists to identify them: green knight and green charger, red knight and red charger, etc. The black charger was the one specially trained to be able to operate the boat. I had the boys physically act out the problem, no more than three at a time crossing from one side of the river to the other and following all the rules. I did give occasional hints when they were stuck. The first group ended up with the solution outlined above, the second group had a similar solution but with a few extra steps.

Vegetarian Red Bean and Spinach Soup

Found a treasure the other day at the library in the non-fiction section! You should browse it sometime, looking for interesting titles...found ice sculpting, interesting historical artifact books, backyard herb gardening, and...drumroll please...treasure of treasures: "Vegetarian Dishes from Across the Middle East"!

Yumalicious!

I doubled it for our group.

1/2 cup dried red kidney beans (or red beans), soaked overnight in cold water (or 2 cup softened beans)
6 1/4 c. water
2 T oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup dried lentils, washed and drained
1/4 cup long-grain rice, washed thoroughly under cold water and drained
1/2 lb fresh spinach (I used about half of this), washed thoroughly, drained and chopped
juice of 1 large lemon (I forgot this and it was still super yummy, but I think the lemon would have been great)

Drain the beans and place in a saucepan with 2 1/2 cups of the water.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until the beans are tender.  Add a ltitle more boiling water if necessary.  Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and fry, stirring frquently, until soft and golden.  Stir in the turmeric, salt, chile, black pepper and the lentils, and fry for 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the remaining 3 3/4 cups water and the contents fo the bean pan and bring to a boil.  Simmer for a further 30 minutes.

Stir in the rice and spinach and cook for a further 20 minutes.  Test to see if the lentils are tender; if not cook them a little longer.

Stir in the lemon juice; taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary, before serving.

pg 21 "Vegetarian Dishes from Across the Middle East" by Arto der Haroutunian.

"BYU" mint brownies--from my mom

Brownies:

1 1/4 c. Butter

2 1/2 c. sugar

6 eggs

1 Tbls. vanilla

2 c. flour

10 Tbls. cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together all ingredients.  Spray jellyroll pan with Pam or grease.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Don't over bake.

Mint topping:

5 c. powdered sugar

1 c. butter, softened

2 tsp. mint extract

3 Tbls. water

Green or red food coloring

Mix together with a mixer and spread on cooled brownies.

Chocolate Glaze:

1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 c. butter

Melt in microwave until smooth.  Spread on frosting.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

This is a wonderful recipe, and yes, it does call for 3 cups of butter.  They are very rich, and taste much better straight out of the refrigerator.  We tried them first, of course we couldn't wait, before putting in the refrigerator, and they tasted much better later.  Our oven and pans are too small for a jellyroll pan, so I used 2 cake pans and it worked great! but made many, many brownies.  With my small frig, it used half of the space, but I had enough to take on my apartment inspections for treats.  Enjoy!

The many uses of Vinegar!

45 Uses for Vinegar

1. Freshen up the fridge. Clean the shelves and walls with a solution of half water and half vinegar.

2. Brighten coffee cups and teacups. Gently scrub stains with equal parts vinegar and salt (or baking soda).

3. Eliminate odors. Swab plastic containers with a cloth dampened with vinegar.

4. Kill bathroom germs. Spray full-strength vinegar around the sink and tub. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

5. Save a garment. To remove light scorch marks on fabrics, rub gently with vinegar. Wipe with a clean cloth. This technique also works on antiperspirant stains.

6. Tidy up a toilet. Pour a cup or more of diluted white distilled vinegar into the bowl. Let sit several hours or overnight. Scrub well with a toilet brush and flush.

7. Lose the carpet stain. Make a paste of 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar and ¼ cup salt or baking soda. Rub into the stain and let dry. Vacuum the residue the next day. (Always test an out-of-sight part of the carpet first.)

8. Renew paint brushes. To remove old paint, place brushes in a pot with vinegar. Soak for an hour, then turn on the stove and bring the vinegar to a simmer. Drain and rinse clean.

9. Wipe off a dirty faucet. To get rid of lime buildup, make a paste of 1 teaspoon vinegar and 2 tablespoons salt. Apply to sink fixtures and rub with a cloth.

10. Stop static cling. Add ½ cup of white distilled vinegar to your wash cycle. The acid reduces static and keeps dryer lint from sticking to your clothes.

11. Make old socks look new. Get the stains out of old socks and sweaty gym clothes by soaking them in a vinegar solution. Add 1 cup of white distilled vinegar to a large pot of water, bring to a boil and drop in the stained clothes. Let them soak overnight, and in the morning stained clothes are fresh and bright.

12. Restore handbags and shoes. Wipe white distilled vinegar on scuffed leather bags and shoes. It will restore their shine and help hide the marks.

13. Banish weeds. Pour white distilled vinegar on the weeds growing in the cracks of your walkway and driveway. Saturate the plant so the vinegar reaches the roots.

14. Liven droopy flowers. Don’t throw out cut flowers once they start to wilt. Instead, add two tablespoons of white vinegar and one teaspoon of sugar to a quart of water. Pour the solution into your vase, and the flowers will perk up.

15. Put an end to itching. Dab a cotton ball soaked in white vinegar on mosquito bites and insect stings. It will stop them from itching and help disinfect the area so they heal faster.

16. Whiten your teeth. Brush your teeth once a week with white distilled vinegar. Dip your toothbrush into the vinegar and brush thoroughly. It will help prevent bad breath, too.

17. Make nail polish last longer. Before you apply your favorite polish, wipe your nails with a cotton ball soaked in white distilled vinegar. The clean surface will help your manicure last.

18. Keep car windows frost-free. Prevent windows from frosting over in a storm by coating them with a solution of three parts white distilled vinegar to one part water. The acidity hinders ice, so you won’t have to wake up early to scrape off your car.

