Okay, as most of you reading this are aware, I jumped off the public school system earlier this year and started homeschooling Robert (and the babies such an extent as they are ready). I have been reading reading reading, trying to get organized enough to do some good for Robert. I was introduced to Thomas Jefferson Education by our RS president and have just loved the principles involved. Dr. Oliver DeMille has written several great books on the subject (the first being Thomas Jefferson: A Leadership Education) prior to founding George Withe College in Cedar City, UT (with a new campus being started this year in Monticello, UT). Anyway, I headed out to a "mini-retreat" in Rancho Cucamonga on Tuesday evening (notice it has taken 'till Thursday to post this - I think I am still trying to wake up from the drive back in the wee hours of the morning). I wanted to share a few gems from the speakers ...
Community is incredibly important - without community we have no communication, in fact it may be said that without language with which to communicate, we cannot even form cognitive thoughts. Something to think about??? Also, the study of language (or communication) enhances our ability to think or process information. In other words, the more we know about words the better we can use them, both to share and to receive. You know me, I love words! ;-) Another thought that came to me about community: in Mosiah 29:26, it reads: "Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe amd make it your law--to do your business by the voice of the people." Looking at our world today, I think we have let the lesser part (often the more vocal minority) of our community dictate the direction our community should go and we have our work cut out for us to rectify that.
Freedom was a huge topic. I came away with the thought that you have to know what freedom is in order to strive for it. We have to actual have a "leadership education." That means to think and reason and create rather than to stay within the guidelines of what someone else has decided we should know. For example, reading Einstein's theories directly rather than someone else's "dumbed down" version of them. We need to develop our own minds to our individual potential rather than stopping where someone else has decided we should stop and thinking just what someone else thinks we should. We get enough programming attempts from the news, right?
The Thomas Jefferson Education approach uses some catch phrases. One of them is You Not Them, meaning that you have to have your own education because you cannot pass on what you do not have. This is referring more to the knowledge of HOW to study rather than possessing all of the knowledge in the world before trying to pass it on ... inviting others to join your journey, which should take your entire life to accomplish. In a great quote from one of the speakers, Chris Johnson, "What we are is the biggest impact we have on them." (meaning our children/grandchildren/etc.)
Why am I sharing this? You are all part of my community - even those who are reading this from far away (because you are probably family) and I want to invite you to join my family in getting excited about knowledge. I am going to be working on my BA shortly through George Withe College - using this mentorial system and I am incredibly excited about that. My biggest hurdle for myself and my kids is the fact that we are a trifle distant from any real cohesive community sooooo, if there any out there who are interested in really understanding what it means to be free and really ready to take on the obligations associated with that knowledge (ie community involvement) .... let's get together!
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