Early Morning Seminary....

Victoria is trying to decide if she wants to attend early morning seminary next year. I asked our older kids the following question...

Having experienced early morning seminary would you choose to participate again, why or why not? Please take a few minutes to really think about it. Please share your perspective of the positives and negatives with me. 

These were their responses:

Casey: That’s a hard one. In the moment is was somehow doable. Thinking about it now, I don’t know if I could wake up at 5am every morning. If we lived closer to the church building where I could have woken up and run to seminary, that would be great. And if seminary was only 30 min long. 

Pros: It got me up in the morning, so I was already awake for school, and wasn’t late for school. 
It was uplifting when we had good teachers. It taught me good knowledge about the scriptures that I probably would not have known otherwise. It also helped me read my scriptures daily. 

Cons: It got me to do all those things because of a list checking mentality. So in the future where the list isn’t needed, it’s not a habit or activity that I would say made me want to read. I got mad at some teachers, so those days weren’t too good. It felt like a requirement and not an activity that was there for me to develop. Too early, and too much time before school started. 
I’ll see if I can think of some other things today as well.

Rebekah: I think I would do seminary again but a lot different

1. The teachers matter, if the teachers were like sis Elmore and Bro Cook then it would be easier to go

2. I wouldn’t worry about attendance and wouldn’t go on days when I was tired, stressed or just wanted to skip. 

So I guess I would do seminary again because I learned a lot my 1st year, but I would do it on my own terms. The hardest part is that some mission stuff requieres you to graduate seminary:( but you can still graduate without 100% attendance

Isabelle: I would choose to participate again but I would participate more on my terms. I would make it more like institute. I would go to a class where I felt loved from the teachers. If I had the same teachers I had in high school I wouldn’t go again. I also wouldn’t have been so stressed about attendance and stuff like that. I would go when my schedule would allow and if it wouldn’t work to go one day I wouldn’t stress over it. Going to seminary was a box we had to check off but going to institute is something I get to choose and if I did seminary over again I would want to do it more like that. 

Porter: I think it would depend on a lot of different things. With a good teacher I think that it would 100% be worth it. When Brother Hatch or Cook were subbing it was fun but also spiritual and a place to learn as well. However with the teachers and experiences that I actually had, I just think it was a waste of time, I think it did the opposite of what seminary’s supposed to do and was a very negative time and horrible way to start my day.

I am proudest of their abilities to think for themselves. And that they aren't afraid to speak honestly with me. I think they are headed in a really good direction. One that will bring a lot of peace to their future decision making.