"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

William Butler Yeats

"A dead end is just a good place to turn around."

Naomi Judd

"The family is the ideal place for teaching.  It is also a laboratory for learning.  Family home evening can bring spiritual growth to each member."

President Thomas S. Monson, April 2004
 

"Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish.  Push it, and it will go nowhere at all."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Teaching is leading students into a situation form which they can only escape by thinking."

Dr. Bradshaw BYU professor (shared by Cheryl Black)

"Nine-tenths of education is encouragement." 

Anatole France

"It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him."

Abraham Lincoln, 1862
 

"Do not train boys to learning by force and harshness, but lead them by what amuses them, so that they may better discover the bent of their minds."

Plato
 

"...[P]arents who hold firm values and hold them very deeply are sometimes inclined to be dogmatic and domineering in trying to instill their values in their children.  Values, however, are best passed on to the next generation not by dogmatism but by modeling and dialogue.  Let your children observe your life, and they will see what is important to you....Ultimately, the growing child may reject or accept parental values, but the healthy process is dialogue.  Such dialogue most often occurs in the informal settings of life while we are on the way to do other thing."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"The urge to make and build seems to be an almost universal human characteristic. It goes way beyond meeting our need for survival and seems to be the expression of some deep-rooted part of being human. It isn't surprising then that these acts of creation should be such a large part of children's play. But we don't have to understand all of someone else's creative efforts. What's important is that we communicate our respect for their attempts to express what's inside themselves." 

Fred Rogers From "The World According to Mister Rogers"
 

"No system of education can be perfect which does not teach the principle of righteousness and faith in God."

George Q. Cannon
 

"The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children"

Elain Hoffner

"If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."

 Michelangelo
 

"A mother has far greater influence on her children than anyone else has,..It is while the child is in the home that he gains from his mother the attitudes, hopes, and beliefs that will determine the kind of life he will live and the contribution he will make to society."

N. Eldon Tanner
 

"When you play, play hard.  When you work, don't play at all."

Theodore Roosevelt

"In creative families there is a different feeling in the air; there's more
breathing space."

From the book "The Creative Spirit"
 

"Better education is everybody's business." 

U.S. Sec. of Education Richard W. Riley
 

"The challenge of the teaching parent is to learn to cooperate with the child's natural desire for knowledge and to do it in such a way as to keep the child's mind open to a lifetime of learning."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."

 Mark Twain

"There is not enough time in formal meetings to teach our children everything they need to know. Therefore we must take advantage of everyday teaching moments.

"These moments are priceless.  They come when we are working, playing, and struggling together.  When they come, the Spirit of the Lord can help us know what to say and help our children accept our teaching."

Elder Robert D. Hales, April 2004
 

"True honor comes as the result of being honorable.  It is true that when Moses, the Hebrew lawgiver, gave the Ten Commandments, he placed the responsibility of honor upon the children.  "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you," is the first of the Ten Commandment with a promise.  The children are challenged to honor parents unconditionally, but a close observation reveals that parents are expected to live by the other nine commandments.  If they do, they are indeed worthy of such honor.  The challenge to contemporary parents is that we will so live our lives that we will be worthy of our children's honor and thus our children will find it easy to honor us."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"Perseverance isn't just the willingness to work hard.  It is that, plus the
willingness to be stubborn about your belief in yourself."

Merlin Olsen

"We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interest; to investigate  whatever aroused curiosity. In a different kind of environment, our curiosity might have been nipped long before it could have borne fruit."

Orville Wright
 

"....[T]eaching involves using words to put into the minds of our children ideas that will mold their thinking and challenge their decision making to reach its highest potential.  It involves instruction, encouragement, correction, and affirmation-all of which use spoken or written words
designed to feed the mind and emotions of our children with ideas and values that we deem to be worthwhile.  It is our effort to plant in their minds seeds that will produce healthful fruit for years to come."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"Remember you can't teach your children to work unless you do.  A loving
father who never failed to involve me in the project of the day taught me my
work ethic."

