Training for Triumph E-Newsletter

Issue 002

November 15, 2004

Table of Contents:
 1. Training for Triumph (TFT) Events and Announcements

*Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) materials now available from TFT
 *About Our E-Mail Address List
*Cottage Classes

2. Spotlight on One of Our Products

*Helps for Homeschool Moms Tape Series

3. Frequently Asked Question(s) About WBLA/CQLA

            *Are we really supposed to do all of this in one week?

*Can I really drop my other language arts programs when using      WBLA/CQLA?

4. Tips for Homeschool Moms

*Organizational Strategies for the Busy Homeschool Family—chores,       efficiency, and more!

5. Book Review Just for You

            *Make a Mix Cookery (review for Mom!)

6. In the Kitchen

            *Apple recipes we love!

7. Get Connected: Internet Site Review

            *E-Sword Online Bible study and Bible reference materials free of charge

8. Article from Training for Triumph

* “How to Teach Speech and Debate in the Homeschool”

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1. Training for Triumph Events and Announcements

*Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) materials now available from TFT

Training for Triumph (TFT)  is now offering IBLP materials through our catalog, phone orders, and at conventions. We are carrying mostly character materials that will nicely supplement anyone’s homeschool curriculum, but especially those using our language arts programs---Character Quality Language Arts and Wisdom Booklet Language Arts. The following items are now available from us directly. (Watch future e-catalogs and e-newsletters for product reviews and descriptions.)

Character Quality Materials from IBLP and TFT

Life of Adoniram Judson Biography $15.00

George Mueller of Bristol Biography $15.00

Character Booklet 1-Attentiveness $4.00

Character Booklet 2---Obedience $4.00

Character Booklet 3---Gratefulness $4.00

Character Booklet 4---Truthfulness $4.00

Character Booklet 5---Orderliness $4.00

Character Booklet 6---Diligence $4.00

Heroes of Faith 1- Adoniram Judson $4.00

Heroes of Faith 2-Joseph Merrick $4.00

Heroes of Faith 3-Gladys Aylward $4.00

Heroes of Faith 4-John Newton $4.00

Heroes of Faith 5-D. L. Moody $4.00

Heroes of Faith 6- Oswald Chambers $4.00

Heroes of Faith 7-Susanna Wesley $4.00

Heroes of Faith 8-Fanny Crosby $4.00

Character Sketches Set $105.00

Character Sketches I $39.00

Character Sketches II $39.00

Character Sketches III $39.00

Character Sketch I Coloring Book $4.00

Character Sketch II  Coloring Book $4.00

Character Sketch III Coloring Book $4.00

Women of Wisdom Coloring Book $4.50

Creation Corner Coloring Book $4.50

Wedding Covenant $.50

Power for True Success $25.00

Sovereign in the Affairs of Man (historical devotional) $7.00

Eagle Story  $8.00

Pineapple Story Book $6.00

Pineapple Story Cassette Tapes $29.00

Helps for Homeschool Moms 3-Tape Set (Donna Reish) $12.00

Father and Family 3-Tape Set (Ray and Donna Reish) $12.00

Teaching Children to Be Diligent tape (Donna Reish)  $5.00

Making God Real 3-Tape by teen for girls (Cami Reish) $12

History Tapes/ Children (teaching history to children by Kayla Reish) 3-Tapes $12

 *About Our E-Mail Address List
 
We are very new in the areas of publishing our own materials and speaking to home schoolers outside of ATI. Thus, we have a small email list. If you have been sent something from us and would rather not, please either delete it, or email us asking to be removed from our list. If you receive duplicate emails, please be patient with us as we grow. J  Please consider helping us spread the news about Training for Triumph and our materials by forwarding our E-Catalog or one of our E-Newsletters onto a few people who might like our products or services.

*Cottage Classes

Our cottage classes for the fall are coming to an end. We had a great semester with exciting results as students learned to speak and write better!  We are working on our class offerings for the second semester, so watch your newsletter for upcoming events.

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 2. Spotlight on Our “Helps for Home School Moms” Tape Series

 *Helps for Home school Moms Workshops Tapes

There are some topics the Reishes just can’t keep quiet about. The first one is home schooling! I like to consider myself a “home school cheerleader.” We first learned of home schooling twenty-one years ago when our oldest child was a baby. Once I read Dr. Moore’s books, compared them to what I was learning as a senior in “teacher’s college” (I was learning the same thing at school about readiness, boys vs. girls, etc.!), I was sold. Ray and I began an aggressive campaign to get everyone we knew to home school. (I’m really kind of embarrassed about this now; we were so zealous, we must have driven everyone we knew crazy!)

Anyway, we began hosting Saturday brunches in which we would feed parents brunch then give them handouts, excerpts, etc. to try to convert them to home schooling! I spoke for an hour or so (and knew so little twenty-one years ago!), then we answered questions. What does this have to do with our “Helps for Home School Moms” tapes? Well, I feel a similar zeal and urgency to help families learn to prioritize, choose the best over the good, teach children to be responsible and diligent, and more. Much of this is covered in my three-cassette series entitled “Helps for Home School Moms.”

