At the Pie Festival

We had a lot of fun at the annual Pie Town Festival, located in Pie Town, New Mexico.

This town is just 20 minutes from our campus, and each year they have a great festival, where there are, of course, a lot of pies!

Two of our students participated in the Pie Eating contest, and several students and some staff put in entries for the Pie Baking contest.

We watched the Horny Toad race, where a little girl’s toad made first place, and enjoyed cheering on the kids racing in the sack race.

Additionally this year, for the first time, we had our own booth at the festival We sold items that the students made, such as earrings, scarves, etc., The students and staff sold some baked goods and our teacher, Cara, did face painting. The money made went to fund an upcoming trip!

By Cheri Hall

I would like you to look at what is really important for our children. Is it really important that they walk away from years and years of study with a piece of paper in their hands that says they are “a someone”?

Education has been buried under so many opinions, authoritarian ideas and programs from the state, that most people consider education is only about getting good grades or a college degree. Obviously, depending on what one wants to accomplish in life, a college education can be a valuable necessity. But it doesn’t seem to matter that these things do not promise happiness—or a true ability to succeed. So then, of what does a “good education” consist?

L. Ron Hubbard, educator and humanitarian, says the following, which I think is very pertinent to what I have to say to you: “Now I have been very fortunate to know in my life quite a few geniuses—fellows that really wrote their name fairly large in the world of literature and science—and I consider myself very fortunate to have known them because they are rare. Why are they so rare? I found something peculiar about these fellows—they were taught in some YMCA school or they were taught by some Englishman who ran a little college for difficult children in the street; they were all taught—it seems—in some kind of off-breed school.”
~ L. Ron Hubbard

How is this pertinent and why is it important? Could it be that those schooled in an “off-breed” educational setting could possibly have more freedom to create, to imagine and to be themselves, thus tapping into the genius of their true potential? This warrants some inspection.

One can easily see, in this age of modern technology, how a child can lose the sense of what is real. “Wait until you get out into the real world!” is a phrase often heralded to children by their parents. And it’s true. The real world does not lie inside a video game, an MP3 player or a cell phone text message. Gone are the days when children helped to till the land, participate in the care of livestock and bake bread. Gone are the days when they learned, on a daily basis, how to be industrious and independent—or are they?

Nestled high in the wilderness mountains on 160 pristine acres, the Mojave Academy offers a setting which allows students to discover themselves and their purpose. How else are we so different and why is it that our methods are so effective?

• One of our unique programs, called Life Basics^TM, is designed to first address any area of the student’s life that may be troubling him or creating problems for him in school, with parents or peers. These areas are gently worked on until the student is confident, has initiative and integrity. The student would then ordinarily move on to our effective Educational Repair^TM Program, designed to address all areas of academic difficulties.
• There is no set curriculum at Mojave Academy. Rather, each student receives an individual program based on his own goals and purposes in life. This makes learning worthwhile and fun for the student, as he recognizes why he is studying a particular subject and can foresee its usefulness to him in his future.
• At the Mojave Academy there are no televisions, video games or computer games. Instead of being over-stimulated by the virtual reality of simulated life, here the child will actually live life and begin to create his own interests. In this way, we can teach the child without him having to constantly battle a world around him that is telling him to be lazy, bored and irresponsible.
• We all work together as a team here, so the children learn how rewarding and valuable it is to be a contributing member of a group. This begins to come naturally as the child is allowed to participate in group functions such as cooking meals, caring for our many animals, organic gardening, keeping the grounds clean and community services.
• After successful completion of Life Basics and Educational Repair, the student can then re-enter his former environment, having many workable tools to handle those previously “impossible” problems. He will likely be more than one grade level ahead academically, and you will have a child of whom you are proud, knowing that he will make the correct decisions for himself. One that is prepared for “The Real World.”

That’s how we are different at the Mojave Academy, and that’s what we call a good education. I hope you take the time to find out more about our school, our programs and L. Ron Hubbard’s educational philosophy and see the results for yourself.

Yours for a better future,

Cheri Hall
Executive Director, Mojave Academy

Cheri Hall has been an educator for over 38 years and the Executive Director of the Mojave Academy for the past 14 years. Cheri’s love of children and dedication to helping them learn is an ongoing source of inspiration to those around her and to many in the educational field.

To contact Cheri Hall you may email her at cheri@mojaveacademy.com Or call her at 800-576-3866.

Of course we all know that children are people too, not some unknown species. As a parent, we may do very well with this concept. However, surprisingly a lot of the things some parents do in the handling of their children goes against this simple concept: Children are men and women, just like you and me.

