My mom (and my dad) told us to learn something new every day. At dinner we were required to share, one at a time, what new thing we had learned that day. A shrug and saying “i learned nothing”, was not accepted. We were expected to contribute something to the family and the dinner conversation. We were expected to, as they called it, “hold forth”. Why, do you suppose that was? They valued learning. “Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins” –that quote is by Jim Rohn. I found it in an internet search for motivational quotes.
Perhaps that expectation by my parents is one of the things that helps me speak my mind today and keeps me motivated to learn and discover. My parents wanted me to be forever engaged with life, forever setting goals each day. They wouldn’t settle for mediocre effort. As a result, I pass that insistence on striving on to my students. My son is in love with learning and is always trying to learn new things.
That is why I love the blogs I follow. I learn from each blog. I learn from each comment. Yesterday I went to the aquarium and to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen West. I am going to include a photo from each place. I am still formulating my post(s) about Taliesen….but here are some lovely photos. The triangular pool in the photo, by the way is a perfect 30-60-90 triangle….geometry freaks will love that! 
Believe Anyway 
Happy Kate! Thank you for being here to help us to learn to be happy. I almost feel the need to tell you what I learned today, as if sitting around the table, but I can’t remember anything. Um…
:0)
Promise, I’ll try to tomorrow.
Oh Maria—you share every day that you share your wonderful book chapters and blog posts. My parents would have thoroughly enjoyed your story telling at our table.
Kate, thank you for the encouragement!
Later yesterday, I did remember something i learned. My Dad-in-law visited yesterday and shared more of his experiences as a middle school principal. He was gifted by God to help children in the formative years. However, yesterday he admitted to a failure to perceive how deeply a child was in trouble, and he admitted to being unkindly and publicly reminded of his failure. So, I relearned something. Even a God-gifted person can fail and suffer from their failure. Even someone we admire and never imagine that they have experienced serious failure.
God bless you, Kate!
Awww, in light of the happenings near Cleveland this week, I am sure that makes him sad. I bet, too that there are countless children that were gifted by him. I thank you for sharing, Maria….you are wonderful.
No, you LOOK for wonder, Kate!
Yes, it was a very pertinent story for this week with the tragedy at Cleveland. Pa also shared a story of success, and was embarrassed when my husband, his son Tom, praised him.
Prayers for you as you continue to help the young find direction, competence, and meaning in their lives!
M.
Thanks for the prayers, Maria!! My students are such a joy in my life. ..I always look forward to your posts and you comments.
That is what it’s all about — praying for one another.
Thank you for your kindness to me too!
Hi Kate, your Dad and Mum sure hit the nail on the head, I remember as a 15 year old saying to my Boss… I’m very intelligent and know everything, at the time I missed what his look meant but his raised eyebrows and twisted grin spelled it out… Baby you will learn and learn I did and right now I’m still learning at 60 and believe me I sure have made some very unintelligent mistakes in all those years.
When I started learning about God, I did indeed get lost along the way, with all the differant teaching but God said… ask for my wisdom and believe you have received it and I so I asked Him with all my heart, I really needed it, Wow from then on it’s been discovery after discovery, which has been truly amazing and so wonderful and to think I believed I came from an Ape, even my tummy button shows I didn’t.
Thank you Kind regards Anne.
Dearest Anne—oh how i remember being so young and full of myself….my poli sci teacher in HS said to me one day, “Kate you have a MUCH higher opinion of yourself than you are entitled to”! I burst out laughing, because he was so right….that confidence/overconfidence did see me through some hard times. I think god helped me let go of it when I had a realistic understanding of my own self and of others…how things all fit together. /at that point I could hear God’s voice leading me even more clearly. Kindest regards back to you; may God bless you abundantly—-Kate
Kate – My folks were both educators (professionally, I mean) as was my sister. I’m the lone non-teacher in my family. Learning was always valued and sharing even more valued. I love the way your family would ‘hold forth’! What a grand tradition in a family of grand traditions! 😀
Debbie
Ah—you SO know what I am talking about!! My grandpa taught, as did 2 of my uncles. All of my adult family members viewed each moment as a teachable moment. Dad was a manager—and to him, that was like being a teacher. Our parents knew they had a limited time to teach us how to become who God created us to be—and to give back to the world!!
As you learn Kate, you teach others. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and photos with us and as a result each time we check out your blog we as well learn. Remember the phase of past which challenge us to: EACH ONE, TEACH ONE.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Each one, teach one—ooooh I LOVE that :-). thanks for sharing that!
I like to learn something new, too. I am happiest when I’m taking a class–like the SEO & website monetization class I’m taking. It doesn’t apply at ALL to my WordPress account, but I just like knowing the terminology and how the HTML coding works. It’s fascinating stuff. It makes me realize how little I know about how the internet works!
Great post, thank you!
OOH I bet that is a cool class. I know nothing about that….yet….Are you going to teach us all what you are learning???
