eMetro Times February Edition 2018 V218 | Page 11

February 2018

EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

LOVE OF LEARNING

Being both a teacher and a mom, I found myself combining learning opportunities into household commands. Brush your teeth. Take a Bath. Do your homework. Read a book. Though my children love reading, after a while, I began to get grunts from them because of the authoritative way in which they were asked to read. One day while researching online, I stumbled on an article entitled,“ 10 Ways to Inspire a Love of Learning” by Carri Schneider. After reading the article, I began to ask myself,“ Has learning become a chore for my little ones?” I knew that my heart’ s desire was to instill a love of life-long learning in my children. Here are Schneider’ s helpful tips to building a love of learning:

1. Use a rainy or snowy day to learn something totally new together. One snow day, my daughter and I tried“ Hour of Code,” which is an online tool for teaching computer science education with fun games. I was amazed at how much she learned about coding and how much I learned about her.

2. Launch an experiment that brings learning to life. Cooking is always a classic example of this.

3. Get out and explore. There’ s definitely benefits to roaming around the woods without an agenda. Learning can’ t happen there too.

4. Take on personal challenges( and talk about overcoming them). We’ re intentional about discussing how brains learn and even our 4 year old can describe how challenging a brain to learn something new helps it“ grow.”

5. Turn something passive into something active. Not every second of every day has to be tied to a specific learning goal. There are times when parents

COFFEE BREAK WITH ANDREA can get creative in order to turn something passive into an active learning opportunity.

6. Seek answers together. Although the library can be a great way to spend an afternoon, not everything has to be a full research project. In our family, it’ s sometimes as simple as using google to find the origin of the phrase“ getting a Charlie horse” or learning about all the ingredients in McDonald’ s Shamrock Shake.

7. Join( or start) a family book club. This is a creative way to make reading more enjoyable. Everyone reads the same book and we all bring our different perspectives together when we meet to discuss the book.

8. Cultivate an interest in the arts. Research supports the value in exposing children to the arts and doing so doesn’ t have to be expensive. Get creative. Use resources that you already have in your house. For instance, macaroni noodles can be a source of artistic inspiration.

9. Stop and smell the roses. Reflection is an important part of learning, so we try to create opportunities for our kids to slow down, practice mindfulness and reflect on the world around them. Our culture tells us to go, go, go but there is value in silence and meditation.

10. Everything is an opportunity to learn. Parents, keep having fun with your kids and don’ t be afraid to tell them they’ re learning. Teach them learning is fun, motivating and rewarding. Albert Einstein once said,“ Once you stop learning, you start dying.” Teach your children that learning is fun because learning is essential in life.

Parents let’ s make a vow to develop a culture of children that love to learn.

Dr. Nadra Powell Owner / Educator of High Achievers

Education Center Inc.

WRITE THE VISION, AND MAKE IT PLAIN!

Not too long ago I was asked to attend a Vision Board Party. Usually toward the end and beginning of the year you can see them popping up. Now, everyone has their own special twist, but to me it’ s all the same – cutting out magazine pictures and posting them on a poster board. I’ ve done one before several years ago, and it ended up shoved under my bed collecting dust until it ended up in the trash can. As invitations come in to join the‘ best ever’ vision casting party, I usually politely decline. It’ s not that I’ m opposed to doing arts and crafts, but the process has never felt actionable enough for me. And, with me being a‘ so what are you going to do about it’ kind of girl I struggle with ambiguity. But, this time was different. This invitation was extended to my family. I gave it a try, and was amazed at the outcome.

I watched my family go through the process. I could see the excitement on my daughters’ faces as they flipped through a stack of magazines looking for the perfect picture to convey their goals. My husband, who resists assisting with any school projects that requires cutting and gluing even found joy in the process. There is a familiar scripture that reads,“ And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it,”( Habbakkuk 2:2, KJV). The light bulbs went off. It suddenly clicked! Here is what I learned: Achieving success in life is about seeing what you’ re running toward. The reason why the process didn’ t work before is I couldn’ t make it plain. I didn’ t know what I was running toward, because it wasn’ t my vision. It was the vision birthed out of the logical next steps for the person I was at that moment. Your vision is about the accomplishments the person you are becoming will do, not about what you can do today. Growth is inherent to the vision. Like a child ask yourself,“ What do I want to do when I grow up?”

Where you are and what you have is irrelevant. I know this point sounds a bit crazy, but it’ s true. Your vision is about who you are. Somewhat related to the first point, the vision for your life is about understanding what you were designed to do in this world. What’ s your contribution? My children may not know exactly what they are designed to do at this point on their journey, but they know what activities excite them. This is where you start. For example, my youngest child loves to create things with her hands. She is drawn to baking, art, and science. My middle child loves physical activities. She is drawn to dancing, gymnastics, and karate. Whereas, my oldest is drawn to leadership, helping people, and world travel. Their boards reflected these differences with similar goals of college and family. I had to ask myself,“ Who am I, and what am I uniquely designed to do?”

Casting your vision starts with discerning your intentions. In the book,“ The Principles and Power of Vision,” Myles Munroe states,“ When ideas are cultivated, they become imagination. Imagination, if it is watered and developed, becomes a plan. Finally, if a plan is followed, it becomes a reality. The vision board process provided me an opportunity to open my mental filing cabinet and think through my ideas. It forced me to ask,“ What is my plan?”

It took me a few hours to flip through magazines, cut and paste things to my board. What I know now is I will spend a lifetime doing this process as I grow personally and in faith to accomplish the vision. Take the challenge, write your vision, and make it plain!

IDG Vision Consulting & Training inspires, develops, and grows the vision inside of people / organizations by helping them get from where they are today( point A) to where they want to be( point B). Whether you are simply looking for motivation to build new skills or a strategic plan for success, we offer 1-on-1 and group coaching, workshops / seminars, and mastermind group studies to help achieve your goals. Contact us at 770- 648-3758 to schedule a free consultation.

Stay Inspired!

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