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#10-3: You Have to Read This One!

#1 · March 14, 2007, 3:29 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on March 14, 2007, 3:29 pm
Posted by: hopechestnews <hopechestnews@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Hope Chest Home School News
with Virginia Knowles
March 14, 2007
#10-3: You Have to Read This One!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Welcome to the Hope Chest!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Hope Chest Home School News is a free e-mail magazine

sent to over 1250 families around the world.

The publisher is Virginia Knowles, wife to Thad

and mother of 10 children (7 daughters and 3 sons, ages 1 to 19).

Check out her web site at www.TheHopeChest.net,

read archives at https://welovegod.org/groups/hopechest or www.homeschoolblogger.com/VirginiaKnowles

or e-mail her at hopechestnews@earthlink.net.

Dear friends,

As often happens, the issue I had written for last month and then bumped to this month has been postponed again until next month! I just couldn't wait to review Cheryl Bastian's new book! I'm also still working on a few more goodies for next month.

I'll tell you more about it in the next issue, but I wanted to put in another good strong plug for Gary Thomas' book Seeking the Face of God. It's a deep book, and it took me quite a while to finish it, but it was well worth the time. I found it to be extremely insightful, solid, and life-changing wisdom on the topic of spiritual growth, so unlike much of the pop theology on the market. His books always manage to reach me right where I am. You can find out more at www.garythomas.com.

I also wanted to remind you that there are a few extra features at my blog page (www.homeschoolblogger.com/virginiaknowles) including photos, easy web links, and loads of articles, some of which have not been sent to this list.

In this issue of the Hope Chest, you will find:

ü          You Have to Read This One: Raising Contagious Readers –

Book by Cheryl A. Bastian, Review by Virginia Knowles

ü          Encouragement for You from Hope Chest Readers

ü          A Few Helpful Web Sites

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You Have to Read This: Raising a Contagious Reader

Book by Cheryl A. Bastian, Review by Virginia Knowles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am totally thrilled to review Cheryl Bastian's new book, You Have to Read This One: Raising a Contagious Reader. I'll tell you about the book in a few minutes, but I wanted to introduce you to its terrific author first. I first met Cheryl almost 14 years ago, and I've been on the receiving end of her wisdom and kindness ever since. She and her husband Mike served as our children's academic evaluators for over a decade, and she also led our large (former) home school support group for about 9 years. We were in a family-integrated home group which they led in the mid 1990s, as well as the EXCEL home school co-op that they organized a few years back. I trust Cheryl's judgment so much that I've given her carte blanche permission to tell me anything she thinks I need to hear. (That's rare for arrogant little me!) She really took me up on that when she helped edit both of my books – her forthright advice had a major impact on the direction that each one took. I am grateful beyond measure for how she has not only shaped my writing, but my home schooling and my entire life as well. I can tell you from personal experience that Cheryl knows her stuff, that her six kids (baby to age 17) are turning out fantastic, and that she has proved herself to be more than amply qualified to write a book on "raising a contagious reader."

Cheryl has a passion for the subject of reading, but more than that she has a passion for equipping parents to teach their own children. In this well-researched and inspiring book, she shares time-tested strategies for providing a "print rich environment" in the home, modeling good reading habits, selecting books and magazines appropriate for a child's age levels and interests, evaluating literature according to a family's values, making the most of your public library, overcoming roadblocks to fluent reading skills, enriching the literary experience with related activities, and much more. I think you will also appreciate, as I do, the anecdotes from various families which are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. You will also love the appendices in the back which provide extensive suggested reading lists organized by age levels and topics, including a lengthy high school section. The compact size (though over 200 pages) makes it easy to take along to the library and its spiral binding makes it lay flat for convenient reading. Though Cheryl is a Christian home school mom, she does not make home schooling or religious views the focal point of the book, which is suitable for parents and educators across the spectrum.