This tape set consists of three cassettes that build upon each other: Prioritizing Your Life, School, and Home; Organizing Your Life, School, and Home; and Scheduling Your Life, School, and Home.  They are jam packed (I can talk really fast when I have something important to say!) with tips and techniques we have used in our twenty years of home schooling. Even more importantly than those helps, they are jam-packed with philosophies of parenting, home management, child training, home schooling, and more.

Prioritizing Your Life, School, and Home deals with determining priorities, utilizing your skills and talents fully, being consistent in maintaining your priorities, learning to say “yes” to the best things and “no” to the good, and more. In it, I explain our long journey to seeking God’s priorities for our family—and how each couple can and should do this to be effective for the Lord and in our families.

Organizing Your Life, School, and Home deals with more than just “Better Homes and Garden” storage tips. It continues the prioritizing message by helping you teach your children to be responsible, working together as a family, the importance of chore times and schedules, and more.

Scheduling Your Life, School, and Home helps you put it all together. Once you have prioritized and organized, how do you keep on track to fulfill God’s calling for you and your family? By scheduling and organizing your days! This tape deals specifically with scheduling your school day to get the most out of it. Whether you have seven children twelve and under or three teens, “scheduling” gives many tips and solutions that have worked for us throughout the years.

“Helps for Home School Moms” tapes are available from Training for Triumph in a three-cassette holder for $12.00 or individually for $5.00 each. Email us to receive our E-Catalog if you do not have one.

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 3. Frequently Asked Questions About WBLA and CQLA

*Are we really supposed to get all of the WBLA/CQLA weekly lesson done in only one week?

The weekly lesson looks overwhelming at first. Especially if you start to count the number of “lesson items” that a student is to complete in one week---often as many as twelve items. I always remind moms the total number of pages they would be doing in a week if they had a vocabulary program, spelling program, grammar program, and composition program. It would look overwhelming too!

All of those four grammar components (and more, including comprehension of material) are woven throughout the weekly WBLA/CQLA lesson. Thus, it looks like a lot of work at first. If you follow the weekly lesson plan given at the back of each WBLA/CQLA monthly unit, you will have no trouble completing all of the assignments within the week, allowing the following timetables to complete everything:

1. Level Pre A (second and third grades; CQLA only):

*Twenty to thirty minutes per day

*Nearly all with his teacher

*He may copy passages and write some sentences on his own, but for the most part, this level is pretty teacher-intensive.

2. Level A (third through fifth grade for WBLA; fourth and fifth grade for CQLA):

*Thirty to forty minutes per day

*Half or more of that time with his teacher; up to half of that time may be independent, depending on his skill level.

3. Level B (fifth through eighth grade WBLA; sixth through eighth grade CQLA):

*Forty-five to sixty minutes per day

*Teacher assistance for two or three of those sessions, depending on skill level, for Checklist Challenge (CC) help, editing his essay, spelling test, dictation quiz, etc.).

4. Level C (high school level):

*Sixty to seventy minutes a day

*Teacher assistance for one or two of those sessions, depending on how independently this student checks his assignments, completes his CC, etc.

*Can I really drop my other language arts programs if using WBLA/CQLA?

I get asked this question a lot! It is often shocking for a mom to think of her various English programs---and the time (and number of books!) being replaced by one, albeit large, book (or in the case of WBLA, eight (forty to eighty page) booklets). The answer to this question is not cut and dry.

Yes, you can do WBLA/CQLA with no other language arts programs in elementary and junior high---except for reading. I feel like children who are still learning to read at higher and higher levels should read aloud to Mom until all phonetic skills are mastered for decoding (reading). This may be through third, fourth, or fifth grade. Then, I have my children at least do silent reading from then on. This could be a reader, a devotional, a content area book (social studies, science, health), or one of each. Of course, the student is also supposed to read the entire passage (all copy boxes) each day too.

In high school, language arts gets trickier. You have a myriad of language arts courses to choose from: Grammar and Composition (WBLA or CQLA), composition only (like IEW, Writing Strands, or our soon-to-be published book Meaningful Essays), grammar only,  (I don’t recommend this unless it is for college preparatory, such as SAT/ACT prep, etc. as it does not help them in real life much without being connected to writing.) literature, specialty writing (fiction, poetry, technical, editing, etc.), speech, debate, and more.

When using WBLA or CQLA for many years, students will probably get done with their “Grammar and Composition” portion of high school English early. Then, of course, you should take into consideration their interests (fiction writing, love of literature, etc.) as well as their future studies (speech and debate for college preparation, SAT preparation, etc.).

We have had students finish their “Grammar and Composition” for high school as early as eighth grade (due to doing two years of English in one for a few years to help us test our programs), then take research paper class for a semester, story writing class for one semester, two semesters worth of speech and advanced speech, two semesters worth of speech and advanced debate, and a couple of semesters of literature (according to their interests).

It would also be possible to simply do WBLA/CQLA for all four years of high school English, add a literature course, and be done. This would probably not prepare a student for college, however, since the student will have no speech background at all.

The point of this is that, yes, WBLA/CQLA can be your sole language arts for second through eighth grade, along with reading. Then, you need to figure out what language arts your high school student will do for his four years (eight semesters) of high school English. Certainly, WBLA/CQLA can be a big part of this too and will be a great help in preparing your student for college or whatever is ahead for him.

4. Tips for Homeschool Moms

*Organizational Strategies for the Busy Homeschool Family—chores,       efficiency, and more!