19. Let your dog shine. Spray your dog with one cup white distilled vinegar mixed with one quart water. The solution is a cheap alternative to expensive pet-care products, plus the vinegar will help repel pests like fleas and ticks.

20. Battle litter-box odor. Cat litter can leave behind an unwelcome smell. Eliminate it by pouring a half-inch of white distilled vinegar into the empty litter box. Let stand for 20 minutes, then rinse with cold water.

21. Kill bacteria in meat. Marinating in vinegar knocks out bacteria and tenderizes the meat. Create a marinade by adding ¼ cup balsamic vinegar for every 2 pounds of meat to your own blend of herbs and spices. Let the meat sit anywhere from 20 minutes to 24 hours, depending on how strong you want the flavor, then cook it in the morning without rinsing.

22. Prevent cracked eggs. Prevent eggs from cracking as they hard-boil by adding two tablespoons of white vinegar to the water. The eggs will stay intact, and the shells will peel off more easily when you’re ready to eat them.

23. Steam away a microwave mess. Fill a small bowl with equal parts hot water and vinegar, and place it in the microwave on high for 5 minutes. As the steam fills the microwave, it loosens the mess, making clean up a breeze.

24. Repair DVDs. If you have a worn DVD that skips or freezes, wipe it down with white distilled vinegar applied to a soft cloth. Make sure the DVD is completely dry before reinserting it into the player.

25. Get those last drops. If you can’t get that final bit of mayonnaise or salad dressing out of the jar, dribble in a few drops of vinegar. Put the cap on tightly and shake. The remaining condiments will slide out.

26. Rinse fruits and vegetables. Add 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar to one pint water. Use the mixture to wash fresh fruits and vegetables, then rinse thoroughly. The solution kills more pesticide residue than does pure water.

27. Brighter Easter eggs. Before your kids dye Easter eggs, mix 1 teaspoon of vinegar with ½ cup of hot water, then add food coloring. The vinegar keeps the dye bright and prevents the color from streaking.

28. Loosen a rusted screw. Pour vinegar onto the screw, and it will easily unstick.

29. Remove gum. To remove gum from fabric or hair, heat a small bowl of vinegar in the microwave. Pour the warm vinegar over the gum, saturating the area. The gum will dissolve.

30. Keep cheese from molding. Wrap cheese in a vinegar-soaked cloth, then place in an airtight container and refrigerate.

31. Renew a loofah. Soak your loofah in equal parts vinegar and water for 24 hours to dissolve soap residue, then rinse in cold water.

32. Remove wax. If you get melted candle wax on your wood furniture or floors, gently wipe it away with a cloth soaked in a solution of equal parts white vinegar and water.

33. Take a relaxing bath. Add ½ cup of vinegar to warm bath water for a cheap spa session at home. The vinegar removes dead skin, leaving you feeling soft and smooth.

34. Brighten your hair. Remove hair product buildup by rinsing a tablespoon of vinegar through your hair once a month.

35. Freshen fabrics. Fill a spray bottle with white vinegar and spritz your home to neutralize odors in fabrics, carpets, shoes or any sprayable surface.

36. Erase crayon. If your kids get crayon marks on the walls or floor, dip a toothbrush in white vinegar and gently scrub. The vinegar breaks down the wax, making for an inexpensive, nontoxic way to clean up after children.

37. Sticky stickers. Don’t scratch at the residue left by stickers or price tags. Instead, apply vinegar to the gunk, let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe the glue away.

38. Clean the dishwasher and coffee pot. Reduce soap buildup and food residue by pouring a cup of vinegar into your empty dishwasher or coffee pot once a month and letting it run a full cycle.

39. Sanitize pet accidents. You can remove the stain―and smell―of your pet’s accident by mixing ¼ cup vinegar with a quart of water and blotting the mixture onto the mess with a washcloth. Continue dabbing until the spot is gone.

40. Prep for summer grilling. To remove charcoal buildup from your grill, spray white distilled vinegar on balled up aluminum foil and scrub the grate thoroughly.

41. Restore showerhead pressure. If your showerhead gets clogged with mineral deposits, soak it for 15 minutes in a mixture of ½ cup vinegar and 1 quart water.

42. Clean your scissors. When your scissor blades get sticky, wipe them down with a cloth dipped in full-strength white vinegar. Unlike soap and water, vinegar won’t ruin the blades or rust the metal.

43. Unclog drains. For a natural, nontoxic way to clean clogged pipes, pour one cup of baking soda, followed by one cup of white vinegar, down the drain. Let the products bubble and foam, then flush the pipes with a pot of boiling water.

44. Eliminate dandruff. If your scalp is feeling dry or flaky, vinegar can be a simple at-home remedy. Once a week, pour one cup of apple cider vinegar over your scalp, and let it sit for 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with cool water.

45. Soften your feet. Summer sandals leaving you with cracked heals and calluses? Soak your feet for 20 minutes a day in one part vinegar to two parts warm water. The vinegar removes dead skin, leaving your feet soft and smooth.

Notes on Raising Children

Sister Wixom (4/13): "A young father recently learned of the passing of his extraordinary second-grade teacher. In memory of her, he wrote: “Of all the feelings and experiences I remember, the feeling most prevalent in my mind is ‘comfort.’ She may have taught me spelling, grammar, and math, but far more importantly she taught me to love being a child. In her classroom, it was OK to spell a word wrong here and there; ‘We’ll work on it,’ she’d say. It was OK to spill or tear or smudge; ‘We’ll fix it and we’ll clean it up,’ she would respond. It was OK to try, OK to stretch, OK to dream, and OK to enjoy those pleasures that come from the insignificant things that only children find exciting.”

