Do you state more than ask? Do your sentences to your children almost always end with a period rather than a question mark? If so, you might need to learn the lost of art of asking questions to build relationships (with your kids and others!).
 

Many years ago we were introduced to the concept of teaching like Jesus taught. We have since delved into that further, realizing that Jesus was not only a model of how to teach concepts to our children, but he was also the epitome of relationship building with people. This has helped us in our parenting and discipling of our children in general (not just in “teaching” or homeschooling).
 

Jesus used various types of teaching. This showed us that some kids need a certain type of instruction while others need something else. But there was one thing he did that every child needs—a parent who asks questions.
 

In Matthew 18:12, Jesus asked the question, “What do you think?” This has become a common mantra for our parenting/teaching. We have wanted to allow the kids to tell us what they already know or what they think—and then we could build on that. Asking open ended questions is a super method for academic training—and for heart training.
 

Asking questions is all the rage now in business building, counseling, relationship building, and more. It is, however, often overlooked as a way to get into our children’s hearts and minds.
 

I think this is in part because we tend to view questioning our kids as invasive—like they will think we are interrogating them or something.

Here are a few question asking tips for you:
 

1) Start young 

I know…I say this about everything. But it is so true about everything!

In questioning our kids specifically, if we start asking them questions when they are very young, it will not seem suspicious when we really do need to interrogate sometime. 🙂

2) Ask open ended questions—like Jesus did!
We used a few key open ended questions with our kids:

a. What do you think?
b. How do you think he feels?
c. What ya thinkin’?
d. Penny for your thoughts (See the article on this here.)

3) Get your kids accustomed to your asking questions when they get home from somewhere or when you pick them up after an event.

Our kids thought something was wrong if we didn’t start asking them questions as soon as they got in the vehicle!
Sometimes we would ask general questions to get them talking (who was there, was it fun, what did you do, etc.). Other times we would say things like…”Details…I need details!” (They always loved this because it was really code for “I have as much time as you need..”).
 

We often ended with what contribution they made…who did you talk to, who did you help, how did you include people, etc. (You can ask questions and teach at the same time!)
4) Be sure there are lots of questioning times with no ulterior motives or lessons planned. (See When You Just Need to Listen here.)

Sometimes we just need to get them started talking. We don’t need to have ulterior motives to teach, instruct, or correct. We just need to get their words and heart flowing.

Asking questions is a great way to do this!
What questions do you ask your kids to get discussions going? How has question-asking helped your family?

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The post 52 Weeks of Talking to Our Kids: When It’s Time to Ask Questions appeared first on Character Ink.

Download the podcast notes here.

Listen to previous podcasts here.

For 8.5 x 11” posters and three worksheets that you can use with your children concerning these topics, click HERE to subscribe to our weekly e-newsletters. You will receive a link to great printables that you can use to teach your children these concepts (and/or to remind yourself of them!).  Already subscribed?  You’ll find link in this week’s newsletter for these posters 🙂

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Recently when my sister, her husband, and her two young teen daughters were here visiting in Indiana from North Carolina, we took as many from our family who could come and my sister’s family to our local YMCA to play a game called “walleyball” (rhymes with volleyball). This game is similar to volleyball in its rules–with the addition of walls as it is played in a racquetball court.

Since the court is smaller than a regular court, the game is actually a little easier for those who are not as strong–but not as easy for stronger people who hit the back wall (one of the out of bounds zones) quite often. The combination of the walls, the rules, the size of the court, and the various strengths of the players that night has made me think over and over again in the days since we played about the idea of the “mulligan.”

As indicated in the opening of this post, a mulligan is “an extra stroke allowed after a poor shot”–that is NOT counted on the scorecard or against the one who has been issued the “second chance.”

