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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: Sept 09 2008 at 12:34pm | IP Logged
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I love weeks (such as last week) when "unschooling" becomes our excuse for "not schooling". Really I do. Last week's mandatory evacuation made this a no-brainer. Not that I liked the evacuation but at least I don't become frantically worried about my children's education.
But it's nice to get back to routine and bring out the planners and sheetworks and fill in charts at times and check-off lesson plans.  Human beings appreciate structure.
Despite the threat of Ike brewing below us, the southwardly projection allowed me some breathing room today so we began our school work again today. It was nice to get back to order on a day that was devoted to learning in our home, where I and most of my children thrive to be.
On Willa's Blog I was reminded about something I wrote (and had forgotten) in 2006:
Quote:
Caution: As thick and compressed as these lesson plans look here they are really just hanging on a thread allowed to swing and float and twirl as our fancies, our personal schedules, and our home life decides that they may." |
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This continues to sum up my feelings regarding our hsing plans. With various life events which have happened with ever-increasing frequency in the past year, I'm so thankful that my temperament allows me this peace and this calm.
Speaking of temperments, this hurricane evacuation and Mother Nature having more control over my plans than I do, coincided with Danielle Bean's piece: Four Temperaments. So I took a moment to review my temperament. The test Danielle offered was the most do-able (especially regarding time elements) test I've come across. It also revealed to me my true temperament, pretty much dead-on: Phlegmatic/Melancholic
I've also been reviewing past "planning" discussions to see where we are at as September rolls briskly into gear. And I realize that it took all these years of homeschooling for me to realize what works best for me and my hsing…probably what a temperament expert would have been able to tell me after a single test. 
My approach to planning is now completely in-sync with my temperament...and that gives me a global amount of peace. 
So I was wonderingly curious…what does your temperament say about you and the way you plan and the way you school and the way you adapt? What is your temperament?How does your temperament discipline you? How does it guide your plans? How does it serve your family?
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
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PDyer
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I am a melancholy choleric. I am not surprised. 
I wish I could get a link to the catholicmatch page for this type.
How do I plan? How do I school? Thoroughly, in detail.
How do I adapt? Only under duress, and with much stress.
I want to come back to this, but right now we're getting off track and you know, that just won't do...
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Patty
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JodieLyn
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Sanguine Choleric (08) or Choleric Sanguine(06) I discovered I'd taken the same test 11/11/06.. the numbers were very close but they flipped which is "first".
2008
Choleric Sanguine
Melancholy Strength:0 Weakness:2 5%
Phlegmatic Strength:4 Weakness:7 28%
Sanguine Strength:9 Weakness:4 33%
Choleric Strength:7 Weakness:7 35%
2006
Sanguine Choleric
Melancholy Strength:0 Weakness:2 5%
Phlegmatic Strength:2 Weakness:7 23%
Sanguine Strength:12 Weakness:5 43%
Choleric Strength:6 Weakness:6 30%
I adapt easily and often cheerfully, though not knowing what's going to happen can drive me nuts.. and I can plan well but seem to have a very hard time following the plan.. even when it's myself and not someone else telling me what to do and I can organize well.. but upkeep is a struggle. Consistency is a struggle.
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lapazfarm
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Interesting. Such weird words. I came out as a sanguine/ phlegmatic. Seems fairly accurate, but some of the questions did not have any answer that seemed to fit me at all.
Planning for me seems pretty suited to my personality type: disorganized, relaxed, flexible, fun, go with the flow...
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Theresa
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Cay Gibson
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Lots and lots of sharings here:
Temperaments???????
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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mom to 5
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Mackfam
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Well...I come out a three way split - sanguine, melancholic, choleric. I took the test over and over again knowing that sanguine and melancholic aren't supposed to be holding hands, but no matter - I'd either come out a little more sanguine or a little more melancholic, but always fairly close.
It pretty much sums up my planning...a bit of a bulldozer at first (choleric) , overly analytical (melancholic) , with a drive (more choleric) to analyze and plan enough so that I can just have fun (sanguine).
