by Donna | Jan 3, 2012
“Twelve Daily Habits for 2012”
(reprint from 2008)
With the upcoming new year, I want to share a series of posts about daily disciplines. I found out that in order for my children to develop good daily habits, I must first develop them. (Shock, shock!)
In 2008, I wrote an article entitled, “Eight Daily Habits for 2008. Now I want to revisit that with “Twelve Daily Habits for 2012”—twelve things that I try to do most days to have good days in my home, personally, in my work, and with my family. And yes, as I develop discipline and self control to carry out the “dailies” that I know I need to do, my children follow my lead and instruction to carry out theirs much better as well—because my kids’ good character begins with my good character.
P.S. If these habits appeal to you but are far from your grasp, consider adopting one habit per month—by the end of the year you will have developed twelve daily habits that will truly affect how smoothly your day, your family, and your home operate.
Habit #1: Rise With the Lord
When people used to tell me this, I, of course (being the big thinker that I am), envisioned an hour in the early morning hours, in a prayer closet uninterrupted, worshipping, praying, and reading the Word. Because that could never happen in my life (and I can give you eight good reasons why it never did!), I never truly felt like I was ever “rising with the Lord.”
Then, I happened upon some verses that I could really sink my teeth into–meeting God in the night watches (perfect for us insomniacs!); God giving me a song in the night; etc. I might not be up at the crack of dawn, but I was often up throughout the night–those night watches and songs in the night were perfect for me!
Now that I am, well, maturing, I can’t stay up quite as late as I used to, but I still pray at night that God will give me a song in the night and that I will wake up with that song. And when I consistently do this, I do wake up with a song in my heart, a song that God gave me in the night. Many days, before I even open my eyes, my mind will start reciting words to a song: “Lord, you are more precious than silver”; “Be thou my vision”; “Cast me not away from your presence, Oh, Lord”; and much more. I am rising with the Lord! He is giving me a song in the night, and I am waking up with His song on my lips.
What does rising with the Lord mean to you? It could mean waking up and reading the Bible or a devotional before you do anything else. It might mean a prayer time before you start your day. However God leads you to rise with Him, make it a daily habit! Do not make it so elaborate (an hour in the Word and an hour in prayer!) that you cannot continue it your entire life, but do make it meaningful enough to have an effect on your day (which should be the result of any encounter with God).
Watch for Daily Habit #2 coming soon!
by Donna | Aug 17, 2011
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” Robert M Hutchins
I wanted to add some more thoughts to yesterday’s “study skills with textbook previewing.” These are in no certain order or age group—just some things that haven’t really fit in the last couple! (How’s that for organizing and study skills???)
1. Taking the textbook preview further
There are a number of ways that you can take the previewing of textbooks that I discussed yesterday even further with your children for more comprehension of the material:
a. Do his first few assignments out of the book with him, pointing out the things again that you observed in your first preview. This will help him see that those things are not just good things to know, but also helpful for completely homework quicker and more accurately.
b. Help him prepare for his first test with his textbook and you by his side. Show him how he can use the glossary, sidebars, table of contents, etc. to quickly fill in his study guide or quickly determine what the most important aspects of the chapter are in order to prepare for a test.
c. As you are previewing a text (for the first time or an additional time), use a large sticky note to record what you find. Write the title of the text at the top, then make notes about what it contains as far as study and homework helps. Stick this in the front of his textbook and help him refer to it when he is doing homework or test preparation. You could even record a plus and minus system, such as
+++ means something is going to be really helpful—a +++ beside the Table of Contents, for instance
+ beside a word he writes in the front of his book tells him that this might be somewhat helpful—Example: +Some graphs
– No study questions at end of chapter—again, he can make a list in the front of his book (on a large sticky note), etc.
d. Help him “label” different sections of his book with sticky notes along the edges. For example, you could put a yellow one at the beginning of each chapter and a pink one on the page that has definitions for that chapter, etc.
2. Prepare your younger student for textbooks by using user-friendly non-fiction books
Maybe you are not in the textbook stage with your kids; however, you can begin preparing them for those all important study skills that I described yesterday with quality non-fiction books. If kids at ages five, six, eight, and ten, learn to navigate around Dorling Kindersley, Eyewitness, and Usborne books (among many others), they will be heads and shoulders above other children who have only been exposed to fictional stories (more on the benefits of fiction later!).
These outstanding non-fiction books have literally hundreds of topics that interest kids, but they are so colorful and alluring, you do not feel like you are “teaching” at all. Additionally, they have many aspects that your child’s future textbooks will also have: glossaries, Tables of Contents, sidebars, graphs, pictures, inserts, definitions, bold font, italics, etc. Reading these to and with your children when they are younger will provide a natural step into textbooks later on.
