With the new year comes new things and change is in the air for Communication FUNdamentals blog!
I have been blogging the same way for years and I have decided to change things up a bit. 2009 will be a year I stir things up a bit and create some more creative fun with words, communication quotes, videos, illustrations and graphics!
I will be bringing you even more news items that affect Christian's freedom of speech as well as parent's rights to homeschool and raise children as God directs them.
So what is this all going to look like? Well, I'm not entirely sure and I think I'll keep it that way! Being creative is a spontaneous thing and I had kind of painted myself into a box over the last few years where I had to post about particular things each and every day. Starting this year, I am going to have a few days a week where I will post particular things but the vast majority of the time, I want to be free to explore creative and fun ways to illustrate communication skills especially where they relate to sharing and defending the faith!
On the days where I will have a particular topic, I would like to engage you and your readers too! So help me out and let's have some fun this year! Ok! Here's how it will work:
Mondays: ? Question of the Week ?
I have been doing this on my homeschool Yahoo group for a few years and it's been a fun way to discuss issues and share ideas as well as get to know each other.
Each Monday I will ask a thought provoking question that I would like each of you to answer. I would also love it if you would blog about the Question of the Week yourself and invite all of your readers to do the same. You would post it on your blog and then come back here to put in a link to your blog so we all can read everyone's answers! Should be a lot of fun!
Wednesdays: FIMM Trivia
Foot in Mouth Man has over 130 episodes! Whew!! That's a lot of feet in his mouth over the years! Poor FIMM has been running himself ragged maintaining two homes. He has one on the Art of Eloquence site where he lives with his wife, Bonnie, and their quintuplettes: Jimm, Timm, Kimm, Slimm and Enrique. Then he had his summer home here on Communication FUNdamentals. The upkeep was just too much for a man with so many kids (not to mention feet in his mouth!). So FIMM has lef t the building!
The Misadventures of Foot in Mouth Man will continue to be aired each Wednesday on Art of Eloquence. You can stop by each week and visit with FIMM, Bonnie and all the kidlings here! In addition, we will be hosting a weekly FIMM Trivia Contest here on the blog! A prize will be awarded each week! This week's FIMM Trivia Question will be posted shortly!
Friday Funnies:
I will continue to bring you communication humor each Friday here on the blog BUT if you want even more Friday Funnies delivered right to your inbox each week, you'll have to subscribe to my Friday Funnies Communication FUNdamentals newsletter!
Defending the Faith SONdays:
I will continue to bring you my weekly column here each Sunday. It will have my commentary on a recent news item, trend, ad, video or other defending the faith issue. I will also continue my Defending the Faith Review newsletter which includes my weekly column as well as links to all the week's important defending the faith news items. You can subscribe to my Defending the Faith Review here!
On the other days, I will be free to bring you some fun questionnaires, trivia, news items, quotes, obscure words, funny miscommunication items, and just about anything fun I can find that relate to communication, humor, homeschooling or the Lord.
So many of you have asked about my dd's college journey so I will be sharing some of that here with you as well. I know it can be a frightening thought to homeschool through high school and I want to bring you past stories of how she got there and some encouragement from the other side! Kelsey is in her second semester of her freshman year at Vanderbilt and she is adjusting quite well.
I will also be bringing you stories from the trenches of our homeschool with my son who is gifted and has sensory and focusing issues and how this homeschool family business survives this economy and government regulations.
OK! That's me in a NUTshell. Just one more NUT coming out of her shell to explore some new fun in 2009!
From JoJo'sPurple Crayon Teaching communication skills the FUN way!
I am going to hosting the Merry CHRISTmas Carnival of FUNschooling again this year right here on Communication FUNdamentals.It's not a traveling carnival. It's just on my blog each Dec. 15th.It lists all of the current favorite blogs, sites and newsletters that help us keep Christ in our CHRISTmas.
Do you have one? Do you know of one?
Please nominate your favorites by sending the link (URL) and a short description to jojo@artofeloquence.comwith "Merry CHRISTmas Carnival of FUNschooling" in the subject line.
I have a semi annual event on my blog called The Carnival of FUNschooling. In September it has a Back to Homeschool theme and in December it has a Merry CHRISTmas theme (keeping Christ in your CHRISTmas).
I am getting things ready for my Back to Homeschool Carnival of FUNschooling and I need your help! I am looking for sites, blogs or newsletters that have FUN things for our homeschool year. If you have a blog like that or a site that has fun things for homeschoolers, please post them here so I can include them. If you have a favorite fun homeschool site, blog or newsletter, please leave a comment here or email me at jojo@artofeloquence.com to share it with me.
