The post 10 Tips to Help Babies and Toddlers Happily Play appeared first on Character Ink.

In another Mama Monday Live Video (see Donna Daily post here for all of the Donna Daily broadcast updates), I tackled an important subject in parenting—Majoring on the Majors. Of course, raising seven kids (and having kids “at home” for 35 years!), we have a lot of “real life” examples of everything we teach. And this topic is no exception with our rather humorous (but true life!) story of how our “little boys” came up with the “Ten Second Rule for Food on the Ceiling”!

If you find yourself barking orders to kids for every move they make—and you’re not really feeling like you are getting to the important stuff—you might be right. I hope this video helps!

Love and hope,
Donna

 

Mama Monday: 10 Second Rule for Food on Ceiling—Majoring on the Majors With Behaviors

A. 10 Second Rule for Food on Ceiling

 

 

1. Pizza crust on ceiling
2. What type of behavior is this?

B. Major on the Majors With Behaviors

 

1. We tend to treat all behaviors equally– But are they?

a. Detrimental because kids think everything is the same!
b. We are not showing them the weightiness of 4 D’s when pizza crust on the ceiling is the same weight as lying, cheating, being disrespectful, etc.

2. Childish behaviors

a. Excited children
b. Kids not understanding cause and effect
c. Forgetfulness, incompleteness, messiness, laziness, etc.

3. 4 D Behaviors Disobedience (4 D’s Video 1 and 2: https://characterinkblog.com/video-the-four-ds-of-behavior-poster-pack/\)

a. Disobedience

i. Direct disobedience (as opposed to forgetting or skipping something)
ii. One of the first behaviors to focus on with young children for their safety and wellness

b. Disrespect

i. Disrespectful words, attitudes, and responses
ii. Way more important than pizza crust on the ceiling

c. Deceit

i. Any dishonesty, stealing
ii. Don’t candy coat it with euphemisms—fibs, white lies. Etc.

d. Destruction (purposeful destruction)

i. Not accidents
ii. Purposely destroying or breaking things
iii. Striking/harming another

 

C. Tips for Majoring on Majors

 

1. Don’t say no unless you’ll go https://characterinkblog.com/dont-say-no-unless-youll-go/ 

a. Stop saying something if you will not follow through on it (especially with toddlers and preschoolers)
b. If you’re not moving from your chair, it’s not important enough to call it out

2. Use character training/consequences for routine behaviors—don’t “ground them forever for not doing dishes”—that should be used for 4 D’s

a. Consequence Pies—available HERE at the store
b. Routine misbehaviors like not following through, not staying on schedule, not doing the chore chart, forgetting, etc., should be handled with training and consequences

3. Teach your littles what obedience really is (Obedience Math Posters https://characterinkstore.com/product/obedience-math-printable-poster-pack/)

a. Article: https://characterinkblog.com/day-eighty-six-obedience-math-childishness-versus-willfulness-part-ii-of-iv/ 
b. Consider age of child and repeat, repeat, repeat!

4. When you want to work on direct obedience, make your commands direct too!

a. Eye contact
b. Explanation
c. Response

5. Make systems, routines, and schedules for anything that is repeatable/routine

a. Kids will know what to expect
b. You will need to train and follow up forever

6. Stop making big deals out of little deals!
7. Use Expectation Explanations to set things up for their behaviors (first Donna Daily/Mama Monday video: https://characterinkblog.com/using-expectation-explanations-in-your-parenting-live-video-training/)

The post Mama Monday: 10 Second Rule for Food on Ceiling—Majoring on the Majors With Behaviors appeared first on Character Ink.

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” ~Anna Quindlen, “Enough Bookshelves”

During my graduate studies (in Reading Specialist) at Ball State University, I did a master’s thesis about children who learn to read without any reading instruction. That is, the kids just suddenly started reading books without ever having phonics lessons, basal readers, or other “formal instruction.” It was a challenging thesis simply because there is so little data about it because of our “early school attendance age.” Seldom does a child learn to read “naturally” before age six or seven, and with kids going to school at age five (and often beginning reading instruction in kindergarten), the research was sparse concerning these “instruction-less” readers.

