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This Week’s Video Topics!

July 8-12

Previous Topics—Go to Donna’s FB to Watch These!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Chance to Vote in 1984*

I like Nixon very much,
I like McGovern too. 
But if I had a chance to vote,
I don’t know what I’d do. 

First, I think I’d panic,
Then I’d stand and shout:
“Doesn’t anybody know 
What this election’s all about?”

I just hope whoever wins
Can stop this awful war. 
Because I want my chance to vote
In 1984. 

*In honor of President’s Day, I am sharing my first “published” poem. It was chosen for me to read over the PA system in my elementary school during the election when I was in fourth grade! My kids think it’s hysterical that I can still recite it!

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With the partial-birth abortion ruling, our grown children had a lot to ponder and share. They know that a baby is a baby early on–not just because we told them forever or they learned it through their homeschool teaching, but because they experienced it first hand at young ages. Here is one daughter’s latest FB post–and her view of our stillborn baby when Cami was only eleven years old. Feel free to share with others.

I wanted to share my story and my perspective about the recent abortion laws that have been passed. I am a Christian and am pro-life. I grew up knowing that babies were babies (little humans) inside their mother’s belly.

But as I have heard many stories and people share their views and opinions recently, I realized that much of what I believe about abortions being wrong comes from my family’s story. You see, when I was eleven my mother gave birth to her 8th and final baby, Carly Grace who was born stillborn at 21 weeks.

Being eleven years old and watching your parents fight for the life of their twenty-one week old baby as she struggled in the womb was a life changing experience for me. Not only did they do everything medically possible for her to live, but they also made the hard choice of trying an in uterual blood transfusion, that was unfortunately unsuccessful.

And then my parents made another brave decision to deliver Carly’s lifeless body. She weighed 13 ounces and was 11 inches long. (There’s much more to this story about my mom’s medical history and such, but it’s too much to write out at this point.)

After Carly was born, my parents decided that us older kids could come and see her in the hospital. We wanted to, but we didn’t want to, if you know what I mean. Seeing Carly and holding her small body was hard. I will never forget her small hands, perfect in every way. Or her small feet. I will never forget how the nurses wrapped her body in a blanket and put a little hat on her. I will never forget holding her and crying over her lifeless body.

I will never forget my parent’s tears as they talked about their daughter. You see, she was human. She was real. She wasn’t a mass of tissue that could be thrown away. She was a person. A little girl with a name. We had hopes and dreams for her that never would happen. She was wanted and she was loved.

I just wish that everyone could have such an experience to see a baby at these early stages of life. Do you know that when an ultrasound is given at pro-life centers 78% of those mothers choose life? These “windows into the womb” are life giving and changes the mother’s perspective on her baby.

So when I hear people talk about abortions and pretend that it’s just a bunch of tissue that can be “easily taken care of” and thrown in the trash, my heart breaks. My mind quickly thinks about that little white casket that Carly was laid to rest in and her little body. And my heart grieves for those babies who never had a family weep over their lifeless bodies.

We live in an age of information and yet so many people aren’t educated on what’s really going on inside the womb as a baby grows. My perspective on this was widely shaped by such an experience. And I think, if at only 21 weeks a baby looks like a baby, feels like a baby, has a baby face and little baby hands, then maybe, just maybe he or she really is a baby.

So when I hear about the abortion laws, I wish that people would be educated on the matter and look at the facts. And remember my little sister, not a mass of tissue to be thrown away, but a real person, a human with a beating heart and an eternal soul.

And one thing is for sure, I can’t wait to go to Heaven and see her and spend eternity with her for all the time we have missed together on earth.

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb, I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” 

The post Eleven Year Old Learns That a Baby In-Utero Is Truly a Baby! appeared first on Character Ink.

