I would like to introduce you to Joelle Mancuso.

I absolutely adore this woman…

and her lovely family.

She lives in Simi Valley, California.

She came to TJEd’s Leadership Education model in stages…

She attended an amazing parenting program that exposed her to how children learn best.

She was then “no longer a trusting, ignorant parent who was going to leave education up to others.”

She saw Oliver DeMille deliver a keynote at a homeschool conference…

She tried every method of ‘schooling’ under the sun but nothing was working, or felt ‘right.’

She and her husband attended a FATJEF conference in Rancho Cucamonga

and committed to the principles of TJEd in their home.

This journey took a total of four years before she arrived where she is now.

She’s been married to Joe for 16 years.

Has three children, 11, 9 and 7.

Her greatest challenge in implementing TJEd?  “Inspire, Don’t Require.”

Greatest strength? “You, Not Them.”

She also keeps a strong connection with her kids, avoiding “conditions’ on how she shows love and acceptance of them.

Favorite book: at the moment, The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education.

“It’s giving me strength and inspiration to stay the course of my own educational path.”

Before children: She had a few lives!

The first was as an actress doing movies and commercials.

Her second was as a dancer.

The third was as a fitness professional which took her around the world and gave her the opportunity to write and be published.

Presently, she and her husband, Joe, own Joe’s Gym in Brentwood, CA

and a high-tech, home integration company called Chameleon Technologies.

Joelle will be organizing the vendor hall for the FATJEF IV. She is a delightful woman and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the fruits of her expertise when you attend the FATJEF forum.

Below is a piece she has written to encourage and help moms when frustration is at the forefront.

Enjoy.

The Dump
You are not going to believe this, but sometimes my mornings aren’t perfect.

No, really, every morning my children spring out of bed, excited to see what  they can offer the world.

At the breakfast table they are dressed and smiling as they eat their hot cereal (they made it themselves)…

and their pleas for me to read from a classic; or go over a story about their favorite scientist or mathematician, are incessant.

After breakfast they happily choose their chores.

In fact, they argue over who can do the most difficult ones

because they know that “doing hard things” is just what CORE Phase is all about!

As they race to do their chores perfectly,

I catch up on my reading assignment from my George Wythe University course…

“Mom, mom, mom!!!! Wake-up! Christian is making fun of my clothes

and he just put 5 bags of oatmeal in the microwave….”

Yes, I was dreaming during the above paragraph.

I had overslept and that always gets my mornings off to a difficult start.

The rest of the morning was filled with kids bickering,

educational work nowhere to be found,

and classics still on the bookshelf catching the day’s dust.

A few long hours later,

I’m sitting in my car, at Park Day, wondering what is wrong with me.

Why can’t the kids just do what they are supposed to do?

If I was only doing it better.

I’m sure Deena and Teri had perfect TJEd mornings. (What is she smoking!?!?)

Maybe I could pack my kids up and send them over to their homes.

It is mornings and days like these that inspire me to practice THE DUMP.

The DUMP is actually a small journal that I keep in my purse.

Whenever I have a really challenging day I sit somewhere quiet (usually in my garage, sitting in my van, doors and windows closed) and just start writing about my morning-from-hell.

I don’t stop for punctuation or organization-this is the easiness of THE DUMP.

It is literally that, a purging of all of your insecurities onto a piece of paper.

Yes, it has to be on paper or it’s therapeutic properties won’t work.

After the DUMP, which can be a page or a chapter,

you will notice your shoulders relaxing into their normal position,

your jaw unclenching, and breathing resuming a normal rhythm.

The Dump allows you to see a snapshot of your day without the emotions muddying up the water.

As you read your DUMP, your thoughts come from the frontal lobe of your brain instead of the reptilian part of your brain

(the part that turns you into Dragon Mom).

The Dump gives you space to see the worthiness of the morning.

Let me show you all an example from my DUMP:
“…the kids are nowhere to be found.  I can’t believe that they think they can just leave the house and run around outside.  I find them playing football in the driveway.   What would the Doctors say (Oliver and Shannon).  I’m blowing it.  Is football the only inspiration I’m providing in my TJEd environment?”
POST DUMP, FRONTAL LOBE thought process…
“It was very nice seeing them playing so cooperatively.  There was no fighting.  The sun was warm and they were needing some physical movement.  What would have happened if I threw the football with them instead of  ‘throwing’ my angry voice?  That would have been a nice connection.  I’m going to try that next time. “
I know there is NO WAY I could have looked at my morning in an intelligent way if I couldn’t take a step back and breathe.

This is the magic of THE DUMP and I encourage you all to give it a try.

In fact, maybe we should be brave and post a few DUMP comments on Teri’s site, followed by a frontal lobe viewpoint?

What do you think?
Joelle Mancuso