I did find enough, however, and I was also blessed to find a family who had a natural reader to compare the printed data with. My observations, coupled with the studies in teaching journals, etc., led me to find what I called the “environment” in which natural readers are raised. This led me to other lines of thinking—if a child can learn to read with absolutely no instruction in a literary-saturated environment, wouldn’t this environment be conducive to helping those who DO receive instruction learn to read better, more easily, and more naturally?

The answer, of course, was yes. Study after study shows the type of environment that causes kids to learn better. Duplicating the “natural reader’s” environment can only help our kids learn better. Maybe our creating this “literary atmosphere” will not automatically make our six year old pick up a book and begin reading, but if it makes the learning process (actually any/all learning processes) easier, more enjoyable, and less stressful, why wouldn’t we want to duplicate it in our homes for all of our kids?

So what were the commonalities I found in studying the environment of “natural readers”?

Common Characteristics of Natural Readers

1. Interaction with adults—these kids were with adults a lot—and definitely not around peers more than adults. They had adults on hand to discuss things with, to answer their questions, and to provide examples of proper speech patterns, etc.

2. Much book handling by the child—these children were surrounded with books that they were permitted to interact with. They were often found at very young ages with stacks of books around them, just looking at the pictures, making stories in their minds from the pictures, etc.

3. Print abounds and interest in print is evident by itself—not only did the homes of natural readers contain books themselves, but they also contained all type of print. The parents of these children read magazines, journals, newspapers, etc. I think the “interest in print” part probably began with something like a parent saying, “Honey, look at this whale they found beached on the coast of Florida,” as he or she brought the little one up on to her lap to see the picture that was provided with the article in today’s newspaper, etc. This type of activity causes a child to become interested in print.

4. Audios and books are used—This is the reason why I began using book and tape sets a few times a week for my preschoolers and elementary children—and why we have used audios (talking books, radio dramas, etc.) every week of our lives since our oldest was one year old. Audios and books show our children the benefits and “fun” that reading provides.

5. Memorization takes place—these natural readers often followed a certain pattern—they memorized a picture book (usually many), then through the memorization, they began making print-sound-word connections. That is, when they turned the page and recited, “If you give a mouse a cookie,” they began to understand that i-f says if and y-o-u says you. Natural readers were experts at memorizing large portions of text.

6. Interest in writing words and “language experience” activities—many years ago, there was a movement in education to replace phonics instruction with “language experience” activities (also called a “whole language approach”). Phonics proponents everywhere were up in arms at the thought of “activities” of writing what the child said (dictation) for him, making little homemade books, etc. taking the place of phonics instruction. While I am a strong phonics proponent, I believe that these “language experiences” and “whole language” activities augment reading instruction greatly. And, of course, the natural readers in the research were exposed to these types of activities early and often. These kids were the ones who dictated thank-you notes to Mom to go to grandparents and colored a picture to send along with it; they were the ones who had a chalk board in the kitchen in which Mom or Dad wrote the day of the week each morning; they were those who “said” stories aloud and parents copied it in little “journal” books for the child. And on and on. Why wouldn’t these types of experiences and activities increase a child’s relationship with print and love for learning?

7. Experiences related to literacy and books—these obviously include the types of activities listed in number six, but these kids knew from birth that books and reading were important. They were the ones in a double stroller at the library lawn sale as toddlers—child in front seat with back seat full of picture books. They were the ones who had their own “book basket” in the corner of the nursery almost from birth. In other words, they were immersed in literacy and books from an early age.

