I found the following quote on the Formation of a Habit page at www.charlottemason.com.

"Charlotte Mason taught us that when you find yourself always telling (your children) to do the same thing, you have not trained them in the habits you wish they would perform."

Boy, do I find this to be true.  And before I give myself an anxiety attack thinking about all the things I say over and over again daily, I think I'll try to focus on an area where I believe I've done a fairly good job of habit training - daily chores. 

On *most* days, you will find my children's bed made, dirty clothes in the laundry, clean clothes put away, teeth brushed and fresh clothes on before they come down to breakfast.  After breakfast, they will *usually* go about their other assigned chores without much prompting.  Has it always been this way?  Ha!

There were days when I felt like all I did was fuss and nag, only to walk into their bedrooms and see the bed still unmade, clean and dirty clothes mingled together in the floor, with the rest of the house in the same general condition.  My children were living as pigs.  I whined and complained, but in the end, I was the one allowing the little piggies to exsist.

So, a system was set in place.  Really, it only took me about a week of being actively involved in making sure the jobs were done appropriately.  Chores of some sort have been a part of their lives from very early, so the new system didn't take long to "get".  What's the system?

I've told you before how pleased I am with Motivated Moms.  Since no two weeks are exactly the same, I couldn't just create a basic checklist for the kids that I either copied every week or laminated as I have in the past.  I guess I could have, but then I wouldn't be able to keep up with the Motivated Moms plan very easily. 

So, I write out a chore list at the beginning of the week for each child.  I no longer write out the everyday chores like "make your bed", "brush your teeth" because those are now a wonderful habit!  Before they were habits, though, I kept these things on the checklists.

I look at the Motivated Moms list for the week and decide what I want my children to do from the list for the week.  These become their after breakfast chores.  I quickly write out a weekly chart for Mahayla because she is able to keep up with the chart and likes knowing the "plan" for her week.  (The charts were in color.  I'm not sure why they scanned in black and white.)

For Caleb, I write each day's chores on a small piece of paper.  If it's small, he thinks the chores are fewer.  :)  Also, he likes being able to pitch his list when it's done.  A weekly chart overwhelms him.  Sometimes I'll type out his week and cut each day off as a little slip for him - like I'll do with this list. 

So, they automatically know the daily chores to accomplish and never rarely give me grief about the after breakfast chores.  This habit makes for a cleaner house and a happier family.  

Now, I'm off to make a long list of the other habits we need to tackle.  One habit at a time.......

Last month at co-op, this question was asked of the moms, "What do you do to discipline creatively?"

A GREAT list of ideas was generated that you can find here.  I'd love to hear your ideas for creative discipline.  Things you do that really hit home with your children and help them to see the error of their ways.  :)

The leader of our homeschool co-op spoke in the Mom's Room this week on the topic of courtship.  It was a wonderful presentation as her oldest daughter met and married her husband the through process.  The daughter gave her testimony, too.  It was precious.  

So many people think the idea of courtship is very weird and unnatural, but she dispelled those myths by showing us that - in their case anyway - it was more a matter of supervised dating.  In other words, the couple never put themselves in a situation to be alone and thus tempted to take the relationship "further".   Their story held much more information and "testimony" than this, but it's not my story to tell - yet anyway.  ;)

UPDATE:  Cathy has started her own blog and shared the story here!  :)

I would like to share some resources on courtship and/or purity, though.  I'm sure this list is not exhaustive and I would LOVE for you to add to the list through your comments.  Some of these relate specifically to remaining pure for a husband or wife, while some speak more to generally keeping your heart, mind and soul pure.

Purity for kids as young as eight

The Princess and the Kiss by Jennie Bishop  (Life Lessons from the Princess and the Kiss)

The Squire and the Scroll by Jennie Bishop  (Life Lessons from the Squire and the Scroll)

The Garden Wall by Jennie Bishop

The Glass Heart by Sally Gardner  (This one is not written necessarily from a Biblical perspective, which means I added more discussion after we read it, but there is merit in the overall storyline.)

A Parable About the King by Beth Moore

The Way Home: A Princess Story by Max Lucado

For Teens (thanks to Cathy - our co-op leader for introducing me to these.)

Seven Royal Laws of Courtship by Jerry Ross

Stay in the Castle by Jerry Ross

Waiting for Her Isaac by Mr. & Mrs. Stephen B. Castleberry

The Mysterious Alabaster Bottle by Elizabeth Rice Handford

Jason and the Windsurf Ordeal by E. R. Handford

You might also find The Courtship Connection helpful.  I have heard Kathie Morrisey speak a few times and have always been blessed.