In 1950, L. Ron Hubbard stated the following: “Children are not dogs. They can’t be trained like dogs are trained. They are not controllable items. They are, and let’s not overlook the point, men and women. A child is not a special species of animal distinct from man. A child is a man or woman who has not attained full growth.”

He then goes on to say, “Any law which applies to the behavior of men and women applies to children.”

Some of you may have read this quote before, many have not. You may read it and say, “of course. I never considered my child a dog.” Others may go out of their way to apply this.
I know many parents who have applied this, and yet if you simply sat around their house, you would see many little things that they do on a regular basis that seem to tell the child that he or she is not equal to his “betters,” the adults.

When you are raised in a society, such as ours, where children are treated differently, it is very easy to continue to do these things absentmindedly. In fact, for many parents it is really hard to change the way they treat a child even though they realize that something is wrong because the child is unresponsive or difficult to handle.

The first step is observation.

Observe and listen to how you communicate to your child.

Example: Mother just finished scrubbing the kitchen floor. Back door opens, in walks little Johnny with muddy boots. “Johnny! Take your shoes off!! (Deep breath, voice calmer). I’ve told you many times not to track mud in here.”

Now what would happen if it was the neighbor or best friend who walked in with muddy shoes? “Sue, could you please take your shoes off at the door?”

Another example: Mother has a headache; she is sitting down for a bit in the living room. Her teenage daughter comes in singing at the top of her lungs because her IPOD is on quite high. She says with exasperation: “Janice! Can you turn that down and be quiet? You are giving me a headache!”

Maybe if had been an adult, she would say more calmly (despite irritation), “I’m sorry. I have this awful headache and noise makes it worse. Could you please not sing out loud right now?”

Why does one talk to a child differently than an adult? Is that the correct way?

Another common way of handling a child differently than an adult is the stream of negative orders coming from parents. “Don’t touch that.” “Don’t get too close to the fire.” “Stop making noise.” “Stop playing so close to the fire, you’ll get burned.” In this way the child is constantly reminded that he cannot determine on his own what he can or cannot do, that he does not know enough about the world and he can’t make decisions for himself.

Children are actually quite smart. Their inhibitions, fears, self-consciousness are not usually there from birth, but developed depending on how they are raised. You may think you need to terrify the child to death in order to keep him from harm’s way, but think again. Are you now treating your child differently than you would an adult?

If an adult were not aware of some piece of information that would keep him safe, would you threaten him, or would you provide the missing information?

In the case where little Johnny is playing too close to the fire and is probably terrifying mother to death, she could yell that he is likely to burn and be disfigured for the rest of his life, keeping him far from fires in the future. Or she can sit down with him; explain what it is about the fire that frightens her so. She could go over how it is hot and what it does when it burns. She could have him put his hand out to the fire. Can he feel that heat? Tell him that adults have learned not to play next to fire because it is safer for them and keeps any possibility of being burned to a minimum. Then ask. Ask him if he thinks he should stay farther away from the fire when playing. Rarely will a child, after good and patient explanations, make a wrong decision.

This last part is important. As you would expect an adult to make decisions for himself, let the child do the same. However, make sure first that the child has all the necessary information at a level that he can think with before asking for his decision.

So:

1. Notice and correct yourself when you speak to your child differently than you do an adult. Learn to show them the respect they deserve. You may be surprised that after a while, you’ll get that respect right back.
2. Watch how you order your child around. Try to communicate to them as you would an adult (using, of course, words, terms and examples that they can understand at their age). Explain a problem and ask for a solution. You’ll be amazed at how smart your child actually is. Children learn a lot from adults. If you have been making good decisions in front of your child, he will likely use that example in making good decisions too, given the chance.
3. If you find it hard to make these changes, the best thing to do is to drill with someone. You can drill with your child, which some parents like to do and the children like it too. Or you can drill with another person who acts as your child. Drill communicating to them the wrong way and then the right way, making it as real as possible. This drills out any “automatic pilot” behavior that may be making it hard for you to change old habits. I’ve had many parents do this successfully to great results.

This is relatively easy to implement. It only takes willingness on your part. As always, I am interested in knowing how it is working for you, so feel free to contact me and let me know how it goes.

The best time to consider how your child will be as a teenager is when they are just a baby. How you raise your child, from the start, determines to a large degree how they will behave when they are a teenager.

Your baby, toddler or young child is generally still a very happy child. Curious about the world, giving lots of love to his or her parents and overall still feeling like the world is a bright place.

Now, there is a lot of good technology out there on raising your child. We are not trying to cover everything in one article. However I would like to bring up a really important part of raising children. Contribution.

