The Best Leadership Education For Your Child
April 10, 2008 on 3:32 am | In Family | No CommentsLeadership education instructs children how to think and prepares them to be leaders in all areas of life: at home, in the community, in business, and in government.
This is the sort of education that most parents would like for their children. I know I want my children to be innovative thinkers.
Historically, most of the greatest leaders and thinkers got their education through mentors and tutors at home.
As the students’ education progressed, they moved on to prep schools. Continuing through the mentor approach, they would study the classics.
The best leaders were made through the mentoring system. Unfortunately, the leaders most Americans think of are usually trained to be specialists or professionals. They weren’t trained for true leadership.
Today’s nation is mostly comprised of followers who are blind to the problems in the current system. If the following generation is going to have a hope of overcoming this problem, it’s our responsibility to teach them how to be leaders who can make an impact in the world.
Four important keys make up leadership education: Mentoring, classics, and time.
Time. Students need time to learn. It is important to have some kind of structure for your child to learn, such as 5 days a week for 5 hours a day for older students.
This will allow enough time for your child to read and study. Younger students will not need so much time.
Mentors and Classics. We won’t separate these two factors of leadership education because learning how to think well is attained through discussion of the classics.
When the student is reading, it is just as essential for the mentor to read it. Ideally, the student and the teacher alike should write down key ideas in a reading journal.
You might choose to begin the day with an hour long math lesson. You might move on to writing or having a mentor discussion for another hour. In between, you could do studying, free reading, and experimentation.
This learning pattern has existed for centuries, shaping students and equipping them with the skills and knowledge they need for leadership.
Leadership education encourages you to find a mentor your children can read the classics with. Most of us can probably say that we are familiar with history and literature classics, but there are classics that pertain to all subjects.
Even in a subject like science, there are classics such as Newton’s Principia Mathematics. You probably wouldn’t want to begin with something like this, but when the appropriate time comes, try it.
Leadership education will teach your child how to think well. If you plan on being your child’s mentor, you must make sure that you are a great learner and thinker.
Infidelity and Money
April 10, 2008 on 3:30 am | In Finance | No CommentsFor a couple who enter a marriage without discussing their financial expectations and goals, there might be a few unexpected bumps along the way.
A critical step in having a great marriage is being able to balance relationship and financial issues. Determining how much financial freedom is acceptable for each person is important. Should she be allowed to splurge on the kids without checking with her husband first? Is it acceptable if he buys a new accessory for the car without having to first consult his wife?
Shifting from being able to spend without question, to checking with a spouse before buying may end up leaving one or both partners feeling cramped. Joining in a marriage comes with many decisions, including deciding whether to open a joint bank account and get rid of individual bank accounts, or to keep each person’s original account and also open a joint account for shared expenses and spending. A certain amount of discretionary spending can also be predetermined, for example, deciding that a spouse must be consulted for any purchases over $200.
Further complicating matters, whether or not both spouses are working will change the decisions to be made. Having a stay-at-home spouse who is taking care of children will add one more question to the mix. Just how much discretionary income will be allotted? Having some money to spend freely is important for each partner to feel independent.
There are many ways someone can commit financial infidelity. Getting cash back after making a purchase and keeping the change, or hiding something that was purchased are just a couple of ways that spouses keep money secrets from each other.
Having a secret bank account or a credit card is likely one of the worst financial offenses in a marriage. Some couples agree that it could be grounds for divorce.
If you want to tell your spouse but are afraid, choosing to reveal your mistake anonymously online is a great place to start. Getting to the bottom of why you are keeping this secret from your spouse is at the root of the issue. Going to a supportive online website for revealing secrets and confessions can allow you to reveal yourself anonymously without fear.
Keeping secrets is risky business in more ways than one. It can ruin your marriage, but it can also ruin your health. Confessing anonymously online is a great way to start the process of telling the truth without fear. Once the ball is rolling, confessing to your spouse could be the next step.
What is Required for Indoor Bonsai Care?
April 10, 2008 on 3:12 am | In Gardening | No CommentsBonsai are trees that can be maintained in very small sizes. To be successful with these plants, constant root and crown pruning is required. It is also necessary to keep the plant in a small pot.
Bonsai trees were introduced in ancient China, and interest in them spread to Japan and then to other places around the globe.
Indoor Bonsai Care is Often Necessary
To be successful with indoor bonsai care, the trees need to exist in an environment like their original space. This means that plants from the subtropics and tropics most likely won’t be able to live outside in the cold winter months. It is vital to be aware of the plants’ requirements before bringing them inside your office or home. Here are some crucial tips for the best indoor Bonsai care.
You will need to mimic the sunlight these trees were getting when they were outside. You can provide artificial light to make up for any deficiency in natural light. There are some trees that do not need very much light. Therefore, you need to know just what variety of plant you are working with. Bonsai can be put near a window, but, this is not going to be the complete answer. This may not yield enough light for some varieties of bonsai. As a supplement, light that is derived from fluorescent lamp fixtures can provide adequate indoor bonsai care for the needed twelve hours per day.
Bonsai that come from colder regions will need more indoor bonsai care than tropical species which do not need much care. Because tropical plants are happy in humid temperatures, they can usually survive with our indoor temperatures, even in the coldest months.
For optimal indoor Bonsai care, do not put a tropical bonsai tree near a window on a cold night, even if the window remains closed. Furthermore, in winter you should keep the bonsai away from radiators or heating vents and you should mist the leaves continually to mimic the effect of humidity.
It is also a good idea to place the bonsai container on a water-filled tray with small pebbles. The pebbles will protect the bonsai from getting wet and the water will evaporate through the branches, yielding much-needed humidity.
For the most supportive bonsai enthusiast, indoor bonsai care can become tiring. This happens because the bonsai does best if it is taken outside when the temperature is warm enough. Due to life’s daily requirements, some bonsai lovers may forget to give their trees proper care.