This term is one that we have thrown around our family of seven children (now ages seventeen through thirty-two) for years since my husband is a master at adapting games to fit the crowd who is playing. He loves to bring two or three families together and modify a kickball game or our oldest son’s homemade handball invention in order to allow littles to play with biggies; parents to play with children; and lesser skilled participants to play with “athletes.” Thus, a “mulligan” is a familiar word–and one that has been spoken many, many times in our home over our thirty-two years of parenting as we have enjoyed playing with our children.

It wasn’t uncommon during our walleyball night to hear someone shout “mulligan” whenever a person attempted to serve but didn’t make it over the net. Then we would evaluate and determine “yes” the person gets a mulligan or “no” he does not. What has led me to think of these mulligans quite often since that evening is the criterion on which we based giving mulligans during our play.

I mean, how does someone tell a sweet, small, twelve-year-old balletic niece that she cannot have a do-over after she tried so hard to get the ball over the net?  Or how do you turn down a poor middle-aged sister (*smile*) who is still recovering from frozen shoulder surgery: “too bad–you should have hit it harder”?

So when did we give mulligans that night–and what does this have to do with parenting?

Allow me to give you our walleyball mulligan run-down:

1. My younger niece is not a “ball” type of athlete. She is a dancer, cheerleader, and gymnast. She is also fairly tiny. She was a good sport about the whole night–but walleyball probably wouldn’t be her first choice of games. Because she is small, she had trouble getting her serves over at times, so everybody agreed to give our sweet Brittany some mulligans when her serve fell short of the net.

2. My sister had just had surgery for frozen shoulder approximately ten weeks before our Y night. She was able to play okay, but definitely didn’t have the range of motion that a serve often requires. Thus, we moved her closer to the net and gave her mulligans.

3. Our youngest daughter (24) has never been a volleyball player. She always thought she was terrible at it, and she often sat on the sidelines and watched others play through the years (in spite of her being very fit, a runner, and serious ab-workout girl!). She wouldn’t ask for a mulligan when she missed, but because she has just been learning volleyball over the past few years, we sometimes offered her a mulligan as well.

Who didn’t get a mulligan?

1. I adore volleyball. I played a little in high school, and while I’m not great at it, my years of experience in playing it at picnics, etc., meant that I was not a mulligan candidate.

2. See that athlete in the picture above–serious tennies and headband? That is our son’s wife who was the captain of her high school volleyball team and took MVP at nationals. She played a year of volleyball in college–no mulligan for that expert!

3. See that young man below? He is our seventeen year old–our youngest child. And he can be hyper, funny, loud, helpful, compassionate, and crazy all at the same time. On this particular night, he (as many seventeen year old boys do) tried to serve overhanded as hard as he could in an effort to score on every serve. Thus, he often hit the ball too hard and hit the back wall or the ceiling–both out of bounds spots. No mulligan for someone who knows how to do it but is hot dogging! 😉

4. None of the men or teen boys got mulligans. They are strong, athletic, and competitive. No motivation or encouragement was needed!

So what does this have to do with parenting? More than you might think.

In the “game” of parenting, we have the opportunity every day to give more chances or to show “tough love”–to extend grace or to train through consequences. We face these situations often unprepared.

We lament over them–“I just feel like if I don’t bring his shoes to gym class and he gets an F for the day, he will blame me” or “I know we have told her dozens of times not to leave her phone lying around at the gym, but now that it is stolen, I feel sorry for her because she misses talking to her friends. And we homeschool, so her phone is a way she socializes,” etc. etc. etc.

And I am not making light of any of these scenarios. We, after all, have raised six “teens”–and have one teen that we are in the thick of raising (a last child, nonetheless!).

Grace. Training. Mercy. Responsibility. I mean, honestly, who wants to choose among those?

warming up…

But let’s break down our walleyball game a little further to see if we can get some benchmarks for giving our kids mulligans:

1. Brittany is younger. She is not as strong as the big guys. She is not as used to ball handling like her sister who plays basketball at school. Extending mulligans to Brittany, who was trying to serve the ball over the net with all her might and had a good attitude in the process, is a good decision.

And so is giving a mulligan to a child who is struggling and genuinely wants to change/alter his behavior/make things different. And you know what? Most of the time we parents know when this child deserves a mulligan. The key is going to be to not give mulligans forever to a struggling child–but to gradually reduce the mulligans as the child becomes stronger and more adept.

2. My sister was injured for pity’s sake! She was being a sport just joining in the family fun.

When a child is downhearted or overwhelmed, he often needs grace. I don’t mean in trouble because of continual bad decisions or poor character but rather truly discouraged. When mercy is extended to a child in this situation, it can make a huge difference in how he pulls himself up by his bootstraps and gets moving in the right direction.

How long does a person with a shoulder injury need to recuperate before she should just serve already? Just as my sister’s doctor told her that it varies from person to person (with hers being more extensive once they got in there and found bone spurs as well), so it is with our children.

This is where heart parenting really comes in to play. Should the mulligans come to an end and this “injured one” come back now? Are we prolonging the healing process by not letting her live with consequences?

Someone who is hurting needs a mulligan–but not forever.

3. Volleyball playing is somewhat of a new experience for Kara. Granted, she is twenty-four, but she has only been getting on the court and playing over the past couple of years. You could say that she is in volleyball training.

A child who is “in training” in a certain area needs more mulligans than the child who has already been doing that skill or task for a while. We talk about this in our parenting seminar (Raising Kids With Character)–the idea of “childishness.” Childishness (forgetfulness, irresponsibility, etc.) in a child who is still learning his morning routine or his after school chores is best handled incrementally–with mulligans in place as needed–but not so many mulligans that the immaturity and irresponsibility remain.

We gave Kara a mulligan or two–but her volleyball training is about over (evidenced by how much better she played tonight than the previous time we played), and her walleyball mulligans are about to come to an end as well.

What about those who didn’t get mulligans?

1. Strong people who have done something over and over again do not need the motivation that comes with a mulligan (usually). It was easy to tell our twenty-two year old, athletic son to roll the ball under the net if he hit the ceiling on his serve. No training was taking place; no motivation or encouragement was needed.

2. Those who were hitting the ball so hard that it hit the ceiling or the back wall did not need mulligans. They needed to learn cause and effect. Walleyball is different than volleyball–the court is shorter and the back wall and ceiling are off limits. If you continue to smack the ball with that force, you will serve it out, and the other team will get the ball.

It wasn’t that hard in our walleyball game to determine who got a mulligan and who didn’t.

And while that isn’t always the case in parenting, we can use some key benchmarks for extending grace, including age of the child, past experience, whether other consequences have already been in place but didn’t help, the attitude of the child at the time, the frequency with which something occurs, the strength of the child, and more.

Because sometimes each one of us needs a mulligan in this game called life. But we also need to learn and grow. Because each of us needs a little grace sometimes. But because the Bible tells us that we can easily take advantage of that grace. Because we don’t want to exasperate our children. But we don’t want to be the kind of parent who doesn’t help our child become responsible or kind or thoughtful. Yes, sometimes we need to give our children mulligans.

The post When Do I Give My Child a “Mulligan”? appeared first on Character Ink.

Our son and daughter-in-law whom this post is based on are coming up to their first anniversary of marriage. And we were so thankful that we helped guide them through their dating and engagement years. Thought we would re-run this one as it is almost always pertinent to someone! 🙂

Our first “guinea pig”! Our first born child, Joshua (31), with his wife of ten years. They put up with our novice parenting skills during their courtship and engagements–but I am so thrilled with the loving, romantic, deferential, and fun marriage that they have!

Yes, you read that title right! Our twenty-one year old engaged son (soon to be married–in four months!) NEEDS his parents.

(As a side note, ever since we have had sixteen, eighteen, and twenty year olds, we have believed that sixteen to twenty is actually the highest need time for our kids in terms of parental guidance and input….but that is another post for another day.)

There are key things that we can do to help Jonathan be a great boyfriend, awesome fiance–and soon, fantastic husband!

BFFs for two years; a couple for two more; engaged for six months–the sweet, happy couple

Jonathan and Maelynn have been engaged for six months, a couple for two and a half years, and best friends for two years prior to that. Jonathan is our third child to get married, so we have quite a bit of experience in the boyfriend/fiance department (as well as a mishap or two along the way–there is no perfect way to help our kids find their way in the romantic relationship/marriage department!).

We have been extremely active in Jonathan and Maelynn’s relationship from the beginning (as we have been for all three marrieds and another daughter in a serious relationship now). But not just Mom and Dad–the siblings kept their phones handy on the night that Jonathan was to propose–and texts, pictures, well-wishes, and love you’s were flying across cell phone lines throughout the night.

So here are five ways we can help our sons be good boyfriends/fiances–with this list making the assumption that said son is old enough to get married or consider getting married and the girl he is in a relationship with will likely become his wife in due time. (When to start relationships, lengths of relationships, serial dating, etc., are all topics for another post, again, on another day.)

One of the perks of being in a great relationship with your kids–getting to help them plan the fun things of life–here Ray is helping the kids plan and reserve their honeymoon!

1. Start with YOUR relationship with your son

In other words, don’t let him get himself into just any relationship. As Jonathan and Maelynn’s friendship grew, so did our time with Jonathan. There was a lot to do emotionally and spiritually, after all!

We were there from the beginning—helping him decide how to pursue the relationship, coaching him on how to talk with her dad, encouraging him to tell her his heart, and guiding him in the path that appeared to be unfolding before him.

By starting the relationship with our sons, we can help them during the initial stages–help them avoid heartache, see things that they cannot see, etc. Obviously, this “starting the relationship with him” takes a lot of pre-relationship heart work. We had to have such a strong relationship with Jonathan (and Joshua, age thirty-one, ten years ago) that he WANTED us to be a part of what was going on–that he sought out our counsel, encouragement, wise words, vision, etc. (See TEENS posts at Raising Kids With Character!)

Family days can provide lots of time to talk, see how the relationship is progressing, have fun, and help our son learn how to be the best boyfriend ever!

2. Be available for both of them

When Jonathan and Maelynn became a couple (and had both parents’ blessings to pursue each other), one of the first things that we did was take them to dinner and tell them flat out that we were available. I believe my husband’s words were something like “We are super excited about your relationship and really pray that it works out wonderfully. We want you to know that we are always available for you. That we will be here to cheer you, to support you, to encourage you, to help you. That we are always here.”

Then we followed up–texts to both of them help us keep a pulse on the relationship. Time with just the four of us when they are home from college gives us further glimpses into the hearts of these amazing young people. Long phone calls about wedding plans (okay, and yes, spread sheets that I make in Excel to help them stay on track with wedding preps!) continue to let them know that these parents aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

3. Check on the girl’s heart through your son

Boys are not naturally sensitive, intuitive beings (okay, I’ll say it–men are not naturally this way either). Jonathan has unusual kindness, sensitivity, intuitiveness, and compassion–but even he overlooks things in their relationship at times.

We constantly check with Jonathan on Maelynn’s heart: “How do you think Maelynn feels about that?” “Did Maelynn say that is what she wants too?” “Is Maelynn still struggling with this or that? If so, how are you helping her?” “How have you deferred to Maelynn lately?” “Are you putting her first after the Lord–and does she know it?”

Without Jonathan even realizing it, we are helping him learn to be the type of husband that Maelynn will want in the future. We are actually “parenting”–but without curfews, punishments, or constant lessons. These “heart checks” continually give Jonathan the tools he needs to grow as a fiance’.