Author and educator L. Ron Hubbard said some amazing things about contribution that I would like to quote here before going on:

“A human being feels able and competent only so long as he is permitted to contribute as much or more than he has contributed to him.

“…Parents naturally, contribute more to a child than the child contributes back. As soon as the child sees this, he becomes unhappy. He seeks to raise his contribution level. Failing he gets angry at the contribution source. He begins to detest his parents. They try to override this revolt by contributing more. The child revolts more. It is a bad ‘dwindling spiral’ because the end of it is that the child will go into apathy.”

— L. Ron Hubbard

You may have a baby, or a young child. You’re probably thinking, “How are they going to contribute? What can they actually do to help at this age?”

Amazingly, contribution is a key element for you to encourage and allow now. It’s not something you can try to start when the teenage years have arrived. Mr. Hubbard has this to say on the subject:

“A baby contributes by trying to make you smile. The baby will show off. A little older he will dance for you, bring you sticks, try to repeat your work motions to help you. If you don’t accept those smiles, those dances, those sticks, those work motions in the spirit they are given, you have begun to interrupt the child’s contribution. Now he will start to get anxious. He will do unthinking and strange things to your possessions in an effort to make them “better” for you. You scold him. That finishes him.”

“…Children, in the main, are quite willing to work. A two-, three-, four-year-old child is usually to be found haunting his father, or her mother, trying to help out either with tools or dust rags. The kind parent, who is really fond of the children, responds in the reasonable and long-ago normal manner of being patient enough to let the child actually assist. A child so permitted, then develops the idea that his presence and activity are desired and he quite calmly sets about a career of accomplishment.”

— L. Ron Hubbard

This sounds so easy, doesn’t it? The real question is how can you effectively implement this in the crunch of your daily schedule?

The following is a scenario played out thousands of times, daily across the planet in families:
You are in a hurry and in a bit of a bad mood. You need to fix dinner and have little time. Your 2 year old comes in and wants to help. He wants to stir, or cut something, or wash dishes. At this point, most parents would say without thinking about it: “No you can’t help, I’m too busy and I’m just trying to get dinner done.”

It’s not always easy being patient, especially when you are in a hurry. So how do you implement the above method of handling? Simple, you would give him something he can do to help, and get his agreement to do it. For example, give him a bowl of water and tell him you need this cup washed. He’ll make a mess, have a lot of fun, and be happy he can help you. Afterwards, you thank him greatly for the help. He contributed, no matter the value it may appear to you. The value to him is great.

I know many busy parents. There are some mothers out there who stay at home and dedicate their time to the household and kids. In those instances, it may be easier to give the time and attention to your child that he or she needs. However I know many mothers with full time jobs, or two jobs, who have to also run the household and the kids. It is hard sometimes to allow your young child to help when you are in a hurry, and when the help ends up being more work for you. I can completely understand that specific situation. I have seen it personally, in the parents of many of my students, as well as with my daughter and grandchildren. Is this your situation? If so, ask yourself this vital question: Is the extra time and work worth having a calm, happy and helpful teenager?

Now, giving a list of duties to your child to perform and expecting it to be done isn’t contribution. That will only backfire. A baby offers contribution all the time – smiles, laughs, etc. Notice them and thank your child for it. Young children, by their nature, will normally offer ways to help, or offer rocks from outside, or sticks. Thank them for whatever it is, be accepting of it. An older child may not be offering help anymore if he or she feels he cannot help already. In that case, sit down and talk about your work, and the work around the house, and find out how your child would like to contribute. Take whatever it is, no matter how small and always notice and thank them for whatever contribution they are making. You’ll find that the more you do this the more your child will offer to contribute.

L. Ron Hubbard observed this and wrote:

“You must let the child contribute to you. You can’t order him to contribute. You can’t command him to mow the grass and then think that that’s contribution. He has to figure out what his contribution is and then give it. If he hasn’t selected it, it isn’t his, but only more control.”

—L. Ron Hubbard

Allowing your child to contribute and work, by his own choice, will be seen to make dramatic changes in the motivation, communication and behavior of your child.

I see these changes regularly with the children I work with because this is the way we run our school.

I encourage all of you to apply this information and watch the results. It may require some patience on your part, as it depends upon the age of your child as to how quickly they will respond to this. And as always, feel free to contact me and let me know how it goes.

Yours for a better future,

Cheri Hall
Executive Director, Mojave Academy

Cheri Hall has been an educator for over 38 years and the Executive Director of the Mojave Academy for the past 14 years. Cheri’s love of children and dedication to helping them learn is an ongoing source of inspiration to those around her and to many in the educational field.

To contact Cheri Hall you may email her at cheri@mojaveacademy.com Or call her at 800-576-3866.