"One of the greatest influences a person can have in this world is to influence a child. Children’s beliefs and self-worth are shaped early in their lives. Everyone within the sound of my voice has the power to increase a child’s confidence in himself or herself and to increase a child’s faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through the words they speak...

"How we speak to our children and the words we use can encourage and uplift them and strengthen their faith to stay on the path back to Heavenly Father. They come to this earth ready to listen.

Classics and drinking water

"How to Really Get Off the Conveyor Belt"
by Oliver DeMille

By Oliver DeMille
Summer is the hottest season of the year.
This may seem obvious, but sometimes the most obvious things go ignored.
Where we live, we’ve been experiencing record-breaking high temperatures.
The lawns and the swamp coolers in our region have been struggling to cope.
A report on the local news reminded us that it is very important to drink enough water.
After hearing this ridiculously obvious point, I shook my head and laughed.
“It’s amazing how the small things make all the difference,” I told my daughter Sara.
I tried to think of how much water I’d had today, but I couldn’t remember drinking any.
I quickly went to the kitchen and drank a big glass of water.

The Parenting Conveyor Belt

I was reading the latest issue of Psychology Today when this recommendation to drink lots of water caught my attention, and I had just finished an interesting article on parenting.
One phrase really stuck with me.
The article mentioned that too often parenting literature “puts parents on a treadmill…”
That sounds a lot like the conveyor belt.
But a treadmill (as described in Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad) keeps people busy, busy, busy without getting anywhere.
Sound familiar?
Too many parents fall into this trap.
It’s a rat race, as Kiyosaki called it.

Simple, not Complex

If we read classics every day, even a little, it’s amazing how manageable it is to get off this treadmill and educate nearly all kids—just like drinking enough water makes a huge difference in how people deal with the heat.
If we forget to drink enough—for whatever reason—the heat can really become a problem.
Likewise, if we stop reading from the classics every single day—for any reason—it’s remarkable how quickly parenting, family issues, and educating the kids can start to feel overwhelming, beyond us, just too hard.
But with enough water and classics, the symptoms of being overheated or overwhelmed as parents can rapidly go away.
Great education really is “Simple, not Complex.”
It takes consistency, but those who read the classics daily are nearly always positive, enthusiastic, and up to the task.
In fact, this is so prevalent that I learned many years ago that anyone who feels like providing a truly quality education for their kids is really difficult is probably not reading the classics every day.
Period.

Are You Reading Enough?

Numerous times I’ve been asked something along the lines of, “Okay, I understand how TJEd and Leadership Education are supposed to work, but what do you do when (some really difficult family or education situation)?”
I learned to respond immediately, “What are the last four classics you’ve read in the past few months?”
I found that well over 9 out of 10 respondents weren’t really reading the classics.
And of the few who were, almost none of them were also reading classics aloud with the kids they had concerns about.
They wanted to provide great education, but they forgot to do the most basic thing.
In short, if we don’t read classics, it’s pretty hard to be an excellent educator-parent—just like it’s tough to deal with the heat if we don’t drink much, or any, water.
If this seems too simple, don’t bash it until you give it a try.
Reading classics has an incredible power to boost our enthusiasm and parenting skills.
I don’t know exactly why this happens, but it does.
It works.
Those who don’t do it are frequently concerned about how to really do leadership education, and often insecure about many of their parenting choices.
Those who read the classics daily have fewer struggles.
They nearly always feel more secure, less overwhelmed, and more enthusiastic.
This is real.

So Pull Out Your Next Top Five!

This one choice (to read from the classics every day) gets parents off the treadmill and out of the parenting rat race.
So get out those three or five top books you’ve been meaning to read, and get to work.
Don’t read them one at a time—just structure a time to read and then read whatever is interesting to you each day.
The impact on your parenting and family will be noticeable, immediate, and lasting.
And it might help to drink lots of water while you’re at it.

****************

- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/07/conveyor-belttoday-weekly-mentor/#sthash.4yS30ZeA.dpuf

 By Oliver DeMille
Summer is the hottest season of the year.
This may seem obvious, but sometimes the most obvious things
go ignored.
Where we live, we’ve been experiencing record- breaking high
temperatures.
The lawns and the swamp coolers in our region have been
struggling to cope.
A report on the local news reminded us that it is very important to
drink enough water.
After hearing this ridiculously obvious point, I shook my head and
laughed.
“It’s amaz ing how the small things make all the difference,” I told
my daughter Sara.
I tried to think of how much water I’d had today, but I couldn’t
remember drinking any.
I quickly went to the kitchen and drank a big glass of water.
T he Parenting Conveyor Belt
I was reading the latest issue of Psychology Today when this recommendation to drink lots of water caught my
attention, and I had just finished an interesting article on parenting.
One phrase really stuck with me.
The article mentioned that too often parenting literature “puts parents on a treadmill…”
That sounds a lot like the conveyor belt.
But a treadmill (as described in Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad) keeps people busy, busy, busy without getting
anywhere.
Sound familiar?
Too many parents fall into this trap.
It’s a rat race, as Kiyosaki called it.
Simple, not Complex
If we read classics every day, even a little, it’s amaz ing how manageable it is to get off this treadmill and educate
nearly all kids—just like drinking enough water makes a huge difference in how people deal with the heat.
If we forget to drink enough—for whatever reason—the heat can really become a problem.
Likewise, if we stop reading from the classics every single day—for any reason—it’s remarkable how quickly
parenting, family issues, and educating the kids can start to feel overwhelming, beyond us, just too hard.
But with enough water and classics, the symptoms of being overheated or overwhelmed as parents can rapidly go
away.
Great education really is “Simple, not Complex.”
It takes consistency, but those who read the classics daily are nearly always positive, enthusiastic, and up to the
task.
In fact, this is so prevalent that I learned many years ago that anyone who feels like providing a truly quality
education for their kids is really difficult is probably not reading the classics every day.
Period.
Are You Reading Enough?
Numerous times I’ve been asked something along the lines of, “Okay, I understand how TJEd and Leadership
Education are supposed to work, but what do you do when (some really difficult family or education situation)?”
I learned to respond immediately, “What are the last four classics you’ve read in the past few months?”
I found that well over 9 out of 10 respondents weren’t really reading the classics.
And of the few who were, almost none of them were also reading classics aloud with the kids they had concerns
about.
They wanted to provide great education, but they forgot to do the most basic thing.
In short, if we don’t read classics, it’s pretty hard to be an excellent educator- parent—just like it’s tough to deal with
the heat if we don’t drink much, or any, water.
If this seems too simple, don’t bash it until you give it a try.
Reading classics has an incredible power to boost our enthusiasm and parenting skills.
I don’t know exactly why this happens, but it does.
It works.
Those who don’t do it are frequently concerned about how to really do leadership education, and often insecure
about many of their parenting choices.
Those who read the classics daily have fewer struggles.
They nearly always feel more secure, less overwhelmed, and more enthusiastic.
This is real.
So Pull Out Your Next Top Five!
This one choice (to read from the classics every day) gets parents off the treadmill and out of the parenting rat race.
So get out those three or five top books you’ve been meaning to read, and get to work.
Don’t read them one at a time—just structure a time to read and then read whatever is interesting to you each day.
The impact on your parenting and family will be noticeable, immediate, and lasting.
And it might help to drink lots of water while you’re at it.