Even though I've been home schooling for over 15 years, own about 2000 books in 15 bookcases, and know "everything" (ha!) about reading already, this book motivated me to restore well-written literature to its rightful place in our daily schedule. I find that reading aloud to my younger children is the most effective way to start our day, but I sometimes skip it to get on with the rest of the "stuff" we need to do.   So, thanks to Cheryl's encouragement, I'm seeking to be more consistent with doing it daily, taking the time to discuss what the story was about, and even adding in an extra read aloud time in the afternoon as we are able.   Let the workbooks wait – we've got great books to read!

To give you a taste of what is in You Have to Read This One, here are two excerpts:

~*~*

Illustrations tell a story to children through pictures. If the illustrations of a book are effective, a child will be able to tell the story without reading the words. In addition, the art medium used and the artistic style chosen should encourage the child to turn a book's pages in a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat fashion. "As parents, we can help children explore the wonderful art of picture books by introducing them to illustrators and their techniques."

            With the help of library resources and the Internet, children can come face to face with their favorite illustrators. Discuss biographical information about the illustrator with your children. Talk about where the illustrator lives, how the illustrator became interested in illustrating books, and what medium or techniques the illustrator uses for his primary works.

            Appreciation for artistic expression is something that you, as a parent, can reinforce in your children by providing books that are pleasing to the eye and stimulating to one's creativity. In fact, if you as a parent sit and evaluate illustrations with your children on a regular basis, discussing the techniques and their effectiveness to the audience, you will be teaching your children how to evaluate books according to artistic merit. Ask yourself, at later your older children, several key questions:

ü          Are the pictures presented clearly?

ü          Are the pictures appropriate and pleasing for young eyes?

ü          Are the illustrations appropriate for the age of the child?

ü          Are the illustrations sensitive to a young audience?

ü          Are the illustrations bold, vivid and intriguing?

ü          Do the illustrations re-tell the story without overpowering the content?

ü          Do the pictures invite a child to "read" the book?

ü          Do the illustrations and content complement one another?

ü          Do the illustrations portray the characters accurately?

ü          Do the illustrations inspire the child to use his creative mind to create illustrations of his own?

ü          Do the illustrations give the child an appreciation for creative art technique?

Illustrators use many types of art as well as various art techniques to transform text into pictures, leaving children with lasting impressions of artistic creativity. A great variety of styles should be part of a child's inheritance, not just the parent's current preference. Bright colors, gentle pastels, bold strokes, whimsical lines, quaint old-fashioned pictures, modern design, pen and ink sketches – the story will demand a certain mood for the child." Children should be exposed to many styles, mediums and techniques so that they can see the millions of possibilities that lie on the fingertips of a creative mind.

            Art techniques are used effectively by illustrators to create types of art. Tana Hoban teaches familiar concepts to children through her creative use of photography. Eric Carle, master of watercolor, cuts illustrations out of water-colored tissue paper for his texts. Brian Wildsmith often chooses gouache to fashion the friends in his works. Bert Kitchen created beautiful etched works made with a watercolor and gouache technique. Robert McCloskey's timeless monochrome ducklings in Make Way for Ducklings have captivated young children for several generations. Ezra Jack Keats is known for his mastery of the collage technique. These are only a handful of examples of how illustrators use art techniques to create colorful pictures for our children. Other mediums include charcoals, pastels, tempera, oils, chalk and cloth.

~*~*~

Pretend play, often ignored by educators and parents, is crucial to the development of language and therefore, reading. Plots can be woven, characters can be developed and settings can be recreated. It is only through pretend play that children can reach out beyond themselves and experience roles with which they are unfamiliar. Children can "be" a firefighter, a teachers, a veterinarian or even the mommy. Pretend play can also give children opportunities to "act out" what has been learned or situations which made them uncomfortable.