This is an idea that's been mulling over in my mind since I first read Preschoolers and Peace's blog Part 1 and Part 2.  The idea first originated at Holy Experience's blog last April in a post called Making a Peace Place: Godly Anger Management for Children. 

A peace place.  A place for my children (or myself) to go when we are not being peaceful.  A time-out of sorts, but focused on God and His desires for us.  A quiet and comfortable place for us to reflect on why we haven't been peaceful and to ask forgiveness.  A place to rid ourselves of frustration, focus on the Word and work through forgiveness towards the person or people who have offended us. 

In this place, you'll find a Bible, a peace notebook, paper, pens and a servant jar.  The peace notebook includes everything included on Holy Experience's post about making a peace place (above).  As the kids read through the pages in the notebook, my prayer is that their hearts begin to soften.  That they grow closer to the Lord and learn to walk in His ways more readily.  That they learn how to better handle the frustrations of life (especially life with brothers and sisters.) 

The servant jar is an idea that's just brilliant.  Preschoolers and Peace talks about it in Part 2 (above).  When one of the kids gets angry and offends someone else in the house with ugly words or ugly actions, not only do they get to spend a little time in the Peace Place, but they get to choose a slip of paper from the servant jar.  On the little slips are jobs that person can do to serve the person they've offended.  What better way to ask forgiveness of someone than to serve them. 

We've only just begun our Peace Place, but I'm praying that God will reveal Himself to us when we visit.  I'm praying that our walk will grow closer to His as we learn better to ask forgiveness and to forgive others.  I'm praying that, eventually, we won't need the Peace Place anymore because our hearts will have turned towards Him in such a way that our actions and reactions are generally peaceful.  Ah, peace.    

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."  Matthew 5:9

At co-op this week, all the moms had the opportunity to share their all-time favorite character training resources.  Here's the wonderful list compiled from all the ideas.  Hope you find something new and wonderful!

Cindy's Favorites (so far) 

For Instruction In Righteousness.  Go here to see one way I've used this.

Literature.  Go here to see my list.

The Children's Story Bible by Catherine Vos.  Go here to see a post about it.

Miller's Stories.  Go here for my post.

Jennie Bishop books.  Go here to see the titles.

Pearables

Our 24 Family Ways

The Original 21 Rules of This House

Jonathan Park Audio Stories

Jesse Stuart Books like this one

Studies In Virtue website

Reading To Learn Series of readers

Ideas From Other Co-op Moms

A Reason For Spelling

What Every Child Should Know Along the Way

A Tale of Two Princes

A Hive of Busy Bees

Let's Chat About the Bible

Big Truths for Little Kids

www.visionforum.org

www.courtshipconnection.com

www.focusonthefamily.org - magazines

Elsie Dinsmore books

Character Quality Language Arts

McGuffy Readers

Rebecca Powell books - Proverbs, Ruth, www.rebeccapowell.com

www.jillnovak.com, www.rememberancepress.com

My children pulled all the Miller's books out again the other day.  I can't tell you how much we've enjoyed these books!

From the time they were preschoolers and we started reading Storytime With the Millers and on through each of the other books, my children have intently listened to and learned from the stories.  I think they're so good, in fact, that they were read during devotion time usually.

Even though the books come from a very conservative Amish-Mennonite perspective, I found them to be very useful in teaching topics like trusting God, manners, friendship, obedience, respect, forgiveness, self-sacrifice and much, much more!  Each story centers around a Bible verse and that verse is used at some point within the story.  Many of the stories are full of some excitement, too.  That helps to keep my son's attention!

Choosing a favorite is hard, but I would probably choose Missionary Stories and the Millers   as my personal favorite.  This book is just full of the true adventure stories of actual missionaries.  Some I had heard of, some I  hadn't.  I have read other reviews that said the stories in this book were a little too much for their younger children, but mine had no problems it.  Be warned, though, that the real stories of missionaries aren't always smily, joyful stories.  But in each, God's faithfulness and care shine through!!

Timberdoodle sells these books at a very reasonable price.  I hope you enjoy (or have already enjoyed) them, too!

For today’s tip, I’d like to share one of my favorite children’s book authors with you. Jennie Bishop is the author of The Princess and the Kiss, The Squire and the Scroll and The Garden Wall. Each of these books is a well-told tale that my children have listened to and read themselves over and over again. The books each gently, but with no question, teach the ideas of purity and faith.

Luckily, there are more books teaching these ideas lately, but these three have caught the attention of my children like no other so far. Maybe it’s their age, maybe it’s just that these books are that good! Either way, I’m very thankful for Ms. Bishop’s talent.

