Week 9: The Tet Commandments

The Tet Commandments

Yes, you read that right Tet, not Ten, I will explain in a min. I will warn you what you are about to read will make you think really long and hard! This is not for the faint of heart or mind.

We have been diagramming the Ten Commandments this past week, this is what we found according to the translations that we were given for we read it in the original Hebrew, We found that the commandments are way more cut and dry then what I grew up knowing. Compare this with Exodus 20:2-17  

Number and comments	Literal  Hebrew	Idiomatic  Hebrew
Aleph (1) As you can see this firsts one is not a technical commandment. Just a statement from the Lord of who he is.	brought You out who your God Adonai I am from the house of bondage from the land of Egypt	I am the Lord your God who is taking you out of the land of Egypt.
Bet  (2) This is where the first one starts.	before me other gods you shall have not	You shall have no other gods before me.
Gimmel (3)	to  vanity your God the name of Adonai you shall take Not.	You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Dalet (4)	for holiness the Sabbath day Remember	you shall remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Hey (5) Notice how Mother is first in this order?	and your mother your father on Honor!	honor your mother and father
Vav (6)	you shall murder Not	you shall not murder
Zayin (7)	you shall commit adultery Not	you shall not commit adultery.
Chet (8)	you shall steal Not	you shall not steal.
Tet (9)	false witness against your neighbor	You shall not bear false witness.
Yod (10)	The house of your neighbor you shall covet Not	you shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

As you have been reading you may have come to the same conclusion that I did. There are really only nine commandments technically! The number for nine in Hebrew is Tet. Crazy right? My mind is still recovering from being blown! Planting tomatoes in the greenhouse!

We have a full functioning lettuce garden! The best salads in the world! I am so excited for the rest of the garden to grow.  

The sunrise is so beautiful after camping under the stars!

Planting the famous DeMille Squash!

Week 8: Better Brains than Beauty

Better Brains than Beauty

Latin was finished on Monday. I would like to share my favorite of Aesop’s Fables with you in Latin then in English.

De Vulpe et Pardo

Vuples et Pardus de pulchritudina concertabant et, Pardo suam

pellem versicolorem extollente, Vulpes, cum suam praeponere non

possit, dicebat Pardo, “At quanto ego sum speciosior, et quam longe formosior,

quae, non corpus, sed animum versicolorem et

variis notis insignem sortita sum?”

Literal English:Of the Fox and the Leopard

A fox and a leopard about their beauty were arguing and, the leopard his own pelt varicolored is praising, the fox,  when his to put forward not able, was saying to the leopard, “By how much I am more attractive, and by how much by far more shapely, that not of body, but of mind varicolored and divers a mark conspicuous obtained I am.

Idiomatic English translation: The Fox and the Leopard

A fox and a Leopard were arguing about their beauty.

The Leopard was praising his own varicolored coat.

When the fox could not put forward is coat in comparison.

He said to the Leopard “I am more attractive, and shapely, not in body, but my mind is varicolored and divers, it is a mark notable, and something that I have obtained..”   

This fable is my favorite because I feel that is it more lasting and important to have a well trained mind then it is to be beautiful. Also, there is much that I can do to obtain that training of mind, where there is not much that I can do to obtain physical beauty.

Knowledge is more lasting than physical beauty.   

We partied on Tuesday to celebrate the commencement of an intense Latin course, by sitting around the campfire discussing The Merchant of Venice By: William Shakespeare. I also pulled out my violin and played around the camp fire. It was the most nostalgic I have felt in a long time the coolest effect ever.

My favorite character is Portia, Smart, funny, Portia has the best lines, my favorite being “God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.” I also love how she knows what she wants, and she's not willing to compromise, to obtain her ends.  

We have a new member of our student body: Gordon Dupuis, he is from Milo, Idaho. He likes cars, animals, and creating something out of nothing.

We also added two new members of the farm. Meet Portia and Nerissa. They are lamancha goats they love eating everything in sight and rubbing on humans.

This week features Mr. Hurtado in the kitchen with a knife. Cutting watermelon that is.

I was assigned to teach the 6 year olds in church. I am really excited to be able to inspire children to greatness!

Vale, et tibi persuade carissimum te esse mihi. (Be strong and persuade yourself how beloved you are to me.)

~Dani Nieman

Visit us on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/MonticelloCollege/?fref=ts

Visit us online and check out the great seminars that are coming up!

http://www.monticellocollege.org/  

Mentors Dr. Brooks blog:

http://shanonbrooks.com/

Mr. Hurtado’s commonplace blog:

http://cpaulhurtado.postach.io/
  

Week 7 Latin! A Student Body in a Ditch

Latin! A Student Body in a Ditch

So this week was LATIN! We used Aesop’s Fables in Latin by: Laura Gibbs as our textbook.