8. Self-regulated behavior and risk taking—This characteristic related to how they “organize” their little lives. These kids would pull all of the Curious George books off the shelf and stack them up to look at after lunch. They often had little learning systems in place at ages four and five. And they were not afraid to be wrong. This, of course, stems from not being talked down to or made fun of when they did ask questions. These kids were risk takers because taking risks in learning (“Mommy, is this word (dapper) ‘Daddy’?”) yielded information that helped them in their quest to learn. The questions did not yield put downs or “you should already know this.”

9. Read to often—Obviously, a link has to be made from the squiggles on the page to the sounds that those squiggles make in order for a young child to teach himself to read. Thus, a child must be read to (or follow along with books and tapes) in order to learn to read without formal instruction. Now, this is not to say that a child who is read to will automatically learn to read early and on his own. I read aloud to our first three kids three to five hours everyday for years and years—and not one of the three was a natural, or early, reader! But it certainly created a love for print and learning in my children!

Children who learn to read naturally, without reading instruction, are raised in an environment that is conducive to learning to read naturally—an environment that creates a love for learning and a very perceived need to learn.

While I have never had a natural reader myself, I tried all throughout my children’s learning days to create this type of environment. It has created outstanding learners and avid readers in the Reish home.

One of the “rules” that Ray and I had for our children’s early education was that if something could be taught informally (and painlessly), we would teach it that way (as opposed to using workbooks or “curriculum” for something that can just as easily be learned while driving down the road or snuggling on the sofa).

That is one thing that I truly loved about the “natural reader learning environment.” Why get a workbook to teach capital letters when you can teach them while you are running errands (from all of the store signs)? Why get a program for rhyming words when nursery rhymes, silly songs, and I spy games on the road can do the job without the stress? The “natural reader learning environment” fit how we thought young children should be taught—regardless of whether our kids truly became natural readers or not.

Here are just a few of the skills that the research on natural readers indicated are learned/enjoyed by kids in this environment:

1. Contact with print

2. Thinking skills

3. Comprehension (especially when a wide variety of materials is presented and discussion follows)

4. Expanded vocabulary

5. Enunciation and pronunciation

6. Love of and need for reading

7. Sentence patterns

8. Relationship between parent and child—the most important one of all, of course!

Create a “natural reader learning environment” in your home—regardless of your kids’ ages….and watch the interaction with print increase; the love for learning grow; and the positive relationships bloom.

Whether you have a five year old who taught herself to read or an eight year old still struggling with primers, I encourage you to create a reading environment–and build life-long readers and learners! Blessings on your teaching and children!

The post Back to School Tip III of XII: Create Reading Environment appeared first on Character Ink.

So….if you are serious about helping your toddlers and preschoolers love books, learning, simple things, routine, and more, check out the links below!

Wondering Wednesday Video—“Creating a Love for Learning in Littles”

In this video, Donna gives specific tips on book baskets, activity tubs, reducing technology (and using it well), and more.

Room Time Activities Resource List

In this document, Donna details great products to use with toddlers and preschoolers—for Room Time activities and for to you do with your littles.

Timberdoodle

Great place to get age-appropriate “school kits.” Don’t let the homeschool kits aspect scare you. These are amazing kits of the best of the best put together for toddlers and preschoolers!

Creating a Love for Learning in Your Home

In this audio, Donna talks about love for learning in older children.

Turning High Need Preschoolers Into Darling Angels

In this audio, Donna talks about common preschool behavior problems and ways to handle them.

Preparing Your Preschooler to Learn to Read

In this audio, Donna teaches some strategies and habits that will help preschoolers be prepared to learn to read when the time comes.

Tips for Avoiding the Terrible Twos

In this video, Donna talks about strategies to use with your pre-two year old to avoid those “terrible twos” that people always talk about.

What to Do With a Wonderful One Year Old

In this audio series (two part), Donna talks about the amazing days of one year olds.

Jonathan’s Journal Blog Series

In this blog series, Donna uses her unpublished children’s book, Jonathan’s Journal, to detail a wonderful day it the life of a preschooler—teaching parents every hour of the day!
 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post Littles Love Learning appeared first on Character Ink.