I have recently invested in devotion guides for The Princess and the Kiss and The Squire and the Scroll. Since my daughter is ten, I’m hoping our church will agree to a young ladies’ class using The Princess and the Kiss guide. I’d love to teach these girls the idea of purity as a group and then celebrate what they’ve learned with a purity ceremony. There’s just something about knowing you have friends who walk the same path as you! Eventually, I’m hoping our men will do a similar boy’s class using The Squire and the Scroll.

Take a peek at this website for a fun look through both of the books mentioned above and to find a few great ideas for using the books.

If you’ve found a really great book (or books) that teach purity and/or faith, would you please add them to the comment section? I’d love to add more to my library!

Related Tags: homeschooling, purity, faith, Bible, literature, children

Here’s one of the greatest ideas I’ve heard in awhile!  It comes from Barbara, a non-blogging friend of mine.  I’ve definitely stored this idea for future use in my family.  She never told me exactly what she was calling it, so I’ve titled it…………….

The Blessings Book

Several weeks before your child’s 13^th birthday, ask them to name 13 people whom they consider to be godly men or women.  Girls would name ladies, boys would name men. 

Then, contact each of those people and ask if they would write a letter to your child.  The letter should include their salvation story, a short description of how being a Christian has changed them or made their life better, and advice for your child as they go into their teen and young adult years.

After all the letters come in, you put them together into a beautiful keepsake book to present to your child on their 13^th birthday.  Hopefully, Mom and Dad will include letters, too.  Brothers & sisters, grandparents and aunts & uncles could be asked to write letters, as well.

What a treasure for your child as they enter “the growing up” years!  What a tradition to start in your family!

I hope your children receive many blessings!!

Related Tags: blessings, memories, teenagers

This site is GREAT!  You click on a character trait and all sorts of Bible verses, Bible stories and literature come up that you can use to teach that particular trait.  There are also links at the bottom of each character trait page that lead you to age appropriate question worksheets, notebook pages and timeline pages.    Enjoy!

http://www.bravewc.com/haven/character/index.htm

Ever since my children were babies, we have LOVED books.  Because of this love, I have used books as our character building "curriculum".  Just about any good, living book can be used to talk about character issues - good and bad.  I'll include a list of our favorite character building books and give a few examples of how I've used them. 

Side note:  Our copy of For Instruction In Righteousness has been invaluable in helping me to tie in Biblical examples and Bible verses to go along with a literature book.

With You All The Way - Max Lucado

The Princess and the Kiss - Jennie Bishop

The Squire and the Scroll - Jennie Bishop

You Are Mine - Max Lucado

Finding Grace - DAvid Erickson

The Cobbler's Song - Marcia Sewall

A Hat For Ivan - Max Lucado

A Tale of Three Trees - Angela Elwell Hunt

The True Princess - Angela Elwell Hunt

The Merchant and the Thief - Ravi Zacharias

The Treasure - Uri Shulevitz

Storytime and the Millers, Wisdom and the Millers, School Days and the Millers, Prudence and the Millers, and Missionary Stories and the Millers - MIldred Martin

Rattlebang - Mark McCord

The Way Home a Princess Story - Max Lucado

The Garden Wall - Jennie Bishop

Above are *some* of my favorites that are geared specifically for Christians.  Below, I'll include a list of regular ol' literature books that we like and how I've used some of them for character training.

The Little Red Hen -  Pick out either the trait of laziness or selfishness to discuss.  For laziness, read some Bible verses that talk about laziness, tell a Bible story about someone who was lazy or someone who was not lazy and talk about how they failed or prospered.  Talk about times in our own lives when we've reaped the harvest of our laziness.

Stone Soup - Compare and contrast selfishness vs. sharing and how everyone prospered when sharing.  Read Bible verses about sharing and tell Bible stories of people who did share and how they were blessed.  Talk about what we can do to be better sharers.  Maybe even take on a project that day to share with someone else. 

Higgins Bend Song and Dance - Jacqueline Martin (boastfulness)

Roxaboxen - Barbara Cooney (resourcefulness, creativity)

Always Room For One More - Sorche Nic Leodhas (hostpitality)

Miss Rumphius - Barbara Cooney (thinking ahead, opening our eyes to God's beauty)

Bartholomew and the Oobleck - Dr. Suess (consequences for our actions)

The Wartville Wizard - Don Madden (consequences for our actions)

The Dutchess Bakes a Cake - Virginia Kahl (following directions, allowing others to help us)

Mirette on the High Wire - Emily McCully (perseverance)

The King's Chessboard - David Birch (forethought)

The Grouchy Ladybug - Eric Carle (grouchiness)

Boy, oh boy!  I think I'll stop because I could go on forever.  Just about any book you read could be used to grow into a character study!!  If you run across this idea and try it in your home, please let me know how it goes!!