Graduation Speech

Books

“You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

C. S. Lewis

Over the course of my homeschool years I’ve read a little over a thousand books. I haven't always liked reading.

When I was first pulled out of school I hated reading. My mom gave me many books to read but I didn’t like them. Christmas came around and I received a Nancy Drew box set. Through mysteries I began to love reading.

“Someone once asked Wendell Phillips when he was born. He said, “It was one Sunday afternoon when I was twenty-five years old, just after I finished reading a book.” That new birth has happened on innumerable occasion in the past and it will happened to many people in the future.” I consider Nancy Drew my beginning and added to it; Homer, Aristotle, Victor Hugo, Homer, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and many many more.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “What I want to know is in books, and my best friend is the one who will get me a book I haven’t read.” He said, “I will prepare myself now  and take my chances when the opportunity comes.” Lincoln went on to great lengths to get the few books that were available to him in his day, and he spent all of his spare time in study. There were few books that influences Lincoln's life most. One was the Holy Bible and the other was the Life of George Washington by Mason Locke Weems. And while Lincoln had little formal education or cultural background for his reading , yet he studied and mastered these books in great in the evenings on the dirt floor of the backwoods cabin before an open fire.”

Classic’s teach you so much! As you read of peoples mistakes & success and their consequences, it teaches you so you avoid making the same mistakes. I have learned lifetimes of information in each classic I read. George R.R. Martin once said “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”

Recently I began ‘Little women by: Louisa May Alcott and I have learned some amazing things about motherhood.. Here are a two quote that illustrates what I learned from it.

1. “He showed me that I must try to practice all the virtues I would have my little girls possess, for I was their example. It was easier to one of you, when I spoke sharply, rebuked me more than any words could have done; and the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy.”

And the second one.

2. “My Jo, you may say anything to your mother, for it is the greatest happiness and pride to feel that my girls confide in me, and know how much I love them.”

I love that our family does many of the examples I’ve read in the book.

FINDING MY MISSION:

“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.”

W. Clement Stone

The education received is mission based.

When I was young I loved weather, especially reading about it. My favorite thing to learn about was tornadoes. I wanted to become a meteorologist that would change the severe weather warning system and be a tornado chaser on the side. I would read everything I could get my hands on!

Then I went to a commonwealth school in Colorado and I took a writing class. We read a book a week, wrote tons of essay’s, and also gave speeches. We did the speeches and wrote essays based on what we thought our mission in life was.

At first I thought meteorology was for me than I thought of more options. I thought about how good I am at fixing any electronics without a manual, I reasoned I could be a computer scientist. My Aunt told me that most of the jobs for computer scientists were outsourcing to India.   

I scratched that & I sat down and wrote a list of my talents and decided on becoming a nurse. I read, wrote, and gave speeches on great historical nurses and kept studying all about the how’s and what’s to being a nurse.

Then after I finished the class and I wrote twenty essay’s I realized I have a strength and true love for writing. And ever since then I have been writing on blogs, and working on a mystery novel. I was taught that motherhood was the most important job in the world. I combined the two together motherhood & writing and truly found my life’s mission. I am not a mom yet, but its something I hope to become.

HOMESCHOOL MEMORIES:

“Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.”

Corrie Ten Boom

Some of my fondest home school memories were when helping the little girls with their home school. Also at the same time we were starting the charge system. Where we were in charge of one sibling.

At first the girls resisted us helping them get ready for the day, getting dressed, etc; and were super bored with whatever we taught them.

Then as time went by we learned how to treat and motivate them and how to work with them as a friend & mentor.

Through these experiences I learned how to inspire people, how I want to teach my children, and how to do it. I also bonded with my sisters and learned to appreciate them,  which to me is the most important lesson.

EDUCATION:

“Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons, with the greatest for the last.”

-Sherlock Holmes

I will always continue my education. It seems like everyday I learn something new.

In the end I realized that no matter how hard some days were or how boring some books were, it was without a doubt worth the hard work & effort I put into it.

Being home I had control of my education. I bonded with my parents and siblings. I’ve learned how to keep a home with nine kids in it.

I did and still do have lots of chores & a job and I always will. I am so thankful for them.

I now feel like I am ready to go out into the world and share the gospel and have my own family some day.