Dave Ramsey
 

"When some of us think of instruction, we visualize a teacher standing in front of a classroom giving lectures on how to multiply, divide, or do fractions. But good teaching is never limited to monologue.  It does include formal instruction, but it also includes informal conversation---dialogue. We are not simply pouring information into the heads of our children; we are relating to persons who have feelings, thoughts, and choices to make. Thus, the most effective way of teaching involves dialogue between parent and child."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"We worship a Lord who teaches us percept by precept, brethren, so even when we are teaching our children the gospel. Let's not dump the whole load of hay."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, April 2004
 

"Spontaneity and serendipity are important for parents because when a teaching moment or an opportunity to really communicate with a child comes up, it usually is not planned, and if we're not flexible enough to adjust our schedules a bit, we miss the opportunity.
"Serendipity is defined as 'a state of mind in which, through awareness and sagacity, a person frequently finds something good while seeking something else.'"

Linda and Richard Eyre
 

"The ancient Hebrews had a word for teaching that is translated to whet, as in "to whet the appetite."  The challenge was to teach in such a way as to whet the child's appetite for more knowledge.  The child is by nature inquisitive."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"What does it take to succeed on a big scale?  A tremendous God-given
talent?  Inherited wealth? A decade of postgraduate education?  Connections?
Fortunately for most of us, what it takes is something very simple and
accessible: clear, written goals."

Brian Tracy, motivational speaker
 

"God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars."

Elbert Hubbard 

"Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten."
    B.F. Skinner
 

"Oftentimes the thing that makes the difference between a good student and a poor one, a good learner or a bored human being, is just a little curiosity. If you have it, cultivate it, feed it.  Never let it go.  If you do not have it -get it.  Wonder, watch, ask questions, be alive. It's just that simple.
"Ammaron said to the ten-year old boy Mormon: 'I perceive that thou art a sober child, and art quick to observe' (Mormon 1:2). Could that quickness to observe be what we are talking about-an innate curiosity about people, events and the world?"

Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley
 

"It is more important to know some of the questions than all of the answers." 

James Thurber

"We can learn to become like [God] as we use his ways to teach our children;
establishing regular communications with them; listening, guiding,
prompting; watching over them always; protecting but not manipulating;
allowing them to learn by experience; correcting them in such a way that
they learn to obey---not because it is our will, but because they have
learned to do what is right in order to grow in wisdom."

Barbara B. Smith

"We must never forget that the main purpose of play is to have fun. This
does not mean that the child is not learning motor coordination,
intellectual insights, skills he will need in adulthood, or athletic skills.
All of these happen from time to time, but they are the by-product of play,
not the purpose of play.  Play is the time for laughing, a time for using
the imagination, a time of creating worlds of fantasy."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"Teaching your child useful skills doesn't have to be painful either.....Teaching your children to work is also a way of building a meaningful relationship with them, one that will last for years and years-and long beyond the 'injustice' of having to do chores."

Dave Ramsey
 

"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity."

Aristotle

"It is important for learning that a child be emotionally available." 

Annette Brody
 

"I believe that we are here to work, and I believe that there is no escape from it.  I think that we cannot get into our brain that desire too soon. Work we must if we shall succeed or if we shall advance. There is no other way."

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
 

"I believe our problems, almost every one, arise out of the homes of the people.  If there is to be reformation, if there is to be a change, if there is to be a return to old and sacred values, it must begin in the home.  It is here that truth is learned, that integrity is cultivated, that self-discipline is instilled, and that love is nurtured."

President Gordon B. Hinckley, Sept 1998
 

"Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous."

Confucius 

"Continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity."

From a 12 step program
 

"Whether we are correcting behavior we believe to be destructive or teaching children history or morals, actions tied with words are more effective than words alone."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"Children teach us that sometimes it's much, much wiser to keep our meaning
simple.  As adults we often get bogged down in meanings, analysis, logic,
and work. We become weighted down with our heavy minds.  We ruminate the past and anxiously plan for the future.  Children teach us to slow down, to appreciate dandelion seeds that can be blown all over a lawn in one puff, sow bugs, simplicity, and play---all the things that can be appreciated only in the present, which is the only place we can live anyway."

Kathleen "Casey" Null
 

"Using your creativity to make these "together times" also "learning times" can be a real challenge, but the rewards are lasting.  Even the mundane can be turned into a fun learning experience if you are creative."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"All families have rules, but not all families have healthy rules.  Good
rules have four characteristics; they are intentional, they are mutual, they
are reasonable, and they are discussed with the entire family."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"Before we can teach our children we must understand and live the principles
ourselves.  It is vital that the child learn from our example that what we say and what we live are the same."

