Lessons in Lumber...

Originally written
Wednesday, 8. March 2006, 13:38:22

When we bought our first home, in the back corner of our lot there resided a log pile. It had been there for a very long time. Most of the logs (no doubt meant for the fire place) were useless with rot. It was an eye sore that needed to be fixed. Naturally my husband, sensing that I had work for him to do, didn’t feel that it was a priority. We did not have a truck to haul the mess away to the dump with. I did not know anyone in town well enough to ask any favors so I was left to my own ingenuity. It was early spring and I saw that we had a fire pit in the back yard. I decided that log by log I would burn that pile of old wood in the little fire pit. It took me several weeks before each log was consumed. The rest of the bark and debris that wouldn’t burn I put in dozens of bags which I took - bag by bag - to the dump in the back of our family vehicle. It was a big job but I had it done after a few months much to my satisfaction. I worked hard and that felt good.

Now I must contrast that story with a very similar experience I had as a child. I was given the job to move a heap of tree limbs and broken branches to a burn pile across the yard. It was a mountainous mass for a 10 year old to move. And it took months of crying, complaining, procrastinating and faking injury to get it finished. The problem I had here was that I focused on the pile. I did not think about the branch at hand (although that is exactly how I moved that pile). It did not give me a sense of satisfaction. I was relieved the torture was over but not satisfied in a job well done. I worked hard - complaining - and that did not feel good.

When I think of the responsibility I have taken on as a home base learning mom I think of those wood piles. I have a big job ahead of me. I am not about forcing a child to learn (actually, I am all about that because that is how I was taught but I am taking the steps to end the cycle). It doesn’t work. It is harmful. I am however, about guiding them towards excellence. I do want my children to “learn accurately; to read, to write, and count readily and competently; to acquire a sense of history and develop a taste for literature and the arts”. [Jacues Barzun] What parent doesn’t?

I have a huge job ahead of me because I need to work hard at my own self education so that I am prepared for the questions that come my way. In a Thomas Jefferson Education this is a principle titled, ‘You not Them’. I have a great deal to learn. The wood pile is a mountain! How on earth am I going to learn it all? Why, one log at a time of course. As I study one subject, one book, one idea at a time I will be ready a little more each day.

For example, I am reading The Fairy-land of Science by Arabella B. Buckley. Chapter by chapter I am learning something new (and loving it). I am reading to learn. I am not reading to get the book finished. Let me say it again (only to remind myself) I read to learn - to understand - to grow - to expand - to prepare.

Hard work feels good when it’s over. Worrying, complaining, procrastination, making excuses, ignoring is hard work too but it doesn’t feel good. That reminds me of a quote I once read;

"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
Carlos Castaneda