Welcome to Wondering Wednesday, a podcast by Donna Reish where she answers readers’ questions about homeschooling, home management, child training, and more!  Have a question for Donna?  Email her at characterinklady@gmail.com.

 

Click on the pictures below to go to the podcasts you want to listen to, or click here to see a list and listen to all of the podcasts right here on this page 🙂

 

Subscribe to our Podcasts in iTunes!

 

Click on the podcast you want to listen to below.  A free printable handout will pop up after a few seconds into the podcast.

 

 

 

 

The post Podcasts appeared first on Character Ink.

When we had three young children four and under, we went to a parenting seminar in which the wise teacher (Gregg Harris) taught us how to manage our day—and get in the things that are truly important to us: “Attach things that are important to you to something that is already in your schedule.”

I was a struggling young mom, trying to teach our little ones to obey, love each other, enjoy learning, be helpful, desire God’s Word, play creatively, and more. However, like many young stay-at-home moms, I had prioritizing and follow through problems. Mr. Harris’ advice helped me get a handle on my preschoolers’ days.

We came home from the seminar and began attaching our “priorities” to the things that were already in place. Some things are predictable in a day automatically; they are “constances,” so to speak. Children get up in the morning, eat three meals (and snacks!), take naps (more on that later!), and go to bed at night (more on that later, too!).

We chose the things that we truly wanted to make happen in our littles’ daily schedule: Bible reading in the morning; chore training; afternoon story time; etc. We attached these to the “constances” of our kids’ days, and before we knew it, we were having successful days…and we soon attached more things to our attachments until we were attaching to our attachments. And our days became one big, long attachment—getting to many of the things that were priorities in our hearts but were not happening in real life.

I have talked a lot about doing things with our children that teach them important Christian virtues and behaviors. It is easy to hear someone talk about these things, and think, Yeah, that sounds great….but it is easier said than done!

I’m here to tell you today that you can do this! If something is a true priority in your family’s life, you can make it happen, regardless of children’s ages, work schedules, financial situation, and more.

Take the most important thing to you that you know you should do with your children but never seem to get to. Daily devotions? Prayer time? Read aloud? Story time? Chore time? Morning routines? Talk time? Only choose one—and decide that this one thing will become a habit in your home.

Now choose the most constant scheduled activity in your family—rising, breakfast, lunch, after school snack, bedtime, etc. And attach your priority to that. Be realistic. Do not try to do everything at one time. Do not make it a long, drawn-out affair. Just start tomorrow doing the highest priority item attached to the most consistent “constant.”

Keep your activity short at first. If you choose to read a Bible story aloud while the kids eat breakfast each morning, get one of those One Minute Bible story books or some other quick read, and dig in and do it. Do not be discouraged if it is a five minute read. Do not be dismayed if you miss occasionally (the “more often than not” principle will be explained tomorrow!). Just do it!

Once you have some consistency with this, you can tackle another “attachment.” And so on and so forth. Before you know it, your home will be a center—a learning center, spiritual center, fun center, heart-affecting center—all of the things that the Christian home was designed to be. Don’t worry if you mess up—our children are quick to “catch us in inconsistencies,” and they will be sure to let you know that your “attachment” is slipping!

How have you managed to be consistent with important things in your home? Give us some of your tricks!

Save

The post Attaching Important Things To Your Schedule appeared first on Character Ink.

