All posts by Izaak Neil
Thank you!
I struggled with teaching the numbers 1 through 5 without a live audience and I’m so pleased that I did!
Thank you to Dianne who did an amazing job putting together the Not Back to School Summit. What a huge blessing to all our lives. 🙂
Continue reading13 things to increase curiosity
- Create a Wonder Board
or list on your phone – all questions go on a piece of paper and up on
the board. write down your questions, questions others have,
definitions, what you want to investigate later, Seek, Explore, Question
- Inquiry Bag of tools – magnifying glass, paper and pencil, compass, straightedge, camera, colored pencils, measuring tape, binoculars,
- Label
them, “nice question! More evidence that you’re a curious person!”
Let them know they are curious, thinkers, wonderers, etc. Always tell
them why you think that about them. The more they hear it from those in
authority the more they are going to believe it.
- Play games, do your review around the room. Make up memory games
- Be secretive – tell some in the class the new formula or theme secretly and then out loud say, “Don’t tell anyone.”
- Take the tangents – when a student asks a question that isn’t on topic take it and bring it back. Show them that it is ok to be curious.
- Have them choose their ideas – this teaches them to evaluate how interesting ideas are – the beginning of curiosity.
- Have them write
about an interesting idea in an interesting way so they become
interested in the idea and find ways to study it – full-fledged
curiosity. .
- Increase their responsibility (Have them involved in their own assessments) will create more independence and curiosity. Curiosity is confident independence. 🙂
- Don’t answer their questions directly,
answer with a question to get them thinking. Let them know their
questions are important and that searching for answers bring a lot of
satisfaction.
- Listen to them
- If you don’t know the answer, tell them, ask how they could search for the answers together
- Share your questions with them!
When curiosity – that drive to know, is gone it is hard to get back! But not impossible!! Nurturing curiosity can be as easy as listening and talking to each other.
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My Presentation Notes
On September 24, 2014 I spoke to an audience of mostly college students about increasing curiosity. Here are my notes: Imagine that you are the friend of Pythagorus …Story of Pythagorus going to Atlantis, finding scalene people…
What does scalene mean? What does it mean in this context? (answer at the end of presentation)
How is the shape for the number 2 important to you? Think about this for the next hour.
Why is curiosity so important? Why is it the buzz word in education right now? (Ken Robinson)
Write down 10 questions you have about nature….
My professor, John Young, told us that it take him 6 – 8 weeks to get his new students to start thinking on their own, to ask questions, basic questions. 🙁
The question now is how do we get it back and how do we keep it in our children?
Why is being curious so important? We need THINKERS, people who can find answers, solve problems, etc. When a society is created without curiosity there is no more risks, no more questions, no more entrepreneurs, no more independence!
Teach the Bridge to Self Learning (below)
. . .
We want our children to be Great Leaders
“Average leaders raise the bar for themselves
Good leaders raise the bar for others
Great leaders help others raise the bar for themselves”
Share the 13 ways to Increase your Curiosity. (below)
. . .
Teach the Vesica Pisces
What did you learn about the scalene triangle? How does it apply in this context?
Encouraging curiosity and thinking, helping children to know that their questions are valid and worth exploring and that they are capable of finding the answers is what is needed in the world and in our homes?
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Hebrew vs. Greek methodologies
A young boy goes sees his father’s hammer and can’t resist the temptation to grab it and use it. The father soon hears the hammer being used and finds the boy. One father approaches the boy and says
“A wise child uses twice as much care with his father’s things as he does with his own.”
Another father says,
“If you break anything with that hammer, you’re going to be in big trouble.” One of these is said by the father of a child of an eastern or Hebrew culture; the other by one of a western or Greek culture. Do you know which? Yes, the “wise child” statement is of eastern culture and the more specific “hammer” one is of western.
Symbolism–
the use of one idea to cause the mind to think for itself to comprehend
a larger and possibly more complex idea. That may not be a dictionary
definition, but it seems to serve well here.
While the
Statement about the “wise child” may not be use of direct symbolism, it
does follow my above definition. Why do two fathers see their son
doing the same thing, yet use such different ways to let the child know
that he’ll be in big trouble if anything is damaged? It’s a way of
thinking. We who are of western culture would expect to hear the more
direct “hammer” warning. Both work at getting the thought across, but
the first does encompass a lot more than the hammer. The difficulty
with the “wise child” warning is that the child must think, “I want to
be a wise child. why would it be wise to be more careful with Dad’s
things…I’ll be in big trouble if I’m not.” There is also difficulty
with the “hammer” method. The child might just go out and start playing
with a saw. Then after he’s cut all the legs of a table, he’ll wonder
why he’s in trouble.