When Moms learn that we teach speech and debate, homeschool six children, write curriculum, and more, they always ask the same question: “How do you get it all done?” One thing is for sure—we never get it all done. We have, however, found some ways to achieve efficiency, organization, and completion around here. This section will detail some of our favorite “get it done” tips through the years. It should be noted that we don’t do all the ideas listed at the same time! Some of them are more useful with younger children, some with older children, some for extra busy times, and some for maintenance times.

 It should also be noted that my ideas are not designed for perfectionists! I definitely have lower standards as to wrinkliness of clothing, how clean a refrigerator has to be, how frequently the shower gets cleaned, and more! However, my daughters have been able to make complete meals (including homemade bread and desserts), clean entire rooms, organize closets, update file cabinets, babysit for many children (and teach and entertain them at the same time!), and more by the age of twelve, so I don’t regret all the training I’ve put into them in household areas—and my lower standards in many “domestic” areas!

a. Room to Room—Room to room time is a time we call out when things get out of control—as well as a time we call right before everyone disperses to do their “jurisdictions” or “cleaning chores.”  We use it before chore times to ensure that when a person goes into vacuum, he can vacuum the room without it being an obstacle course! We use it before Dad gets home, so he doesn’t give extra chores for things left out! We use it when we’re in a pinch, and we just want to get a handle on things. Room to room time works! In room to room time, we set the timer for a certain amount of time, and each person is supposed to go through the main rooms, putting away anything that is his or hers—or that he or she had out.

b. Blitz time---When we are in the middle of hosting a big tournament or meeting deadlines for publishing materials, we often incorporate “blitzes.” A blitz is a time in which we again set the timer for a fixed period of time, start in one room (all together), and “blitz” through the main rooms decluttering and organizing. (We seldom get to real cleaning in this time!) We usually state a goal at the beginning (depending on how bad things have gotten, our goal may be as miniscule as making a path through the downstairs or as grandiose as scrubbing as many surfaces as possible), so everyone knows what to focus on. Blitzes are usually fifteen to sixty minutes in length, and we all work as fast as we can. I prefer to work with the children during blitz time to keep everyone on task and give instructions as we go.

c. Morning routines---Ever since our first born was just a baby, we have had a time each morning called “morning routines.” As its name suggests, morning routine time is a routine of activities done in the morning. We have had it just before morning devotions, just after breakfast, before morning chores, etc. according to everyone’s morning schedules and the ages of the children. One thing has never changed—we still do morning routines every morning. Sometime during the first hour or two of every day, each child completes his morning routine list. This list is different for each child according to ages and hygiene needs, but it usually consists of dressing, grooming, putting away everything from bed (pj’s, books, tapes, etc.), devotions, and room to room time. Little kids have “morning routine charts” and older kids have their morning routine items listed on their daily charts (although they don’t need them anymore). Morning routines ensure that children are ready for school with real clothes on and teeth brushed. They also develop good habits that last a lifetime. I believe a morning routine is one of the biggest factors in our daughters’ disciplined lives. Sometimes I wish I had been made to have a “morning routine” when I was little!

d. Family cleaning time—As the girls have gotten older and are gone more and more for special classes (Spanish, piano, sign language, college classes, etc.) and we have gotten busier and busier teaching, we have instituted family cleaning time. Those two to three hour cleaning sessions we used to have each week (the children and I) just do not seem to come around anymore. I tried passing out individual jobs (i.e. vacuuming, mopping, bathroom cleaning, refrigerator cleaning, etc.), but it just didn’t seem like everything was ever done all at the same time. Thus, we began family cleaning times. We were amazed when we began how much we could get done when all eight of us were going full steam. We run family cleaning times as follows: we set the timer for thirty minutes, pair off in teams of two, and assign each pair a room. I give instruction as to what needs focused on (windows, washing the registers, cleaning the rugs, etc.), and we get out the cleaning basket and go. I shout out the remaining time in five minute increments, and in thirty minutes, Ray, the children, and I have a big majority of weekly cleaning done. It should be noted that we do not declutter or pick up during this time. The children have to have everything up and put away before we begin as we are focusing on cleaning during this time, not picking up.

e. Jurisdictions—Jurisdictions teach children responsibility and make it easy to see who has done their “jurisdictions” and who has not! In jurisdictions, a child is assigned a room for the week (or month—or in our case, indefinitely!) that he is to straighten up two or three times per day. The more difficult rooms (main ones, like living room, dining room, and kitchen) are given to the older or more responsible children (however, the meal prep person for the day has to clean up his cooking messes and the little boys always do dishes—I don’t like to “waste” all the girls’ skills on dishes and laundry!). We have jurisdictions two times a day right now---after morning routies/breakfast/ morning chores and in the afternoon before the little kids have “free time.” Thus, our morning schedules are: 1) morning routines (including personal devotion time and the girls’ exercise times); 2) morning chores (little boys do laundry and dishes and another person fixes breakfast); 3) room to room time 4) jurisdictions. Then we’re ready to start school! We start school later than a lot of people do right now do to late night editing and writing and trying to get some of the household things out of the way first thing, but it is nice to have laundry, dishes, and other daily things out of the way before we officially “start school”---though those of you who know me well know that I consider all of our life “school”! Jurisdiction time is not necessarily “cleaning time,” but if the living room needs vacuumed, the dining room swept, etc., the person does that quickly during one of his or her jurisdiction times. Also, the bathroom person does wipe down both bathrooms each day during jurisdiction times. (See Don Aslett’s Clean in a Minute for more about the five minute bathroom cleaning!)