By Cheri Hall

This is a question I hear more often than you would believe. It has become so common you would be amazed at the number of parents that actually think there is nothing wrong with this phenomenon. This lack of motivation, ambition or interest in the world around them is generally chalked up to “teen blues” or “teen rebellion.”

In today’s society the average child spends 28 to 32 hours per week watching TV, movies, and playing video games. This is according to Nielsen’s ratings, the top group for the monitoring of family TV viewing.

In addition to these shocking numbers is the factor that children as young as 2 years of age are spending so much of their young lives in a hypnotic trance in front of the screen—an eight year high, according to Nielsen’s.

Allowing the next generation to waste their lives observing rather than having adventures is breeding a generation of real live zombies.

So the question becomes, “How do we turn this around?” The obvious answer would be to reduce the child’s time spent in front of the TV and encourage more active participation in outdoor activities.

Many parents will tell you that this is not always a simple or even possible task, due to time, money and transportation constraints. Add to this the fact that most kids by the early teens have such a TV habit that they, if it is abruptly taken away, are likely to revolt in unpleasant and unexpected ways.

So, what is the solution? How is it possible to restore to your child the natural curiosity in the world around him?

If you think back, you will recall a time when your child was curious and interested in his world. In this recollection is the answer to the resolving his lack of motivation.

Author and educator L. Ron Hubbard observed this phenomenon, and in the following quote provides answers that we can all easily apply with amazing results:

“…If you take an individual and make him play a musical instrument (as parents and schools do), his ability to play that instrument will not improve. We would first have to consult with him as to what his ambitions are. He would eventually at least have to agree with the fact that it is a good thing to play an instrument.

“Once in a while we find a bad boy. He cannot be put in school and has to be sent to a military school. They are going to force him in order to change him. Occasionally this bad boy is sent to a school which simply thinks the best way to handle such cases is to find something in which he is interested and allow him to do it. Such a school once existed in California and consecutively produced geniuses. The roster for World War II’s scientists practically marched from that particular school.

“…What actually happened was this. They took a boy with whom nobody got any results and said, ‘Isn’t there anything you would like to do?’ The boy said ‘No,’ and they answered, ‘Well, fuss around in the lab or grounds or something and someday you may make up your mind.’ The boy thought this over and decided that he wanted to be a chemist. Nobody ever sent him to a class and told him to crack a book, and nobody ever complained very much when he blew up something in the laboratory and the next thing you knew the boy was an excellent chemist. Nobody interrupted his desire to be a chemist. It existed then, and from that point on he was not himself interrupting his willingness to be a chemist. Educationally this is a very interesting point.

“…People will permit you to take things away from them if you do it gracefully and don’t upset their willingness too much. The way you make a greedy or selfish child is to make him, against his will, give up things to other children. You will eventually drive him into the only-one category. Parents usually never consult a child’s willingness. They consult his havingness, handle it and they have a spoilt child.

“People think persuasion works with children. It doesn’t. It’s communication that does the trick. You say, ‘Well, it’s time for you to go to bed now,’ and he says, ‘No.’ Don’t stay on the subject. Leave it alone and just talk about something else, ‘What did you do today?’ ‘Where?’ ‘How?’ ‘Oh, did you? Is that a fact?’ ‘Well, how about going to bed?’ and the answer will be ‘Okay.’

“One doesn’t have to use force. Go into communication with the child, and control follows this as inevitability. Omit control from the beginning when bringing up a child and he who looks to you for a lot of his direction and control is gypped. He thinks you don’t care about him.

“However, as in the case with the playing of musical instruments, learning of languages or the arts and abilities, consult the child’s willingness.”

—L. Ron Hubbard
Excerpted from Rehabilitation of Abilities, 1 July 1957

I see the incredible results of applying the above daily, as this is a standard in the programs that we deliver here at Mojave Academy.

Here are some things you can do to help you to implement this:

1. Write down some things you know your child likes to do.
2. Write down some things you would like to get your child interested in.
3. Sit down with your child and talk about some activities you could do that you both can agree on.

If you need any help, call me!

I encourage all of you to apply this information and watch the results. It may require some patience on your part as it depends upon the age of your child as to how quickly they will respond to this. And as always, feel free to contact me and let me know how it goes.

Yours for a better future,

Cheri Hall
Executive Director, Mojave Academy

Cheri Hall has been an educator for over 38 years and the Executive Director of the Mojave Academy for the past 14 years. Cheri’s love of children and dedication to helping them learn is an ongoing source of inspiration to those around her and to many in the educational field.

To contact Cheri Hall you may email her at cheri@mojaveacademy.com Or call her at 800-576-3866.