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Creating a Learning Environment

The Gilberts share how they make their home a learning environment

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Imagine what your life will be like ten years from now — where are you? Can you imagine all the opportunities in your future if you decide to pursue your college degree? You are not the only one who will benefit from obtaining an education — your family and community will also improve as you strive to further your learning.

In a devotional with BYU-Pathway Worldwide President Clark G. Gilbert and his wife, Christine, the Gilberts shared three ways education has blessed their family by creating a learning environment, developing planning and time management skills, and asking inspired questions.

Here are a few ideas of how you can secure those blessings for your family too.

Create a learning environment

Establishing your home as a sacred place will enhance your ability to be taught by the Holy Ghost. A Spirit-filled home is the best place to learn.

Phone Charging Station
Putting your phone away will help you focus.

To invite the Spirit into their home, the Gilberts have established a pattern of scripture study as a family every evening. They eliminate all distractions when they’re reading their scriptures by charging their cell phones in a different room. These practices apply to their secular studies as well, when phones are also put away while coursework is being done.

Not only will the Spirit feel more abundant in your home as you eliminate distractions, but President Gilbert mentioned facts from a recent study that when a student stops his or her studies due to a distraction, it takes considerably longer for the brain to re-calibrate back to before the interruption. 1
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Seriously Distracted: A Report On Our Interrupted Life (2018). See also, "Seriously Distracted," (2018), medium.com

Giving yourself a devoted space, free of distractions, where the Holy Ghost can speak can help you be more successful as you strive to excel in your studies.

Develop planning and time management skills

Man and Woman Reading
Planning together will help your family stay organized.

Having the ability to prioritize and plan for yourself and your family is a skill that will bless your home. Sister Gilbert uses the planning and time management skills she learned in college in her role as a mother. In college, President and Sister Gilbert established the habit of looking ahead at the week every Sunday and planning for what was to come.

Whether that was for their own college assignments then or their children’s activities now, planning the week’s events helps them stay on task and feel less overwhelmed.

As a busy student, taking time to plan for your week can help you better manage your homework, Church callings, job, and family life.

Ask inspired questions

Inspired questions are questions the Spirit prompts us to ask, or specific questions that come to our minds to ask others. Asking inspired questions is a skill that we can use at work, at church, in the home, and so on. Whether we’re seeking to know how to be a better spouse, where we should work, or how we can do better in school, asking inspired questions leads us to improve all aspects of our lives.

Family
Learn how to ask inspired questions.

One of the biggest responsibilities of parents is to learn how to ask their children inspired questions. Sister Gilbert said, “Asking inspired questions is something I need every single day as I observe our children and think about them, and the needs they might have.” To do this effectively, she goes to the Lord to seek direction on what to say.

When we go to the Lord to help us gain divine inspiration through our questions, we allow revelation into our hearts. This will help us as we try to seek guidance in our lives and the lives of our family.

As you learn how to effectively create a learning environment, improve your planning and time management skills, and ask inspired questions, the Lord will bless your efforts and help you reach your educational and spiritual goals.

To view the Gilberts’ devotional, visit byupathway.org/speeches .