Watch this space next month for more ideas on meal preparation time, daily chores, mega cooking, servant day, school charts, and more!

5. Book Review Just for You

            *Make a Mix Cookery (review for Mom!)

One book I have had almost as long as Raymond Moore’s Better Late Than Early –and used even more often---is Make a Mix (my original copy fourteen years ago was called Make a Mix Cookery). This book is a gem that I cannot speak highly enough of. It is the only cookbook that I keep out on a shelf.

Make a Mix was my introduction to “once a month” or “mega cooking” when I was expecting my fourth child fourteen years ago. Though it doesn’t mention either of these terms in it, this volume was where I began cooking ahead, freezing entrees  and “starters,” and more. It truly aided me in years of joyful hospitality that I will always fondly remember—and long for in our lives again!

The authors, Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, and Madeline Westover, have devised over sixty-seven mixes to use in 306 recipes for the do it yourself cook. For most mix recipes given, they have at least a half dozen recipes in which to use that mix—some have even a dozen recipes to use the mix in!

These gals start out with master mixes, those mixes that we often rely on the supermarket for—such as brownie mixes, cake mixes, bread mixes, muffin mixes, cookie mixes, and more. Also in their master mixes, they include unique mixes like flavored oatmeals, onion seasoning (to replace dry onion soup packets), “shake and bake” coating mixes, and more.

Next, they move into “freezer mixes”—where the beginning of my “mega cooking” experiences evolved. They have all purpose ground meat and chicken mixes in which you precook meats with seasonings, vegetables, sauces, etc, then freeze them for use in dozens of entrees (recipes also given, of course). These freezer mixes include my personal favorite—braised beef cube mix, which I have made several times a year for over a dozen years as a starter for beef stew, stroganoff, etc. (This is my personal favorite to give to new moms!)

Of course, those are just the basics. They have freezer pie crust mixes, slice and bake cookies, salad dressing starters, gravy starters, and drink mixes. I just can’t say enough about this exciting book.

I have used it probably every month of my life since I got it—though some months I use it to simply pull out a quick dessert recipe and other months we are “make a mix” maniacs! I have used it as a springboard for devising healthy mixes for my son with allergies as well as gifts for people at Christmas time.

It is published by Fisher Books and has sold over a million copies. I’m sure it’s available online at any major book distributor. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

Oh, by the way, did I mention that I’m on my third copy of it??  J

6. In the Kitchen

            *Apple recipes we love! Also, watch this spot next month for more Christmas goody recipes than you could make in a month!

Fall means apples, and apples mean yummy treats. Of course, we love apple slices drizzled with melted caramels, dipped in apple dip, with popcorn and cheese, and out of hand, but two of our favorite apple recipes just must be shared!

Apple Crisp

This wonderful apple recipe is the best apple crisp recipe I have ever had. It was given to me from a German Baptist friend back home (Union City, Indiana many, many years ago) and is especially yummy because it adds another step that most apple crisp recipes omit—that of a syrup over the apples before the topping is added. It takes extra time, but it is SO worth it!

6 cups finely diced apples  

Syrup:

¾ cup sugar                                                   1 cup water

2 TBSP corn starch or quick tapioca

½ tsp vanilla

Topping:

1 cup flour                                                      ¾ cup quick oatmeal

1 cup brown sugar                                        1 tsp cinnamon

½ cup melted butter

1. Place apples in greased 9x12 baking dish.
2. Combine syrup ingredients (except vanilla)  in sauce pan, and cook on medium heat, stirring often, until thick and clear. Remove syrup from heat and stir in vanilla. (I prefer the tapioca for thickening this sauce.)
3. Pour syrup over the apples in the baking dish.
4. Combine all topping ingredients in bowl, cutting in melted butter with fork or pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.
5. Sprinkle topping over apples and syrup until evenly distributed. (Note: You may also use 1/3 of the topping in the bottom of the baking dish, beneath the apples, if desired.)
6. Bake at 350’ preheated oven for 45-60 minutes until apples are cooked and the crisp is bubbly and browned. (Convection oven: 30-45 minutes.)
7. Serves 8-10.

Apple Dumplings

This recipe was given to me by Ray’s Grandma Rager. She always made these in a little toaster oven

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Training for Triumph E-Newsletter

Issue 001

September 12, 2004

Table of Contents:
 1. Tid Bits of Info
     *CQLA Volume I Available
     *Tell Others About Us
     *About Our E-Mail Address List
2. Upcoming TFT Events

*Cottage Classes

*Speaking engagements

*Language arts workshops
3. Spotlight on One of Our Products

*Creation Corner (educational coloring book)

*Women of Wisdom (educational coloring book)

4. Frequently Asked Question(s) About WBLA/CQLA

            *White boards

            *Minit books

5. Helps for Homeschool Moms

            *Children Help in ‘Cooking Ahead’”

6. Book Review Just for You

            *Reel Kids Adventures (review for kids)

7. Get Connected: Internet Site Review

            *Dinah Zike’s Big Book site (minit books and more)

8. Article from Training for Triumph (informal article by one of us)

* "Comprehension Skills and the Key Word Outline" by Donna Reish

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1. Tid Bits of Info

*CQLA Volume I Available in All Levels

Announcing....all four levels of Character Quality Language Arts Volume I are now available! (And not a minute too early!) We have hundreds of students using it already in CQLA first year, and we are thrilled! (Thanks to the three thousand-plus WBLA students for spreading the word about CQLA to non-ATI friends!)
 