With these “Maelynn heart checks” also come encouragement and affirmation for Jonathan when he is being a great fiance. During a recent phone conversation I had with Jonathan, he said that he had asked Maelynn specifically what she wanted to do on the four year anniversary of her mother’s death–and then he told me that they had taken the afternoon off from school and walked on Lake Michigan (near their campus), talked about her mom and anything Maelynn wanted to talk about, then read together from “Five Love Languages” (not sure where he ever got such a notion!! ; 0 ). That evening they watched a movie and relaxed. He had discovered what his girl needed on this difficult day and set out to make it happen.

I gushed, “Oh Jonathan. You are such an amazing fiance. You seek out Maelynn’s needs and then try to meet them. That was so special. I am so proud of you for your sensitivity and care for her.” See—teaching, training, encouraging, and affirming–all because of availability and asking the right questions.

4. Check on the couple’s physical relationship often

My husband is the type of father who loves to ask questions. He feels that the kids can learn more through their answers to our questions than they would if we just gave them the answer or told them how we wanted things.

The same is true in the area of romance. When our kids begin a relationship, he asks them what their physical plans are, point blank. “Do you see yourselves holding hands or hugging?” “How about arms around each other or leaning on each other while watching a movie?” “Do you plan to kiss during the courtship period, engagement period, or not at all (before marriage) on the lips?”

Then he listens. Then he gives them input. (“You guys have a long three years ahead of you in this relationship. I agree that kissing should be reserved for the engagement period.”) He can confirm, add to, give advice, etc., because he asked them first. And then, guess what? They ask him what he thinks! (Sneaky, huh???)

Ray asks them how they are going to stay true to their commitments in this area first (again). We help them design safeguards for their physical relationship–no kissing in the car, no being alone at one of your homes, etc.

Once the parameters have been set in the physical relationship (by the couple, with our input), we can help them stay true to their physical commitments. Ray has asked our sons who have been in relationships exactly how things are going on a regular basis.

We are helping our son be a good boyfriend (then fiance–and eventually husband) when we walk through appropriate physical contact with them from the beginning–and check on them often. Our future daughter-in-law deserves a husband who keeps his word and loves her enough to honor their pre-marital intimacy decisions.

5. Encourage your son to have fun and make things special

We want all of our married kids to be hopeless romantics like us!

Ray and I are hopeless romantics! We ballroom dance nearly every weekend because with each song “there is a three minute period in which nobody needs anything and the only people in the world are the two of us.” (Told you we were hopeless!)

And we encourage our kids in relationships to be romantic, spontaneous, fun, and surprise-filled. When Jonathan and Maelynn first started dating two and a half years ago, Ray told them to make a list of all the fun things they wanted to do together during their summer school break (after work, of course!). He told them to check it every week and be sure to do something fun each week.

Long mornings at an old, dusty book shop, long walks in the park, singing together, movies, and concerts are some of the fun things Jonathan and Maelynn enjoy doing together.

Before they got engaged six months ago, the entire family called Jonathan one-by-one to offer advice on the perfect engagement night. It was loads of fun–and encouraged Jonathan to not just get engaged but to really GET ENGAGED! 😉

A couple of days before the big night, when Jonathan was heading out to go back to college, my husband slid him a fifty dollar bill and told him to “go ahead and take her to The Melting Pot. You want this night to be as special as it can be.” Yes, I had to go two weeks without a dinner date with my husband–but it was worth it to us to help Jonathan afford a super special engagement night. Encourage romance in your son–this really makes a girlfriend/fiance happy!

We even tell the boys that it is Scriptural to have fun and “cheer” your wife: “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business; but he shall be free at home one years, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken” (Deuteronomy 24:5). I know, I know…taking a verse out of context, but doesn’t that verse say something about how God views a marriage relationship and the husband’s role to make the wife happy????

Occasionally, we just ask Jonathan, “Other than studying together for twelve hours on Saturday, what special thing did you do with Maelynn this weekend?” It can be as simple as walking downtown Chicago, playing in the game room at the college, or renting a movie for the two of them–but we don’t want him to skip special things even in the midst of busy-ness (and two very serious, studious college kids!).

