Please share your favorite homeschooling and parenting quotes!

[MitchellMom]

For inspiration, I want to post a page of inspirational quotes on my refrigerator :) Could you please share your favorites? Quotes on homeschooling and also on being a parent, especially a mother, and on how we should treat our children.

 

I find myself getting easily frustrated when my children argue with each other and I need a reminder - a quick glance at the fridge - that they are young only once, and that I have such a powerful role in their lives.

 

Quotes from anywhere, including the Bible, are welcome!

 

I'd like to share one:

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

- Maya Angelou

[AnnetteB]

I like this one by William Butler Yeats, " Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire." I love the idea that it only takes a spark to get a fire going and I love it when the dc light up with understanding and enthusiasm. I have this one posted on my blog: Non scholae sed vitae discimus (We learn not for school, but for life). If I could do it neatly, I would embroider it on a pillow :)

[WTMCassandra]

This isn't a quote, but this obscure title by an obscure publisher is a gold mine of inspiration for the high and holy work of parenting. The cover will not win any design awards, but the inside is pure gold. Seriously.

 

This book has quotations, stories, poems, and more:

 

Soul Sculpture

 

When the children were younger, I used to keep my copy in the bathroom ; ).

Edited March 8, 2009 by WTMCassandra

[Karen sn]

Samuel Clemmons (aka Mark Twain) said something to the effect of:

Never let schooling interfere with your education.

 

And Jean Piaget:

Children's play *is* their work.

[FO4UR]

This isn't famous, but it's a snippet of a conversation between my ds6 and his friend.

 

Isaac-"I homeschool"

 

friend - "Me too. I like homeschool best b/c I can have recess in the backyard"

 

Isaac - "I like homeschool best b/c my mom is the BEST teacher in the world"

 

:D I need to post that on my fridge for days like y-day when he tests my patience....;):lol:

[woolybear]

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

Mahatma Gandhi

 

"In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all."

Mahatma Gandhi

 

"Carpe diem!"

[Heather in VA]

In our house the quote is about Math - 'every day, like it or not' LOL

 

Heather

[Renthead Mommy]

I don't know how this came up, but it came up as a response to something we were talking about one day. I've decided it's perfect for some situations.

 

"Of course we homeschool. If we didn't I wouldn't have anyone to fetch me the bon bons from the freezer!" :lol:

[WTMCassandra]

This reminds me of Dr. Suzuki's response to students who asked how often they had to practice violin or piano:

 

"You only have to practice on the days you eat."

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

School at our house is kind of similar (for weekdays). It is as inevitable as the sun rising.

[Chelle in MO]

Boys--Of all wild beasts, the most difficult to manage. Plato

 

Chelle, mom to 4 wild beasts!

[Nestof3]

Mine's in my signature. :)

[Rosie_0801]

I credit a woman named Bernie from our first playgroup for these:

 

"It's ok, they're just learning to X" (X being eat nicely, share, have manners etc)

 

"It's ok, accidents happen sometimes, don't they?"

 

I believe these apply just as well to teenagers as toddlers...

 

:)

Rosie

[LizzyBee]

Listen to your children. They will tell you how they need to learn. Cindy Gattis

 

Remember that you are teaching your children, not a curriculum. Unknown, possibly somebody on these boards

[Kristiana]

Here's one of my favorite parenting quotes: "We must work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it." ~Gordon B. Hinckley

[Once]

Remember that you are teaching your children, not a curriculum. Unknown, possibly somebody on these boards

Oh. I like this one!

 

 

My contribution is ....

 

"Treat your kids as if you only had them for one more year.

Train them as if they only had you one more year."

 

(Renee Ellison, but I'm not sure where she got it from)

[mdmurray]

Read this somewhere, I don't know where:

 

"I'm not talking to myself, I'm having a parent teacher conference."

[Stacia]

I like these:

 

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~Joyce Maynard

 

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert Fulghum

 

Although there are many trial marriages... there is no such thing as a trial child. ~Gail Sheehy

 

Children have more need of models than of critics. ~Carolyn Coats, Things Your Dad Always Told You But You Didn't Want to Hear

 

If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others. ~Haim Ginott

 

When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out. ~Erma Bombeck

 

If I had my child to raise all over again,

I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.

I would do less correcting and more connecting.

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.

I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"

 

Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners. ~Author Unknown

 

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. ~Bill Cosby, Fatherhood, 1986

 

Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry. ~Bill Cosby

 

I am not a physicist, but I'm sure that the theory of the conservation of energy was discovered while watching an eight-year-old pretend to work. ~Bill Cosby

 

Setting a good example for your children takes all the fun out of middle age. ~William Feather, The Business of Life, 1949

 

You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once. ~Polish Proverb

 

:001_smile:

[Lori D.]

