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Monday, January 31, 2011

 

1.  I read some books by the Nearings many years ago.  I was reminded about them in a newsletter I received today.   I always did like their methodology for time management:

“Helen and Scott were devoted to a lifestyle giving importance to work, on the one hand, and contemplation or play, on the other. Ideally, they aimed at a norm that divided most of a day's waking hours into three blocks of four hours: "bread labor" (work directed toward meeting requirements of food, shelter, clothing, needed tools, and such); civic work (doing something of value for their community); and professional pursuits or recreation (for Scott this was frequently economics research, for Helen it was often music - but they both liked to ski, also). They clearly honored manual work, and viewed it as one aspect of the self-development process that they felt life should be.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_and_Scott_Nearing

 

2.  Can you motivate your child to achieve greatness? -- http://barbarafrankonline.com/blog.php/2011/01/31/can-you-motivate-your-child-to-achieve-greatness/ 

 

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior - Can a regimen of no playdates, no TV, no computer games and hours of music practice create happy kids? And what happens when they fight back?  -- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html

 

3.   book to read –>  The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0670020478?tag=cardampublis-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0670020478&adid=0NKD6YACFMJT93TCD24R&

Product Description

From one of the world's leading thinkers and speakers on creativity and self-fulfillment, a breakthrough book about talent, passion, and achievement
The element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels. The Element draws on the stories of a wide range of people, from ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons; from Meg Ryan to Gillian Lynne, who choreographed the Broadway productions of Cats and The Phantom of the Opera; and from writer Arianna Huffington to renowned physicist Richard Feynman and others, including business leaders and athletes. It explores the components of this new paradigm: The diversity of intelligence, the power of imagination and creativity, and the importance of commitment to our own capabilities.
With a wry sense of humor, Ken Robinson looks at the conditions that enable us to find ourselves in the element and those that stifle that possibility. He shows that age and occupation are no barrier, and that once we have found our path we can help others to do so as well. The Element shows the vital need to enhance creativity and innovation by thinking differently about human resources and imagination. It is also an essential strategy for transforming education, business, and communities to meet the challenges of living and succeeding in the twenty-first century.

skills needed in the 21st Century

 

Monticello College has a list of skills needed in the 21st century.  I think it is a good list.

skills needed in the 21st Century*:

  • The ability to define problems without a guide.
  • The ability to ask hard questions which challenge prevailing assumptions.
  • The ability to quickly assimilate needed data from masses of irrelevant information.
  • The ability to work in teams without a guide.
  • The ability to work absolutely alone.
  • The ability to persuade others that your course is the right one.
  • The ability to conceptualize and reorganize information into new patterns.
  • The ability to discuss ideas with an eye toward application.
  • The ability to think inductively, deductively and dialectically.
  • The ability to think, speak, and write clearly.
  • The ability to judge what it means to understand something thoroughly.
  • Familiarity with different modes of thought (including quantitative, historical, scientific, and aesthetic).
  • Depth of knowledge in a particular field and how it relates to other fields.
  • The ability to pursue life-long learning.
  • The ability to understand human nature and lead accordingly.
  • The ability to identify needed personal traits and turn them into habits.

        *As outlined in A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille pages 118-123

 

So how do we develop these skills in our young adults at home?

Monday…

 

Brrrrrr!  It is cold outside.  My outdoor thermometer says –32C.  Good thing I don’t have anything I have to do outside today.  But maybe we will try this…

 

2.  “All things being equal we generally resist change until the pain of making a switch becomes less than the pain of remaining in our current situation.” - Chris Guillebeau

 

3.  Why Young Entrepreneurs Should Hold Down a Job After College --->  http://frugaldad.com/2011/01/24/why-young-entrepreneurs-should-hold-down-a-job-after-college/

 

4.  I love all the pizza ideas in the comments section -- http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=2732#comments

 

5.  I watched this video last night …..

so now it has me pondering the old versus the new covenant.  A friend of mine says it is not the new covenant but the renewed covenant…. but then why is it called a new covenant in scripture?

I found this website that is comparing the two… http://www.biblestudy.org/beginner/basic-differences-between-old-and-new-covenants.html

Still more reading to be done.

 

6.  catalogue for personalized gifts -- http://media.blessings.com/promotions/pdf/201009-personalisedgifts.pdf

 

7.  20 Science Questions

Did you pay attention in elementary school? If so, you should do fine on this science quiz, which uses 20 multiple choice questions to test your knowledge of general science. Kids contributed questions and the selection of incorrect answers for this quiz. Can you make the grade?... Try the quiz

 

****  time to go annoy my kids some more… they don’t seem to like me lately.  Oh well.