Contest winner:
Kristin K. of Tennessee
Congrats Kristin! You'll love it! I've emailed you info on how to begin your subscription.
I know it seems that Jackson needs to work on his spelling, but once I looked at my handwriting it's no wonder he didn't spell Kristin's name correctly. Sorry about that!
This contest was fun for me. I always enter contests, but never win. It was neat to be on the giver's side for a change. :) I reviewed the Summer 2008 issue as well and here are some of my thoughts:
- Where do they find all those cool schoolhouses for their covers?
- My favorite part of the magazine wasn't the featured articles- actually it was the advice, ideas, and support from other homeschoolers
- I love the TOS magazine Email Archives List- This week's topic was Helping Siblings Get Along- I think they know just where I am!
The other exciting item I was able to preview was the TOS homeschool planner/organizer. For those of you that love organizing this is a gimme for sure. However, for the rest of us out there that are more scatterbrained, or should I say, us "creative types" - just mention the word organization and we start to break out in hives just thinking about it. Organizing is not fun for me, it is overwhelming. However since I know that my God is a God of order and logic, this is one area I will lean on Him heavily if I am to run our household, homeschool, and home life with any success at all.
The organizer is a whopper! Two hundred and forty seven pages. The beauty of it is that they have included EVERYTHING and since it is in .pdf format you can type in your info, save it, and print out the pages that apply to you. I have to say that since we're just beginning our homeschool journey, most of the forms for curriculum planning, reporting sheets, testing info, etc. are a few years ahead- thank goodness! What does apply to me is rich and has so little to do with schooling, rather a way to record my homelife as well as serving as a memory book in the years to come. These are some of my favorite pages:
- Grocery planner and meal list
- Prayer journal
- Garden planner and journal
- Family chores and responsibilities
- Book Borrow and Lend list
- First/last day of school year picture of child sheet
- Homeschool goals list & year end assessment (Educational, Spiritual, Physical, Personal Talents, Life Skills, Financial, Relational)
You can see more for yourself at The Old Schoolhouse and even download sample pages to enjoy.
Now, if I can just organize the time I need to organize my life... :)
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2 comments:
I'd like to share what worked with my kids in helping them get along. If praying, talking, explaining, and warning didn't work, I would restict them to only play and talk with the one they were having trouble with. I would not allow them to have a coversation with me or my husband or anyone else. They were on restriction from everyone EXCEPT that person that got on their nerves. You can do this when you homeschool. It obviously won't work if you send them off everyday.
I would explain that if they did not figure out how to work out their differences with the people within their own home, how could they ever expect to get along with people outside the home. I would show them the story of Cain and Abel, the ultimate sibling story, and expaln how murder did not come into this world until that moment. I would point out in the story how God warned Cain that sin was waiting for him and that it was up to him to stop it, that he had a choice.
I found that within hours the two fighting children are playing easily with each other because having someone to play with is so much better than being alone. Some children need more time to figure that one out... but it's never failed for me and my five.
If you have one child that always picks on another, I would suggest having the offender be the one on restriction to ONLY be able to talk and play with the child they have been picking on. The child that was treated poorly should have the option to choose to play with whomever they want. It won't take long for the offender to see that they need to treat their sibling correctly or be very lonely.
I belive insisting on respect and kindness toward family members is the first step towards creating a safe environment for our children.
You can't change your child's behavior, but you certainly can make it so THEY want to change their behavior.
God bless,
Christine
what GREAT words of advice Christine! Thanks!
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