"It's not first and foremost about your child's academics -- but about YOUR sanctification!" quote from Debra Bell, homeschool author, heard -- and really stuck with me -- at my first homeschool convention, just before we started our homeschooling journey 9.5 years ago!

[elegantlion]

Here's my favorite quote. I apply it all areas of my life. Not mine, but I can't remember who said it first.

 

"Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape." :D

[WTMindy]

The quote that I read this morning stood out to me. "You only become what you are in the process of becoming." (I don't know who said it.)

[MamaT]

A quote from my Marine Corp son, who was in Iraq at the time:

 

Mom, thank you for not just teaching me facts, but how to seriously think and learn for myself.

[MBM]

I'm an afterschooler but to add to the many good quotes:

 

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

-- Dr. Seuss

 

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

-- Churchill

[Homemama2]

My favorite from someone off of HSR boards:

 

"If you are not willing to apply yourself to learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, then I must equip you to some skill that will enable you to support yourself. Go clean the toilet."

 

:lol: I should really tell my kid that sometime....lol!

[mo2]

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

 

 

 

 

I rocked my 3rd child a lot, I still do even though she is a great big 3 yo. She will come to me with her blanket and ask to "rock-a-baby". Basically . they are little for such a short period of time. Take it while you can get it.

 

I like this. People are telling me to stop nursing my almost 2yo, and I just can't do it. He's already growing up too fast.

[Nan in Mass]

I like this one from Beatrix Potter: "Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality."

[Jen in PA]

This one is from Margaret Mead: "My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school."

[Jennefer@SSA]

Here are the quotes from the "Inspirations" section of my Teacher's Notebook.

 

Scripture

 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

—Deuteronomy 6:5-7

 

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

–Proverbs 24:3

 

Character Building

 

My children, my darling precious children, what I want them to be - I must become myself.

--Elizabeth Prentiss

 

It is no good to preach to children if you do not act decently yourself.

-- Theodore Roosevelt

 

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

-Frank Outlaw

 

Education

 

Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.

--William Butler Yeats

 

Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man,

and writing an exact man.

--Sir Francis Bacon

 

Don't let schooling interfere with your education.

--Mark Twain

 

The purpose of education is to bring out the best in you.

--Gandhi

 

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

--Aristotle

 

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

--Anatole France

 

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

--Aristotle

 

The secret of education is respecting the pupil.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts

and still be entirely uneducated.

-- Alec Bourne

 

Thank goodness I was never sent to school;

it would have rubbed off some of the originality.

--Beatrix Potter

 

 

Teaching

 

They may forget what you said but

they will never forget how you made them feel.

--Anonymous

 

We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how.

--Anonymous

 

It's not what is poured into a student, but what is planted.

--Linda Conway

 

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.The great teacher inspires.

--William Arthur Ward

 

Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover what a pupil does not know whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose to

discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing.

--Albert Einstein

 

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy

in creative expression and knowledge.

--Albert Einstein

 

Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.

--Plato

 

I wake up every morning determined both to change the

world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes

planning the day a little difficult.

--E. B. White

 

Great minds discuss ideas, mediocre minds discuss events,

small minds discuss personalities.

--Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Life is too important to be taken seriously.

--Oscar Wilde

 

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.

Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel

that you, too, can become great.

--Mark Twain

[MitchellMom]

Here's one of my favorite parenting quotes: "We must work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it." ~Gordon B. Hinckley

 

I like these:

 

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~Joyce Maynard

 

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert Fulghum

 

Although there are many trial marriages... there is no such thing as a trial child. ~Gail Sheehy

 

Children have more need of models than of critics. ~Carolyn Coats, Things Your Dad Always Told You But You Didn't Want to Hear

 

If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others. ~Haim Ginott

 

When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out. ~Erma Bombeck

 

If I had my child to raise all over again,

I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.

I would do less correcting and more connecting.

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.

I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"

 

Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners. ~Author Unknown

 

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. ~Bill Cosby, Fatherhood, 1986

 

Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry. ~Bill Cosby

 

I am not a physicist, but I'm sure that the theory of the conservation of energy was discovered while watching an eight-year-old pretend to work. ~Bill Cosby

 

Setting a good example for your children takes all the fun out of middle age. ~William Feather, The Business of Life, 1949

 

You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once. ~Polish Proverb

 

:001_smile:

 

I like this one from Beatrix Potter: "Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality."