Pre A is a new addition to our language arts materials and provides language arts learning for second and third grade students. Level A is for fourth and fifth grade students. Level B is for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Level C is for high school students.

Now, we are switching gears to work on Volume II. Students who use Volume I this year (at any level) will move into Volume II next year. It will be the same format with different character qualities, spelling words, lessons, essays, and more.

 *About Our E-Mail Address List
 
We are very new in the areas of publishing our own materials and speaking to homeschoolers outside of ATI. Thus, we have a small email list. If you have been sent something from us and would rather not, please either delete it, or email us asking to be removed from our list. If you receive duplicate emails, please be patient with us as we grow. And, as the next note says, "Tell others about us!"
 
*Tell Others About Us
 
If you have received this E-Letter or our E-Catalog, it is because you are on one of our lists! Either you have ordered from us in the past, have attended our workshops or classes, or have a connection with us through ATI or speech and debate. At any rate, we would love to build up our e-mail address list and reach even more homeschoolers with encouraging words, articles, products, classes, and workshops! You can help us do that. J

If you have been helped or blessed by our ministries to homeschoolers through the years via our speaking, writing articles, teaching/coaching speech and debate, writing for ATI, hosting speech and debate tournaments, hosting workshops, girls' newsletters, or our daughters' workshops and
classes, please consider helping us spread the news about Training for Triumph and our materials by forwarding our E-Catalog or one of our E-Newsletters onto a few people who might like our products.

If ATI families using WBLA, those whom we have served in speech and debate, those who have attended our workshops through the years, and more each send our catalog or newsletter to ten people, over twenty thousand families would hear about our materials!

 2. Upcoming TFT Events

*Cottage Classes

Training for Triumph's "Cottage Classes" are underway! We are still hosting language arts classes in our learning center here at home to test WBLA and CQLA, and we continue to teach beginning speech and debate. We have thirty-five new students this year learning to be communicators for Christ in our beginning speech and debate class, in addition to the dozen or more returning students.

Besides our WBLA and beginning speech and debate ministries (and Ray's ministry of coaching and hosting tournaments during the second semester), TFT has added writing, elementary speech, guitar, US Government, and art classes to our roster of "Cottage Classes." We are excited to be able to offer these opportunities to families, who much like those desiring piano lessons or foreign language courses, feel a lacking in a specific area.  Of course, we
would never attempt to take the place of home, but we are enjoying watching students blossom in our areas of expertise (while getting help ourselves in biology lab, Spanish, and piano!).

The first semester is well underway, and nearly all of the classes are full. We are pleased to have our son and daughter-in-law join us both in teaching and in developing materials for homeschoolers. Read upcoming emails for announcements of other "Cottage Classes" during the second semester in the Fort Wayne and Ossian, Indiana areas.


*Speaking Engagements

Donna is speaking on "Prioritizing Your Life, School, and Home" to a couple of large support groups this fall, and we look forward to doing vendor workshops about our products at upcoming conventions during Spring '05. Locally, we are hosting language arts workshops, as well. If you would like a complete listing of the over thirty topics Ray, Donna, and their older children speak about, please call or email us.

 *Language Arts Workshops

 We had a great turnout for our first local language arts workshop in August on how to use WBLA and CQLA, how to use various outlining and editing tools to teach writing, and the importance of the grammar and writing connection. There seems to be a large enough interest to host another one soon, so if you missed the first one, and would like to be notified of the next one, please call or email us. Watch your TFT E-Newsletters for more information.


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 3. Spotlight on Our Coloring Books

 *Creation Corner and Women of Wisdom Coloring Books

Many of you are already enjoying our delightful coloring books. We found a need and are endeavoring to meet it---just like Gregg Harris and Bill Gothard have encouraged us to do in their seminars.

After writing and testing Wisdom Booklet Language Arts (the sister curriculum to CQLA that we write for the Advanced Training Institute) for over four years, we found that young writers--in second through even sixth grades---had trouble coming up with material for their original essays.
Parents basically had to read to them (then explain it to them!) from longer biographies and encyclopedias in order for them to find information to include in their biographical essays and informative essays. Thus, our coloring books were born!

Our daughters have written two coloring books with short three or four paragraph texts on each page and an accompanying picture for each "story" that children can color. The text is written at a third through fifth grade reading level and is written in short snippets as opposed to long discourses.

Our goal in these (and some future publications) is to provide reading, but even more importantly, writing source material for young students. When it comes time to write an original essay, your budding author can pull out one of our publications and take notes! The material will be at his level of comprehension, and he will have more success with writing independently.

Creation Corner is our animal coloring book. It has an animal on one page and the text on the opposite page. Each entry tells about that animal--and  how it does or does not display a certain character quality.

