Hello dear readers, coming to you on the 10th day of the month for 10 on the 10th 08.2021. Last month, we talked about our 10 favorite summer foods. Find that post – with recipes – here. The month before we answered 10 questions all about summer. The theme for August is appropriate for back to school. Today we are answering 10 questions about life long learning.
10 ON THE 10TH
Has your community returned to school yet for the new year? Our poor babies in El Paso began on 08.02.2021. So Lucia has been in kinder over a week now. Cady, in Ft. Worth, starts on Thursday. The kids in my sister’s school district in Houston don’t start for another week. So crazy that there is such a difference in starting dates this year. Our school district is moving toward a year-round school model, though, which explains our early start.
Speaking of starting…let’s start this post!!
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10 ON THE 10TH 08.2021
Today’s post is about lifelong learning. Here are the questions I posed for everyone. And my answers.
- How old were you when you started school? Did you attend pre-kinder and/or kinder or go straight into first grade? I started school, kindergarten, when I was 4 years old. Our neighborhood school was just being built so I rode a school bus across town to another elementary school for kindergarten. I was so small that the bus driver had to lift me onto and off of the bus.
- Were you a good student? What was your favorite subject? I was a pretty good student overall. Really struggled with math and never was better than average – whatever that is – in math related subjects. My strongest subjects were English and history. My favorite subjects were English, history and art.
- As a child, did you take music lessons? Or play a sport? Do you still play an instrument now? I took piano lessons for a couple of years in middle school. Never played a team sport. I did enjoy playing tennis for fun and in the summer, would walk to the tennis courts a couple of miles from our house to play with my sister or friends. I bought a keyboard after retiring and planned to take up playing again but haven’t done much of anything with it. Need to pull it out from under the bed, dust it off and try it again.
- Did you attend any kind of training or classes beyond high school? If so, what did you study? Did you wind up working in a profession or job for which those classes or training prepared you? I went to college. First a small, private liberal arts college in my hometown of Memphis for my freshman year while I had short-lived aspirations of being an Appalachian Mountains pediatrician. Then I transferred across state to Knoxville and the University of Tennessee. I sampled quite a number of majors before almost exhausting the college money my sweet parents had saved for me. Wound up majoring in art education with almost a second major in library science. I never officially taught art (except for a few minutes after retirement) but worked for over 25 years as a librarian. One summer during college, my mother insisted I accompany her to a continuing ed typing class at a nearby high school. I kicked and screamed the whole time. I was a very proficient and speedy typist on a manual typewriter (and knew shorthand) so I couldn’t fathom why I would need to learn to type on an electric typewriter. Thank goodness, for my mother’s foresight!
- Have you taken any personal growth or adult education classes for fun? During the year that was Covid, did you home school, learn a new app to work from home, teach yourself to do something you might have paid someone else to do for you? I have taken a couple of adult education classes in my adulthood. PC and I took a country dancing class together. Through our excellent community college (EPCC) continuing ed department, I signed up for beginning piano but the class didn’t ‘make.’ Have taken painting and mosaic classes, too. During Covid, I learned how to finish my pretty substantial glass mosaic. Also became a little more WordPress savvy out of necessity.
- What would you like to learn how to do that you don’t know how to do already? I would like to learn more about photography but in a hands-on course where we take photos with the instructor’s guidance. Would love to take another country dancing or line dancing class and then DANCE!! Pick up the piano again. Maybe water color painting. This EPCC blogging and podcasting course might be fun. Our community college also has senior adult programming that offers classes for free.
- Name something that you learned easily. Then name something that was a struggle for you to learn to do. I learned calligraphy and shorthand easily. Shorthand felt like a form of art or drawing to me. The same with calligraphy. Instead of writing the letters, I felt like I was drawing them. Learning Spanish came fairly easy to me, too, once I remembered the sounds the vowels make. The ability to speak Spanish was kind of a necessity in order for me to communicate while we lived in Panama. Learning to swim was a struggle. Probably had at least 3 rounds of swimming lessons at various times of my childhood. I can swim now but not well, and certainly not correctly. It’s that pesky breathing that throws me off. If I swim with a goggle and snorkel, I can swim for days.
- What’s the last thing you remember learning? What kind of learner are you: visual, auditory, hands-on/kinesthetic, verbal, logical/mathematical? It’s funny, I always considered myself a visual learner. But when I was looking up the learning styles to list here in this question, I realized I am actually more of a kinesthetic learner. Hands-on. I do okay watching a video on how to do something but even better if I can do whatever it is hands-on at the same time. Hmm, the last thing I remember learning…how to put an ad on my blog??