We are expanding our private tutoring and small summer classes at Character Ink! We have more availability now–and in five subject areas:

1) Writing–sentence, paragraph, report, essay, story writing; all levels; Directed Writing Approach to get non-writers writing immediately! Taught by a writing curriculum author of over 100 books totaling over 50,000 pages!
2) Math–from elementary through twelfth grade….your curriculum or one of our choice; remedial, brush up, SAT prep, and more. Taught by a math professional (former CPA and CMA).
3) Reading–from first grade and up; phonics, reading comprehension, reaching reading fluency, and more. Taught by curriculum author, elementary education degree and master’s work in Reading Specialist.
4) Grammar/Usage–taught in conjunction with writing or alone; parts of speech; punctuation; editing; spelling/structural analysis; and more. Taught by curriculum author and experienced teacher of over 100 students each year in grammar and writing for over 20 years.
5) Science–elementary through high school–basic science, earth science, physics, biology, advanced biology, chemistry; taught by experienced science teacher who has taught all of these subjects to many small groups for over 15 years and is a math professional.

Here is what I am offering so far in small groups and what times Ray has available for private kids. Please note that if I have three or more students interested, I can add an online class or face-to-face class to my schedule pretty easily, so check out my Meaningful Composition samples if you are considering a quick summer writing class for your students!

TWO SUMMER SESSIONS

First Session: Week of June 4, 11, 18, 25, and July 2

Second Session: Week of July 15, 22, 29; August 5, August 12

Ray’s Availability: Any week day or week night in SW Fort Wayne; some Bluffton/Ossian openings here and there; Saturday mornings in SW FW

Donna’s Private Availability: Mondays; Tuesday all day and all evening; some Thursday openings

Private Costs: Private tutoring for Ray and/or Donna is $30 for a 55 minute hour for once a week; $25 for a 55 minute hour for students who come twice a week (or one session with Donna and one with Ray). Students may miss one out of every tutoring session during the summer sessions without penalty (must attend 4/5 or 8/10 total private sessions). More than one miss per session requires a make up session or a payment. (These are summer guidelines only.) We always prefer to make up sessions whenever possible.

Donna’s Online or Face-to-Face Summer Classes—Tuesdays—(Minimum student count must be met)

First Summer Session: Tuesdays, June 5, 12, 19, 26, and 7/3

Second Summer Session: Tuesdays, July 17, 24, 31, and 8/7
*Complete Language Arts remediation for 4th-8th grade students who have not written three or more paragraph reports and essays—Tuesdays 12:00 SW Fort Wayne (We will use CQLA Level A for this class; one month samples are available at the store.) CQLA Summer Cost: $15 per week for a minimum of four weeks each session (preferably all five weeks); plus $10 per each five week session for their book.

*High School Writing/Remediation—grades 7th-12th who have not written four paragraphs or more of all types of writing with quotes, persuasion, and more (Jump Start book)—Tuesdays 1:30-2:45 (This is also excellent preparation for jumping into CQLA or Meaningful Composition classes in the fall!) Writing Summer Cost: $10 per week for a minimum of four weeks each session (preferably all five weeks); plus $15 per each five week session for their book.

*You Choose! –I would love to add an online class or a different in-person class to my line up this summer—check out the MC books at the store to choose a book for your student or group, and I will plan around you! (Note that this year’s in-person writing classes by Donna will be High School Essay in the first semester and Four Research Reports second semester; Jump Start is a wonderful way to get your upper level high schoolers ready for these two classes. Or we could do a creative writing class this summer if I had enough interest!) Writing Summer Cost: $10 per week for a minimum of four weeks each session (preferably all five weeks); plus $15 per each five week session for their book.

Call or text today for more information or to sign up! Decisions as to which classes will run will be made by June 1st and will be based on class enrollment. Donna at 260-433-4365.

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There are five influences that we have found in determining priorities in life. Obviously, there are more impacts than these; however, these are the five that have guided us through the years. Like everything else we have learned and applied in our lives, these were learned from others (especially through Gregg Harris Seasons of Life seminar)—for which we will be eternally grateful.