Women of Wisdom is our woman's biography coloring book. It has a Christian woman on one page and the text on the opposite page, as well. Each entry tells about that woman---and the impact she had on the kingdom of God. Both coloring books measure 5" x 7" and have colorful, inviting covers.

Whether your preschooler through middle school student colors, is read to, reads himself, or writes from one of our coloring books, we are sure he will enjoy it---while learning godly principles from the lives of animals and Christian women. Each coloring book sells for $4.50.

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 4. Frequently Asked Questions About WBLA and CQLA

*What Is a Whiteboard?

A whiteboard is a wipe and write board. You use dry erase markers on it. I
use 12 x 18 ones that I can hold up at the table. Some moms use wall mounted
ones. (It's basically the modern day chalk board.)

I recently noticed that Office Depot sells “white board paper” with sticky backing that you can stick to card board or light press board. It came in a pack like laminating sheets, and it looked as though there were five or six in a pack. This would be much less costly than paying ten or fifteen dollars for a small hand-held (12” x 18”) one, and you could even make each student one to practice spelling words on, etc.

*What Is a Minit Book?

The newest Teacher's Guide will clarify this. A minit-book is a little book
the student makes out of paper with tag board or construction paper on the
outside. The simplest version of this is when a stack of typing paper with
tag board on the outside is folded in half and stapled (like a half page
book). Then the student writes vocabulary words and definitions, stories,
reports, Scriptures, spelling words, etc. on the inside. Of course, there
are variations of this, too. It is just a fun way to show a finished
product, etc. (See the link to Dinah Zike’s Big Book internet later in this E-Letter for more mini book help.)

5. Helps for Homeschool Moms

*Children Help in “Cooking Ahead”

Realizing that my oldest daughter, our chief cook, was going to start college, write books, and become a missionary, I set out in the past year to teach my other children to cook. With our commitments to ATI for WBLA in the past four years, each task around the house fell to the one who was best at it. Kayla automatically became chief cook, Cami became the chief cleaner, and Kara became the chief editor. Of course, the little guys filled in in between, and we would all pitch in for large tasks, but that is how it went for a few years.

This summer I really got serious and began typing up simple recipes and steps for even my third grade son to be able to follow directions to “take a cooking night.” We have done “mega cooking” around here for fourteen years now, but in the past few years, my freezers have gone from always having between one hundred and two hundred entrees in them to being filled with frozen pizzas and pot pies! Thus, it was time to get serious about teaching the younger children to cook.

One of the first things I did to “take back my kitchen”—which is still somewhat surrendered to Sam’s  Club freezer section---is to teach everyone to at least get three basic meats into a useable form. This meant cooking large quantities of meat and freezing it to be ready to use in entrees. Anyone (even a third grader!) can do this, and it makes a big difference in mealtime preparation. The remainder of this section will detail how we do that. (Watch upcoming editions for how to save money making your own soups for the processes below!)

Ground Beef

1. Defrost up to twenty pounds of ground beef.
2. Get two huge skillets (and I do mean huge!) filled with some of this meat.
3. Fry each skilletful until browned completely.
4. Drain the meat in colander, while starting another load in each skillet.
5. While next batch is frying, bag partially cooled meat in colander into freezer bags you have labeled: Pre Fried Ground Beef; 2 pounds (5 cups); date.
6. Continue until all meat is fried, drained, bagged, and ready to freeze.
7. Freeze bags of meat flat on freezer shelves.
8. Clean up your mess! J

Beef Roasts

1. Defrost up to twelve pounds of beef roasts. (We usually use three of four 3-pound roasts.)
2. Get out the following ingredients: coffee (any unflavored type), fresh garlic, minced onion, beef base (or use beefy onion soup in place of minced onion and beef base), huge oven cooking bags, peppercorns, and bay leaves.
3. Rub each roast on both sides with all seasonings (including coffee) except bay leaves; use 1 tsp of peppercorn and garlic; use 1 TBSP of onion and beef base or 1 packet of beefy onion soup per each roast, depending on size. (I usually help them with the seasonings.)
4. Place roasts in however many oven cooking bags it takes and either poor one huge can of cream of mushroom soup or ½ cup of beef broth per roast into the bags. Drop three or four bay leaves into each bag.
5. Tie bags, place them in foil roasting pans, and make four or five slits in the top of each bag.
6. Bake in preheated 200’ convection (250’ regular) oven for six hours or so, until done but still tender.
7. When chicken is cooled, freeze three pounds or so (along with its “gravy” or “juices”) in one gallon freezer bag, labeled as follows: Pre Cooked Beef Roasts; 3 pounds; date.
8. Freeze bags of meat flat on freezer shelves.
9. Clean up your mess! J

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Pieces

1. Defrost up to twenty pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs (or one or the other, depending on what we have on hand).
2. Get out the following ingredients: fresh garlic, minced onion, chicken base (or use), huge oven cooking bags, peppercorns, and bay leaves.
3. Rub chicken pieces with all seasonings except bay leaves; for each three pounds of meat use 1 tsp of peppercorn and garlic, and use 1 TBSP of onion and chicken base. (I usually help them with the seasonings.)
4. Place chicken pieces in however many oven cooking bags it takes and either poor one huge can of cream of chicken soup or ½ cup of chicken broth per every three pounds into the bags. Drop three or four bay leaves into each bag.
5. Tie bags, place them in foil roasting pans, and make four or five slits in the top of each bag.
6. Bake in preheated 200’ convection (250’ regular) oven for six hours or so, until done but still tender.
7. When chicken is cooled, freeze around three pounds (along with its “gravy” or “juices”) in one gallon freezer bag, labeled as follows: Pre Cooked Chicken; 3 pounds; date.
8. Freeze bags of meat flat on freezer shelves.
9. Clean up your mess! J

Uses for Pre-Cooked Meats

The uses for these meats are endless. I will enumerate a few below, but I’m sure you have ideas of your own!

