Grandma's Office...

Welcome to my office. Can you see my computer and desk over there, in the background? This used to be a rather boring place with my books and office supplies, my ipod/clock combo and some other office-y things.                                                               But you can see the transformation it has undergone. Now it is a fun place where two little girls can play and make McDonald snacks, feed farm animals, do puzzles and play house--sometimes all in the same day.

I guess it makes sense. I do work in my office and so do they. Because for toddlers, Play is Work.  They practice fine and large muscle coordination by playing with small toys,stacking blocks, jumping, dancing, playing the harmonica, riding little ride-on toys and balancing on the little chairs.

Elinor was especially intrigued with dogs this week and as you can see has one riding in a little car while our dog, Scrappy, watches from a spot near my desk. Elinor was reinacting a scene from "Go, Dog Go!" one of the books Bob and I got her for Christmas. It was included in Sonlight's P3/4 package which we gave to each girl.  She is still a bit young for most of the books, but we figured the girls would grow into it and you can never have too many books, right?

These busy girls are finding my office the perfect place to work and I couldn't be more delighted. I love my co-workers--and Allison can make a pretty mean plastic milk shake and oyster cracker snack. 

Take care,

Jill

The Greatest Human Strength...

I was listening to NPR and specifically "The Splendid Table" this past weekend and heard an interesting interview with Roy F. Baumeister concerning his book, "Willpower, Greatest Human Strength. "

It was so interesting. He cited a study done quite a few years ago--maybe 30--where children were taken one by one into a room and a marshmallow was placed in front of them and they were told if they didn't eat it for 10 minutes [or some such length of time] they could have two. The study was to see how many kids resisted the temptation to eat it and what the successful ones did.

Interestingly enough, the ones who resisted looked away and distracted themselves. Years later they looked at the lives of the kids in the study and the ones who practiced the most self control as children were the ones who were happier as an adult [rated by job satisfaction, longevity and happiness of marriage, parenting, and so on].

This led the author to state that "intelligence and willpower" are the two main attributes of successful/fulfilled people. If you have willpower you will probably no cheat on your spouse, do well in work, be healthier, etc. Intelligence without willpower is not as important as willpower with lesser intelligence. Interesting, don't you think?

He went on to relate how glucose and regular sleep seems to be what fuel the body/mind to have willpower. That is why it probably is not the best idea to try to resist an amazing dessert when you are tired and hungry.

As a homeschool parent, I think this is really something to ponder. You can't really do a lot about your child's intelligence, but I think we can help our kids learn how to strengthen their self control. The authors suggest that it is like a muscle and needs to be flexed in order to become stronger.

I haven't read the book, but I am did place a hold on it at our library. Intelligence and Self-Control [Willpower], it makes sense, doesn't it?

Take care,
Jill