…

If it is acceptable for your children to set up forts, stores, restaurants, banks, salons and theaters in specific areas, make your desires known. Realize that the space you allocate to your children may be used for several days and perhaps weeks, especially if a pretend store develops. Consider providing other materials that authenticate the pretend play. These items, found at thrift shops, garage sales and consignment stores, may include a cash register, a calculator, an adding machine, receipt books, measuring tapes, paper clips, note pads, old checks, play money, expired gift cards and stickers for price tags. Discarded food containers (clean, of course!) such as oatmeal cartons, cereal boxes, ketchup bottles and spice containers, are ideal to stock a grocery store. A plastic storage bin with a lid makes an ideal "home" for dress up clothes, uniforms, costume jewelry, sunglasses, hats and old shoes. This type of pretend play is invaluable, linking content area skills, such as math and social studies, with language development. The harvest of skills gained from these activities will be well-worth the use of space and materials.

~*~*

A few nights ago, I had the privilege of hearing Cheryl speak on the topic of "raising contagious readers" at a small home school gathering.   As she writes in her book, she shared again about how she herself was a remedial reader.   When Cheryl was in third grade, her parents were told that she would never learn to read. Fortunately, her fourth grade teacher recognized her talent for drawing pictures, and inspired Cheryl to write and illustrate a book to enter in a contest. She won first prize! More importantly, the literary fire ignited in her heart, and she decided reading was "where it's at." She went on to major in early childhood education in college, and taught preschool for a few years, too!

For information on ordering You Have to Read This One (which costs $14 plus shipping) you can e-mail Cheryl at bookscanteach@earthlink.net. Cheryl is also available to speak at home school groups and other mother's groups interested in raising contagious readers.    Oh, before I forget! You can see Cheryl's picture and the front and back covers of her book on my blog page at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/VirginiaKnowles/298364/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR YOU FROM HOPE CHEST READERS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of months ago, I invited Hope Chest readers to send in quotes or phrases that have made a difference in their family life or home school. Two of you took me up on this! If anyone would still like to send one in, please go right ahead! I'll be sharing several of my own in the next issue.

Karen Pyros writes: "A verse that I think of in relationship to excellence is "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," I used this as the theme verse for NHE (NearHim Home Educators) a couple years ago. I wanted to say, "It's not about meeting the minimum requirements of the law. It's not about doing a better job than the public schools (but not much more). It's not about doing as little as you can get away with. It's about doing your best as unto the Lord. We are training our children for God. That doesn't always mean the biggest and best academics. It can mean different home school styles for different people. I have noticed that it is not as important whether you choose relaxed home schooling, classical schooling, traditional schooling or unit studies. All can be excellent vehicles, if they are pursued with excellence. Also, if we choose to focus on character and service and focus less on academics, we should do character and service excellently, and not use that as an excuse not to do academics. Mardy Freeman has a great statement in Children of Character, "Teaching character is not the same thing as not teaching anything and calling it character training." We have also taught this verse to our children and try to remind them that should be pursuing excellence in their school work. "

Virginia's Note #1: Karen is a dear friend. I have known her for several years through NHE, we have attended the same church for the past few years, and she and her husband George are now in our home group, too.   The Pyros family is also in the Providence home school co-op with us, so Karen and I teach each other's kindergartners. Karen has four children, ages 5 to 10, and is expecting her fifth baby in July.

Virginia's Note #2: Karen mentions Mardy Freeman, whom you've probably heard about many times in this newsletter. I would like to thank Mardy (who lives up in Gainesville, FL) for giving me gracious and wise counsel again and again for my own life. She has been such a sweet encouragement to me.   You can visit her web site and order her books at: http://www.thefreemans.org/ You can also sign up for her e-newsletter, A Mary Heart, which is about being "more like Mary and less like Martha" by sending any message to amaryheart-subscribe@associate.com.

~~~

Stephanie Johnson's family motto is: "BE A MAN OR WOMAN OF YOUR WORD!" She writes, "One of the things that the children and I say to each other is, "Be a man of your word, or be a woman of your word." When it comes to building character in our children, I believe it is crucially important to hold them accountable to such things as integrity.

There is a funny story for our family that goes along with it. Our family pet (dog) had died just before Thanksgiving last year. My husband and I weren't too eager to replace her given the heartbreak, maintenance, new puppy training, etc. Since all four of our children play either softball or baseball (in addition to other sports), we made a deal with the kids that if any ONE of them hit it over the fence for a homerun, then we would let them choose our new pet. After several months, no one had done that. My mom had a small poodle that she offered to mate for us. We all agreed that a poodle would fit right into our family. Teddy joined our family and we about had him house broken when Marshall left the house for his baseball game. It was top team tournament, the final, championship game of his season. He gets up to bat and, you guessed it, hits it over the fence to score the winning run!! He came running out of the dugout and said, "So, when do I get to pick my dog?!??!"

I guess we forgot to take the deal off of the table when we got Teddy. Bill and I had, actually, forgotten about it since we had gotten a puppy. From a 12 year old boy's perspective, he had just made the mark. So, guess what? We now have a Golden Retriever as well! It is important to "Be a man/woman of your word." I am sure the kids will never forget that lesson. Furthermore, it is a great reminder that they better do the same because we have

a dog to remind us!

Virginia's note: Stephanie has been another special friend for more years than I can count. I have been so blessed! I just don't get to see her often enough, anymore…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Few Helpful Web Sites

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to the Hope Chest readers who sent in these web sites!

"If I Should Die Before You Wake" -- music and pictures honoring our soldiers

http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

U.S. Driver Training – Help for the Teenage Who Wants to Drive curriculum (a graduated approach)

www.usdrivertraining.com

Living on a Dime – Making the Most of What You Have

http://www.LivingOnADime.com

Agape Travel Pros – travel web site by Hope Chest readers Ken and Colleen Braden

www.AgapeTravelPros.com

Family Life Today – short devotionals on guarding your marriage

http://www.familylife.com/devotionals/default.asp?strDate=feb+22

http://www.familylife.com/devotionals/default.asp?strDate=Feb+23

~~

Well, that's all for this month!  Please let me know what was most helpful!

Virginia Knowles
-- To subscribe, send ANY message to: hopechest-subscribe@welovegod.org To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: hopechest-unsubscribe@welovegod.org Visit my web site at www://thehopechest.net   

Posted by: hopechestnews <hopechestnews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Hope Chest Home School News
with Virginia Knowles
March 14, 2007
#10-3: You Have to Read This One!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Welcome to the Hope Chest!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Hope Chest Home School News is a free e-mail magazine

sent to over 1250 families around the world.

The publisher is Virginia Knowles, wife to Thad

and mother of 10 children (7 daughters and 3 sons, ages 1 to 19).

Check out her web site at http://www.TheHopeChest.net,

read archives at https://welovegod.org/groups/hopechest or http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/VirginiaKnowles

or e-mail her at hopechestnews@earthlink.net.

Dear friends,

As often happens, the issue I had written for last month and then bumped to this month has been postponed again until next month! I just couldn't wait to review Cheryl Bastian's new book! I'm also still working on a few more goodies for next month.

I'll tell you more about it in the next issue, but I wanted to put in another good strong plug for Gary Thomas' book Seeking the Face of God. It's a deep book, and it took me quite a while to finish it, but it was well worth the time. I found it to be extremely insightful, solid, and life-changing wisdom on the topic of spiritual growth, so unlike much of the pop theology on the market. His books always manage to reach me right where I am. You can find out more at http://www.garythomas.com.

I also wanted to remind you that there are a few extra features at my blog page (http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/virginiaknowles) including photos, easy web links, and loads of articles, some of which have not been sent to this list.

In this issue of the Hope Chest, you will find:

ü You Have to Read This One: Raising Contagious Readers –

Book by Cheryl A. Bastian, Review by Virginia Knowles

ü Encouragement for You from Hope Chest Readers

ü A Few Helpful Web Sites

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You Have to Read This: Raising a Contagious Reader

Book by Cheryl A. Bastian, Review by Virginia Knowles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am totally thrilled to review Cheryl Bastian's new book, You Have to Read This One: Raising a Contagious Reader. I'll tell you about the book in a few minutes, but I wanted to introduce you to its terrific author first. I first met Cheryl almost 14 years ago, and I've been on the receiving end of her wisdom and kindness ever since. She and her husband Mike served as our children's academic evaluators for over a decade, and she also led our large (former) home school support group for about 9 years. We were in a family-integrated home group which they led in the mid 1990s, as well as the EXCEL home school co-op that they organized a few years back. I trust Cheryl's judgment so much that I've given her carte blanche permission to tell me anything she thinks I need to hear. (That's rare for arrogant little me!) She really took me up on that when she helped edit both of my books – her forthright advice had a major impact on the direction that each one took. I am grateful beyond measure for how she has not only shaped my writing, but my home schooling and my entire life as well. I can tell you from personal experience that Cheryl knows her stuff, that her six kids (baby to age 17) are turning out fantastic, and that she has proved herself to be more than amply qualified to write a book on "raising a contagious reader."

Cheryl has a passion for the subject of reading, but more than that she has a passion for equipping parents to teach their own children. In this well-researched and inspiring book, she shares time-tested strategies for providing a "print rich environment" in the home, modeling good reading habits, selecting books and magazines appropriate for a child's age levels and interests, evaluating literature according to a family's values, making the most of your public library, overcoming roadblocks to fluent reading skills, enriching the literary experience with related activities, and much more. I think you will also appreciate, as I do, the anecdotes from various families which are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. You will also love the appendices in the back which provide extensive suggested reading lists organized by age levels and topics, including a lengthy high school section. The compact size (though over 200 pages) makes it easy to take along to the library and its spiral binding makes it lay flat for convenient reading. Though Cheryl is a Christian home school mom, she does not make home schooling or religious views the focal point of the book, which is suitable for parents and educators across the spectrum.

Even though I've been home schooling for over 15 years, own about 2000 books in 15 bookcases, and know "everything" (ha!) about reading already, this book motivated me to restore well-written literature to its rightful place in our daily schedule. I find that reading aloud to my younger children is the most effective way to start our day, but I sometimes skip it to get on with the rest of the "stuff" we need to do. So, thanks to Cheryl's encouragement, I'm seeking to be more consistent with doing it daily, taking the time to discuss what the story was about, and even adding in an extra read aloud time in the afternoon as we are able. Let the workbooks wait – we've got great books to read!

To give you a taste of what is in You Have to Read This One, here are two excerpts:

~*~*

Illustrations tell a story to children through pictures. If the illustrations of a book are effective, a child will be able to tell the story without reading the words. In addition, the art medium used and the artistic style chosen should encourage the child to turn a book's pages in a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat fashion. "As parents, we can help children explore the wonderful art of picture books by introducing them to illustrators and their techniques."

With the help of library resources and the Internet, children can come face to face with their favorite illustrators. Discuss biographical information about the illustrator with your children. Talk about where the illustrator lives, how the illustrator became interested in illustrating books, and what medium or techniques the illustrator uses for his primary works.

Appreciation for artistic expression is something that you, as a parent, can reinforce in your children by providing books that are pleasing to the eye and stimulating to one's creativity. In fact, if you as a parent sit and evaluate illustrations with your children on a regular basis, discussing the techniques and their effectiveness to the audience, you will be teaching your children how to evaluate books according to artistic merit. Ask yourself, at later your older children, several key questions:

ü Are the pictures presented clearly?

ü Are the pictures appropriate and pleasing for young eyes?

ü Are the illustrations appropriate for the age of the child?

ü Are the illustrations sensitive to a young audience?

ü Are the illustrations bold, vivid and intriguing?

ü Do the illustrations re-tell the story without overpowering the content?

ü Do the pictures invite a child to "read" the book?

ü Do the illustrations and content complement one another?

ü Do the illustrations portray the characters accurately?

ü Do the illustrations inspire the child to use his creative mind to create illustrations of his own?

ü Do the illustrations give the child an appreciation for creative art technique?

Illustrators use many types of art as well as various art techniques to transform text into pictures, leaving children with lasting impressions of artistic creativity. A great variety of styles should be part of a child's inheritance, not just the parent's current preference. Bright colors, gentle pastels, bold strokes, whimsical lines, quaint old-fashioned pictures, modern design, pen and ink sketches – the story will demand a certain mood for the child." Children should be exposed to many styles, mediums and techniques so that they can see the millions of possibilities that lie on the fingertips of a creative mind.