I don't mind adapting, 'cause I love analyzing and planning.
What I am *not* is laid back (phlegmatic), which is clearly indicated in my complete and total lack of patience! A virtue I am always working on...
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Jen Mackintosh
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Mary G
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Y'know, maybe it's just me ... but I just CAN'T do these temperament tests! I begin to try and figure out "how" I should answer ... or begin to read more into it than it's worth or NONE of the 4 words fit me .... (and I'm talking even remotely!).
I sort of see the validity of understanding this ... particularly if you are VERY much one way or another ... but I also think it takes so much of our free will out of the equation, removes so much of the ability to grow and change and adjust to life ...
Am I the only one that flunks these tests?
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MaryG
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mrsgranola
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Mary, you're NOT the only one. I was as psychology major and I worked as research assistant a couple semesters so I just can't do these tests with any accuracy. I skew the results...
JoAnna
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Anne
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Ok I took the test and it was hands down sanguine 60%. I just took the test quickly and tried not to read anything into my choices. I did find some responses not to fit me but I did my best.
I feel that the results fit me to a tee and my planning and schooling seem to fit into this same type. I often start big and lose steam. I have found that I love a plan to follow but I must find a very laid back plan and it must be more of a CM type of curriculum. I do feel that this works well with 2 of my 4 children. I want to find a better way to meet my twin dds needs. Perhaps being twins just throws me for a loop or they actually would work better with a text based curriculum.
My home schedule is definitely laid back. More so than dh would like. He has decided to help with the daily routine and so far we are following a basic schedule he put onto paper allowing me to do the finite details. I have been very surprised as to how well we are all responding to this new plan. Everyone knows what to expect. I still have the freedom to plan how I choose during the time parameters and he is so willing to make sure to put in planning time and ME time (at least 2 hrs per day!) I find that when I do all of the scheduling I do not give myself enough down time.
Cay, this was such a great idea. It will help give me more insight in the future for my own planning and I look forward to seeing more test takers results.
Blessings,
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Anne in TN
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missionfamily
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I am choleric-sanguine...have been since I first took this test when I was sixteen. As far as school plans go, it works out like this. I love to plan, I love to make plans, I love to be in charge of the plan. The sanguine side of me will flex and bend if I WANT TO...like to cash in the day for an afternoon at the park on the spur of the moment or trade Fine Arts for a field trip to the planetarium...but the CHOLERIC side of my is totally out-done and irritated when the plan has to change for something out of my control, like a dumb ol' hurricane.
So, my big thing is to keep reminding myself that the plan is supposed to work for us, we're not supposed to work for the plan...and I can't look at it too often, or else I start barking out orders and pushing everyone because I get this competitive thing going, like "We can cross of two more things if we move fast....GO! GO!" I become like a crazy drill sergeant or something and it makes the kids a wreck. So once I consult it to pull books and fill in their planners, I forbid myself to look at it in their presence. But it's really hard not to be bothered when something doesn't get checked off....
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SuzanneG
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I'm a strong choleric. I love to plan, research and then EXECUTE with a vengence, everything that was planned and researched. But, well....that's just not how life with kids works. And, I also would consider us un-schooly, which my choleric temperament can't quite wrap it's fingers around. Or maybe it can and I just can't put words to it.
missionfamily wrote:
| and I can't look at it too often, or else I start barking out orders and pushing everyone because I get this competitive thing going, like "We can cross of two more things if we move fast....GO! GO!" I become like a crazy drill sergeant or something and it makes the kids a wreck. |
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I was laughing so hard at this. That's my tendency too. I really really force myself to NOT LOOK AT THE PLANS! General framework and ideas, but nothing exact, or I become a lunatic. Mothering and Homeschooling has definitely tamed some of the negative aspects of my choleric tendencies......but I was so far out there to begin with, that I have a LONG WAY TO GO!
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monique
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I took the test and it said I was a melancholic/choleric. I had recently read the book and couldn't decide exactly what I was but my husband thought I was one of these two. So I guess he was right!
