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Give me your favorite mantras, mottos, and scriptures


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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Edison

 

"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." -Emerson

 

"It is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary

 

"The ultimate reward for human toil is not what we get for it, but what we become by it." -John Ruskin

 

''The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." - Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf

 

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." - The Dalai Lama

 

Romans 12:10, in whatever translation you like, will promote sibling cooperation.

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I like the first and last parts of 1 Corinthians 13. Well, I like the whole chapter, but I kind of feel like the first few verses and the last few really apply to homeschooling and keeping it all in perspective -- learning is good, but love (and how we treat other people) is more important than anything.

 

Various verses from Proverbs 4 which talk about getting wisdom would be great homeschooling inspiration.

 

And my favorite, because I love the imagery of the cloud of witnesses surrounding us and encouraging us on this marathon of faith, life, parenting, homeschooling, Hebrews 12:1-2. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

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A friend who would often times get frustrated with being at home with the kids posted this on her door for herself: "Remember why you are here."

 

She did it to remind her of her original intentions.

 

I like this statement from Julie at Bravewriter: "Whatever you do today counts. Brave writing starts with brave living. Make time today for one thing. You can build on one thing."

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Time is your friend.

 

and

 

Phillipians 4:8

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

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My mother used to say " every dog has his day". I used to hate it, but I have said it many times to my kids!!!

 

It means that maybe one child may get something special, or look special, or get strait As, (or whatever)and the other child does not. That other child will have his/her day someday to ....(fill in the blank)

 

Two ears and one mouth means you need to listen twice as much as you speak ;) (I love saying this to my kids)

 

Be ye kind, one to another ... (Of course, said over, and over and over.....)

 

And of course, I always tell my kids "I am on your side, I am for you." They can't do anything to undo my love for them.

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The environment you fashion out of your thoughts, your beliefs, your ideals, your philosophy is the only climate you will ever live in. (Alfred A. Montapert)

 

The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things. (Rainer Maria Wilke)

 

Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers’ gardens.

(Douglas Jerrold)

 

The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do. (Sarah Breathnach)

 

The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds. (Dalai Lama)

 

Dwell in possibility. (Emily Dickinson)

 

A man is only as good as what he loves. (Saul Bellow)

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Found these on someone's blog & wrote them down to use this year:
Focus on your job & do it right.
Leave it better than you found it.
Voices:  cheerful, polite, strong
Business before pleasure

 

 

Yay! Those are our mottos. I'm glad you found them helpful! It makes blogging worth it. :)

 

I put them in our memory work binders - hopefully they'll become little voices in the kids' heads someday. :) 

 

Some others I like:

 

Smile and start.

Festina lente (make haste slowly).

Write it down, right away.

Choose for Future-Me, not Right-Now-Me.

Do thy duty, that is best; leave unto thy Lord the rest. (Longfellow)

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I post CM's "I am. I can. I ought. I will."

 

I am a person. Imago Dei.

 

I can do hard things. Phil 4:13

 

I ought to do whatever is Good, True, Noble and Right.

 

I will. (Mommy can't do it for me. I can't pay my little brother to do it for me. I can't wait for Santa Clause...*I* will.)

 

 

 

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

 

 

Unfortunately, this is my circus...and there is no denying that those are, indeed, my monkeys.  sigh!

 

 

 

 

(I've taught my 8yo to say that one. Ha!  It does work to remind him to stay away from the crazy, that and the Aesop Fable of the Stork and the Crane.)

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1) For whatever disaster we are currently experiencing:
"If this is the worst thing that happens to us today, we're going to be okay."

2) "Love Everyone.  Some days 'because of.'  Some days 'in spite of.'"

 

3) What is your goal for today? You need to have a goal.