- Hard to teach an old dog new tricks, school of hard knocks, pass with flying colors, learn by heart, burn the midnight oil, pull an all-nighter, play hooky – which of these expression best fits your life lately? Why? Probably no surprise that the expression ‘hard to teach an old dog new tricks’ most resonates with me right now. I am currently wrestling with returning my blog to its original direction and focus…life after retirement. And I am grappling at doing so. Joining others for their link-ups requires less thought. Opening myself up and sharing my struggles means I have to be more vulnerable. That is hard. Trying to figure out what I should be doing right now, what my purpose is, is also quite difficult. Somedays this old dog just wants to lie down and play dead.
- What is something you’ve learned from past mistakes? To try to put myself in other people’s shoes. To see things from others’ points of view. Often things work out better if I step away or step back for a moment and then return to whatever it is.
- Bonus: Share your favorite learning/education quote. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
In answering these questions, I checked the community college fall catalog for courses I might be interested in trying. The blogging and podcasting course in their personal enrichment program sounds good. Although, I think I am comfortable with most of the mechanics of blogging already. I would like to feel comfortable trying my hand at Instagram videos or reels or whatever they are. And maybe podcasting!?!
Your Turn
What the most recent thing you have learned to do? What is something you struggled to learn? Are you a lifelong learner? Please let me know in a comment below. Or link up your 10 on the 10th post with me so I know to stop by to read your answers to this month’s questions.
Can you believe we are already on our way to September? And with that month comes the 20th anniversary of 9-11. I am currently reading a book entitled The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 by Garrett M. Graf. It has been a heart-wrenching read. But I am learning so much that I never knew about that horrific, historic day. All of this to say, our theme for the September edition of 10 on the 10th will be 10 thought and/or memories about 9-11. I hope you will share where you were when you first heard about the terrorist attacks on our country, how your life may have changed over the days that followed, and your thoughts on this 20th anniversary.
Enjoying a quiet day at home. Haven’t heard anything more about subbing but have about decided I would rather not do it!! We’ll see what happens. What are you up to today? Thanks for carving out a few minutes to stop by and visit. I appreciate your friendship.
Hugs and kisses,
Nice to read about your school and studying time!
Thank you for popping in!! Hope you are enjoying a super vacation.
Old dog?? I hear ya…especially wanting to lie down and play dead some days:) Today it is sweltering here (no complaining though) and our old dog – actual dog:) – is flopped at like a fish. Not even willing to chase her ball. Some days it is just like that!! Thanks for another fun list of questions!! From one English lover (math…not so much) to another!! Happy Tuesday –
I can so understand #10. I work hard to be in a more non judgmental zone lately.
And we are having a mentoring session tonight with a real photographer. I’m hoping that will be helpful for us.
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Hope your photography session went well.
I’m totally get the #10. I’ve been working on myself with a judgement free zone.
Tonight we are heading out to have a mentoring session with a real photographer. I’m hoping that will help our continued learning!!
OXOX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
How did your session with the photographer go? Rob does such a fabulous job taking pictures of you gals. And seems to be so cooperative and creative. PC just hates taking my picture. I think he thinks I am being uber vain. But photos and photography go with blogging.
Great questions this month! I enjoyed reading your answers.
Thank you. We have 3 more months of 10 on the 10th – come join me!!
I would say my 8 yr old grandson has taught me many new things this summer. We went to a wild cat sanctuary where I learned more about big cats than I ever knew I wanted to know. I learned how to iron huge table clothes on a big sheet of wood for a wedding I was helping with- that was also a first for me.
Learning languages is very difficult for me and something I have given up on for now. I learn best by listening and then doing it myself. Some day I would love to learn to quilt but it actually scares me to death because I am not good at straight lines and perfection.
I think being around kids and teens allows me to see things from their perspective and I always learn something new.
Wow, interesting way to iron table cloths. I am such an introvert that we rarely have use for a table cloth of any size, and our dining room table gets used once a year. But that is a great tip. My grands would enjoy the wild cat sanctuary. My 5 year-old granddaughter pretends she is a cat on a daily basis.
Have you tried learning a language through Duolingo? I was doing it for Spanish and felt like I was learning until I quit. But I need to start up again before I lose what I did learn. It approach learning from a number of different directions so it is good if you are a visual learner, oral and even kinesthetic.