The five influences on prioritizing include the following:

1. Spouse

2. Boundaries in Already in Place in Your life: People and Situations

3. More Boundaries: Talents and Skills

4. Seasons of Life

5. Physical Seasons

1. Prioritize With Your Spouse

Hopefully, you and your spouse have the same goals in life. If that is the case, then you both want the same things: to live lives that please and honor God; to have godly, well educated children; to make a difference in the world; etc. But there are so many ways to please and honor God; there are so many ways to educate our children; there are so many ways to make a difference in the world.

 If you and your spouse are on the same page with your priorities, I recommend that you go through the rest of today’s and tomorrow’s posts about determining priorities together. Talking through your goals, dreams, and visions together will help to further solidify your priorities–and what you should be spending your life on.

2. Prioritize Based on Boundaries Already in Place in Your Life: People and Situations

Many things that should be our priorities are staring us right in the face, literally. God has already placed people in our lives that are built in priorities. They are already there–they just need to be prioritized.

For example, if you have children and a husband, these are boundaries–built-in priorities–that should take precedence over other things. They are placed in your life by God Himself. He is giving you ready-made priorities and is just waiting for you to put them high on your priority list where they belong.

3. More Boundaries: Talents and Skills

Another built-in boundary that aids in prioritizing is that of talents and skills. As we recognize talents and skills that God has given us, we can safely assume that God wants those as priorities in our lives–or wants to use them to help us reach those priorities.

Your skills and talents were given especially to you. When my older children were younger, I always wanted to do and be something other than what I was. I especially envied other people’s talents. For instance, I saw musical families and wished that we could be musical. I wanted all of us to be up on stage somewhere playing instruments together. However, I was not given the skills of music, nor were Ray and many of the children.

Using the skills that I have, rather than wanting others’ skills, saves time and gives me more energy to meet the priorities God has given me. We have chosen to focus on the skills that God has given our family: some are intellectually gifted; most of us are organizers; we are all communicators (in writing and speech); we are all leaders. By focusing on those skills, rather than skills that we do not have, we can meet our priorities more efficiently and more excellently.

4. Still More Boundaries: Seasons of Life

Yesterday I described our first “priority purge.” Our next “priority purge” came a few years later when we had two small children. God led us to attend two awesome, life-changing seminars: The Christian Homeschooling Workshop and the Advanced Homeschooling Workshop, both by Gregg Harris. From these seminars, among many other things, we learned about seasons of life.

A season of life is that time period you find yourself in based on your age, your family situation, etc. We discovered that we were not being as effective as we could be in our lives because we were trying to do things out of our season.

At that time, according to the workshop, we were in the “Business and Babies” season. We stayed there for many, many years! Yet, we continually found ourselves involved in activities that were for those of the next season. Ray was on the hospital board in our town, he was an elder in our church, we taught Bible classes at church to people three times our age. We struggled to find time to attend meetings, serve in the church thoroughly, prepare our lessons, etc., due to Ray’s heavy work schedule and our responsibilities with our young children.

We came home from those two seminars and went through another priority purging. Due to the season that we were in, we decided Ray should resign from his hospital board and elder positions. We also cut back on our teaching at church. After all, we were still in our early twenties. What business did we have telling others how to live their lives when we lacked the wisdom that we would obtain through years of experiences? Another priority purge helped us get closer to our God-given priorities for that season.

So, not only do we have built-in priorities because we have children to raise and a spouse to love and encourage, but the ages of those children and spouse further solidify our priorities, usually also based on the season of life we are in. When I had five children ten and under, I loved homeschooling and communicating so much that I wanted to write and speak about homeschooling. I saw others doing it, read others’ books, etc, and I felt that I had a lot to offer homeschoolers since I had been a teacher, had been homeschooling for several years, and had, had many experiences helping homeschoolers get started. However, learning about seasons of life helped me to see that it was not time for those things. Maybe I did have some built-in boundaries of skills (speaking, writing, and communicating). Maybe I did have the motivation due to my love for homeschooling. However, the other built-in boundaries of so many young children, my season of life, the lack of experience for myself, etc., showed me that it was not the right time for that priority of communicating with larger groups of people yet.