*Ground beef ideas:

1. Tacos, taco salads, nacho supremes, beef enchiladas, beef burritos, beef and bean burritos, etc.
2. Spaghetti with meat sauce (one of our quickest favorites)
3. Layered casseroles, such as tator tot casserole, spaghetti casseroles, shipwreck casserole
4. Lasagna, Mexican lasagna, etc.
5. Chili soup
6. Hamburger stew
7. Sloppy joes or other sandwich fillings
8. Pizza and mini pizza topping

*Beef Roast ideas (some you use juices with; some you separate juices and do not use them):

1.      Beef and noodles or dumplings with beef

2.      Vegetable beef soup

3.      Beef stew

4.      Mexican dishes like shredded beef tacos, Mexican beef casseroles, shredded beef burritos, etc.

5.      Beef pot pies

6.      BBQ beef

7.      Serve as is with gravy, rice, noodles, etc.

8.      Beef stroganoff

*Chicken ideas:

1. Chicken and noodles or chicken and dumplings
2. Soups: white bean, chicken noodle soup, chicken rice
3. Chicken stew
4. Mexican dishes like in beef roast ideas
5. Chicken pot pies
6. BBQ chicken sandwich filling
7. Serve as is with gravy, rice, noodles, etc.
8. Chicken a la king
9. Chicken Mexican casseroles
10. Chicken lasagna
11. Hot chicken sandwiches

6. Book Review Just for You

*Reel Kids Adventures by Dave Gustaveson (reviewed for kids by Kayla)

For someone who is interested in world missions and what life is like in other countries, the best fiction books I can recommend are the Reel Kids Adventures. The Reel Kids are a group of kids that travel to different countries making movies about the Christian work is each country (to be shown in churches and such).

 The main character is Jeff, the reporter; and there are two others in the group: his younger sister (the researcher) and K.J. (his best friend and the cameraman.) They are very dedicated Christians, and they share this love with those they come in contact with. They go to many different counties including the Philippines, Columbia, Vietnam, Kenya, and Turkey, they and meet a range of people--- from street kids to African witch doctors. They are excellent and fun to read.

7. Get Connected: Internet Site Review

            *Dinah Zike’s Big Book site (minit books and more)

 You might see sidebars or "Extra Practice" assignments throughout CQLA that suggest you and your students make "minit books." Those of you who make minit books and lap packs might enjoy perusing Dinah Zike's web site. Mrs. Zike is the author of The Big Book of Books, describing how to make these great little booklets. The link for this site is www.dinah.com.

              "Comprehension Skills and the Key Word Outline"

                                      by Donna Reish
 
In trying to help a friend of mine help her son with his Key Word Outline (KWO) and comprehension, I came up with the following suggestions for her, and I thought others might benefit from some of the ideas presented here too.
 
Keep in mind when reading this that her son can write (physical act of writing) well (and even neat, when he tries!), can spell at grade level or above grade level, can word call (decode words as in reading) above grade level, and doesn't have problems with other areas outside of comprehension.

That is why I suggested that she write for him so much (he doesn't need the writing practice, and if he is forced to do all the verbal comprehension work and write a bunch after each interchange, I thought she would lose him). In other words, I would do more writing for him in exchange for the
time that they will spend working on comprehension. She knows he can pen down the words for the KWO himself, but he needs help with comprehension.

I would focus at home on his comprehension in the following way:

1. When he is ready to do his KWO, sit down with him and do the following:
 
a. Have him read the passage to you.
b. Then take one sentence at a time and ask him if he knows what each of the questionable words mean.
c.  If he doesn't know what a word means, tell him what it means (unless it's a vocabulary word)--pointing out any roots, suffixes, etc. that might help him understand it (i.e. "Uncompassionate"--do you remember what compassionate" means? If I say "untie" the dog, what am I say--the opposite of tie, right? etc. etc.).
 d. After you do that for any sentence, see if he can tell you the meaning of the sentence.
e. If he still can't, ask him what the sentence is about (i.e. Uncompassionate people, for example: people who do not show compassion or care)
 f. Then ask him what those uncompassionate people do or what the sentence says about them. (i.e. They only think of themselves.)
g. Do this for each sentence.
h. Then ask him as a whole what he thinks the whole paragraph is about.
 i. Write that on the topic line for him. (Since this will be such a laborious process, and you already know he can write on the lines himself, I would write the words he tells you on the lines for him.)
j. Now go back to the first sentence and read it to him and remind him what he told you it meant.
k. Ask him which key words in that sentence would help him remember what the sentence is about when it's time for him to rewrite it.
l. Highlight those words. (If he gets stuck on this, remind him that he told you earlier that the whole sentence was about uncompassionate people, so he should highlight that since his new sentence will also be about uncompassionate people)
m. Do this for all of the sentences and all of the paragraphs.
 