Art techniques are used effectively by illustrators to create types of art. Tana Hoban teaches familiar concepts to children through her creative use of photography. Eric Carle, master of watercolor, cuts illustrations out of water-colored tissue paper for his texts. Brian Wildsmith often chooses gouache to fashion the friends in his works. Bert Kitchen created beautiful etched works made with a watercolor and gouache technique. Robert McCloskey's timeless monochrome ducklings in Make Way for Ducklings have captivated young children for several generations. Ezra Jack Keats is known for his mastery of the collage technique. These are only a handful of examples of how illustrators use art techniques to create colorful pictures for our children. Other mediums include charcoals, pastels, tempera, oils, chalk and cloth.

~*~*~

Pretend play, often ignored by educators and parents, is crucial to the development of language and therefore, reading. Plots can be woven, characters can be developed and settings can be recreated. It is only through pretend play that children can reach out beyond themselves and experience roles with which they are unfamiliar. Children can "be" a firefighter, a teachers, a veterinarian or even the mommy. Pretend play can also give children opportunities to "act out" what has been learned or situations which made them uncomfortable.

…

If it is acceptable for your children to set up forts, stores, restaurants, banks, salons and theaters in specific areas, make your desires known. Realize that the space you allocate to your children may be used for several days and perhaps weeks, especially if a pretend store develops. Consider providing other materials that authenticate the pretend play. These items, found at thrift shops, garage sales and consignment stores, may include a cash register, a calculator, an adding machine, receipt books, measuring tapes, paper clips, note pads, old checks, play money, expired gift cards and stickers for price tags. Discarded food containers (clean, of course!) such as oatmeal cartons, cereal boxes, ketchup bottles and spice containers, are ideal to stock a grocery store. A plastic storage bin with a lid makes an ideal "home" for dress up clothes, uniforms, costume jewelry, sunglasses, hats and old shoes. This type of pretend play is invaluable, linking content area skills, such as math and social studies, with language development. The harvest of skills gained from these activities will be well-worth the use of space and materials.

~*~*

A few nights ago, I had the privilege of hearing Cheryl speak on the topic of "raising contagious readers" at a small home school gathering. As she writes in her book, she shared again about how she herself was a remedial reader. When Cheryl was in third grade, her parents were told that she would never learn to read. Fortunately, her fourth grade teacher recognized her talent for drawing pictures, and inspired Cheryl to write and illustrate a book to enter in a contest. She won first prize! More importantly, the literary fire ignited in her heart, and she decided reading was "where it's at." She went on to major in early childhood education in college, and taught preschool for a few years, too!

For information on ordering You Have to Read This One (which costs $14 plus shipping) you can e-mail Cheryl at bookscanteach@earthlink.net. Cheryl is also available to speak at home school groups and other mother's groups interested in raising contagious readers. Oh, before I forget! You can see Cheryl's picture and the front and back covers of her book on my blog page at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/VirginiaKnowles/298364/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR YOU FROM HOPE CHEST READERS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of months ago, I invited Hope Chest readers to send in quotes or phrases that have made a difference in their family life or home school. Two of you took me up on this! If anyone would still like to send one in, please go right ahead! I'll be sharing several of my own in the next issue.

Karen Pyros writes: "A verse that I think of in relationship to excellence is "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," I used this as the theme verse for NHE (NearHim Home Educators) a couple years ago. I wanted to say, "It's not about meeting the minimum requirements of the law. It's not about doing a better job than the public schools (but not much more). It's not about doing as little as you can get away with. It's about doing your best as unto the Lord. We are training our children for God. That doesn't always mean the biggest and best academics. It can mean different home school styles for different people. I have noticed that it is not as important whether you choose relaxed home schooling, classical schooling, traditional schooling or unit studies. All can be excellent vehicles, if they are pursued with excellence. Also, if we choose to focus on character and service and focus less on academics, we should do character and service excellently, and not use that as an excuse not to do academics. Mardy Freeman has a great statement in Children of Character, "Teaching character is not the same thing as not teaching anything and calling it character training." We have also taught this verse to our children and try to remind them that should be pursuing excellence in their school work. "

Virginia's Note #1: Karen is a dear friend. I have known her for several years through NHE, we have attended the same church for the past few years, and she and her husband George are now in our home group, too. The Pyros family is also in the Providence home school co-op with us, so Karen and I teach each other's kindergartners. Karen has four children, ages 5 to 10, and is expecting her fifth baby in July.

Virginia's Note #2: Karen mentions Mardy Freeman, whom you've probably heard about many times in this newsletter. I would like to thank Mardy (who lives up in Gainesville, FL) for giving me gracious and wise counsel again and again for my own life. She has been such a sweet encouragement to me. You can visit her web site and order her books at: http://www.thefreemans.org/ You can also sign up for her e-newsletter, A Mary Heart, which is about being "more like Mary and less like Martha" by sending any message to amaryheart-subscribe@associate.com.