The Lord uses both the direct and
the indirect (symbolism) to get his point across. We, his children
need to learn how to “decode” the symbolism. I think that most of the
time it’s not that the “decoding” job is difficult, but rather we’re
just not accustomed to thinking though such language. We tend to want
everything to be in plain, straight forward, language. I suggest,
however, that it’s in the really thinking out the symbolism that we
internalize the principle taught and therefore can more efficiently act
on it.
Every symbol has a logical progression or connection:
Health
in the navel… the path through which life and strength are
given/received. —Thus a symbol of spiritual life and strength
given/received.
Marrow in the bones… inner source of life as it is where blood in manufactured. —Thus the source of inner strength, etc.
Green… life, spring, renewal… I’ll let you think this one through the rest of the way.
By
pondering and learning though symbolism we can internalize each
principle and as we study principle upon principle, we can begin to see
the whole picture more clearly. Maybe a better way of putting it would
be that the symbolism helps us see just how the principle fits in with
others to complete the picture.
Miracles
Occasionally big miracles come into your live that change your outlook on life. This month I have received two! I have been searching for family groups and classes that will help me give my children the best education for them individually and as a family. I found both!
First, I have the privilege of being a mentor with the Provo Vanguard Group. This is a wonderful once a week principle based, LDS homeschool group. There are fabulous teachers for my younger children going on at the same time as the youth are being taught. Nickie Allen has facilitated this group and has blessed my family because of it. There are four main classes, Government and Leadership, History and Geography, Literature and Art and Math and Science. I teach the Math and Science class where this semester we are learning symbolic Geometry and Oceanography. I get to teach what I love and have others teach my children what they love to teach. They get the benefits and privilege of having teachers who are passionate and creative. Who can ask for more? It is a miracle!
Second, I became a certified mentor for Life Changing Services. I have three teenage sons who struggled with pornography. As an LDS mother this is devastating! Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently? What can I do now and where can I turn? These were the questions whirling through my head. I wanted help for them, but I also needed help myself. Life Changing Services gave me the education and the tools I needs to overcome the feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness. The principles helped me see the real battle we are fighting against Satan. The information changed our family from a state of despair and embarrassment to strength and unity. I am so thrilled with the results! It is a miracle!!
I would love to hear the miracles that are happening in your lives. Please share them by email.
I hope that your family and your homeschool experiences are filled with the spirit and you are learning and increasing in joy.
With Love,
Tresta
Here is what’s happening at Keystone Connections:
KEYZ
Three
classes for one low price! Tuesday afternoons I am teaching three
classes for youth and parents. These are unique classes filled with
symbolism.
1. Eternal Warriors – learn strategies to fight against Satan that really work.
2. The Gospel in Geometry – learn the deep symbolism of basic shapes, colors, numbers and Hebrew letters.
3. The Roles of Christ in Astronomy –
learn the history of the constellations, the meanings behind the names,
learn twelve major role of Christ within the twelve Zodiac
constellations. Read more. . .
Parents Who Know!
An
eight week course for parents and grandparents who struggle with the
feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty. There are three types of
voices in our head – 1) God, who encourages, uplifts, comforts and helps
us remember, 2)Self, who asks questions, is curious and makes decisions
and 3) Satan, who tries to get us to forget, be discouraged or
frustrated, etc. In this class we will learn how to become
very comfortable with God’s voice and our own learning. And how to
recognize and stop Satan’s influence on us. We will accomplish this by
setting a few goals and closely observing how Satan gets us personally
to not accomplish our desires (of God, what he wants for us too). Read more . .
Mathematics in Creation
An
eight week class for youth and adults about math within God’s
creations. We will discover and learn the characteristics of Christ in
each shape, color, number and Hebrew letters. Learners will gain a
greater love for math and science, learn connections between all the
sciences, colors, numbers and shapes and the history of mathematics.
This will be a class that will change how you see everything. Read more. . .
Theology Tree
A
once a month class using the Principle Approach. We will begin in
September with the basic principles such as word studies, character
studies, tools of Remembering and tools of Retaining. Then each month
we will take one subject and go in depth with doctrines, principles and
applications of that specific subject. Read more . . .