Motivation = Motiventure

 Motivation in my life is a key component.  If I am motivated to do something it can make a hard task easier and fulfilling to complete.  If fact I rarely lack the ability to do or not do something rather I lack the motivation to get me there.
 Homeschooling is also interwoven with finding ways to motivate and keep my crew motivated to keep doing tasks which are beneficial to themselves as individuals and our family as a whole.          
 Last year at the North Dakota Homeschool conference we met a father who had perfected the art of keeping his children motivated with out nagging from him or complaining from his kids.  He concocted adventures where his children had to earn points to complete missions by doing their responsibilities with a good attitude and on time.  He went to elaborate lengths to make this real and memorable for his children.  He had his grown daughter with him to testify of the great memories and relational bonds that she and her siblings now have as a result of these adventures.http://www.moti-venture.com/
To make a long story short he bottled (ok boxed) his crazy amount of creativity and now sells them as "Motiventures."  I was sold!  What Mom would not want her children to do all of their responsibilities and school work without being asked or prodded.  So I bought one of his mini-ventures for a few dollars to try it out before I bought a big adventure.  We had so much fun and success with the miniventure that I went ahead and ordered one of his large box adventures.

So after having this since the beginning of this school year the teacher has finally gotten motivated enough and organized enough to start our adventure.  We are going to give it a go and see how we like it.  The kids spent last week earning points to buy a ticket to fly to Africa and I'm glad to say they have all safely landed and are ready to start their Park Ranger training.  Coden being the youngest will be sticking to the photographer track because it is a little easier to understand.  The older kids will be working their way through the ranks of Ranger Trainee, Guide, Officer, Ranger, Warden and the winner will become Park Manager.
In the morning they will get their info packet and instructions on how to begin the adventure.  My goal is for Shayla to blog here on how it is going and how this all works as she goes along.

Happy Safari at the Thiessen house!  With this balmy weather it won't be quite so hard to imagine!
Look for Shayla's posts coming soon!