Here is how it works: We open the book, Mr. Hurtado reads the fable to us in Latin, Then we try to figure out words that are close to English. Mr. Hurtado would give us hints sometimes, Then we would look up all the words we didn't know, in a glossary in the back of the book, Put the story together in English and then memorize it in Latin. Here are a few pictures. The first fable we learned is in the picture above.

To describe this picture I say: This is us “ditching class”, “A Student body in a ditch.” So yes, we are in a ditch, studying Latin.

Yes, our classroom is what God alone can give. This picture actually portrays a very intense Latin program, even though it does not look like it.

We would come to class at 9am go until 12pm. Break for lunch & study. Reconvene at 2pm go until 5pm. Have dinner & study until about 10pm this lasted from the 21st of May, through the 31st.  (We did take Sundays off)  Other than that so intense, so much fun and so much Latin learned.

Call my up and have me recite a Fable in Latin. I would love to perform for you!

Mr. Hurtado is the coolest person ever check out some of his material! Oh and he also makes the best omelets EVER! He is a language service provider: translation, interpretation, foreign language instruction, cross-cultural training & curriculum development business man.

Check it out! http://www.linguisticsolutions.com/

Personal Blog http://christopherhurtado.com/

Common Place Blog: http://cpaulhurtado.postach.io/

Pythagoras in Action!

Week 6: Leadership and Liberty!

Leadership and Liberty!

This week it's been like none other. (ok, so that is every week, moving on.)

We went on a hike early in the morning about 6 o'clock. We drove up the blue mountain. We hiked so that we were really in the trees and in the clefts of the mountains.

We did some mental exercises where Dr.Brooks, would have us think 15 years ahead in our life.

I thought how interesting it would be, to be in a crisis situation here is America, have a solution to the problem critically thought through and be able to solve it.

Having to lead a nation which I never really thought about before was mind stretching for sure. He also encouraged us to become one with nature in that moment. Our vantage point on the mountain was on the side of the mountain, we could see the tops of the trees in the valley below. I thought how wonderful it would be to be able to jump from tree top to tree top.

We left that spot and went to the top of a bunch of boulders, where we discussed being vulnerable. How important it is to be vulnerable with others and how to be a leader we have to show vulnerability at times. Being vulnerable means letting someone into your heart, showing

emotion or weakness even when you really don't want them to see it. Dr. Brooks said as leaders we need to learn when to be vulnerable with others so that they will follow us.

This week's project has been making a slab of concrete for jumping rope on in Physical Training. (Have you ever tried to jump rope on a dusty ground or gravel? Yeah, that is why we need a slab.)

Holli this one is for you! A^2+B^2=C^2. Dr. Brooks explained math (the Pythagorean Theorem) in a way that made sense! We were doing practical math, not just abstract math. So great! We measured, dug, and poured the concrete all ourselves. Well, Dr. Brooks helped a little. :) here is a video of the project!  https://goo.gl/photos/s7t6CoEMKVbFS4gUA

Pounding rock!

All framed and ready to pour!

Making sure we have the cement, sand to gravel ratio right. It is 1:2:3, 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, 3 parts gravel. Incase you wanted to know.

Pull up bar and concrete slab. Done! We also learned how to make really awesome graphics this week, check out the one I made up top and the one at the burden! We have learned how important Networking is and social media. So you will be bugged by me even more now! Just know I am just doing my assignments! We read the books Leadership and Self Deception (Arbinger Institute), and The Conscious Creator By: Kris Krohn and Stephen Palmer. Dr. Brooks knows Stephen personally so we were able to talk to him after our book discussion over the phone. He gave us some advice about goal setting. He said “Act as though your goal has already happened. Act like your goal is reality.”

Pretty awesome advice!  

I was also featured in my mentor Dr. Brooks Blog.

Check it out! http://shanonbrooks.com/

Find out more about Monticello College by clicking here!

http://www.monticellocollege.org/

If you missed it here is a video of our concrete project!

https://goo.gl/photos/s7t6CoEMKVbFS4gUA

Week 5: Too Blessed, To Be Stressed

~Too Blessed, To Be Stressed!

Take a look at this picture, and the title of my letter really says it all.

This is my life this week!

Now do not think for a minute that I am partying it up here in Monticello.

Wait, I really am though. When I say party it is more of a Positive Attitude on hard work. This is the hardest I have studied in a long time. I am tracking my hours and studying about 25 hours on average a week (a week being 7 days). It will be bumped up to about 40 after a while.   

7 seems to be the number of choice this week.

We read and discussed  Thomas Jefferson Education By: Oliver DeMille this week.

It was really a unique experience to have Dr.Brooks there and adding in his insight from all of his and Oliver DeMilles research together.

