10 Questions About Lifelong Learning

I haven't done one of these '10 Questions' posts in a while and with us starting week 3 of this school year, this seemed like a good one to answer! Thanks, as always, to Natasha for posting first, so I could copy. {grin} Original link-up here.

1. How old were you when you started school? Did you attend pre-kinder and/or kinder or just go straight into 1st grade?

I was in daycare from 1 onward so had a lot of preparation for formal school. My elementary school started with Kindergarten, so my official start was with Kindergarten when I was 5.

I didn't have my kinder picture on my computer, 

here is my pic from when I was 4.

2. Were you a good student? What was your favorite subject?

I was a very good student. Both of my parents were teachers and not doing well in school or being disrespectful in class were NOT options. I graduated in the top 5% of my high school class, was class President, in National Honor Society, etc. 

Speaking at high school graduation as the class President #nerd

I would say History was probably my favorite subject. I did not like Chemistry or Physics and thought Math was fine. I enjoyed English but didn't enjoy the books that were picked a lot of them time, ha. For a short stint I thought I would be a History teacher/professor.

3. As a child did you take music lessons? Or play a sport? Do you still plan an instrument now?

I took piano lessons from Kindergarten through middle school, and then I played the flute in middle and high school. I can still play the piano but am pretty rusty. I love that we got a piano this year and that Drew is taking lessons - it's helping me too!

7th grade band photo #bandnerd

I also did gymnastics from preschool through elementary school. And then in middle school I played volleyball {mediocre at best}, basketball {poorly}, and ran track {was actually good}. Then in high school, I continued to run track where I ran the 400m and 1,600m relay. We almost made it to state my senior year in the 1,600m relay!

4. 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 Texas A&M University and majored in Accounting for my undergraduate degree and also received a Master degree in Management Information Systems. I got my CPA license and was an Auditor for 11 years. I moved over to HR working for the same Accounting firm almost 7 years ago. 100% used my degree for those first 11 years and think that experience set me up well for where I am now.

Graduating magna cum laude from A&M

5. 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've dabbled in photography a little but think our iPhones are too good nowadays for me to use my 'fancy' camera very much anymore. I would also put my Body Pump certification in this category - I took the training 7 months ago and have been teaching for 4 months! And I've been taking tennis lessons since the end of January and love it!

We did a minimal amount of home schooling over Covid - trying to do that while working a full-time job was insanely stressful. I think I *might* have enjoyed virtual school and getting to participate more in the kids' education had I actually had the time to do it. We were very lucky to have my parents come over most days and be in charge of school. I did a post about what our homeschool routine looked like, very glad it only lasted 5 weeks.

6. What would you like to learn how to do that you don’t know how to do already?

I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar and maybe the violin. I've also been scared to do it - not sure why? I still plan to...someday!

7. Name something that you learned easily. Then name something that was a struggle for you to learn to do.

I think school was relatively easy for me. I learned to read early which definitely helped. I am very worldly in a book-learning way, but the flip-side of that is I'm not often worldly in a real world way. Brent teases me about this a lot - if it's in a book, I'm great...if not, look out! He is so much more real world smart compared to my book smart. I used to think book smarts were more important, now I think you 100% need both.

8. What’s the last thing you remember learning? What kind of learner are you: visual, auditory, hands-on/kinesthetic, verbal, logical/mathematical?

Tennis! I am having a blast with my lessons. I am mostly a hands-on learner - I really don't like a lot of theory and lecture about something, I want to get in there and do it with some oversight. I don't like to just play around by myself - I do need some structure with learning but definitely learn by doing.

9.  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?

I would say 'burn the midnight oil' not because work is THAT time-consuming {although the last year has been rough} but a lot just due to being a working mother and having all the things to do. I find that I crave that alone time at night and don't prioritize sleep like I should. I've been doing better with it but could still do better!

10.  What is something you’ve learned from past mistakes?

The importance of owning up to your mistakes. I want my children to see me make mistakes, take ownership of them, apologize for them, and try to do better. 

11.  Bonus: Share your favorite learning/education quote.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi