We get asked a lot lately about how many of our products are now downloadable. Turns out that making 300 to 1600 page books into individual downloadable lessons and booklets takes a whole lot more time and effort than I envisioned! 😉

But we are doing it….little by little! This post will give you a little glimpse into what we have done so far and what our plans for the future are!

1. Write On, Mowgli; Write On, Peter Pan; Write On, Beauty and the Beast–our darling Book-Movie-Book month-long writing booklets are all available now (fifteen total!). We will be adding Write On, Christmas Friends this fall with some amazing holiday writing lessons that I have been testing over the past two years (with amazing samples of all of the projects!). Click HERE to view our books.

2. Really Writing was my original brainchild for converting Meaningful Composition writing assignments into downloadable monthly booklets for homeschoolers and brick and mortar schoolers. They are cool books–but the branding has kind of been all over the place….so look for these to change to Write-for-a-Month this winter (at our store and our Teachers Pay Teachers store). In the meantime, we have a few of them up as RW and dozens more to go up soon! Click HERE to view our books.

3. We have very gradually been getting other language arts downloads up. We have offered several of those as freebies on the blog and in our newsletter. These are cool booklets that REALLY work! We have our “How to Complete the Checklist Challenge,” “How to Write From a Source,” “How to Use Our Writing Boxes,” “Preposition Practice Packet,” “Think Fast Grammar Quiz and Answer Key,” “Write On Audio and Booklet Set for Teachers,” and much more! Click HERE to view our other Language Arts downloadable products.

Of course, we still have our print book lines, Character Quality Language Arts and Meaningful Composition!

Thanks for being a part of Character Ink!

Love and hope,
Donna

The post What Downloadable Products Does Character Ink Press Have? appeared first on Character Ink.

With the addition of live video Cottage Classes to our line up next year and the completion of the Meaningful Composition and Write On writing series recently, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my books.

Technically, my books can be broken down into four categories:

1) Complete language arts for second through twelfth grade Christian homeschooling families and Christian schools–Character Quality Language Arts (CQLA). Twelve print books of 1200 to 1600 pages each (worktexts). We use these in our full language arts Cottage Classes.

2) Composition/writing only for second through twelfth grade Christian homeschooling families and Christian schools–Meaningful Composition (MC). Twenty-two print books of 350 to 500 pages each (worktexts). We use these in our writing/composition Cottage Classes.

3) Write On! (based on books/movies)…Mowgli, Peter Pan, Beauty and Beast for second through twelfth grade homeschoolers, Christian schools, and public schools. Fifteen books available in print and downloadable formats. These are also worktexts. We have been testing these in our Cottage Classes as well (and many of these projects are also in MC books).

4) Downloadable products–little by little we are getting my lessons, concepts, and approaches up at our store, Teachers Pay Teachers, and CurrClick. These include how to use our Checklist Challenge, how to memorize prepositions, short writing projects of one week each, coloring books/readers, preschool and kindergarten letters and sounds program, and much more.

I’ve explained these further in the Facebook Live video below!

Check out the samples, books, and even videos of many of these products!

CQLA

Character Quality Language Arts–click on the image below for free one month samples!

Meaningful Composition (2 week samples!)

BookMovieBook Series (free samples at store!)

Language arts and reading books based off of the Jungle Book, Peter Pan, and Beauty & the Beast movies!

Other Downloadable Products

More language arts, character training & organizational tools!

More helpful reading:

Watch me teach how to write research reports here.

Writing With Adjectives (Facebook Live video lesson)

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The post Which Character Ink Press Writing Series Is Right for Your Family? appeared first on Character Ink.

It’s finally happening! I am finished with the Write On, Beauty and Beast books (five books; five levels; downloadable AND print books)—and they are going up at my stores!

Yay! That makes five Write On, Mowgli! books; five Write On, Beauty and Beast! books (by the end of next week); and two Write On, Peter Pan! books (with the other three coming the first of April). Check out the description of the Write On! books here.

The first one available is the Junior High book, and I love it! I have been testing the assignments with our one hundred cottage class students over the past two semesters, and it has been a blast!

This Level III book is designed for junior high students and contains the following projects (from pre-writing through final product with all the instruction and skills needed for each assignment): Expanded Writing Boxes With Beauty and Beast Story and Original Essay of Three Castle Objects You Would Choose as Friends.

Can someone say FUN and CUTE!?

So you might be wondering what makes these books (or any of my writing books) different from other writing books…I’m glad you asked!

There are a few secrets to my books’ success in getting kids to write (and like it!):

1) Interesting topics—Um, yeah, our Book-Movie-Book line up of books contains super interesting topics

2) Directed Writing Approach—never a writing idea book; never starters; never vague instructions about what a student should do…but hand-holding, step-by-step instructions that take a student from idea to final product with all of the steps in between

3) Skill Building along the way—I don’t ask students to write a type of paper that contains certain things without also teaching the skills that are needed to complete that project. (Have you ever had an assignment in which a student was supposed to include a quotation but the assignment didn’t actually teach the student how to write with quotations? So sorry!)

Each project in all of my books has detailed samples for students to see how the project was written by another student and in depth lessons of all of the skills needed in order to complete that project.

In the case of Write On, Beauty and Beast III, the following skills/lessons are taught in the two writing projects (Writing Boxes and Three Castle Friends Essay):

1. Sentence by Sentence Writing Boxes for Beauty and Beast, including adding describers to each sentence and ending with multiple paragraph writing (and extensive Answer Keys)

2. Brainstorming Boxes and organizing material for castle friends

3. Research objects in a castle

4. Quotation inclusion

5. Notetaking from source

6. Transition lessons

7. Paragraph Writing From Notes

8. Thesis Statement

9. Thesis Statement Reloaded; and more!

Each write on book (five Mowgli, two Peter Pan, and two Beauty and Beast) has sample pages. Check them out! See if my new downloadable AND print short books might work for you!

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The post Write On, Beauty and Beast III Up at Stores! appeared first on Character Ink.

Yep…this is the first of our Write On, Peter Pan books! In case you are not familiar with the first five Write On books in this growing series (Write On, Mowgli!), here is the scoop on the entire Write On series:

“The Write On! series of books is from Character Ink Press’ Book-Movie-Book line of publications that are starting to come out in spring 2016. The Write On! books are writing/composition books of two to four lengthy lessons each, between 80 and 120 pages per book (depending on the level). These books contain writing projects based on old books/current movies that children and adults love. The program contains all types of writing, especially focusing on research reports, essays, and stories.

The projects in the series all use the author’s signature “Directed Writing Approach,” which takes students by the hand every step of the way from prewriting (brainstorming, character and plot development, research, etc.) to skill building (for projects requiring certain skills, such as quotes or imagery or persuasion, etc.) to outlining (based on the type of writing) to writing rough drafts to editing (via the Checklist Challenge) to final copy. No vagueness. No questions as to what to write or how to write.”

Each series (Peter Pan, Mowgli, and Dumbo) contains five books:

Level I: Early Elementary
Level II: Upper Elementary
Level III: Junior High
Level IV: High School
Level V: Advanced High School

These books in this Write On! series are available as downloadable e-books (at Character Ink Press and Teachers Pay Teachers) and as print books through Character Ink Press and Amazon. Current and upcoming titles (five books in each title) include the following:

Write On, Mowgli (April 2016)
Write On, Peter Pan! (January 2017)
Write On, Belle and Beast (February 2017)

Write On, Peter Pan Level III

Now on to this cute book (the first of five coming out over the next few weeks). This is the Junior High book (Level III)…no rhyme or reason there. It is just ready first! All five will be here over the next few weeks!

This Level III book is designed for junior high students and contains the following projects (from pre-writing through final product with all the instruction and skills needed for each assignment): Essay Writing—Three Favorite Characters Essay and Dialogue Story: Dialogue Between Two Toys in the Darling’s Nursery.

Each project has detailed samples for students to see how the project was written by another student and in depth lessons of all of the skills needed in order to complete that project:

~ 1-3-1 Essay Approach lesson

~ Quotation Inclusion in Essay Writing (with punctuation lessons)

~Thesis Statement instruction

~Directed Brainstorming Boxes

~Sentence-by-Sentence Outlining, including links/transitions

~Writing With a Series of Three or More

~Extensive Checklist Challenges

~Dialogue Writing

~ Said/Asked/Exclaimed lesson

~Colon use in dialogue

~And more!

And more good news—there are over a dozen pages of this book available to print and check out/use or view to see if the level looks right for your student! AND….all of the Write On books are available as a single family download or a group/co-op/class download, so check out the two prices for those. And for those of us who are old school, Amazing and Character Ink have the print versions spiral bound with colorful covers as shown in the pictures! Something for everyone!

View Samples & Check It Out!

Thanks for checking them out!

Love and hope,

Donna

The post [Product Highlight] Write On, Peter Pan! appeared first on Character Ink.