*Learning From Workshops—as easy as ABC…making the changes you want in your home a little at a time

I. Five W’s and H of Character Building

A. Why–

1. Deuteronomy 6: 6 and 7: 6 “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

2. Make disciples….”bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

B. Where—everywhere we are with our kids

C. When—all the time!

D. Who—you—once it is in your heart first!

E. What—Biblical teaching, Christian living, character, faith!

F. How

1. Through a fairly predictable schedule

2. With intentionality—not letting these years pass by

3. By prioritizing—that reaching your children’s hearts for the Lord will be of top priority to you

4. Relationally

5. Through Biblical parenting

II. Toddler Tips

A. Adapt toddler to your schedule and family’s lifestyle

B. Set the stage for his future tastes

1. Defiance vs. submission

2. Selflessness/meanness vs. kindness/gentleness

3. Hyper-stimulation/activity vs. simple things

4. Lack of focus/not enjoying learning vs. love for learning

C. Decide ahead of time what your behavior absolutes will be

1. Behaviors absolutes are those behaviors that your family will not permit in your home

2. Ours—talking back, saying no, lying/deceit, temper tantrums, striking

D. Start teaching the joy of doing what is right

E. Develop predictable routines—block schedules (not minute by minute)

III. Times and Places to Teach Faith and Character

A. When you rise up

1. Character building chore times
2. Family devotions or devotions with Mom
3. “Morning read aloud”
4. Schedules/daily disciplines
5. Snuggle, rock, and read
6. Schedules that put God first in your home

B. When you sit in your house

1. Story time
2. Organization/upkeep
3. Discussion
4. Questions
5. Listening together
6. Parenthetical Parenting
7. Expectation Explanations
8. Teaching like Jesus
9. Reading together
10. Games
11. Prioritizing “sitting together in your house”
12. “Good report” time
13. Songs/sayings to build relationshiips
14. Family worship

C. When you walk by the way
1. “Who has shoes on?”
2. As you drive down the road
3. “Who had good character?”
4. Daddy talks
5. Meal times
6. Car talks
7. Twalks
8. Terrific Tuesdays and Wonderful Wednesdays
9. Movie and book talks
10. Teachable moments
11. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks
12. Listen more than you talk
13. Singing together

D. When you lie down

1. Malachi time
2. Bible talks
3. Bedtime stories
4. Tying heartstrings
5.The eyes are the windows to the soul
6. Taking the time needed at bedtime (requires great bedtime training prior to this)

Listen to the podcast here:

Links to Podcasts

Age Appropriate Chores

Ways to Spend More Time With Your Kids

Utilizing Room Time With Toddlers and Preschoolers

Turning High Need Preschoolers Into the Darling Angels They Were Meant to Be

Solving Common Preschool Behavior Problems

What to Do With a Kindergartener

How to Prepare Your Child to Learn to Read

What to Do with Toddler Troubles

Wonderful One Year Olds Part I

Wonderful One Year Olds Part II

Storytime Questions and Answers

Using Audios With Children

The post Podcast Notes for “Faith & Character Building for Littles appeared first on Character Ink.

Welcome to Part II of II about story time. I have been answering questions for some young moms, and these posts are those answers. (You can read part one here.)

Before I dig in to the rest of my answers, I want to give you my podcasts that have references or even more answers about story time and structuring your toddler’s and preschooler’s days over all:
 
(1) Room Time
(2) Turning Preschoolers into the Darling Angels They Were Meant to Be
(3) Solving Common Preschooler Behavior Problems
(4) What Should I Do With a Kindergartener?
(5) How Do I Prepare My Child to Learn to Read?
(6) Summer Reading Help
(7) Toddler Troubles
(8) Story Time

(1) If your two year old isn’t ready even for the easy part of story time, I would do the short story time alone with the two year old and one year old.

I mentioned earlier that a “private story time” in Mama’s rocking chair for toddlers (twelve to twenty months, usually) was the beginning of weaning for my littles. Basically, I replaced a nursing with stories, songs, and rhymes. And yes, it was absolutely wonderful and blissful. Enjoy every moment, young mamas!

(2) If the two year old is ready, but the only problem is interrupting too often with questions, I would consider any of the following ideas:

a. Let him choose the first book and tell him this is his “question book.” For this book only, we can stop a lot, answer questions, etc. (Oh…those interactive books that the two year olds had to do everything to…..brutal!) This is his story, and you can use it as a quality teaching time for him.

b. For the rest of the books that he stays for, tell him he can have one “excuse me.” This is one time that he can have you flip back, answer a question, etc.

c. Let him take the books that he has the most questions or that you know he wants to know more about to bed with him—and tell him after his nap he can bring the book to you for more questions.

d. If he can’t do the one “excuse me,” just let him be interactive on the first book only until he can handle it. (Always match privilege with responsibility in all aspects of parenting.)