Dwan J. Young
 

"I'm proud of you for the times you came in second, or third, or fourth, but
what you did was the best you had ever done."

Fred Rogers
 

"The shield of faith is best fabricated in a cottage industry.  While the shield can be polished in classes in the church and in activities, it is meant to be handcrafted in the home and fitted to each individual." 

Boyd K. Packer
 

"Integrity, Personal responsibility, character, loyalty, and connectedness
in relationships can't be taught; it must be modeled."

Dave Ramsey

"Do not find fault with every trifling error that you may see, for this will discourage your family, and they will begin to think that it is impossible to please you; and, after a while, they will become indifferent as to whether they please you or not.  How unhappy and extremely wretched is that
family where nothing pleases-where scolding has become almost as natural as breathing."

Orson Pratt
 

"From the smallest child to the oldest adult, when our fan club applauds us,
we try harder.  The child who falls when learning to walk will be encouraged
to try again by the adult who cheers him on.  The husband who wants desperately to feel good about himself will be encourage to try harder when his wife praises his efforts."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"Learning obedience is in its simplest form learning to live by the rules. Obedience recognized the necessity of learning to live under authority.  It is a part of every healthy society, and it is an important ingredient in every functional family.  Cultures wax and wane over the issue of authority. The truth is, if people do not live under civil authority, the society itself will eventually wane."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"Be encouraged when your [child] takes positive steps, and remember, growth
takes time.  He may not be all that you wish, but he is growing, the
potential is unlimited."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"

"...[W]e need to think of (and teach our kids to perceive of) big
institutions as similar to fire.  Fire can warm, support and sustain us, or
it can consume and destroy us."

Linda and Richard Eyre
 

"I want to remind all of us today that no family has reached perfection.
All families are subject to the conditions of mortality.  All of us are
given the gift of agency-to choose for ourselves and to learn from the
consequences of our choices."

Elder Robert D. Hales, April  2004

"The only way to break an irresponsible pattern is to hold him accountable
for his actions.  As long as he is able to have his cake and eat it too, it
is not likely that his work patterns will change."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"A testimony of Jesus requires that the honest seeker study to learn. Said
the Lord, 'Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life;
and they are they which testify of me."

Bishop Keith B. McMullin, April 2004
 

"Children rise higher when they are treated with respect.  Use courteous and respectful language when you talk with your children and others.  Bruno Bettelheim, a world-famous psychologist, said, 'You can't teach children to be good. The best you can do for your child is to live a good life yourself. What a parent knows and believes, the child will lean on.' You don't teach a child not to yell by yelling.  We cannot expect to be respected if we treat others in demeaning ways."

Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley
 

"In the normal flow of life, when do we find time to give creative instruction?  It is hard to improve on the early Hebrew model that instructed parents to teach their children as they were sitting in the home, walking along the road, when they are preparing fro bed, and when they got up each morning.  In other words, creative teaching is not limited to a "teaching period" during the day; it is a part of all of life.  It is to be done anytime we are awake and together."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"
 

"The aim of education should be to convert the mind into a living fountain, and not a reservoir."

John M. Mason 

"Education is too important to be left solely to the educators." 

Francis Keppel 

"Do not correct children in anger.  An angry parent is not as well prepared to judge the amount of punishment which should be inflicted up on a child, as one who is more cool and exercised with reflection, reason and judgment."

Orson Pratt
 

"There is no magic formula for parenting. All parents are different, and all children are different.  And these difference affect a child's development. There are, however, fundamental principles of parenting; they are simple,and they are easily understood.  First and foremost, children need to be love.  Second, children need to be taught and trained.  Parents have the primary responsibility of teaching and training.  Third, children need to learn how to live under authority.  There are no cultures where obedience to civil authority is not the mainstay of societal stability.  This respect for authority is best learned in the home under loving parents who set realistic standards and make sure that the child experiences the consequences of his or her obedience or disobedience."

Gary Chapman in "Five Signs of a Loving Family"

I look at knowledge like food.  I hate when someone tells me I have to eat
everything on my plate.  What if I'm full?  What if I already took two bites of it but I don't like it?  Why should I cram it down their throats?  Will it make them not want to come back and dine (IMO).  So, we just keep it light.  I let the kids partake in their knowledge as their appetites desire. Better to savor it.

Dawn

"It is never too late to start."

Dave Ramsey