It's funny because I like to plan but sometimes I just get too dreamy and I have to make myself put it into action. I know what I want to do but don't quite now how to accomplish it. And then trying to make it work with 5 or 6 other individuals with their own temperament and personality sends my brain into overload. I get frustrated by trying to get everyone else to go along with the schedule and plan. I also get frustrated when I get interrupted. I need to be able to finish tasks and you can imagine how difficult that can get with 6 other needy people around here! I can get very drill sergeant oriented also and start ordering everyone around. Not a pretty picture! I can also tend to get obsessed with marking everything off. I've had to learn to relax and look at we have accomplished vs. what isn't accomplished.
Hard questions, Cay! But it's fun to think about and I like seeing what temperament everyone has.
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Monique
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Cay Gibson
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Mary G.,
I think that's why the test reveals percentages in each temperament. We really are made up of all 4. It's just our make-up will naturally lean more towards the introvert temps or the extrovert temps.
My husband would agree with you though. I sat him and my oldest ds down at the computer last night to take it. Mark looked at me and said, "You aren't serious are you? Do you really believe that stuff?"
I reminded him that early in our marriage the first retreat we attended together was on temperaments given by our former pastor who we love and respect.
Mark agreed to take the test but he told me, "I just don't believe this shows the whole story."
Ah, he's so right.
The "whole story" simply isn't there on a test. And you'll remember how I abhor test-taking. On most of the line-ups there was more than one choice I could have made. I also saw where I "use to be this" and "now I am this".
Our testing also revealed that I've become, in part, like Mark use to be and he's become, in part, like I use to be.
He still has a good bit of his perpetual sanguine-side but that's inherited from his dad. Yet even that has diminished some with his hypothyroidism.
See, medical factors play into this too.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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Paula in MN
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Melancholy Choleric.
The truth hurts. 
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Paula
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trish
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Me too Paula.
Melancholy Choleric.
Although I was also the same percentage of Sanguine as Choleric. Interesting combination.
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~ Trish ~
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Barbara C.
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I came in as Melancholy Phlegmatic.
It cracks me up because the Melancholic strength is "Keeps home in good order" and the Phlegmatic weakness is "Doesn't organize home", and I can honestly say that I think both things are true. I always have a place for everything, but I also have a lot of stuff that just lies around. I always have an organized mess.
Some of the parent notes really hit home:
M strengths: Picks up after children
Encourages scholarship and talent
Wants everything done right
P strengths: Is not in a hurry
Can take the good with the bad
M weaknesses:Puts goals beyond reach
May discourage children
May be too meticulous
Puts guilt upon children
P weaknesses:Lax on discipline
Takes life too easy
Especially, at this age, I think I plan for and hold myself to a higher standard than the kids, because I learned the hard way that I was expecting too much and I was scared of discouraging my oldest daughter in her studies. I can't help wondering if her partial aversion to reading was that I got too frustrated trying to teach her to read early on. And I really have to work on pointing out school work errors without being discouraging or guilting.
I try to keep organized schoolwork to a minimum, but I don't completely buy into unschooling. Like others have described it, we keep things unschooly. For instance, this year (my oldest dd's kindergarten year), we're doing about 30 minutes of school time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Everything else is interest- and opportunity- led learning. It keeps my personality weaknesses from getting out of control.
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Barbara
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CandaceC
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When I took a test a few weeks ago for a bible study my husband is in, I was overwhelmingly melancholy. This depressed me! LOL!
Moody and easily depressed were too of mine. Too sensitve and taking things personally is another biggie for me. Though, the organization I do appreciate. :)
I'll have to go look at the quiz you posted, Cay, as I find them so interesting.
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Cay Gibson
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Barbara C. wrote:
| It cracks me up because the Melancholic strength is "Keeps home in good order" and the Phlegmatic weakness is "Doesn't organize home", and I can honestly say that I think both things are true. |
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Since we have the same temps, Barbara, only switched in degree, I could totally relate to this.