By Oliver DeMille
Summer is the hottest season of the year.
This may seem obvious, but sometimes the most obvious things go ignored.
Where we live, we’ve been experiencing record-breaking high temperatures.
The lawns and the swamp coolers in our region have been struggling to cope.
A report on the local news reminded us that it is very important to drink enough water.
After hearing this ridiculously obvious point, I shook my head and laughed.
“It’s amazing how the small things make all the difference,” I told my daughter Sara.
I tried to think of how much water I’d had today, but I couldn’t remember drinking any.
I quickly went to the kitchen and drank a big glass of water.

The Parenting Conveyor Belt

I was reading the latest issue of Psychology Today when this recommendation to drink lots of water caught my attention, and I had just finished an interesting article on parenting.
One phrase really stuck with me.
The article mentioned that too often parenting literature “puts parents on a treadmill…”
That sounds a lot like the conveyor belt.
But a treadmill (as described in Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad) keeps people busy, busy, busy without getting anywhere.
Sound familiar?
Too many parents fall into this trap.
It’s a rat race, as Kiyosaki called it.

Simple, not Complex

If we read classics every day, even a little, it’s amazing how manageable it is to get off this treadmill and educate nearly all kids—just like drinking enough water makes a huge difference in how people deal with the heat.
If we forget to drink enough—for whatever reason—the heat can really become a problem.
Likewise, if we stop reading from the classics every single day—for any reason—it’s remarkable how quickly parenting, family issues, and educating the kids can start to feel overwhelming, beyond us, just too hard.
But with enough water and classics, the symptoms of being overheated or overwhelmed as parents can rapidly go away.
Great education really is “Simple, not Complex.”
It takes consistency, but those who read the classics daily are nearly always positive, enthusiastic, and up to the task.
In fact, this is so prevalent that I learned many years ago that anyone who feels like providing a truly quality education for their kids is really difficult is probably not reading the classics every day.
Period.

Are You Reading Enough?

Numerous times I’ve been asked something along the lines of, “Okay, I understand how TJEd and Leadership Education are supposed to work, but what do you do when (some really difficult family or education situation)?”
I learned to respond immediately, “What are the last four classics you’ve read in the past few months?”
I found that well over 9 out of 10 respondents weren’t really reading the classics.
And of the few who were, almost none of them were also reading classics aloud with the kids they had concerns about.
They wanted to provide great education, but they forgot to do the most basic thing.
In short, if we don’t read classics, it’s pretty hard to be an excellent educator-parent—just like it’s tough to deal with the heat if we don’t drink much, or any, water.
If this seems too simple, don’t bash it until you give it a try.
Reading classics has an incredible power to boost our enthusiasm and parenting skills.
I don’t know exactly why this happens, but it does.
It works.
Those who don’t do it are frequently concerned about how to really do leadership education, and often insecure about many of their parenting choices.
Those who read the classics daily have fewer struggles.
They nearly always feel more secure, less overwhelmed, and more enthusiastic.
This is real.

So Pull Out Your Next Top Five!

This one choice (to read from the classics every day) gets parents off the treadmill and out of the parenting rat race.
So get out those three or five top books you’ve been meaning to read, and get to work.
Don’t read them one at a time—just structure a time to read and then read whatever is interesting to you each day.
The impact on your parenting and family will be noticeable, immediate, and lasting.
And it might help to drink lots of water while you’re at it.

****************

- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/07/conveyor-belttoday-weekly-mentor/#sthash.4yS30ZeA.dpuf

By Oliver DeMille
Summer is the hottest season of the year.
This may seem obvious, but sometimes the most obvious things go ignored.
Where we live, we’ve been experiencing record-breaking high temperatures.
The lawns and the swamp coolers in our region have been struggling to cope.
A report on the local news reminded us that it is very important to drink enough water.
After hearing this ridiculously obvious point, I shook my head and laughed.
“It’s amazing how the small things make all the difference,” I told my daughter Sara.
I tried to think of how much water I’d had today, but I couldn’t remember drinking any.
I quickly went to the kitchen and drank a big glass of water.

The Parenting Conveyor Belt

I was reading the latest issue of Psychology Today when this recommendation to drink lots of water caught my attention, and I had just finished an interesting article on parenting.
One phrase really stuck with me.
The article mentioned that too often parenting literature “puts parents on a treadmill…”
That sounds a lot like the conveyor belt.
But a treadmill (as described in Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad) keeps people busy, busy, busy without getting anywhere.
Sound familiar?
Too many parents fall into this trap.
It’s a rat race, as Kiyosaki called it.

Simple, not Complex

If we read classics every day, even a little, it’s amazing how manageable it is to get off this treadmill and educate nearly all kids—just like drinking enough water makes a huge difference in how people deal with the heat.
If we forget to drink enough—for whatever reason—the heat can really become a problem.
Likewise, if we stop reading from the classics every single day—for any reason—it’s remarkable how quickly parenting, family issues, and educating the kids can start to feel overwhelming, beyond us, just too hard.
But with enough water and classics, the symptoms of being overheated or overwhelmed as parents can rapidly go away.
Great education really is “Simple, not Complex.”
It takes consistency, but those who read the classics daily are nearly always positive, enthusiastic, and up to the task.
In fact, this is so prevalent that I learned many years ago that anyone who feels like providing a truly quality education for their kids is really difficult is probably not reading the classics every day.
Period.

Are You Reading Enough?

Numerous times I’ve been asked something along the lines of, “Okay, I understand how TJEd and Leadership Education are supposed to work, but what do you do when (some really difficult family or education situation)?”
I learned to respond immediately, “What are the last four classics you’ve read in the past few months?”
I found that well over 9 out of 10 respondents weren’t really reading the classics.
And of the few who were, almost none of them were also reading classics aloud with the kids they had concerns about.
They wanted to provide great education, but they forgot to do the most basic thing.
In short, if we don’t read classics, it’s pretty hard to be an excellent educator-parent—just like it’s tough to deal with the heat if we don’t drink much, or any, water.
If this seems too simple, don’t bash it until you give it a try.
Reading classics has an incredible power to boost our enthusiasm and parenting skills.
I don’t know exactly why this happens, but it does.
It works.
Those who don’t do it are frequently concerned about how to really do leadership education, and often insecure about many of their parenting choices.
Those who read the classics daily have fewer struggles.
They nearly always feel more secure, less overwhelmed, and more enthusiastic.
This is real.

So Pull Out Your Next Top Five!

This one choice (to read from the classics every day) gets parents off the treadmill and out of the parenting rat race.
So get out those three or five top books you’ve been meaning to read, and get to work.
Don’t read them one at a time—just structure a time to read and then read whatever is interesting to you each day.
The impact on your parenting and family will be noticeable, immediate, and lasting.
And it might help to drink lots of water while you’re at it.

****************

- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/07/conveyor-belttoday-weekly-mentor/#sthash.4yS30ZeA.dpuf

By Oliver DeMille
Summer is the hottest season of the year.
This may seem obvious, but sometimes the most obvious things go ignored.
Where we live, we’ve been experiencing record-breaking high temperatures.
The lawns and the swamp coolers in our region have been struggling to cope.
A report on the local news reminded us that it is very important to drink enough water.
After hearing this ridiculously obvious point, I shook my head and laughed.
“It’s amazing how the small things make all the difference,” I told my daughter Sara.
I tried to think of how much water I’d had today, but I couldn’t remember drinking any.
I quickly went to the kitchen and drank a big glass of water.

The Parenting Conveyor Belt

I was reading the latest issue of Psychology Today when this recommendation to drink lots of water caught my attention, and I had just finished an interesting article on parenting.
One phrase really stuck with me.
The article mentioned that too often parenting literature “puts parents on a treadmill…”
That sounds a lot like the conveyor belt.
But a treadmill (as described in Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad) keeps people busy, busy, busy without getting anywhere.
Sound familiar?
Too many parents fall into this trap.
It’s a rat race, as Kiyosaki called it.

Simple, not Complex

If we read classics every day, even a little, it’s amazing how manageable it is to get off this treadmill and educate nearly all kids—just like drinking enough water makes a huge difference in how people deal with the heat.
If we forget to drink enough—for whatever reason—the heat can really become a problem.
Likewise, if we stop reading from the classics every single day—for any reason—it’s remarkable how quickly parenting, family issues, and educating the kids can start to feel overwhelming, beyond us, just too hard.
But with enough water and classics, the symptoms of being overheated or overwhelmed as parents can rapidly go away.
Great education really is “Simple, not Complex.”
It takes consistency, but those who read the classics daily are nearly always positive, enthusiastic, and up to the task.
In fact, this is so prevalent that I learned many years ago that anyone who feels like providing a truly quality education for their kids is really difficult is probably not reading the classics every day.
Period.

Are You Reading Enough?

Numerous times I’ve been asked something along the lines of, “Okay, I understand how TJEd and Leadership Education are supposed to work, but what do you do when (some really difficult family or education situation)?”
I learned to respond immediately, “What are the last four classics you’ve read in the past few months?”
I found that well over 9 out of 10 respondents weren’t really reading the classics.
And of the few who were, almost none of them were also reading classics aloud with the kids they had concerns about.
They wanted to provide great education, but they forgot to do the most basic thing.
In short, if we don’t read classics, it’s pretty hard to be an excellent educator-parent—just like it’s tough to deal with the heat if we don’t drink much, or any, water.
If this seems too simple, don’t bash it until you give it a try.
Reading classics has an incredible power to boost our enthusiasm and parenting skills.
I don’t know exactly why this happens, but it does.
It works.
Those who don’t do it are frequently concerned about how to really do leadership education, and often insecure about many of their parenting choices.
Those who read the classics daily have fewer struggles.
They nearly always feel more secure, less overwhelmed, and more enthusiastic.
This is real.

So Pull Out Your Next Top Five!