The Back to Homeschool Carnival of FUNschooling is held on Sept 15th right here on my blog, Communication FUNdamentals.
HEY...If you would, ask your blog readers what their favorite fun homeschool site, blog or newsletters are! Then come back here and post a link to your blogpost where I can find their suggestions!
From JoJo'sPurple Crayon...
Where's FIMM? Did you find himm this week? Where's FIMM? Come find the only Foot in Mouth Man picture that is different from all the rest. Email what he looks like and where you found himm to fimm@artofeloquence.com and you could win a free Art of Eloquence eProduct of your choice!
The other day I found a website that lists all the latest "holidays". Did you know that you missed:
August 1st, Friendship Day
August 3rd, National Mustard Day (I like Goulden's Spicy Brown!)
August 10th, Middle Children's Day
August 13th, International Left-Handers Day
August 15th, National Relaxation Day
August 16th, Joke Day
Well today is National Bad Poetry Day so I didn't want you all to miss out! Let's all celebrate Bad Poetry Day by posting some of the bad poetry you know. (Family Friendly Please!) Here's mine: Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
It's National Bad Poetry Day
So now YOU can be too!
Just so you don't miss out... August 25th is Kiss and Make Up Day
August 26th is Women's Equality Day
And August 28th is Dream Day
How will YOU celebrate?
From JoJo'sPurple Crayon... Where's FIMM? Did you find himm this week? Where's FIMM? Come find the only Foot in Mouth Man picture that is different from all the rest. Email what he looks like and where you found himm to fimm@artofeloquence.com and you could win a free Art of Eloquence eProduct of your choice!
Wow! We had over 80 entries submitted for our Name Our Convention Day Contest! (Not including FIMM's of course!) There were some really creative and fun ideas!! Thank you all for participating!
It was so difficult to narrow down the choices for you to vote on. We were going to narrow it down to just 5 choices, but there were so many wonderful ideas, we decided to post the top 10 ideas that would fit our day best. There are some exciting choices here and it should prove to be a tough decision!
Please vote on your favorite! To vote, simply post a comment on this blog post with your favorite choice for the third day of the 4th Annual Say What You Mean Convention coming in February 2009.
Remember that our convention theme for next year will be homeschooling and this day will feature interviews with several homeschool graduates who have gone into different areas of life: college, Coporate America, homemaking, business ownership, etc. This day will speak to the options homeschoolers have and the mark they can make upon the world.
The envelope please... Here are the semi finalists:
There have been so many wonderful entries, but only one can win!
Then for part two of our contest:
On the morning of May 1st, we will choose 5 of the names we feel would work best for the Say What You Mean Convention, put them in a separate post and ask you to vote on them! The one that gets the most votes will win the prizes!
What a busy day we had yesterday! Kelsey did VERY well on her very last SAT2 test in the morning and then we dropped her off at Disneyland for her to perform in their Candlelight Processional! She had a great time and we will, indeed, get a copy of the video from one of the parents who video taped it! Yippee! If I can post it on YouTube or something I will.
Meanwhile, I didn't have any time to post the winner of our Family Word Contestyesterday! Everyone's entry was so creative and fun to read. I do hope you all get a chance to read them. Just click on the above link and scroll down! Such fun!
"For birthdays we usually wish someone a "Ba-bobby-tu-tu". When we were little, a cousin of mine couldn't sing "Happy Birthday to you" so it came out--you guessed, "Ba-Bobby-Tu-Tu". After twentyfive years we still call each other on birthdays singing that song our way!"
Too cute! You are the winner of winner a free copy of one of my lastest eBooks, The Play Book: A Play What You Mean Activities Bookjust in time for the holidays! Just email me jojo@artofeloquence.com to claim your prize!
As a thank you to those of you who entered, I have a special prize for you as well! Please email me jojo@artofeloquence.com and I will email you the details!
A big thank you to all who participated in making this a fun contest and for your creative responses!
I had to mention this because Karla had emailed me with this:
I got a laugh out of the Ba-bubby-tu-tu! How precious is that! :0) I'm off to start a fire in our fireplace with the "fire pinch" and maybe eat a few "chew chalkers."
Do you have words or terms that your family made up? Terms that only you use and understand? Come share the term and the story behind it this month and you could win a prize! I received this Arcamax email today from The Word Guy. He is such fun. This month he talks about how sometimes families make up their own words or terms for things that only have meaning to them.
What does your family call a backward somersault . . . or the chunks of mud that kids' boots leave on the kitchen floor . . . or a single sock without a mate?
The Hansens of St. Paul, Minn., call that back flip a "winter pepper." In the Howard Family of Brockton, Mass., those chunks are "mud waffles."