Note: We teach our students (in our home, our cottage classes, and in our language arts books) a simple memory device for remembering fiction and non-fiction:
Fiction=fake (both begin with f)
Non-fiction=not fake (both begin with nf)
by Donna | Aug 16, 2011
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” Robert M Hutchins
Sitting down with your student and his textbooks (maybe one per evening) during the first week will go a long way towards his comprehension and ease of use of those books throughout the school year. Try these specific strategies for previewing textbooks with your student to help him or her get the most out of his or her texts this year:
1. Graphs and charts—Remind your student that charts and graphs usually restate (in another form) what is indicated in the text. He can use these for quick overviews, as well as for reviewing before tests.
2. Enumerations—If his text uses a lot of enumeration, it could be that this subject has a significant number of lists to be learned. Point him to these lists and show him that often what is listed in the margins or sidebars is also expounded upon within the text.
3. Section headings—The more headings a book contains, the easier it is to learn from. The student is constantly reminded, by the headings and subheadings, of what the section is about. Show him how helpful these headings can be as he uses the book during his reading and for test preparation.
4. Pictorial aids—Maps are always in included in history textbooks. If his textbook contains a large assortment of maps, show him how they can help him see the big picture. Maps usually show where something that is discussed in the text occurred.
5. Glossary—Books that contain glossaries give the student an easy way to find definitions that may be more obscure within the text. Teach him to use this for quick finds, but encourage him to use the text itself for most studying since students who learn vocabulary in context retain it better.
6. Tables of Contents—The Table of Contents can be used somewhat like an index to find where information is in a particular chapter. It is especially good for getting a big picture about a whole chapter.
7. Prefaces, introductions, and summaries—If a text has any of these three, some of the work is already done for the student. Show him how advantageous these are for quick previewing of a chapter.
8. Footnotes—If a student is in a class that requires research papers, footnotes can be a real plus. We teach our research paper students to use lengthy works’ footnotes to find other credible sources that they might use in their papers.
9. Appendixes—Appendixes are the “extra credit” of the book. I always like to thin of myself as a prized pupil, so I tend to gravitate to these right at first, since they’re usually for those who want additional information—and I always want to know more! Tell your students that sometimes the appendixes aren’t even used in the actual course, but they are good for learning more, for research-based reports, and for cementing what is found in the text.
10. Indexes—If a book doesn’t have an index, I say send it back and get a new one! Show your student how quickly he can find information with the index. The more specific the index, the better it is for the student.
11. Bibliography—The bibliography gives lists of books, articles, and documents relating to the subjects in the textbook. Like footnotes, we direct our research paper students to these.
12. Pronunciation guides—These guides give the phonetic markings to aid in reading unfamiliar words. Many texts do not have these guides, but they are helpful in a class where a student will be giving presentations so the can pronounce unknown words correctly.
Any signaling or sign posting that a book contains is that much more opportunity for the visual learner, especially, to learn and retain. If you have an auditory learner, you might have to record his vital info on cd or cassette! Smile…More study skills coming soon!!!
by Donna | Aug 15, 2011
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” Robert M Hutchins
I’m going to go back to “teaching while we sit in our house,” but it’s back to school time, so I want to re-run a three part article about textbook previewing with your kids to help them start out well with this fall’s school success.
I want to touch on specific “how to’s” of study skills without getting so technical that I lose “non-teachers” out there! When I find a good idea or method in learning that seems to work, I have a tendency to get so excited about it. (You didn’t know that my “chores” and “prioritizing posts,” did you??) So I will alternate between practical suggestions (evening routines for studying) and techniques (teaching our kids to “read between the lines” in their books), etc. So bear with me!
Comprehension and study skills are not necessarily as much remembering all of the details that were read as much as knowing how to read for meaning, remembering the most important parts, and being able to locate information as needed. Students’ textbooks in the content areas (science, history, government, health, geography, etc.) lend themselves greatly to comprehending the information they contain.
I recommend that you have your kids bring their textbooks home, one at a time, and follow some of the tips below previewing their books with them. This will help them (and you) determine the signaling systems, layout, study tools, etc. that each book includes.
A student needs to now quickly how to find information in his book, whether there’s a glossary or index for quick vocabulary help, how each section is summarized, and many other tips that can be discovered right when he begins using that text (with some help from Mom or Dad). By previewing his whole text at first, he will know how user friendly it is, how to set up his notes, and even which study strategies will and will not work for that particular text.