~~~

Stephanie Johnson's family motto is: "BE A MAN OR WOMAN OF YOUR WORD!" She writes, "One of the things that the children and I say to each other is, "Be a man of your word, or be a woman of your word." When it comes to building character in our children, I believe it is crucially important to hold them accountable to such things as integrity.

There is a funny story for our family that goes along with it. Our family pet (dog) had died just before Thanksgiving last year. My husband and I weren't too eager to replace her given the heartbreak, maintenance, new puppy training, etc. Since all four of our children play either softball or baseball (in addition to other sports), we made a deal with the kids that if any ONE of them hit it over the fence for a homerun, then we would let them choose our new pet. After several months, no one had done that. My mom had a small poodle that she offered to mate for us. We all agreed that a poodle would fit right into our family. Teddy joined our family and we about had him house broken when Marshall left the house for his baseball game. It was top team tournament, the final, championship game of his season. He gets up to bat and, you guessed it, hits it over the fence to score the winning run!! He came running out of the dugout and said, "So, when do I get to pick my dog?!??!"

I guess we forgot to take the deal off of the table when we got Teddy. Bill and I had, actually, forgotten about it since we had gotten a puppy. From a 12 year old boy's perspective, he had just made the mark. So, guess what? We now have a Golden Retriever as well! It is important to "Be a man/woman of your word." I am sure the kids will never forget that lesson. Furthermore, it is a great reminder that they better do the same because we have

a dog to remind us!

Virginia's note: Stephanie has been another special friend for more years than I can count. I have been so blessed! I just don't get to see her often enough, anymore…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Few Helpful Web Sites

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to the Hope Chest readers who sent in these web sites!

"If I Should Die Before You Wake" -- music and pictures honoring our soldiers

http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

U.S. Driver Training – Help for the Teenage Who Wants to Drive curriculum (a graduated approach)

http://www.usdrivertraining.com

Living on a Dime – Making the Most of What You Have

http://www.LivingOnADime.com

Agape Travel Pros – travel web site by Hope Chest readers Ken and Colleen Braden

http://www.AgapeTravelPros.com

Family Life Today – short devotionals on guarding your marriage

http://www.familylife.com/devotionals/default.asp?strDate=feb+22

http://www.familylife.com/devotionals/default.asp?strDate=Feb+23

Well, that's all for this month! Please let me know what was most helpful!

Virginia Knowles

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