Sat 8 Mar 2008
(The title of today’s post means “I’m hungry,” in Spanish. Literally “I have hunger.”
Today someone took us to a pancake breakfast at the place we’re staying at. Quite nice, and since I skipped the desserts after our concert last night I was HUNGRY! It helped me to pray better for people who are hungry. It’s such a shame that we so easily forget people who are suffering. Our selfish minds have very short memories. How often have we been touched by an image or a story of someone suffering, yet at this moment reading this blog you (and I) probably had nothing more on our minds that surfing the internet, and maybe a petty problem that doesn’t cause true suffering but just an annoyance of self. Now maybe I’m just not as feeling as y’all, but I surely feel ashamed that I can go hours and hours and hours without thinking about and earnestly praying for the many Christians who are being persecuted around the world, and the millions of people who are suffering from hunger or other life threatening ailments. Yet I can find time to dwell on the fact that I ate too MUCH for breakfast, or that I was annoyed by someone.
One of the best ways that I have found to learn about historical figures is through childrens’ books. Yes, that’s right. The ones that kids take out to read for school projects in elementary school. If you’re writing a big report on people you may have to go through more indepth research, but often times when I visit people who’s kids are working on reports, I find it enjoyable to read through the books they have there. They’re short (usually), in bigger print, and sum up most of the important details in a book. Don’t feel as if to learn about something you have to do all the research the author did. I’d rather know a little about each of the major historical figures than know a lot about only one and never have heard about the rest. Of course, you can pick and choose who you want to study more about.
On the school front, I’ve also discovered how math can become very disagreeable. If you don’t spend enough time on the basics, you will absolutely hate advanced math. I won’t give all of the details, but I had forgotten how to do a very simple mathematical procedure and it made finishing a lesson from my brother’s math book miserable. Then I went back, reviewed the process, and now I find it very enjoyable to write certain types of math problems down on a sheet of paper and work them out when I have spare time. If you really hate math, try going back to the beginning and drill yourself on multiplication facts and addition facts until you have them down and can figure them out instantaneously. Don’t worry about how slow you go through the memorization process, take as long as you need for each problem. If you find one that takes a long time to remember, say it over and over again in your head. I’m amazed at how studying Spanish has changed my views on studying and learning in general. If you put something into your brain hundreds of time and do it over and over again, you will memorize it. Sometimes it doesn’t come to mind immediately, but soon after it pops in and can almost be surprising how automatic it becomes!
One more thing, I’m trying a new comment filter system. I get dozens and dozens of spam comments, so I have had to moderate everything before it goes “live.” However, I’m trying something new. You need to have a previously approved comment for your comment to appear without moderating, new commenters and comments with links will go to moderation. I hope that helps the comment process move along, because I’m not always around and I want everyone to be able to SEE their comments right away, instead of leaving and wondering if it’ll ever appear.
Posted by Bonnie under books, learning, math, reading, spanish