Additionally, we like to have fun with the sweet couple. It isn’t uncommon at all for Jonathan to get a text from me giving him a potential schedule for when he is coming home to see if he and Maelynn can join us for pizza night, game night, park day, or a movie out. Being in these settings with the two of them helps us see how their relationship is going and what we can recommend to Jonathan to be a better boyfriend/fiance.

Fun family times with the couple also give us chances to listen to Maelynn when she talks and point out little things that Jonathan might miss. (It isn’t uncommon at all to hear my husband talking to one of the marrieds or dating kids on the phone and say, “I heard ____ say this the other night. What do you think he/she is feeling?” OR “When ____ said this, I didn’t feel like you were really listening.”) In addition to potentially helping a current situation, we are also helping to train our son or daughter’s ears for really listening to the other person.

Trust me, you WANT your son to be a good boyfriend/fiance to the woman he is going to marry because it lays the groundwork for his marriage relationship. This is the perfect opportunity for us to help our son hone the relationship skills (empathy, kindness, generosity, compassion, selflessness, love, deference, etc.) that he has been learning at home for the past eighteen or twenty years. Our training years are not over just because our son is in a serious relationship. He still needs us–and his girlfriend/fiance will be overjoyed that we helped him become a better boyfriend/fiance!

Pre-marital time with his girlfriend/fiance is the perfect opportunity for him to hone those relationship skills and character qualities that he has been learning at home since he was little.

The post Five Ways to Help Your Son Be a Good Boyfriend/Fiance appeared first on Character Ink.

In this Wondering Wednesday audio podcast, Donna Reish of Character Ink Publishing and Raising Kids With Character Parenting Seminar, explains many of the terms and concepts foundational to the Reish’s Raising Kids With Character Parenting Seminar. In this episode Donna explains foolishness versus childishness, bringing in boundaries, expectation explanations, parenting in the black-and-white versus parenting in the gray, and much more.

Click here to download the printable handout.

Subscribe to our Wondering Wednesday podcasts in iTunes.

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Do you ever wonder how a Mom can keep homeschooling for ten, twenty, or even thirty years? Or have your ever wondered if you will be able to last that long? Find out some of the secrets to long-term homeschooling from Kathie Morrissey and Donna Reish in this new ebook.

Do you struggle with any of the following? 

• Scheduling conflicts?
• Laundry problems?
• Family unity issues?
• Reading difficulties? 
• Prioritizing issues? 

Sixty Homeschooling Tips From Sixty Years will give you help in these areas and many more!

If you have found yourself wishing you had a veteran homeschooler to mentor you, or a person that you could get lots of advice from that has ‘done the stuff’ for three or six decades, look no further! Our book, Sixty Homeschooling Tips From Sixty Years, gives sixty (count ’em, sixty!) pieces of advice from two veteran homeschooling moms. 

For the homeschooling mom who is discouraged and feels like giving up, DON’T! Get advice and inspiration from two women who didn’t give up, but kept the homeschool light shining brightly in their lives for over thirty years each! 

Check out the Table of Contents here.

Go here to order!

READ WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS BOOK:

“It’s not often that you get to pick the brains of homeschool moms with 60 year of experience between them. This book allows you to do just that. Kathy and Donna’s advice is encouraging as well as inspirational. It covers the gamet from homeschooling tips to marriage advice to character training and more. I’ve been homeschooling for 12 years and I’m still finding lots of unique and specific tips that I’m looking forward to incorporating into our day. Be sure to grab a copy for yourself.”  –  Michelle Caskey

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“Even my husband was impressed with the book. We both read it and it led to several thought provoking discussions as homeschoolers, parents, and spouses. We both received valuable insight from these tips. It was great!” – Jen

I’ve read through the first 15 tips and have been affirmed, encouraged and challenged. Hearing these things from experienced home schooling moms who have both graduated students and are still schooling is great. Looking forward to the rest. -Abi Craig

The post 60 Homeschooling Tips From 60 Years appeared first on Character Ink.