This one choice (to read from the classics every day) gets parents off the treadmill and out of the parenting rat race.
So get out those three or five top books you’ve been meaning to read, and get to work.
Don’t read them one at a time—just structure a time to read and then read whatever is interesting to you each day.
The impact on your parenting and family will be noticeable, immediate, and lasting.
And it might help to drink lots of water while you’re at it.

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- See more at: http://www.tjed.org/2013/07/conveyor-belttoday-weekly-mentor/#sthash.4yS30ZeA.dpuf

"Unschooling" by Oliver DeMille

Took Me By Surprise

“Why don’t you ever tell stories about me in your books and blogs, Dad?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “I tell stories about all the kids.”

“Not me,” Sara said. “At least not very much. You tell only a few minor things about me.”

I stared at her in surprise. But it’s not what you think.

I was a little surprised that I hadn’t told more stories about her, but the big shocker was that Sara even cared.

I mean, this was Sara.

Sara, who over the years studied at least as much as any of the other youth in our family but who hardly ever did an academic assignment if a parent or mentor gave it to her.

Sara, who loved to learn on her own, but through Scholar Phase and Depth Phase usually got up and left if she was invited to attend a class or event.

Sara, who went to seminars, bought the books by all the authors and then left the lectures and read all the books in the hallway before the seminar ended—and who knew the material far better than anyone else as we discussed details during the drive home.
Sara, who since she was fourteen or fifteen continues to read more books than pretty much anyone I know, who’s on a first-name basis with practically every librarian or bookstore employee in the valley, who remembers almost everything she reads, but who gets frustrated with the pace in every formal class setting she’s ever tried.
“The standards of the class are just so shallow,” I’ve heard her say a dozen times. “I want to really learn this topic in depth, not just play around with it.”

That’s TJEd

Perhaps the greatest thing about TJEd is that it is personalized and individualized.
Thus, if a student learns best by just reading math classics, that’s what we use—but if she does better with Saxon or A Beka or other math books, that’s what we use.
If she excels with worksheets, or books by Danica McKellar, we use these.
If a student does best in a Montessori setting or, in contrast, a highly-structured program, that’s what his mentors use.
If the student flourishes in one curriculum, that’s what we utilize.
If he doesn’t learn effectively in a certain educational style, we find a new one.
If private or public school works best, we use it. If home brings the best results, that’s our focus.
That’s TJEd.
And for some students, the most effective method is unschooling.
In this model, the parents or teachers set an example of learning (which is effective in all styles and systems), and otherwise let the student pick and choose his own books, materials, projects and studies.

 Who’s in Charge?

“Wow, Sara,” I said. “I’m surprised that you, of all people, are surprised by this.”
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“Well, think about it. What stories would I tell? Should I share that when we gave you assignments you genuinely tried to care about them­­—but lost interest almost as soon as we made it an ‘assignment’? It was almost as if the very fact that it was an assignment caused you to lose interest.”
Sara laughed good-naturedly. “That did happen,” she said with a smirk.
“Or should I tell stories about how you saw us mentoring your brothers and sisters on a certain topic, dozens of times, and asked to be excused from our classes and meetings, then went and studied the topic yourself, your own way, and at the end of the class you knew the subject than as well as those in the class? I mean, I’m not sure I want to tell that story. It makes it seem like our class wasn’t very good.”
“I see your point,” Sara replied in good humor.
“Or maybe I should tell stories about you sitting in the back of the car as your mother and I drove somewhere, and when we started talking about some topic of interest to us, like mythology or psychology, you suddenly piped up added to the conversation details that we’d missed or misstated?”
“Actually,” Sara said half-seriously, “I think you should tell that story.”
It was my turn to laugh. “You know, you’re right,” I responded.
Sara’s smile returned. “Dad, the truth is, I think you should share all these stories, because there are a lot of students like me, self-starters and self-learners who need the freedom to really pursue our own passions and interests—and you haven’t said much about true unschooling. I mean, you mention it occasionally as a good option for some students, but I’ve never heard you really promote it.”
“Actually, I have strongly supported it on a number of occasions. I mean, TJEd is all about personalizing every education to the individual student’s needs, styles, abilities and interests, and unschooling is absolutely the best model for some students…”
“Yes,” Sara interrupted, “But don’t you think you’ve missed out on a great opportunity? You have a daughter who learns more the less you try to push and teach her—and you’ve had many years of working with me that way. You should share these experiences.” She smiled widely. “Or not. It’s up to you. I’m just sayin’…”

Free to Learn

Sara picked up her books and walked to the door. “I’ve got to go read, Dad.”
“What are you reading right now?” I asked before she could leave.
“Well,” she held up the top book in her arms. “This is The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy, and this,” she put down the book and lifted another, “is The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom.”
The third book was the current issue of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and the fourth was The Scarlet Pimpernel.
“I just saw this movie,” she said as she held up the fifth book, The Host by Stephanie Meyer, so I’m re-reading the book.”
“Oh,” she hefted the last item in her arms, a file folder full of loose papers, “and this is a manuscript of a book by one of the students I’m mentoring in my writing class. It’s really good. I can’t wait for her to get me the next chapter.”
After she left, I smiled and pulled out my laptop.
“I really should tell more stories about the great education she got though the unschooling approach,” I told myself.
I mean, we always held the weekly interviews with her (furtive and informal as they usually were), as well as the six month inventories, and we went out of our way to include her in every invitation and empower her in getting every resource she wanted.
In fact, feeding her learning passion cost more money on books and materials than all our other youth combined.
I went to the blank page on my laptop and wrote:

If you have a student who learns best through unschooling, don’t try to push him to change his style. Instead, get comfortable with changing your style in order to empower the best options for your student.

Different styles and different curricula work better with different students. Find the best one for your youth.

That’s what TJEd is all about.