It also brought to mind something I read in Art and Laraine Bennett's book
The Temperament God Gave You.
I'm pretty sure I was raised by a chorleric mother. And I'm pretty sure I leaned more towards to melancholic side in my early years. Thank God he sent me a phlegmatic father to balance the family dynamics.
I ponder if it was the dealings with the chorleric parent which contributed to me becoming more phlegmatic in later life. Weird, huh?
Anyway, because of this, the home of my childhood was meticulously planned, structured, ordered. On page 142 of the Bennett's book under "The Choleric Parent" it reads: "Usually, home life will be organized and run according to plan---the choleric's plan."
On behalf of having a wonderful mother, let me add that one of the choleric's strength is loyalty. My mother was and is very loyal to her children and grandchildren. She can be tough and disciplined but she loves well too. I've always known I was well-loved, well-protected, well-heard...and love conquers all.
But I'm afraid she had a stronghold on "her plans". I hated that. My phlegmatic/melancholic sides were left unattended. I think that, in essense, laid the foundation for me to be more flexible and relaxed with "my plans" and my homelife.
It's kind of confusing...
Another thought I have is we have to be so careful, very careful, when exploring these labels to REMEMBER that they are, infact, labels.
And labels can be crushing. Labels can be misread. Labels can handicap a person. Labels are no good if we don't look at the child/our spouse/each other as a child of God first and foremost.
Just random thoughts. I think the girls are finished doing math manipulatives together so I must go before chaos breaks-out. There's an extreme melancholic and sanguine for you.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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Mackfam
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Cay Gibson wrote:
Another thought I have is we have to be so careful, very careful, when exploring these labels to REMEMBER that they are, infact, labels.
And labels can be crushing. Labels can be misread. Labels can handicap a person. Labels are no good if we don't look at the child/our spouse/each other as a child of God first and foremost. |
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I do agree that we must be careful *not* to use these sort of temperament tests as labels. They aren't meant to be used that way. The temperaments are meant to be *tools*.
Taking the test out of context or viewing it as something that pigeon-holes us into a temperament or certain character trait is labeling.
God does create us with certain personalities, temperaments. Jesus is the perfection of all the temperaments, and He calls us to be perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Our goal then as we use tools like this should be to confirm what we probably already know about ourselves, and to resolve to balance our personalities - to work on virtue. So, for example, I am highly ordered...ok almost compulsively so...the balance for me would be to temper this and find the middle ground between the other extreme which would be complete dis-order. Virtue lies in the middle.
Knowing my temperament helps me in recognizing my weaknesses and strengths. It is a tool in helping me to know myself, and hopefully with the assistance of God's graces and a sincere act of my will, it helps me focus my energies and efforts on improving myself, softening the edges and finding that virtuous balance that I seek.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Willa
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I am a melancholy phlegmatic. That means I almost have to plan, because both parts of my temperament are slow to get enthusiastic, so I can't "play it by ear" very well with learning opportunities the way cholerics and sanguines can. New opportunities tend to be greeted reluctantly and fearfully by my personality. My phlegmatic side will allow me to simply drift and react passively, and then my melancholy side becomes frustrated and discouraged very quickly.
On the other hand, if I plan (including planning time for strewing, adjusting to new things, record-keeping etc) then my melancholic side feels better and my placid, responsive phlegmatic side can help balance it and make me less crazy and rigid about actually DOING what I planned. My melancholic side has reasoned through the benefits of more unstructured time and more flexibility, so it can be all right with changes and revisions so long as making room for those things were part of The Plan to start with.
I think one way that temperament understanding can be valuable is that it helps you figure out how to respond to how other people do things. I know that highly interactive learning resources or styles won't work for me; that I have to have something around the house for a long time before I actually feel comfortable using it; that I need to rewrite a lesson plan for myself before I can actually use it, even if I rewrite it very closely to the original. I've learned to take time to observe and to focus on the good things happening, so I don't get overwhelmed and discouraged.
I'm adding this topic to my Favorites, Cay
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Willa
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Temperaments & Planning