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Take a look at what we do below—and contact us to learn more!

“Raising Kids With Character” Christian parenting seminar—available in four, six, eight, or ten session formats! For churches, parenting classes, homeschool groups, conventions, and more!

Ray and Donna enjoy helping homeschoolers with parenting, marriage, homeschooling, language arts, writing, family life, and more!

Ray, Donna, and Joshua enjoy speaking to groups at homeschooling conventions and have over fifty topics to choose from, including fathers, mothers, parenting from toddlers to teens, character training, how to teach (reading, writing, English, speech, debate, history, literature, and more), study skills, home management, marriage, reaching your children’s hearts, organizing, and much more!

Donna explains her three writing and language arts programs at homeschool conventions: Character Quality Language Arts, Meaningful Composition, and Really Writing (ebooks–coming out fall/winter 2014/2015).

Ray and Donna enjoy speaking together in their “Raising Kids With Character” parenting seminar (for Christian parents) as well as at homeschooling conventions and their homeschooling workshops.

Ray and Donna Reish, directors and founders of Character Ink, write, speak, and teach at their “cottage classes” to test Donna’s books, parenting seminars, small groups, and homeschooling workshops.

Joshua enjoys writing new Meaningful Composition books with Donna, teaching over one hundred “cottage class” students each semester, and speaking at homeschooling conventions with his parents or on his own. Check out his speaking topics and cottage class offerings!

Ray and Donna enjoy helping parents raise and reach the hearts of their teens in their homeschooling workshops (“Reaching the Heart of Your Teen,” “Homeschooling Through High School,” “What Your Teen Needs From You,” “What Your Wife and Children Need,” and more!) as well as in their “Raising Kids With Character” parenting seminar (non-homeschool-specific or homeschool-specific version).

Meaningful Composition, our composition-only Christian writing series, covers grades two through twelve (see specific titles for availability) and teaches students how to write using Character Ink’s “Directed Writing Approach.” Check out our two week samples to see how your student can learn to write well—and enjoy the process!

Character Ink’s writing methods, from our “Directed Writing Approach” to our signature “Checklist Challenge” for editing papers to our “Overview Source Method” for research writing, will have your student writing amazing papers in no time! Check out our Character Quality Language Arts samples, our Meaningful Composition samples, and our new Really Writing ebooks (non-religious shorter writing books)!

Our Christian parenting book, The Well-Trained Heart, explains how we discovered a heart-training method for raising children, while instilling character qualities into their lives. Check out our first chapter!

Character Quality Language Arts (CQLA) is our anchor homeschool product. Four levels of books, covering grades two through twelve, each 1200 to 1500 page work-text provides all of your student’s language arts needs (copy work, vocabulary, spelling, editing, outlining, writing, grammar, usage, dictation, and more) in one book!

Ray and Donna love to speak to married couples about the parallels of ballroom dancing and marriage in their sessions called “Dancing With Your Star–Insights From the Dance of the Ballroom to the Dance of Marriage”!

Students engage in lively discussions in many of Joshua’s “cottage classes,” including literature, world history, US history, economics, government, apologetics, speech, and debate.

In Character Ink’s “Cottage Classes,” Ray, Donna, and their assistants teach up to two hundred students in four locations each semester—from complete CQLA classes (all language arts) to writing to high school sciences and many high school social studies (taught by Joshua with his own syllabus and materials). Check out the class descriptions and registrations forms for upcoming classes!

Character Ink materials use our signature “Directed Writing Approach” method for teaching writing. No more questions about what to write, how to write, or when to write. From Brainstorming Boxes through our Checklist Challenge, we leave nothing to chance when it comes to teaching students how to write!

Contact us to enroll students in cottage classes; order our products; book a speaker for your event; or host a parenting or language arts/writing seminar!

Character Ink

11120 Aboite Center Road0-450-

Fort Wayne, IN 46814

260 450 7063

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