Music links/groups

For school time/relaxation:
Bach:
Calm Bach

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Pure Enjoyment:
Piano Guys
Josh Groban
Hayley Westerna

Ken Robinson's amazing talk on education

Thank you very much.
I moved to America 12 years ago with my wife Terry and our two kids. Actually, truthfully, we moved to Los Angeles -- (Laughter) -- thinking we were moving to America, but anyway, it's a short plane ride from Los Angeles to America.
I got here 12 years ago, and when I got here, I was told various things, like, "Americans don't get irony." Have you come across this idea? It's not true. I've traveled the whole length and breadth of this country. I have found no evidence that Americans don't get irony. It's one of those cultural myths, like, "The British are reserved." I don't know why people think this. We've invaded every country we've encountered. (Laughter) But it's not true Americans don't get irony, but I just want you to know that that's what people are saying about you behind your back. You know, so when you leave living rooms in Europe, people say, thankfully, nobody was ironic in your presence.
But I knew that Americans get irony when I came across that legislation No Child Left Behind. Because whoever thought of that title gets irony, don't they, because -- (Laughter) (Applause) — because it's leaving millions of children behind. Now I can see that's not a very attractive name for legislation: Millions of Children Left Behind. I can see that. What's the plan? Well, we propose to leave millions of children behind, and here's how it's going to work.
And it's working beautifully. In some parts of the country, 60 percent of kids drop out of high school. In the Native American communities, it's 80 percent of kids. If we halved that number, one estimate is it would create a net gain to the U.S. economy over 10 years of nearly a trillion dollars. From an economic point of view, this is good math, isn't it, that we should do this? It actually costs an enormous amount to mop up the damage from the dropout crisis.
But the dropout crisis is just the tip of an iceberg. What it doesn't count are all the kids who are in school but being disengaged from it, who don't enjoy it, who don't get any real benefit from it.
And the reason is not that we're not spending enough money. America spends more money on education than most other countries. Class sizes are smaller than in many countries. And there are hundreds of initiatives every year to try and improve education. The trouble is, it's all going in the wrong direction. There are three principles on which human life flourishes, and they are contradicted by the culture of education under which most teachers have to labor and most students have to endure.
The first is this, that human beings are naturally different and diverse.
Can I ask you, how many of you have got children of your own? Okay. Or grandchildren. How about two children or more? Right. And the rest of you have seen such children. (Laughter) Small people wandering about. I will make you a bet, and I am confident that I will win the bet. If you've got two children or more, I bet you they are completely different from each other. Aren't they? Aren't they? (Applause) You would never confuse them, would you? Like, "Which one are you? Remind me. Your mother and I are going to introduce some color-coding system, so we don't get confused."
Education under No Child Left Behind is based on not diversity but conformity. What schools are encouraged to do is to find out what kids can do across a very narrow spectrum of achievement. One of the effects of No Child Left Behind has been to narrow the focus onto the so-called STEM disciplines. They're very important. I'm not here to argue against science and math. On the contrary, they're necessary but they're not sufficient. A real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, to physical education. An awful lot of kids, sorry, thank you — (Applause) — One estimate in America currently is that something like 10 percent of kids, getting on that way, are being diagnosed with various conditions under the broad title of attention deficit disorder. ADHD. I'm not saying there's no such thing. I just don't believe it's an epidemic like this. If you sit kids down, hour after hour, doing low-grade clerical work, don't be surprised if they start to fidget, you know? (Laughter) (Applause) Children are not, for the most part, suffering from a psychological condition. They're suffering from childhood. (Laughter) And I know this because I spent my early life as a child. I went through the whole thing. Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents, not just a small range of them. And by the way, the arts aren't just important because they improve math scores. They're important because they speak to parts of children's being which are otherwise untouched.
The second, thank you — (Applause)
The second principle that drives human life flourishing is curiosity. If you can light the spark of curiosity in a child, they will learn without any further assistance, very often. Children are natural learners. It's a real achievement to put that particular ability out, or to stifle it. Curiosity is the engine of achievement. Now the reason I say this is because one of the effects of the current culture here, if I can say so, has been to de-professionalize teachers. There is no system in the world or any school in the country that is better than its teachers. Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools. But teaching is a creative profession. Teaching, properly conceived, is not a delivery system. You know, you're not there just to pass on received information. Great teachers do that, but what great teachers also do is mentor, stimulate, provoke, engage. You see, in the end, education is about learning. If there's no learning going on, there's no education going on. And people can spend an awful lot of time discussing education without ever discussing learning. The whole point of education is to get people to learn.
A friend of mine, an old friend -- actually very old, he's dead. (Laughter) That's as old as it gets, I'm afraid. But a wonderful guy he was, wonderful philosopher. He used to talk about the difference between the task and achievement senses of verbs. You know, you can be engaged in the activity of something, but not really be achieving it, like dieting. It's a very good example, you know. There he is. He's dieting. Is he losing any weight? Not really. Teaching is a word like that. You can say, "There's Deborah, she's in room 34, she's teaching." But if nobody's learning anything, she may be engaged in the task of teaching but not actually fulfilling it.
The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning. That's it. And part of the problem is, I think, that the dominant culture of education has come to focus on not teaching and learning, but testing. Now, testing is important. Standardized tests have a place. But they should not be the dominant culture of education. They should be diagnostic. They should help. (Applause) If I go for a medical examination, I want some standardized tests. I do. You know, I want to know what my cholesterol level is compared to everybody else's on a standard scale. I don't want to be told on some scale my doctor invented in the car.
"Your cholesterol is what I call Level Orange."
"Really? Is that good?" "We don't know."
But all that should support learning. It shouldn't obstruct it, which of course it often does. So in place of curiosity, what we have is a culture of compliance. Our children and teachers are encouraged to follow routine algorithms rather than to excite that power of imagination and curiosity. And the third principle is this: that human life is inherently creative. It's why we all have different résumés. We create our lives, and we can recreate them as we go through them. It's the common currency of being a human being. It's why human culture is so interesting and diverse and dynamic. I mean, other animals may well have imaginations and creativity, but it's not so much in evidence, is it, as ours? I mean, you may have a dog. And your dog may get depressed. You know, but it doesn't listen to Radiohead, does it? (Laughter) And sit staring out the window with a bottle of Jack Daniels. (Laughter)