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Have a question you are wondering about for a future Wondering Wednesday?  Email Donna here.

Not signed up for our Freebie Fridays?  You can do that here! 🙂

Subscribe in iTunes and on YouTube!

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Dear Wondering Wednesday Friends,

I think I have finally figured out how to get my videos all uploaded (as long as each one is under fifteen minutes long). So…welcome to another Wondering Wednesday video!

I have audios as well as blog posts (as well as entire sessions of Raising Kids With Character seminar and homeschooling workshops) on The Four D’s of Behavior and Handling Heart Behaviors, but I think a video suits this topic well with the poster packs and worksheets we offer (by the same name).

In this video, I walk through the Handling Heart Behaviors Poster Pack and Worksheets to show you how to use these tools—and how to handle the Four D behaviors in your home (with or without the packet). (The packet was a freebie in March, but it can be purchased here.)

Watch Part I:

The store description of the packet will help you understand what the video contains as well:

“In this helpful parenting packet, Donna Reish (of Raising Kids With Character seminar, Homeschooling With Character seminar, and Character Ink Press and blog) offers three worksheets to help parents of tweens and teens work through some of the difficult heart behaviors (described in The Four D’s of Behavior podcast episode and Handling Heart Behaviors of Tweens podcast episode).

Watch Part II:

The worksheets included are designed to be used first by the parents (to determine ahead of time the behaviors that need changed and the way these behaviors will be handled) and then by the parents with the child. They help parents take these behaviors (disrespect, fighting, and disobedience) from gray (“Don’t talk to Mom like that”; “Quit fighting”; and “I’m not telling you again…go do it!”) to black and white (where everybody knows what is expected and what the consequences will be for infractions).

All of the worksheets have the same general steps (with spaces to fill in) to begin with:

(1) Make a list of unacceptable behaviors

(2) Make the list of consequences/plan for carrying them out

(3) Choose signaling words and phrases to be used when the offense is committed

(4) Determine what the appropriate/acceptable response from the child will be.

Additionally, each page has its own signaling words laid out for parents and child. The Disrespect Sheet has the “changing tone” signaling words in order to give the child a chance to change his tone and realize how he is speaking. The Disobedience Sheet has the “no response rule” with appropriate signaling words for that rule. Finally, the Fighting Sheet has the “no accusing signaling words” to help children change how they “tell on someone” and the “will you stop” signaling words to keep the request civil and circumvent potential fighting. These worksheets were developed after thirty-three years of Christian parenting—and they really work!”

Thank-you for your continued support!

Love and hope,

Donna

P.S. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!

Links to check out:

Video: The Four D’s of Behavior Poster Pack

[Printable] Four D’s of Behavior Download

[Printable] Apology Posters

[Podcast] Ways to Spend More Time With Your Kids

[Podcast] 10 Tips for Staying Close During Intense Training Times

[Podcast] When to Give Chances and When to Take Action

The post [Video] Handling Heart Behaviors appeared first on Character Ink.

If you’re already subscribed to the blog or the newsletter, you don’t have to do a thing…these freebies will show up in your inbox!  If you’re not subscribed and would like to be, click here!

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I have been trying and trying to get this Wondering Wednesday video up. I taped it three times, and I just got the file to upload!

This (along with the Character Pies video and charts) is such an important concept in parenting that I really hope I can find creative ways to get this information out to young families even more! (We will for sure be discussing this in our “”Tweens and Teens: Major on the Majors” workshop in Kelona, British Columbia in three weeks!)

Watch Part I below:

Here is the store description of the poster pack, but even if you do not have the poster pack (from March’s Freebie Friday—go to the blog and subscribe so you don’t miss future freebies!), the video can still be a big help in understanding these behaviors.

“This pack contains eight posters to use with your children to teach them what the Four D’s of behavior are. Each 8.5×11″ poster is colorful and eye-catching.

The entire set maybe used altogether or one at a time as you teach the concepts. One of the posters contains all four D’s of behavior – disobedience, disrespect, deceit, and distraction. This poster summarizes the four of these with bullet points. Then each of the four D’s has its own poster in which that “D” is elaborated upon and described in more detail.

Watch Part II below:

Also included is a disobedience math poster in which Donna lays out the foundation of obedience – doing what you’re told, when you were told, with a good attitude. This disobedience math poster has the obedience plus delay, obedience plus own way, etc., all laid out in a visually pleasing manner and one in which children can learn from quickly.”

Love and hope,

Donna

P.S. If you have any YouTube advice for me, please contact me! 🙂

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