 

 

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If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. - G.K. Chesterton

 

ETA, quote in context:

 

"There was a time when you and I and all of us were all very close to God; so that even now the color of a pebble (or a paint), the smell of a flower (or a firework), comes to our hearts with a kind of authority and certainty; as if they were fragments of a muddled message, or features of a forgotten face. To pour that fiery simplicity upon the whole of life is the only real aim of education; and closest to the child comes the woman—she understands. To say what she understands is beyond me; save only this, that it is not a solemnity. Rather it is a towering levity, an uproarious amateurishness of the universe, such as we felt when we were little, and would as soon sing as garden, as soon paint as run. To smatter the tongues of men and angels, to dabble in the dreadful sciences, to juggle with pillars and pyramids and toss up the planets like balls, this is that inner audacity and indifference which the human soul, like a conjurer catching oranges, must keep up forever. This is that insanely frivolous thing we call sanity. And the elegant female, drooping her ringlets over her water-colors, knew it and acted on it. She was juggling with frantic and flaming suns. She was maintaining the bold equilibrium of inferiorities which is the most mysterious of superiorities and perhaps the most unattainable. She was maintaining the prime truth of woman, the universal mother: that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."

 

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My favorite for when I feel like screaming in frustration at my darling child: "This is my precious baby who grew under my heart." (bringing both hands to rest over heart and womb areas, because it's actually harder to stay angry in that posture, plus it helps to make sure I'm breathing properly)

 

"I choose..." this reminds me that there is always a choice, and I can choose what I will say or do even if I can't control the other person (or the world lol)

 

And being a terrible procrastinator, I can't manage without Marla Cilley's mantra: "I can do anything for 15 minutes (or 10, or 5), so let's get started."

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Loving oneself is no easy matter, because it means loving all of oneself, including the shadow where one is inferior and socially so unacceptable. The care one gives this humiliating part is also the cure, but the moral dimension can never be abandoned. Thus is the cure a paradox requiring two incommensurables: the moral recognition that these parts of me are burdensome and intolerable and must change, and the loving, laughing acceptance which takes them just as they are, joyfully, forever.

 - James Hillman

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Love this post!

 

We joke around a lot here, so ours aren't very "inspiring".

 

I most often say, "Nobody ever died from...." and plug in the thing they are fussing about.  For example, it looks like this.  

 

J:  I don't want to do math!

Me:  Nobody ever died from doing math.

 

 

My other somewhat snarky favorite I say only to myself is from my grandfather - "Some people would kick if they had both legs cut off."  This is what I say when I have spent hours and hours researching, reading, pouring over curriculum or planning a lesson, and I am met with "This is boring."

 

:)

 

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“To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.†
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

:)

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“To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.†

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

:)

 

I love this quote.   I am not an Emerson fan in general (not a fan of the entire transcendentalist movement), but this quote is wonderful.

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Philippians 4:8 "Finally my brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  I want to put this on the wall somewhere as it's somewhat of the theme scripture to our homeschool.  

 

Obey all the way, right away, with a happy heart every day.  (Took that one from my oldest's kindergarten teacher.)

 

Then my sort of "mom" snarky remark is when I tell them to do something and get the whiny reply of something like "But I don't want to" or I want to___" I usually reply with "I didn't ask you what you wanted right now; I asked you to obey."  Shuts it down. 

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Our family motto is "All Things Under Christ's Feet" 1 Corinthians 15:27--the first part reads, "For he hath put all things under his feet."

 

Here's a short poem I love by Felix Mendelssohn:

Love the beautiful,

Seek out the true,

Wish for the good,

And the best do!

 

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Vanity it is, to wish to live long and to be careless to live well.

 

This is your life?  Are you who you want to be?

 

He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass.

 

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.

 

The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

 

The secret to being humble is to be so focused on how you can make other people's lives better that you don't care who's right or wrong.

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When there's a will there's a way.

 

always liked the poem on work:

Work while you work,

Play while you play,

This is the way

To be happy each day.

 

All that you do,

Do with your might,

Things done by half

Are never done right.

 

Author: Unknown

 

Then there's also Romans 15:4 in my sig...

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