I would love to learn to quilt, too. But I have the same issue with straight lines. My mom tried to teach me to sew and was appalled at how I struggled to sew a straight seam. She sewed beautifully. Didn’t inherit that gene!!
We don’t start school here until the end of August (the 30th for most schools) or even after labor day. We both picked the same final quote! I went to college with the intent to be an art teacher but was talked out of that pursuit since so many of our local schools were doing away with art at the time. I was steered into Elementary or Early Childhood Education since I would have been able to incorporate art into my regular class days.
Isn’t it so sad that art is dispensable? I loved adding creative activities to my library lessons. But some of my librarian colleagues thought my lessons were fluff because of the art. The kids seemed to learn and enjoy doing so, though. I think we are a lot alike, you and I. Except you seem to be very much better at blogging than I!!
We start back to school on the 23rd. Summer FLEW, so I am a mix of not-so-ready and ready. This was a fun post to read! Loved your answers. Miss doing 10 on the 10th and hope to join back soon.
I love the quote you picked! That is another really good one! It was interesting learning more about you!
Thank you. Sure enjoyed the IG clip of Avie dancing to Mariachi music. Girl has got some moves.
You were a busy student! I did enough to make people think I was busy. LOL
I was in a Spanish language immersion class when I was in elementary school and I looooved it. But we moved and that ended that. Then I studied Japanese for a semester in college and promptly forgot everything except the slang words once I quit.
I enjoyed reading your answers.
It’s hard to teach an old dog like me new tricks too.
I am still struggling with the manual mode of the camera on my phone although my son has taught me for the umpteenth time!
These are good questions! it’s funny because my favourite class as school I had a really supportive teacher and she mentioned that I’d be really good doing what she used to do before she became a teacher – she was right, I’ve been in that role over a decade and loved it, it’s a shame I lost touch as I’d love to let her know I’m still enjoying it! It will be interesting to see what kind of things my kids end up getting into – they both love to learn but it’s easy when you are so little and have all the energy and enthusiasm of a preschooler, haha!
Hope you are having a nice week 🙂
I hear so many people say that had one special, memorable teacher that impacted their lives but I really didn’t have that at all. Made the decision to be a teacher because I had credits in so many different types of courses and just needed to put them together for some kind of degree and finally graduate – ha. Then overheard someone in a book store where I worked talking about library science (Library SCIENCE??) classes and decided to check them out. Best career ever. So glad I did.
Love these questions this month!
Short hand… I’ve always wanted to learn that – I guess its a dying art but I remember my mom knowing it too.
So our piano & tennis answer is almost exactly the same – I’m telling you – we’re sisters 🙂
We both mentioned wanting to take a photography class and struggling to learn to swim. Loved answering these questions!
This was so interesting!! The first few answers could be mine. LOL. I would also like to learn how to make reels. And a podcast would be neat! I have been thinking about that a bit too, a little.
You lived in Panama? That is so cool!!
Great answers! My favorite subjects were English and history too. And I also struggled to learn to swim, mostly because I was scared. Great linky, by the way. I hope you won’t discontinue this one when you’re refocusing your blog back to its original purpose.
Thank you, dear friend. I am struggling to get back to where I intended to be when I started blogging. Appreciate your support.
So interesting to learn something new about you!
I learned to swim when I was in my 30s so I don’t think I’m ever going to be a confident swimmer, but I can stay with my head above water and get from one side of a pool to another!
I’m always buying online courses to learn how to do things! The most recent ones all involve photography in some way. Photography, Affinity Photo, Videography (I haven’t even started that one yet lol). I LOVE to learn. Always was a good student. Well, until I was 16 when I met the love of my life. He completely distracted me from my studies. But I did ok. At least I married him six years later lol!! My favourite subjects back then were languages—English and French specifically. I moved to Portugal when I was ten, and learned Portuguese out of necessity.
When I turned 40, I went on a month long yoga teacher training course, which was a wonderful experience. I never really taught though – just a few classes for close friends. These days, I just do yoga for myself.
Such a brilliant post, Leslie!
Hugs
Suzy xx
Totally missed out on this and I think a few others. :/ Next month hopefully! I enjoyed your answers though.
I just filled this out today (a lot late!) as I embark on a new adventure of learning 🙂 I also struggled with learning to swim (yeah, the breathing is hard to coordinate) and would love to take a photography class. Must add that to the list…!