Tomorrow I will give a lengthy list of specifics to look for in previewing your students’ textbooks with them. Invite your friends to join us!
by Donna | Aug 2, 2011
I have a lot to say about teaching our kids God’s Word and ways as we “sit in our house”! I just haven’t gotten my notes all together due to computer issues (just got the last computer back from the shop AGAIN,..). So, August has come upon us quickly…and so has “back to school time.” I want to re-run some posts from last August about helping our kids with study skills, back to school routines, etc. for those who may have missed them or those who were not with us on PP last August.
So…here is the first one….a link to many links about developing strong study habits for younger students. Now is really the time to get serious about implementing some of these schedules and ideas (before the day before-back-to-school!)….so, get your iced water with lemon and click and read! 🙂 Thanks for joining us!
https://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-240-strong-study-skills-begin-with.html
by Donna | Jul 2, 2011
Training for Triumph, a ministry and publishing company by Ray and Donna Reish, offer many services to the homeschooling community. TFT has been in operation formally for six years (though informally for many years prior to that). Check out the services we offer below!
Training for Triumph Cottage Classes
We offer cottage classes for homeschoolers grades two through twelve in up to three FW-area locations (and sometimes other locations as well, upon request). We offer complete language arts classes for all levels, writing classes for many levels, speech and debate, history, high school sciences, and more! Check out our offerings for the coming year at https://www.tfths.com/classes.php .
Training for Triumph Correspondence Classes
All of our Meaningful Composition books are available for use in our correspondence writing program. In this program, you choose the book (from our site–see samples) that you want your child to do, register for “correspondence,” and we send the syllabus, class schedule, etc.–and each week for sixteen weeks your student mails his assignments to TFT teachers who in turn, grade everything and make audio cd’s of their remarks and helps. Students grow in leaps and bounds in their writing with this approach! Check it out at https://www.tfths.com/corclass.php
Training for Triumph Speakers
We offer at least three (and oftentimes more) speakers on over fifty topics pertaining to homeschooling, parenting, teaching, marriage, and more. We can tailor make a workshop or seminar for your group or speak to living room groups in the area. Check out our many speaking topics at https://www.tfths.com/speaking.php
Training for Triumph Writing Workshops
We offer a general language arts workshop (The Almost Three R’s) as well as SAT preparation, creative writing, composition-only, and much more. Again, we can tailor a seminar or workshop to your group. https://www.tfths.com/speaking.php#law
Positive Parenting
We have a Christian parenting blog that has literally hundreds of posts on topics pertaining to the Christian family. If you have heard us speak and are interested in knowing more about a topic, check out the index at Positive Parenting: https://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/ Or you may sign up there to receive PP in your email or LIKE us on FaceBook to receive it in your feed as it is posted.
Training for Triumph E Newsletters
We have e-newsletters that go out periodically containing updates on our ministry and publishing company, as well as homeschooling and parenting helps. Check out past e newsletters at https://www.tfths.com/news.php or email us to register to receive them regularly via email (trainingfortriumph@mchsi.com) OR LIKE us on FaceBook (Training for Triumph) to receive notifications in your FB Feed when a newsletter comes out.
Free Curriculum Samples!
We have a full one month sample of Character Quality Language Arts available for free at our site—including Lesson Plans and Answer Keys—of all four levels. This lets you “try before you buy” and also lets you see what level would be best for your student. Additionally, we have three weeks of each Meaningful Composition book at our site for free—and new ones are continually being added. Check out our samples at https://www.tfths.com/samples.php
Free Language Arts and Usage Tips!
Our blog, Language Lady 365, has a few tips each week in the areas of grammar, usage, writing, reading, speaking, homophones, spelling, and more! You may sign up to receive this service via email at https://languagelady365.blogspot.com/ OR LIKE LL 365 on FaceBook to receive notifications in your feed.
Christian Parenting Seminar
We offer a Christian parenting seminar, Character Training From the Heart, for between four and ten one hour sessions. (Note: This is a Christian parenting seminar and is not-homeschool-specific—so invite your non-homeschooling friends as well!). Host a seminar in your church, in a living room, for your Sunday school or small group, or homeschool group! We can do a Friday/Saturday or mid-week service—whatever works for your group. This unique seminar teaches parenting based on character training that comes from the hearts of parents—as opposed to simply outward control. We begin with character qualities that are appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers and work up to instilling “advanced” character qualities in teens and young adults. Check out a potential schedule and workshop descriptions at https://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/search/label/seminars
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Contact Information
Feel free to contact us via email ( trainingfortriumph@mchsi.com) , phone (260-597-7415), or FB with questions about any of our services. We have been homeschooling for twenty-eight years this fall—and we LOVE to help homeschoolers and parents!