Sometimes we have family inside jokes that become terms we use amongst ourselves:
To the Enders Family of Langley, British Columbia, for instance, a gift for someone else that you really want for yourself is a "sheriff's badge." That's because an Enders son once gave his dad a cap pistol, whistle and sheriff's badge for Father's Day.
Does your family have terms or words you made up? Come share! Tell us what the term is and the story behind it. I will be giving away prizes for the most creative and fun Family Words. To enter, just post a comment here between now and the end of November. Depending upon the number of entries and the uniqueness of the stories behind them, I may award more than one winner a free copy of one of my lastest eBooks, The Play Book: A Play What You Mean Activities Bookjust in time for the holidays!
Have some fun this month and stop by this post often to check out all the fun responses I am sure we will have!
I host the Carnival of FUNschooling twice a year here on my blog, Communication FUNdamentals. September is the Back to Homeschool Carnival of FUNschooling and in December is the Merry CHRISTmas Carnival of FUNschooling.
I would love your input on the websites, newsletters and blogs that help you keep Christ in your CHRISTmas each year. It's held around the 15th of December each year so I am gearing up for this right now. If you have a favorite site or blog or newsletter that remembers that Christmas is about Jesus and not Santa, please let me know!
You can post a comment here or email me at jojo@artofeloquence.com
Due to scheduling conflicts we find that we have some space available in our online Defending the Faith Class! http://artofeloquence.com/pages/seminarsclasses.php These classes prepare teens and adults to answer the most common questions and misconceptions about the Christian faith in grace. Say What You Mean: Defending the Faith is endorsed by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine!
This one hour class is being held online (TalkShoe.com) via phone and text chat on Tuesdays at 11am PST/ 2pm EST beginning August 21st through December 18th. The class requires a FREE 5 min sign up and download for the TalkShoe software so you can participate vocally and via text in the class. If you have that time available and would like to learn (or have your teen learn) to share and defend their faith in boldness and grace, read on!
I thought it might be fun to have a contest this weekend in order to fill these spots. So here's what you can do to WIN a free 18 week (full semester) online class (A $38.95 Value) as well as the eBook I will be teaching from, Say What You Mean: Defending the Faith! (A $24.95 value!)
Visit our website http://www.ArtofEloquence.com and answer the following questions. Email your answers to me jojo@artofeloquence.com The first several correct answers will win the eBook AND the online Defending the Faith Course as space in the class is available!
1. Name one reason why communication is so important for Christains?
2. What's included in the Defending the Faith Family ePack?
3. What's the name of my "Podcast"?
4. What is the "FREE Online Event" Art of Eloquence hosts each year?
5. Name something on "JoJo's Blog"?
The date and time stamp on the email is what I will go by so get your answers in to me as soon as you can! I will award the first few who come in! EVEN IF YOU DON'T WIN I will give you a free gift just for trying to be one of the first several to answer these correctly! You have until Monday at noon PST to get your answers in to me! I will notify the winners at that time via email and give you the link to the "eClassroom".
We have a few adorable FIMM episodes! Come submit your own! Win an Art of Eloquence prize of your choice!
We need more entries for the Summer Jumble-Aya Contest on my podcast, Grace Talk Soup!! Just listen for the secret word and unscramble them to form a Grace Talk Soup (Defending the Faith) recipe!! You could win a prize package worth over $200!
Read how:
There are only hours left! No purchase necessary just enter and you could win free Art of Eloquence products! One has a prize package worth over $200!
Write your own FIMM episode! If we use it (we can use one or two Guest FIMM Author Episodes per month) you will win a free Art of Eloquence product of YOUR CHOICE! See the link for more details! Contest ENDS TOMORROW, Tuesday night August 7th! Winners will be notified via email and announced on the FIMM Wednesday when we use your episode!
Listen to the regularly scheduled Grace Talk Soup shows for the secret word. Collect all 8 secret words and unscramble them to reveal a Grace Talk Soup recipe. Email it to me at gts@artofeloquence.com All correct answers will be put into a Soup Bowl and the one drawn will win a prize package worth over $200!! Contest ENDS WEDNESDAY night, August 8th! Winner will be notified via email and announced on Grace Talk Soup on Thursday's show!
servingtheKingofkings
is our July Create-A-Word Contest winner who's very smart hubby coined
the word "Scholaughticism" meaning using humor to teach a
subject. Taking scholaughticism one step further, Communication
FUNdamentals will be hosting the Carnival of FUNschooling on Tuesday,
September 19th!
What is the Carnival of FUNschooling?
It is a Communication FUNdamentals blog event where we will be posting
as many websites and blogs as we can find that use humor or creativity
to teach or guide homeschoolers and their parents!