And you say, "Would you like to come for a walk?"
He says, "No, I'm fine. You go. I'll wait. But take pictures."
We all create our own lives through this restless process of imagining alternatives and possibilities, and what one of the roles of education is to awaken and develop these powers of creativity. Instead, what we have is a culture of standardization.
Now, it doesn't have to be that way. It really doesn't. Finland regularly comes out on top in math, science and reading. Now, we only know that's what they do well at because that's all that's being tested currently. That's one of the problems of the test. They don't look for other things that matter just as much. The thing about work in Finland is this: they don't obsess about those disciplines. They have a very broad approach to education which includes humanities, physical education, the arts.
Second, there is no standardized testing in Finland. I mean, there's a bit, but it's not what gets people up in the morning. It's not what keeps them at their desks.
And the third thing, and I was at a meeting recently with some people from Finland, actual Finnish people, and somebody from the American system was saying to the people in Finland, "What do you do about the dropout rate in Finland?"
And they all looked a bit bemused, and said, "Well, we don't have one. Why would you drop out? If people are in trouble, we get to them quite quickly and help them and we support them."
Now people always say, "Well, you know, you can't compare Finland to America."
No. I think there's a population of around five million in Finland. But you can compare it to a state in America. Many states in America have fewer people in them than that. I mean, I've been to some states in America and I was the only person there. (Laughter) Really. Really. I was asked to lock up when I left. (Laughter)
But what all the high-performing systems in the world do is currently what is not evident, sadly, across the systems in America -- I mean, as a whole. One is this: They individualize teaching and learning. They recognize that it's students who are learning and the system has to engage them, their curiosity, their individuality, and their creativity. That's how you get them to learn.
The second is that they attribute a very high status to the teaching profession. They recognize that you can't improve education if you don't pick great people to teach and if you don't keep giving them constant support and professional development. Investing in professional development is not a cost. It's an investment, and every other country that's succeeding well knows that, whether it's Australia, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong or Shanghai. They know that to be the case.
And the third is, they devolve responsibility to the school level for getting the job done. You see, there's a big difference here between going into a mode of command and control in education -- That's what happens in some systems. You know, central governments decide or state governments decide they know best and they're going to tell you what to do. The trouble is that education doesn't go on in the committee rooms of our legislative buildings. It happens in classrooms and schools, and the people who do it are the teachers and the students, and if you remove their discretion, it stops working. You have to put it back to the people. (Applause)
There is wonderful work happening in this country. But I have to say it's happening in spite of the dominant culture of education, not because of it. It's like people are sailing into a headwind all the time. And the reason I think is this: that many of the current policies are based on mechanistic conceptions of education. It's like education is an industrial process that can be improved just by having better data, and somewhere in, I think, the back of the mind of some policy makers is this idea that if we fine-tune it well enough, if we just get it right, it will all hum along perfectly into the future. It won't, and it never did.
The point is that education is not a mechanical system. It's a human system. It's about people, people who either do want to learn or don't want to learn. Every student who drops out of school has a reason for it which is rooted in their own biography. They may find it boring. They may find it irrelevant. They may find that it's at odds with the life they're living outside of school. There are trends, but the stories are always unique. I was at a meeting recently in Los Angeles of -- they're called alternative education programs. These are programs designed to get kids back into education. They have certain common features. They're very personalized. They have strong support for the teachers, close links with the community and a broad and diverse curriculum, and often programs which involve students outside school as well as inside school. And they work. What's interesting to me is, these are called "alternative education." You know? And all the evidence from around the world is, if we all did that, there'd be no need for the alternative. (Applause)
So I think we have to embrace a different metaphor. We have to recognize that it's a human system, and there are conditions under which people thrive, and conditions under which they don't. We are after all organic creatures, and the culture of the school is absolutely essential. Culture is an organic term, isn't it?
Not far from where I live is a place called Death Valley. Death Valley is the hottest, driest place in America, and nothing grows there. Nothing grows there because it doesn't rain. Hence, Death Valley. In the winter of 2004, it rained in Death Valley. Seven inches of rain fell over a very short period. And in the spring of 2005, there was a phenomenon. The whole floor of Death Valley was carpeted in flowers for a while. What it proved is this: that Death Valley isn't dead. It's dormant. Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility waiting for the right conditions to come about, and with organic systems, if the conditions are right, life is inevitable. It happens all the time. You take an area, a school, a district, you change the conditions, give people a different sense of possibility, a different set of expectations, a broader range of opportunities, you cherish and value the relationships between teachers and learners, you offer people the discretion to be creative and to innovate in what they do, and schools that were once bereft spring to life.
Great leaders know that. The real role of leadership in education -- and I think it's true at the national level, the state level, at the school level -- is not and should not be command and control. The real role of leadership is climate control, creating a climate of possibility. And if you do that, people will rise to it and achieve things that you completely did not anticipate and couldn't have expected.
There's a wonderful quote from Benjamin Franklin. "There are three sorts of people in the world: Those who are immovable, people who don't get, they don't want to get it, they're going to do anything about it. There are people who are movable, people who see the need for change and are prepared to listen to it. And there are people who move, people who make things happen." And if we can encourage more people, that will be a movement. And if the movement is strong enough, that's, in the best sense of the word, a revolution. And that's what we need.
Thank you very much. (Applause) Thank you very much. (Applause)