Well, I learned that wordpress.COM accounts can’t use Google Analytics…you need a wordpress.ORG account. lol. It’s fascinating stuff though. I’m still new at it but so much for the coding end of things–you just can’t do it with wordpress.com!
i had heard that more intricacies were available over at .org!
Yes. Our version is sort of the “frozen dinner of webpages”, while .org is more like a gourmet feast. Yes, you get to do everything…but you also HAVE to do everything. I don’t know enough HTML and nothing of CSS to be able to know how to do all the tweaks and stuff you have to do to make the website really work as well as the .com version. I know it means no tracking codes can be used, nor can Google Analytics, and I’ll never know how many unique site visitors I’ve got here…but then again, I don’t have to do the coding to do the spam protection, either. Win some, lose some.
And I don’t mind frozen dinners. Sometimes they’re convenient. 😉
Ahhh–this is thrilling and inspiring! For the longest time, learning wasn’t fun for me–it was tied to grades and performance, and what “other people” thought I should be interested in, and learn. Now that I get to have my own interests and learn what I want to–well, the world is a fabulous classroom! And there are no grades–that’s cool. Thanks, Kate–God bless you!!
Caddo—that is wonderful; it is the personification of a life-long learner. There are so many interesting things to learn and discover. god bless you, too, Caddo!
A beautiful approach, your parents’. Challenging! But yes, living fully *engaged* is a great gift.
Thanks, Kathryn~~ it sure kept us from slacking off during the day, or on school breaks, or during the summer.
I agree with you that reading blogs, and sharing what we have to share with others, is an incredibly strong learning experience. I enjoy little side trips with each person who wants to take me along on their journey. You are great at being open and inclusive! I’ll look forward to more from the FLW home! Debra
Thanks, Debra~~ I will probably need to break it into a few different posts..I took about 60 photos and saw and learned so much!
Wonderful!
Thanks, Terri!
Great post…..a wonderful way to think…learning something new every day! I always say I want to be a life-long learner. I don’t ever want to stop.
BTW….I am a FLW freak too! I loved Taliesin West and last summer we went to Taliesin in WI. I have photos to share also! I love your photo of the pool here..I have almost the same image! Amazing architect. So ahead of his time!
Cool! Have you been to Falling Water? I would love to see that and Taliesin in WI…It makes me smile when the “work with nature” proponents think they invented the concept. How amazed they would be to know that Wright’s concepts preceded theirs by at least 60 years!!
I know..amazing! No…Falling Water is on my bucket list, and really not far from me in MI. Also there’s another little gem nearby Falling Water…that people say not to miss. Name escapes me now. We went to the Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, MI. It is spectacular and you can take photos INSIDE, because Steelcase owns it, not the FLW Foundation.
It’s a must-see, if you can. And Free!
i’d love to see all of his works….it is phenomenal to see how ahead of his time he was….thanks for the tip about the Meyer May House! If we get up that way we will see it 🙂
This couldn’t be more true! I love to learn everyday, some days it’s one thing, and some days it’s many. I have just recently started to blog and read others’ blogs, but I see exactly what you’re saying – I love to hear what people have to say and share. Technology is pretty incredible that we now have access to so many people’s thoughts, knowledge, opinions…right at our fingertips. Literally. Anyway, thanks for a great post that made us all think a little bit.
Thanks! It is so amazing to me to be in touch all over the country, all over the world…..i couldn’t have even imagined this possibility when I was a little kid. It is a dream come true.
I still get giddy like a school kid when I learn something new. It helps keep me young.
I do too! I think that is why I was so excited during the tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West the other day. I found myself wishing I had a notebook along!
O sweetie, your parents so had it together. I love the evening meal ritual.
Reminds me of what my husband does, he always asks our grand kids; ‘What did you learn today?”
The kids are also not let of the hook with a resounding,”I dunno…..”
Great post darling!
You are right! My parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents were ALL like that….God blessed me aBUNdantly…I am grateful. Your grandkids will be able to stand their ground, formulate their opinions, and speak compassionately as adolescents and as adults if you and your husband keep that up with your grandkids….
You are so right.to learn something new everyday..that is how to build up experience
Amen to that, Patrecia! You keep on learning, and all of a sudden you look back over a breathtaking path in complete amazement.
I am looking forward to you FLW post. I think we learn a lot from our blogging friends 🙂
Will get to it in a few days—looking forward to writing it. I am getting ready for out of town visitors 🙂
We were taught the same thing, and I am so glad we did learn then and still do now.
We are always learning! I visited Falling Water twice when I used to live in Pittsburgh. Amazing place.
It looks so amazing from the photos I have seen.
One of my favorite teachers told me the same! Excellent message and lovely post, Kate! 🙂
Thanks, Nandini! Aren’t we blessed to have had such wonderful role models?
It is wise advice. 😉
It was certainly essential for me!