A Family Mission Statement

The Benefits of having a Family Mission Statement

Rebecca Kochenderfer, Co-Founder and Senior Editor of Homeschool.com, writes:

According to Dr. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families,

"Every decision we make is ultimately governed by some kind of interest or goal or objective or value or principle, whether we know it or not. A Family Mission Statement is an effort to bring to an explicit level what your goals and values are so that people are on the same page."

The process is as important as the final product, says Covey, since it is critical that every member of the family feels they contributed to the development for full buy-in.

The process involves a great deal of empathy, patience and time, Covey said. But it's a fun process and very powerful in getting everyone to emotionally connect to the values that are produced. It's important to make sure everyone feels their ideas are respected and honored.

Such an emotional buy-in and connection will create an almost self-governing family.

[This happens because] even though everyone is doing their own thing sometimes, there's something at the bottom that unites us. The culture of the family is very committed to a common vision and mission and set of values.

Covey explains that it works especially well when a Family Mission Statement is developed intergenerationally, so that the full family is using the same values in their relationships and actions.

As an example Dr. Covey shared the Mission Statement that his family developed:

To create a nurturing place of faith, order, truth, love, happiness and relaxation and to provide opportunity for every person to become responsibly independent and effectively inter-dependent in order to serve worthy purposes in society through understanding and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Main Elements of a Good Mission Statement

Dr. Covey's Mission Statement contains all the main elements of a good Mission Statement. Those parts include:

Characteristics of the home – nurturing, etc.

Effect on individuals –independence and interdependence

Effort to be a family of significance - service & contribution

Source of the power

The process for developing a Mission Statement can begin as simply as holding weekly family meetings and starting by asking open-ended questions. Parents should ask their children questions such as:

"What kind of a home do you want to bring your friends home to?"

"What type of family do you want?" and

"What's important to you?"

The answers to these questions will start to form an outline of important values for everyone in the family. Kids will gradually begin to see it taking shape and the buy-in will become stronger.

Most parents have not been told how to listen. Most people listen within their own frame of reference and are inwardly planning their reply. It's better to restate the other person's thought before you reply.

The more they sense you are listening they will communicate more authentically. When that happens there's a level of bonding that's almost indescribable."

Other families can use a more visual approach, using poster paper to list values or what makes them happy. Families with younger children might try creating a poster using magazine pictures to represent what is important to them.

The key is to not ignore the children's input and just present the Mission Statement to them. They must feel they helped to produce it.

Covey adds that you don't have to use the word values or mission statement. Some families call it a motto, or a creedo, or come up with their own tagline.

One of the benefits of the process is that everyone is involved and so a sense of interdependency develops. "The more you can get kids to buy into interdependency you have resolved 90% of the challenges and problems that come into a family," says Covey. "It creates a friendship between siblings that is emotionally generating. They begin to think of siblings as their best friend, and they support each other."

Using Your Family Mission Statement

Once the Mission Statement is generated, families must make an effort to follow it. This requires a lot of long range planning and calendaring.

"The key is to discuss them constantly (at least once a week) to see how well the family is living up to it (even the parents)," cautions Covey. "Everyone governs themselves by the mission statement if they feel genuinely involved."

It's also important for everyone in the family to prioritize and "put first things first." The items that the family has come up with in their mission statement and the goals that flow from them are the "first things."

"Most people put 2nd things first – for instance, work, even though they say they really value family," says Covey.

"They neglect health, neglect integrity (which should be first things.) They neglect their deepest values all in the name of social pressure. The ability to say no to the second things is the key to saying yes to the first things. You have to have a burning sense of yes about the first things to keep them first.

That's why there must be an emotional engagement over time in developing the value system of the family because those become first things. The family then gets social courage when they live that way so it's not hard to say no. They can say no pleasantly and cheerfully and smilingly. When someone hasn't decided what the first things are they can't say no to social situations."

The family members must do long term planning so that family comes first. For example, if health is a priority, schedule time to exercise with family. Use a calendar so family comes first and mean it.

Family meetings must be priority too. Members have to get permission from the group and must justify it to other members. Nothing should supersede the meeting; not homework, friends, or phone calls, etc.

Covey adds, "Little by little children grow up thinking ‘family is where it's at.'"

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Homeschool.com selects the top 100 websites for 2008

Reference

Gateway Educational Materials
http://thegateway.org

Ed Helper
http://www.edhelper.com

Learning Page
http://www.learningpage.com

Britannica
http://www.britannica.com

Discovery School
http://school.discovery.com

Educator's Reference Desk
http://www.eduref.org

Internet Public Library
https://bestvpn.org/kids-research-and-education-links-database/

Merit Badge Research Center
http://www.meritbadge.com

New York Times Learning Network
http://www.nytimes.com/learning

ThinkQuest
http://www.thinkquest.org

The Franklin Institute: Learning Resources
http://sln.fi.edu

The MAD Scientist Network
http://www.madsci.org

The Yuckiest Site on the Internet
http://yucky.kids.discovery.com

Try Science
http://www.tryscience.org

Arts & Crafts

Arts Workshop
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/artsworkshop/index.html

ArtsEDGE
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org

Art Lessons for All Grades
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/lessons.html

Inside Art
http://www.eduweb.com/insideart

Kinder Art
http://www.kinderart.com

Crayola
http://www.crayola.com

Kids Space
http://www.kids-space.org

Reading

Starfall
http://www.starfall.com

How To Learn
http://www.howtolearn.com

Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com

Children's Literature Web Guide
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown

Pink Monkey
http://www.pinkmonkey.com

Project Gutenberg
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Wowio.com
http://www.wowio.com

Writing

ABC Teach
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CRAYON - Create Your Own Newspaper
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Free Rice
http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Maggies Earth Adventures
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Online Writing Guide
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Take Our Word.com
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The Write Site
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What Makes a Good Story?
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Word Central
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Geography and Virtual Travel

Amazon Interactive
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Colonial Williamsburg: Electronic Field Trips
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CyberBee
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Global Online Adventure Learning Site
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The Jason Project
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Virtual Field Trips
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Xpeditions @ National Geographic
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HyperHistory Online
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K-12 Africa Guide
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Lewis and Clark
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Life in the Middle Ages
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Military Facts - U.S. Civil War
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New Perspectives on the West
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Online PhD Westward Expansion http://onlinephd.org/resources/online-timeline-of-westward-expansion/

States and Capitals
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The American Civil War Homepage
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Homeschooling

About Homeschooling
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Homeschool Learning Network
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A to Z Home's Cool
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Homeschool Blogger
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Homeschool Buyers Co-Op
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Homeschooling Forms
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Homeschool Oasis
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The Well Trained Mind
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Educational Games

I know that
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Study Stack
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Family Fun
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Teach With Movies
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The Smart Guide to Financial Aid
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Fun Brain
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Study Spanish
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By Kids For Kids
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Family Travel
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The Salina, Kansas Exam

1895 Eighth Grade Final Exam

Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education?
Well, check this out. - - -
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , KS , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , KS , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th GRADE FINAL EXAM

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb. Give Principal Parts of. lie, lay and run
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at
50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. for tare?
4 District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the nece ss ary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8 Find bank discount on $300 for! 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance
around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U. S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U. S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States .
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas .
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell , Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two
exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane,
fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America .
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver,
Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall &Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete.
Gives the saying 'she/he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
What happened to us?

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