5. More Boundaries Again: Natural Seasons

And taking the whole built-in boundaries concept one step further, we find that even natural seasons of life (winter, spring, summer, and fall)–when combined with the built-in priorities of people, talents, and life seasons–help us determine our priorities.

Priorities and schedules are fluid, not stagnant. They change constantly, especially when we have young children. For example, in the fall, we might have a newborn baby who nurses and sleeps, giving us a lot of time to school the kids, do the housework, minister to other women, etc. However, two natural seasons later, in the spring, that same sleeping infant is a curious, crawling toddler, altering our schedule and, in effect, our priorities! Suddenly, we do not have the long hours to read around the table with everyone in attendance. If we still have the priority of reading together, we may have to limit it, prioritize the training of that toddler, or read in groups so someone is available to look after the little tyke. A natural season of life affects our priorities, and we have to decide how to handle it, what our priority will be for that season, etc.

Each year, new priorities pop up. Maybe you haven’t had a new reader for three years, and now your “caboose” needs daily reading instruction, time that had formally been given to other things. A natural season (i.e. a child in first or second grade) influences your prioritizing.

Yes, new priorities will emerge, but the decision to make something a priority and delete something else should be a conscious decision, not a decision that is made for you by outside forces.

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We have had technical difficulties with this week’s Wondering Wednesday, so we need to re-record it. So sorry!

In the meantime, please enjoy one of our past Wondering Wednesday episodes that pertains to your specific needs today.

Thanks for your understanding!

Love and hope,

Donna

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I. Getting the Disney Dining

A. Disney Dining plan

a. I recommend you get one
b. Counter Service Plan

i. 2 Counter meals (like really nice fast food)
    1. Ribs, fish etc.
ii. 1 Snack
    1. Can be 5-7 Dollars
iii. I recommend you buying this if you have small kids who might not be interested in 90 minute sit down experiences
iv. 43 and 17

B. Standard Disney Dining

i. One sit-down meal
    1. A nice restaurant
ii. One counter meal
iii. One snack
iv. Costs 62 for adults, 21 for children under 10 per day

b. If you are going to eat at Disney this is worth it

i. You can eat two counter meals in one day
ii. Four snacks in one day

c. Saves you a little bit of money if you buy it

i. You don’t have to think about food
ii. More than enough
iii. Huge portions
iv. Might have a few snacks
   1. Though we usually have leftovers

d. Tips are not included

C. What is Free Disney Dining?

a. Free Dining

  i. The Dining plan was free
    1. In a normal trip you would only pay for hotel and park tickets
  ii. Last year if you stayed at a value resort you got the quick service
    1. With an option to upgrade to Standard for $20 a day
  iii. If you stayed at a moderate or luxury resort, you got the standard plan
    1. Essentially, all of our food
  iv. It is exciting to go to one of our restaurants and see a bill for $700 dollars and know it is free
  v. It is Disney’s best deal by a long shot

b. Limitations

  i. Cannot be packaged with other special deals
    1. Not with 25% off
    2. Normal rate for that time of year
    3. Normal cost for tickets for the number of days

  ii. They only offer it for certain weeks
    1. Recently it is only in the fall and early December
    2. Not Halloween, Thanksgiving, Labor Day etc.
    3. When they announce they will announce which weeks the deal is for
               a. You have to go during one of those weeks

 iii. It is only for certain resorts
    1. The one’s they need to fill in those weeks
    2. Though it is for most resorts
    3. There are sections and whole resorts that don’t count

  iv. It is very limited
    1. And is getting more limited all the time
    2. First come, first serve
    3. When they are out of free dining plans, you have to hope that someone cancels