Come on back on Tuesday, September 19th right here at Communication FUNdamentals
to find all your favorite creative and fun blogs and sites for
homeschoolers... You might just find some that will become your
favorite sites!!
Ya'll come back now...ya hear?
From JoJo's Purple Crayon...
Don't let your child graduate without the Art of Eloquence.
Christian Speech Communication FUNdamentals.
Because talk is cheap, but effective communication skills are priceless!
We had so much fun reading all your entries in July for our
Create-A-Word contest. You all came up with such creative ideas
to describe the "Act of using humor to teach something". Thank
you all for participating! Here is the original entry for you to see all of our wonderfully creative words/terms.
The term I use for what I do (teaching speech communication skills
using humor) is Communication FUNdamentals. The word I usually
use for using humor to teach school is FUNschooling. The
following are the winners/runners up for the July Create-A-Word Contest:
3rd Runner Up: JustGiveMeStarbucks for HAVIDUMORISM! ha, from ha-ha vid, from the Latin for "see" umor, from the Latin for "humor" ism, from the Latin for "an action" (example: the act of teaching)
So...havidumorism = helping others to understand through the use of humor.
(For the most realistic/creative use of roots!)
2nd Runner Up: HeidiHomeschools for Edularity! The act of using hilarity or humor in your education!
Winner of the July Create-A-Word Contest: servingtheKingofkings for Scholaughticism!
Our winner will receive a free Laminated and Bound Personalized eStoRybOok! Our three runners up will receive free PDF Personalized eStoRybOoks!
And since you all did such a great job, each of you who entered will
receive an eCoupon for 25% off any Art of Eloquence product!
INCLUDING any of our already deeply discounted packages!
To collect your prizes, please email me at
jojo@artofeloquence.com Winner's and runners up should
include their child's full name, age, gender and best friend's first
name for the eStoRybOok.
Winner should include their mailing address and runners up should
include their prefered email address. All those who entered
should include their prefered email address for the eCoupon!
Congratulations one and all! I had fun and I hope you all did! Check back with Communication FUNdamentals for more fun contests!
From JoJo's Purple Crayon...
Don't let your child graduate without the Art of Eloquence.
Christian Speech Communication FUNdamentals.
Because talk is cheap, but effective communication skills are priceless!
Have you entered our July Create-A-Word Contest yet? NO? Well, today is the last day! Click here!
FUN Summer Activity for your Kids: Art
of Eloquence and Communication FUNdamentals teach communication skills
using humor and hands on activities because humor disarms the fear and
enhances learning. It's just plain FUN! But there is no
word for using humor to teach. So we are asking you and your kids
to come up with one!
Here's How it Works: All you have to do is reply to our original post with a word or term you created that would mean "The Art of using humor to teach a subject"
Here's What You Can Win:
The winner(s) will receive a laminated/bound personalized eStoRybOok!
All Runner's up will receive a PDF version personalized eStoRybOok!
Each
and every entry will receive a discount coupon for ANY Art of Eloquence
product including our already deeply discounted packages!
Shakespeare did it and so can you! What did he do? Created words!
Art of Eloquence curricula and Communication FUNdamentals both use
humor to teach the very intimidating subject of Speech
Communication. We are holding a contest to see who can come up
with a creative and fun way to express the "art of using humor to teach
a subject". Several have already entered and you can too!
The more who enter the more prizes we will give away so let everyone know!
Here's what the winner will receive: A laminated and bound eStoRybOok!
eStoRybOoks
are personalized stories that teach communication skills and Christian
values where your child is the hero! Perfect learning fun for
ages 4-9! Comes with a Parent Note Page with discussion
questions, comprehension questions and Bible quotes to further
illustrate the lessons in the story. Our first eStoRybOok is titled "Conversation Correction Patrol:A Story About Listening and Being Humble". Click here for more info on eStoRybOoks!
Runner's
Up will receive PDF versions and every entry will recieve a coupon for
a special discount on any Art of Eloquence product/package!
Enter today!! This is a fun and creative summer idea too so grab your kidlings and put your thinking caps on!
Good luck!
From JoJo's Purple Crayon...
Don't let your child graduate without the Art of Eloquence.
Christian Speech Communication FUNdamentals.
Because talk is cheap, but effective communication skills are priceless!
Studies
show that humor disarms fear, helps hold attention, helps with
retention and regular old tension! Art of Eloquence teaches
communication skills with humor. Why? It helps shy children
overcome their fear of taking speech class! It helps even
children with ADD to focus so they can practice each skill and because
it's just plain old FUN! The more fun your kidlings have, the
more they are apt to learn!