 

Here are the quotes from the "Inspirations" section of my Teacher's Notebook.

 

Scripture

 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

—Deuteronomy 6:5-7

 

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

–Proverbs 24:3

 

Character Building

 

My children, my darling precious children, what I want them to be - I must become myself.

--Elizabeth Prentiss

 

It is no good to preach to children if you do not act decently yourself.

-- Theodore Roosevelt

 

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

-Frank Outlaw

 

Education

 

Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.

--William Butler Yeats

 

Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man,

and writing an exact man.

--Sir Francis Bacon

 

Don't let schooling interfere with your education.

--Mark Twain

 

The purpose of education is to bring out the best in you.

--Gandhi

 

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

--Aristotle

 

Nine tenths of education is encouragement.

--Anatole France

 

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

--Aristotle

 

The secret of education is respecting the pupil.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts

and still be entirely uneducated.

-- Alec Bourne

 

Thank goodness I was never sent to school;

it would have rubbed off some of the originality.

--Beatrix Potter

 

 

Teaching

 

They may forget what you said but

they will never forget how you made them feel.

--Anonymous

 

We all need someone who inspires us to do better than we know how.

--Anonymous

 

It's not what is poured into a student, but what is planted.

--Linda Conway

 

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.The great teacher inspires.

--William Arthur Ward

 

Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover what a pupil does not know whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose to

discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing.

--Albert Einstein

 

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy

in creative expression and knowledge.

--Albert Einstein

 

Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.

--Plato

 

I wake up every morning determined both to change the

world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes

planning the day a little difficult.

--E. B. White

 

Great minds discuss ideas, mediocre minds discuss events,

small minds discuss personalities.

--Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Life is too important to be taken seriously.

--Oscar Wilde

 

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.

Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel

that you, too, can become great.

--Mark Twain

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE some of these - putting them on my fridge!!! :D

[eternalknot]

This is an old Japanese proverb of which my great-aunt was fond; I use it as a tagline on my blog bcause it succintly (if somewhat crassly) sums up our family's outlook on education and life:

 

Knowledge without wisdom is a load of books on the back of an a$$.

 

:)

[wyomingowl]

Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.

Anna Freud

 

 

 

Your job as a kid is to make as many mistakes as you can as fast as you can.

My job as a parent is to be here to help you as you do so you don't keep making the same ones.

 

I am a botanist so in my house

 

Chocolate is a vegetable since it comes from a bean. :)

[birchbark]

"The memory of having been read to is a solace one carries through adulthood. It can wash over a multitude of parental sins." - Kathleen Rockwell Lawrence

Edited May 2, 2009 by birchbark

[OnTheBrink]

My favorite from someone off of HSR boards:

 

"If you are not willing to apply yourself to learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, then I must equip you to some skill that will enable you to support yourself. Go clean the toilet."

 

:lol: I should really tell my kid that sometime....lol!

 

I LOVE this! :lol:

[Orthodox6]

This quotation, from St. Theophan the Recluse, is a favorite among Orthodox Christian homeschoolers:

 

"Of all holy works, the education of children is the most holy."

 

Our icon of St. Theophan, which stands in our home office, depicts the saint holding a scroll that bears these words.

[SeekingSimplicity]

another homeschooling mom told me she heard this at a conference once, IDK who originally said it or how exactly it was worded, but

 

Don't worry. God has a plan for your children, and nothing you do can interfere with His plans

[Mommy22alyns]

"Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught." - Marquis of Halifax

 

I also love the one I have in my siggy - here's the translation:

 

"We do not learn for school, but for life." - credited as a variation on a saying of Seneca's

 

We actually had a little plaque given to us before we even considered homeschooling, and it rings so true. Just a variation on the popular quote: "A child is not a vessel to be filled, but a lamp to be lit."

[sagira]

Definition of Success

 

"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

(or at least it was attributed to him on the poster I saw; original source unknown)

 

Some awesome quotes here!

[hferguson10]

"Watch mom! I can read with my eyes closed!" - ds, age 5

[Orthodox6]

:smilielol5: This is one of my favorite threads ! -- not only for the humour, but also for the serious thoughts people are sharing.

 

 

"Watch mom! I can read with my eyes closed!" - ds, age 5

[Maria/ME]

This is going up somewhere in my house, just haven't decided where yet:

 

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."~~Carl Sagan

[Guest 4boys]

This one has stuck with me for a long time. A friend and fellow homeschooler once told me "Motherhood is the only profession in which simply maintaining is actually progress." I've thought of it many times since she said it.