(3) While you are trying to find what is comfortable for your family, always keep in mind the olders.

Don’t let story time turn into something they dread or something that they do not benefit from by letting littles (even though they are amazing and sweet) monopolize it.

The trickle down effect of what you teach and do with your olders is astonishing. Toddlers who run the home (or even run story time!) can really disrupt this process.

So definitely spend lots of time with your littles; love them; read, rock, sing, and play. But do not let them take over unit study times, story times, etc., and detract consistently from what you are doing with your olders.

Hope this helps!

I have to end with a cute story time story.

When Joshua (our oldest) was around ten, he decided that he was too old for story time. (They never outgrew unit studies but eventually did story time.) So on the day he decided to not come to story time, I was lying in bed with four other littles reading away when I heard a noise in the hallway. He was sitting on the floor in the hallway listening. I told him he could join us, but he said he was just resting. Next thing I knew, he was sitting in the doorway. Then on the floor beside the bed. The, of course, across the foot of the bed! The next day he joined us for quite some time thereafter! 🙂

The post Story Time Questions and Answers Part II of II: Story Time With Toddlers appeared first on Character Ink.

I have been receiving questions again lately about story time, so I want to write a couple of posts addressing these questions specifically. Before I do, however, be sure you check out my podcasts that have references or even more answers about story time and structuring your toddler’s and preschooler’s days over all:

(1) Room time
(2) Turning Preschoolers into the Darling Angels They Were Meant to Be
(3) Solving Common Preschooler Behavior Problems
(4) What Should I Do With a Kindergartener?
(5) How Do I Prepare My Child to Learn to Read?
(6) Summer Reading Help
(7) Toddler Troubles
(8) Story Time

Now on to the answers!

I treated story time much like I treated unit studies (or “subject reading” as Joshua used to call it when he was five!).

Some Basics:

(1) Story time is a privilege that is earned…not something you automatically get to do (as were unit studies).

Thus, there was a readiness that was needed in order to join story time: the ability to lie in the bed with everybody without moving too much, getting up, etc.

(We used to do a two hour story time in bed followed by a two hour nap…even me! For real! Amazing, huh? Ray worked twelve or thirteen hours a day, and I seldom went anywhere…plenty of time to get everything done, read for hours, AND take a nap! LOL)

This pretty much eliminated anybody under two joining our regular story time. If these guidelines were not met, the child just went to bed for his nap (with books in his bed and one side of a story tape), and he could try again later in a few days (not a bunch of back and forth and in and out)….this takes me to my next “basic.”

(2) We always taught to the oldest.

Everything we did at first was based on our oldest two kids—the others could always join, but we emphasized our older kids for sure. This is often opposite of what families with untrained littles do. They often do not see how they can focus on the olders when they continue to let one, two, and three year olds be too high need. Just my two cents….:)

(3) In light of always teaching to the oldest, we wanted unit studies and story time to be the most effective that they could be for the older kids.

If we allowed a two year old (or one year old) to monopolize that time, this simply wasn’t happening.

(4) That is not to say that we did not do things with the littles or that we didn’t consider their needs.

But we didn’t let their “wants” keep us from meeting our older kids’ needs (educationally, spiritual training, fun times, etc.).

Specific Tips for Story Time:

(1) Children who were not old enough (i.e. not “ready”) to join story time every day had their own story time.

Those older kids that we spent so much time with and on cleaned the kitchen after lunch each day while I rocked, read to, and did rhymes and stories with the toddler. (This was actually the beginning of weaning for us—replacing the noon nursing with the toddler’s own story time!)