Communication FUNdamentals
strives to bring a little of that communication FUN to blogdom.
And now we'd like a word for it! You can help and you can
win! Just think up a term or word that would mean "the art of
teaching something with humor" and you could win an eStoRybOok!
Winners will receive: A laminated and bound eStoRybOok!
eStoRybOoks
are personalized stories that teach communication skills and Christian
values where your child is the hero! Perfect learning fun for
ages 4-9! Comes with a Parent Note Page with discussion
questions, comprehension questions and Bible quotes to further
illustrate the lessons in the story. Our first eStoRybOok is titled "Conversation Correction Patrol:A Story About Listening and Being Humble". Click here for more info on eStoRybOoks!
The winner of our July HSB Contest
will win a laminated and bound version. Depending upon how many
entries we have, two or more runners up will receive a PDF version eStoRybOok.
If
you can think up a word that would mean "Using Humor to teach
something", YOU could win one of Art of Eloquence's newest and most
exciting children's communication gifts: An eStoRybOok!
Conversation CorRection Patrol: A Story About Listening and Being Humble!
The winner of our July HSB Contest
will win a laminated and bound version. Depending upon how many
entries we have, two or more runners up will receive a PDF version eStoRybOok.
All entries will be rewarded with a coupon for a discount on ANY Art of Eloquence product!
The more who enter, the more will win so please blog about our contest
and provide a link back to the post where they can enter: July Create-A-Word Contest Entries
From JoJo's Purple Crayon...
Christian Speech Communication FUNdamentals! Curricula using humor, hands-on activities and God's Word... Because we need to prepare our children to stand up and speak out!
Endorsed by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine!
Hey, don't forget our Purple Crayon Award Nominations being taken NOW for August! Read more about it here: Purple Crayon Award Nominations
Yesterday, I told you about a fun contest where participants were to
create a "word" for the phenomenon of almost sneezing. I thought
we would try that here at Homeschool Blogger. You can get your
kidlings involved too. Be creative and have fun with the English
language for a while. Hey, Shakespeare did it!
Rules of the Contest: You are to apply your creativity toward creating a word or term that aptly describes the act of using humor to teach something.
You may enter as many times as you like, however the first person to
post a particular "word/term" is the one who has ownership of it for
the duration of the contest.
You have until July 31st at midnight PST
to get your entries in. After that there will be a short period
of time for us to go over all entries and announce the winner and
runners up.
Any entries which are not "Family Friendly" will be deleted.
Winners will receive: A laminated and bound eStoRybOok!
eStoRybOoks
are personalized stories that teach communication skills and Christian
values where your child is the hero! Perfect learning fun for
ages 4-9! Comes with a Parent Note Page with discussion
questions, comprehension questions and Bible quotes to further
illustrate the lessons in the story. Our first eStoRybOok is titled "Conversation Correction Patrol:A Story About Listening and Being Humble". Click here for more info on eStoRybOoks!
The winner of our July HSB Contest
will win a laminated and bound version. Depending upon how many
entries we have, two or more runners up will receive a PDF version eStoRybOok.
All entries will be rewarded with a coupon for a discount on ANY Art of Eloquence product!
The more people who enter, the more we will give away so pass this
along to your friends, include a link back from your blog and let your
homeschool groups know!
Good luck Homeschool Bloggers! I look forward to reading your entries!
From JoJo's Purple Crayon...
Click here to Say What You Mean Christian Speech Communication FUNdamentals! *PreK-Adult *Free Shipping Available *No Teacher Prep Time
Be
one of the first 10 to answer these questions correctly and
win a FREE Sampler CDrom with sample lessons from each of our Say What You Mean studies! (Including Say What You Mean When You're in Business!)
* All entries will receive a Gift Certificate from Art of Eloquence just for entering!
I was raised by two Atheists of Jewish heritage, married a non practicing Catholic and became a non denominational Christian due, in part, to some Amway meetings and a Jehovah's Witness who came to my door. My purple crayon writes with humor and almost always a little out of the lines.
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This blog is my creative and fun way of sharing my thoughts on communication skills relating mostly to homeschooling and sharing and defending the faith. It also reveals a bit about how the Lord took this shy Agnostic girl and allowed her to find her voice and her purpose, a zany voice to the Christian community with insight as to what unbelievers need to hear about Christ Jesus.
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I'll share news items, quotes, family friendly humor, tips, trivia, and my newest feature: Question of the Week. I invite you to come share your thoughts!
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For more creative fun with JoJo you can visit www.ArtofEloquence.com
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"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." -Proverbs 25:11
Teaching communication skills the 