Remember, it will be that interchange of information--him telling you what he thinks something means, you giving him any info he doesn't know, etc. that will build his comprehension. Unfortunately, comprehension worksheets, etc. rarely work. Discussion, root word studies, the way the sentence flows, his input, your input, etc. are the things that build comprehension.

Don't worry about writing the words for him in his KWO. Your focus is on building comprehension skills--not the physical act of writing. You will write what he finally understands. That will make him less likely to hate this whole process. (If he has to discuss it all with you, THEN write it all out, it would get so long.) Plus, kids usually like just "talking" to their parents about things.

2. In all interactions, use anything he already knows to help build comprehension. If you are reading a book and the word "uncharactistically" comes up, ask him what character means. (Or if you always say, "Don't be characterized by selfishness" like I do, you can say, "What do I mean when I say 'Don't be characterized by selfishness' all the time?" When he say, "known for it," you can say so "characteristically" means known for it too. Do you remember that "un" means the opposite...so "uncharacteristically" means "not characterized" or  not known by it.)

I know that sounds laborious. And obviously, you don't have to do it all the time. But I would put an emphasis on it in general this year to help him build his comprehension. It's so easy to assume that the kids know what we are talking about or referring to all the time.
 

3. I would go back to reading daily with him---just the two of you. I would start off with a reader at his level (truly at his level; not "History Stories for Boys" (though I like that to read aloud to kids) that is listed in the 6th grade section but has old English-type writing in it). I would use a modern type reader like Abeka or BJU--or even something easier than his level like Creation Corner coloring book, etc. Just read a paragraph to him with him following your finger across the page (have him follow along; remember, he knows how to sound out the words; you want him to comprehend them). Then discuss it. You'll know what word he might not know, etc. Ask him any of the following questions:

a. What is this whole paragraph about?

b. What is the main subject of this sentence?
c. What is the animal doing in this sentence? etc.
d. What do you think happened before to make the animal react that way?
e. ETC....focus on high level thinking, not rote memory, and definitely not "yes" or "no" questions.

I wouldn't worry about the type of comprehension that is reading something and then remembering afterward (answering questions without the material in front of you). I would focus on comprehending the text right in front of him, pointing to sentences, words, subjects, verbs, etc. and discussing them.

Lead him through it. If he says the whole sentence is about the cave, but it's really about the bears in the cave, ask him what the cave is doing. He will realize that the cave isn't doing anything. The bear is doing something in the cave, etc.

There are several ways to increase comprehension, and none of them comes from circling the main idea in a worksheet page or answering "memory questions" about the passage after you read it. They come from the following:

1. Vocabulary development--Root words, relating words to something you already know, figuring out words in context, etc. all build comprehension. If you don't know what the word "Uncompassionate" means, you can't possibly know that the paragraph is about "people who do not show they care."  Comprehension first hinges on vocabulary.

2. Discussion about higher level materials read--There are two ways to determine readability:

       a. Difficulty of the words as far as pronouncing/sounding them out
       b. Comprehension of what he reads

Some students can word call anything put in front of them (much like reading "There's a Wocket in My Pocket"!). In these cases, to say a student can "read anything" simply isn't true. Yes, he can "word call" anything, but if he does not comprehend the words he is calling, the material really isn't "at his reading level"---it is just at his "word call level."

Thus, the gap between his "word call" level and his "comprehension" level needs to be bridged. This can be done by discussing the higher level material. It really doesn't matter whether you read it, he reads it to you, or you listen to it together (in the case of a talking book)--unless he is an extremely visual learner and comprehension doesn't take place unless he sees the text; I have a couple of students like this, and it is very different from my auditory learners. What matters is that discussion take place over this "higher level" material and thus, comprehension takes place.

I have come to the conclusion that this is why my kids love having Kayla for a big sister. She increases their comprehension of everything. Today is her first day at Huntington College (she's commuting as a senior in high school), and everyone here is having Kayla-withdrawal! In the first three hours she was gone, each of them said independently something like this: "I have all of my biology done except for one section; I need to wait and have Kayla help me on that," "I don't understand this US Government; when Kayla gets home, she can explain it to me," "Mom, this is serious. We can't function with her away all day. I NEED Kayla!"  (Wait a minute, why don't they say that if I'm gone for the day!!! ????? tee hee)

Anyway, it's the discussions she has with them about EVERYTHING that increases their comprehension. (In fairness to me and Ray, we do the same things; we just don't talk about such "heady" things as US Gov and Biology with them!) It takes a lot of time to explain everything all the time, but that is how they learn. Ray is a master at this (and probably why Kayla naturally does it too). Everytime I'm trying to talk to him in the van, he holds up a finger to me to wait a second while he explains to the kids something along the road, in the ditch, on the highway, etc.--a building project, the meaning of this particular flashing light, how a nature scene reminds him of a Scripture, what material the pipes they are putting in the ground is made of, etc. That builds comprehension.
 
I know these types of activities will increase his comprehension, which will carry over to all of his subjects. Comprehension of information is the groundwork for all learning--oral, written, or auditory.

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