This allowed the toddler to learn to enjoy reading without interrupting the olders’ story time. It also signaled a change in schedule, slowing down, etc. And it provided routine so that the toddler knew what was next. (After his story time, he got “dropped off at the bus stop” (carrying the bus stop approach to unit studies into the story time example)—his crib for his looonnng (three to four hour!) nap. (How else was I going to do a two hour story time and two hour nap for myself!?) Note: This was ten minutes long tops.

(2) Children who were old enough gathered their books.

Whoever’s day it was did the following: (a) get the book basket with our ongoing books (Family Bible Library or whatever ongoing Bible study that we didn’t already do for unit studies—I did two a day besides devoes; chapter book; poetry or hymn books; longer picture books (especially our Answers in Genesis picture books, which were longer), nature book/magazines, sometimes biographies, but these were usually done in the mornings, etc.); (b) got two books from the bookcase or library basket; and came to my room with those things.

Everybody else got their one book choice. The person whose day it was got to sit closest—and his books were the first and last read. (Who says you can’t make things special when you have so many kids or do things more “individualized”????)

(3) We always kept book markers (or “picks” as my kids called them) in our ongoing books and just picked up where we had left off the day before.

Eventually, we got through tons of chapter books, nature books, etc., using this method. As in hundreds of chapter books….one of my greatest accomplishments was reading these chapter books aloud to my children. The memories and affection resulting in these chapter books were worth all the time.

(4) If a child was able to come to story time but necessarily for the whole two hours, we used the “bus stop approach” that you have heard me talk about with our unit studies.

In that way, we would do all of the picture books first (shorter books with pictures like the Five in a Row books, children’s classics, whatever they picked.

Then, just like in unit studies, the two or three year old would be dropped off at the bus station (i.e. beds for naps). More often than not, they would just fall asleep before we got to the harder books. If we did story time on the sofa, I would send them to bed for their naps when they were getting too fidgety or tired. (And they could have one side of a story tape once they got there.)

Note: For unit studies, I did the same thing—started with easy materials then moved to harder ones. At a certain point, the littles could be dropped off at the bus station—but instead of going to bed for naps, they could stay in the room and play quietly on the floor, which they almost always chose to do. (At some point in unit studies, the littles would often have room time that we had set up ahead of time.)

(5) Then once the littles were asleep or in bed, we would move onto the ongoing books and chapter books.

I tried not to make it a repeat of unit studies, but my kids often picked the creation books, nature books, etc. I did try to save the more fun books for story time, generally speaking.

The post Story Time Questions & Answers Part I of II: General Story Time Tips appeared first on Character Ink.

In addition to talking to our babies and toddlers in the mornings, My husband also communicated with our toddlers and preschoolers at night through what we called “Malachi Time.”

“He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” (NIV) Malachi 4:6

Based on the verse in Malachi about “turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers,” Ray would tuck each child (age two or so and above) in their beds and talk to them.

Sometimes he might read to them; sometimes it might be a quick prayer time. Other times, depending on the kids’ needs, Malachi Time would be a thirty to sixty minute event.

(We often alternated who got short “Malachis” and who got long ones, making exceptions or changes to the schedule based on kids’ needs [and kids’ behavior—i.e. bad behavior sometimes needed even more talk time– that day!].)

Malachi time was such a special time for our olders that they all remember it fondly. They remember that Dad never had to hurry them to bed in order to go watch sports or play his computer game. He never had to rush through their bedtime in order to do his own thing. They knew he always had time for them. (And yes, he worked a lot—had a demanding job working sixty hours a week minimum at that time.)

I have fond memories of our little Cami when she was two chasing Ray around the living room crying out, “Ky ky time! Ky Ky time!” (How many two year olds do we know who beg to go to bed?? :)…) Truly, Malachi time was the beginning of a long (fifty to seventy year?) tradition of availability for our children.

The post 52 Weeks of Talking to Our Kids–Malachi Time appeared first on Character Ink.