II. Booking Everything

A. When

a. Plan on going during the fall and not during a holiday
    1. Pick at least 2 or 3 weeks that will work for everyone at least by the first of March
    2. We planned on going the first week of November
               i. Disney didn’t offer free dining that week
               ii. They did offer it the second week of November

B. Pick at least 3 hotels that you want to stay in at least by the first of March

   1. Our first choice was Art of Disney Animation
   2. We needed to switch to Coronado Springs
   3. You won’t know which resort is offering the deals

C. Check every day in March, April, and May for Free Disney Dining Plan

    a. Details

    i. Dining is usually April or May
    ii. They don’t tell you
    iii. You won’t know until they announce
    iv. Just type in free Disney dining 2016
         1. If they’ve announced, it should be all over the place
    v. Just 30 seconds a day
         1. I checked two or three times a day
         2. It was worth about $7000 for our family

b.  You can book your trip for your first choice week
     i. They will let you switch rooms, dates, or just apply the discount if you are on an eligible date and in an eligible time

c. When they announce call Disney and book your trip
   i. It will be an hour wait
   ii. Do not wait
         1. They will be gone in less than 24 hours
   iii. Know your possible dates
   iv. Know your possible resorts
   v. You can do it online
        1. If you catch it early enough

d. If you miss it, keep trying
   i. People book too many rooms or their trip gets canceled
   ii. So you still might have a chance

D. Fast Passes
   a. 60 days if staying on Disney
   b. Magic Bands

E. Extras
   a. Don’t do them
   b. Hotel, Food, Tickets

III. At Disney: Scheduling the most out of your days

  a. Four types of touring days
  b. All Day
     i. Best: You can do everything in a park in one day
        1. If you do them at the right time
        2. And aren’t there during peak time
    ii. Worst: Can be very tiring
        1. Only do this a few times unless it is a short trip (four or five days or fewer) or your family has a lot of stamina
        2. Do not overestimate how tiring Disney can be
            a. 7 miles plus of walking per day
    iii. Strategy
      1. Start in a land with attractions with longer lines
          a. Do the longest
      2. Move to second level lines through late morning
      3. Eat lunch at 11:30
      4. Mix in fastpasses from 12:30 to 3:30
          a. Three big attractions
          b. Then get more
    5. Do shows and low line level rides
c.  Go early, Leave in the Afternoon, come back in the evening
           i. Best

Listen to the podcast by clicking on the picture below!

Links:

Disneyworld.disney.go.com
Disneyfoodblog.com
Disney Junkies FB page
Other RKWC/CI Podcasts
RKWC/CI blog
Plexus to Feel Great Blog
What is TriPlex?
Keep Kids Close Coupons
Affirmation Cards
Age-Appropriate Chore Posters
Consequence Pies
Meaningful Composition Writing Program
Character Ink Store
Write On, Peter Pan (and coming soon—Mowgli!) books
The Plastic Wrap Ball

The post Podcast Notes for “Part II – Trip Tips to Planning the Perfect & Money Saving Disney World Vacation” appeared first on Character Ink.

Donna Reish, co-author and co-presenter of Raising Kids With Character parenting seminar and blog and fifty curriculum books (including February 2016 releases of five levels of Write On, Peter Pan books and March 2016 releases of five levels of Write On, Mowgli book) from Character Ink Press, brings you this Wondering Wednesday podcast episode in which her guest, son Joshua Reish, answers even more questions about planning an amazing (and affordable!) family vacation to Walt Disney World. In this episode, Joshua delves even more deeply into saving money while dining at Disney, including the peak times for the free dining plan as well as purchasing a dining plan (to still save meal money over buying each meal separately). His thorough explanation of the snacks, quick service meals (counter meals), and sit-down meals will help you put all of the Disney dining pieces together in order to enjoy the amazing food and service that Disney offers. Joshua also goes further into the fast passes and making the most of each day at WDW.

Download the podcast notes here.

Listen to previous podcasts here.

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