We got back from TJED land late Saturday night in one piece but without my camera! Boo-hoo! I went to get it to show my husband the pictures and video I took and it was missing. Has anybody who went down there found a camera?

 

 

For those of you who don’t know, I fondly call southern Utah TJED Land because it is where Thomas Jefferson Education sprung (is that a word?). Oliver DeMille, the author of Thomas Jefferson Education, is from southern Utah, and George Wythe College, the college based on the book, is in Cedar City.

 

Going to TJED Land is as exciting for me as Disneyland is for others. I just get giddy thinking about going. I went to take our three oldest to the summer camp for youth held last week, called Youth for Freedom, at a camp outside Zion National Park.

 

 

 

Technically I could have sent them down on their own since my oldest child can drive but I was not about to miss out on this moment to be in TJED Land. I would get to go to a parent mentor seminar with Jim Rhoades, Aneladee Milne, and Kirk Duncan. I would get to see my sister-in-law Sally and my friend Amy. This was my kind of vacation!

 

 

So my kids loved it and I did too. My oldest, Valor, got to shine in the oral exam as a finalist for the Andau Character Prize. We find out in July if he wins. That was a proud homeschooling mama moment for me for sure. All those years of drilling him on the Constitution, teaching him about U.S. foreign policy, the Cuban Missile Crisis and other multifaceted events of American history, the proper role of government, the intricacies of the Civil War and the politics of secession have finally come to fruition . . . ha ha, not really!

 

 

He did get asked about all those things, but he did not learn the answers from me. The beauty of TJED is that it teaches a homeschooling parent how to grow a scholar, so that a little child’s natural curiosity and drive to learn real things is preserved into young adulthood, unmarred from forced learning and synthetic distractions, and they go and learn all those things on their own because they want to when they are ready.  I did not teach any of that to him or sit and hold his hand while he studied.

 

 

My proud mama feelings aren’t getting to my head because I am feeling quite sheepish for all the mistakes I made on the trip. I feel like Anne of Green Gables, with all the avoidable mishaps that happened. First I took off without my baby sling. I purposely keep one in the car in case I forget my other one, but it is not my favorite, a padded NOJO knockoff holdover from when my 15 year old daughter was a baby. I feel so dated when I wear it. So I took it in the house to get the other one on the night we were leaving and then I got distracted and left the more stylish one. That’s what I get for being vain. My baby is 21 months old now so I don’t use it that often but I knew I would be wanting it to lug him around that camp at the parents’ meeting. I did end up lugging him around or chasing after him but I survived.

 

I also made a wrong turn coming out of the camp. I had directions to come in and I figured going out was reverse. I went there last year with my friend to pick up our kids but I was a passenger so didn’t pay complete attention to how we got there. I just remember turning right to get out. After driving halfway to Nephi I finally listened to the Spirit telling me to stop and pray. I was listening to Aneladee Milne and Tiffany Earl wax eloquently about scholar phase on the new mp3 CD I got at the parents’ meeting and I didn’t want to turn it off but I did so I could obey the Spirit and pray. I was around Zion National Park where there is no cell phone service. The only way I could know that I made a wrong turn was to get a confirmation from the Holy Ghost. I did not have a map (big mistake, I have learned) only the directions to get the YFF from home. So I stopped and prayed and presented my decision that I think I made a wrong turn.

 

 

I was truly feeling quite scared. I had 30 miles of gas left. Since I didn’t have a map and didn’t do research beforehand I had no idea where the closest gas station was. If I had kept going I might have run out of gas, which would have been disastrous in the wilderness with a baby in tow, without a sling, no less. I have never prayed harder in my life. I like Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-9 where it teaches how to pray for answers from God. It says we are supposed to study things out and make a decision and then present it to God for an affirmation. The affirmation is a “burning in the bosom.” I told Heavenly Father why I thought I had made a wrong turn and asked for a confirmation.  I definitely felt that burning and with that I turned around. I am so grateful we have this way of obtaining knowledge, independent of earthly communication.

 

So I got to a gas station without running out and got to my sister-in-law’s in St. George. I definitely learned my lesson. Next time I go on a trip I am going to have a map, not just directions, and I am also going to do a web search to figure out beforehand where I am going to get gas at the cheapest place. Whew!

 

 

The next day I went to the Plato seminar at George Wythe College. I had my toddler in tow so that translates into lots of distractions, being out of the room, and leaving early, despite all of the “ammunition” I brought of toys, books, and snacks. What I got out of it is that Plato taught that the goal in life is to pursue the good, the true, the beautiful, that government is a means to protect life, liberty, and property, so we can achieve those first three goals. I was also reminded that  Jesus is the source of all that is good, true, and beautiful. He is the great I AM, and as we seek for those things we will find Him and come to know him better.

 

 

I had a great visit with Amy and the Bowler family and then it was time to go back to get the kids and watch the oral exams. It took a while to get my three children rounded up with all the good byes they want to say and me watching a toddler. I guess that was too much for my brain to handle and I left my camera after taking a boatload of pictures. I was rather upset about when I went to bed that night but in the morning I reminded myself that it’s not like I lost my child. A camera is replaceable, even if the pictures aren’t. So I am feeling peace, but I am still calling the camp often to see if they find out. After all the camera is the Lord’s, and if he wants me to have another one he will help me attract it.