carry on, mr. bowditch

May 20, 2009

We have been reading a delightful book the last few weeks called “Carry On, Mr. Bowditch” by Jean Lee Latham. I used it for my MAPSSSSS class to illustrate principles of a thriving Love of Learning Phase of education. My children had a colloquium on it yesterday. We all highly recommend it as a family read-aloud. I wanted to jot down the lessons I learned from this classic:

~You may have trials from this, but we, as your parents, will not be one of them.

~Sail by ash breeze.

~Question the “experts.”

~Treat people as human beings who have similar goals, needs, and dreams as myself.

~Knowing that you can learn changes your view of yourself.

~Entering into Love of Learning Phase deepens the Core Phase lessons of good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, true vs. false, home, family, play, and work. People work harder and are better behaved when they are actively learning something inspiring.

~If someone isn’t learning something, I need to focus on what I can do to change my teaching, not how they need to change their learning.

~High expectations create vision.

~I can do hard things.

~God will put the experiences and development into my life that I need in preparation for my mission.

~Supporting my loved ones in their missions is part of my mission.

~There is always something deeper to behavior than meets the eye.

~Let people explain themselves to me before I make judgments about their intentions.

~Be myself, wholly and fully, not some shadow of myself.

~Give people great opportunities to learn.

~Time to learn is a gift – USE IT!

~Record my development, both as a teacher and a learner, to better my methods for the future.

~Let God weave my rug.

What gems! After you read it, please share your gems with me!

The schedule today? Reading lots of math books and making oodles and gobs of the best spaghetti sauce ever for our Green Canyon camping trip next week.