Personal Progress - Getting Started - Choice and Accountability #2

Sophie turned twelve a few months ago and since about that time we have had the craziness of moving and settling into our new home. We recently attended the Young Woman in Excellence meeting in our new ward and it was so lovely to hear about the projects each girl has done. Sophie on the other hand didn't present because being so new to Young Woman and the Personal Progress program she hasn't worked on anything yet.

When I was 12-18 I worked on projects and even received my beehive medalian

and then my Miamaid medallian 

but never recieved my Laurel or Young Woman's medallian.

This is what it looked like in my day. 

I really like the new medallian

The temple, the beehive, the laurel leaves and the ruby (because a virtuous woman's price is above rubies.) all have such symbolic meaning and focus for a Young Woman. 

Since I never earned my medallian when young I figured I would start going through the program with Sophie and work on value projects and experiences as well.  Then I too can have the medalian for the program I failed to finish when I was younger.

It may seem like a strange place to start but Sophie and I are starting with the value Choice and Accountability. 

Faith may be listed first but we jumped into reading For the Strength of Youth and that is listed as one of the value experiences for Choice and Accountability so I figured we would work on that value first. I say we because that is what I decided to do and since I am the one prodding Sophie along I get to make that choice until she decides to tell me otherwise.

Not only are we supposed to read the pamphlet but we are to choose three of the principles to work on for three weeks and then discuss what we have learned with a parent or leader and write about it in our journals. Writing our thoughts in our journal figures into most of the experiences listed. I figured since my Mom reads my blog and this acts as my journal in many ways I would just write my thoughts here and report on my progress as I work through this program. 

So for Choice and Accountability experience #2, we have now read the pamphlet, I now need to pick three principles to work on for three weeks. I discussed this with my kids during our morning devotional time. We read through the pamphlet together so I figured we could come up with some ideas together and work on them as a family

Language - We do a lot of bickering and shout angry words at one another. When I get frustrated or overwhelmed I too loose my head and yell. We are going to try to be more calm and not let things get us so riled up that we have to use harsh words with one another.

Service - Simple everyday acts of kindness for other members of our family will do wonders for the atmosphere in our home. 

Work - I haven't yet established a new chore system since moving to our new house. I have just been giving the kids jobs as they come up or I end up doing whatever is needed. I should put together a new rotation and add in all the new chores that having a house has added to the load. 

So those are my three goals. The kids have agreed to do them as well. Hopefully we will see some improvement after our three week focus.