The basic principles of the book are described in 7 keys:

1. Classics, Not Textbooks: Meaning getting our knowledge from the original sources that people wrote. For example: If you want to know about God you would read from the Bible. If you want to know about government you would go to the experts thought history that knew government, (Locke, Machiavelli, Marx, Bastiat etc.)
2. Mentors, not Professors: Someone that can teach and guide you personally in a specific subject.
3. Inspire, not Require: Unless we really take education to heart we will never learn anything. So it is up to me the student to learn.
4. Structure Time, Not Content: Planning when to study, not what. Now Dr. Brooks has challenged me to get as many books read as I can.  But I personally structure what I read when I study. It is not forced upon me.    
5. Quality, Not Conformity: On matter what we are unique individuals with strengths and weaknesses. That is why we are only judged in the sense “What have you learned?” and “How are you improving?” Not being graded as a comparison to others. “Are you doing better than Sally? Or worse than Johnny?”   
6. Simplicity, Not Complexity: Read the book, Write about it, Discuss it with the group. “Do you understand what is going on in the book and how does it apply to life?” “What can we learn from what we read?”  
7. You, Not them: I am the only ones that can gain an education for myself. Not,anybody else.  So I cannot compare myself with others strengths.

Now, this in my interpretation of what Oliver DeMille wrote.

If you would like see them as Oliver DeMille wrote them  Please visit here at TJED.org.   

We finished our pull up bar for our physical training. The bar is about 7 feet. Needless to say I am not able to jump that high. So I get my own special stool. It is really funny. I am not quite

able to get a pull up. But I will be when I leave here, I can do a half so far.

This is not a pretty picture but does illustrate the “struggle is real.”

We also go piglets yesterday. One Boer and one Show, they are pretty cute as far as pigs go. We will be getting another show later in the year. We are trying to as Dr Brooks says “Humanize them.” Get them used to humans. The vote that we did to name them ended in the Boy being named Aristotle, the girl Lysistrata. I am not much of an animal person. Which makes this experience so great. Because I get to see how to have stewardship over God’s creations.

We also have been working on our running trail. Getting the sage brush out so it is a little safer to run on,so you can better see the rocks.

I often during the day sit and think “WOW! Why am I so blessed? This is the best school ever!”

It is so much work, but it is also the most rewarding thing ever, it does not even feel like work at all. When a mission is calling you. You say as did the prophet Samuel “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” (1 Samuel 3:9)

To find out more about

Monticello College go to.

http://www.monticellocollege.org/

Also Visit my mentor

Dr. Shanon Brooks Blog at

http://shanonbrooks.com/

Week 4: The Red Dawn is Breaking!

The Red Dawn is Breaking.

By: Dani Nieman

This week has been an adventure. Tuesday we had a simulation of Monticello Town being invaded. We watched the movie “Red Dawn” it simulates the North Koreans coming to Washington and taking over Spokane. It was a little weird for me because that is my home area. The simulation was to plan what we would if anyone invaded.  Dr.Brooks even had his police officer neighbor come in uniform to make it more dramatic. I got thinking how ill prepared I really am with having supplies ready to go at a moment's notice.  It was nice to get a wake up call in the form of a simulation. Instead of the real thing happening.

We also had oral exams this week. The format is you stand up at the front of the room and three judges (in this case Mr Hurtado, Dr. Brooks, and my roommate Miss Dupuis) all fire questions  at you to check for understanding of the material. It made me realize that I have a lot to learn. The muse has struck me and I came up with this thought or poem if you will abou that I am learning:

The more you learn, the more you realize, you have more to learn.  

Learning is only a light that shines on your own ignorance.

Humility and eagerness are the only things that will pull us from the cave of our own ignorance. Though paradoxically the more we travel out of the caves the more we find, we have still to travel, and in fact we find we are traveling deeper and deeper into it.  

Some may scoff and say: “It is not even worth the journey at all.  For you will never get out.”  They will never know the one that scoff and scorn,  for they are not willing to pay the price to find the merits the cave has to offer.

They will never know the light of their own ignorance.

Saturday we put up the telephone posts for our pull up bars, we will be using for our physical training.  It was a physical workout in and of itself! Check it out!

The fixings for concrete! So that the poles will be secure in the ground.

Go Hailey!

Dr.Brooks is THE man. (yes, the only one.)

Getting it into position!

Getting down to Dr. Brooks “level”

I am braced for it.

Tamping!

This rock was really heavy in actuality.

Mixing concrete! The secret recipe is one part cement, 2 parts sand, 3 parts gravel. Sh…. do not tell anyone!

pouring it in! Well, scooping.

the poll was to big.  So we got to saw it in half. I felt like a pioneer.

Finished! Well, at least for that day.