Just Like Me --by Margaret Hillert

The famous men and women

Who helped our country grow

Weren't always great and famous

Those long, long years ago.

George Washington and Betsy Ross,

Ben Franklin, Paul Revere

All started out as babies

And grew a bit each year.

They started out as children

Just boys and girls like you

Who worked and played and laughed and sang

And cried a little, too

And learned their lessons when they could

And said their prayers at night

They never knew we'd call them great

And keep their mem'ries bright.



They never knew someday they'd be

Famous names in history.

How we plan to teach our young kids about money

So, McKay is already interested in money. It started in the store when he wanted something I wouldn't buy him. I'd say, "I don't have money for that. Do you? You'll need to buy that with your own money." Then he'd say, "Why don't you go buy some money?" or "Write a check." I had to laugh but realized he may be ready for some lessons in earning and spending money. I started checking these books out from the library since I am a HUGE Dave Ramsey fan and McKay LOVED them. Especially the one called "The Super Red Racer," about how a boy named Junior earns money from working to buy his own red bike. McKay's interest was now peaked. I decided to buy the whole children's book set so we didn't have to keep going to the library to get them. They came yesterday in the mail and immediately he wanted to read the others we hadn't been able to check out from the library.

Along with the storybooks, I decided to try out the kid version of Financial Peace University (for Adults) called Financial Peace Jr. (Teaching Kids About Money!) and I'm so excited to get started on it! I have recently implemented a chore system for McKay where if he does his chores each day he gets paid a "commission" (currently, I pay 5 cents a day) and he's totally motivated! It does take more work on my part to help him get through his chores each day but my feeling is that it will be totally worth the time I put in.

I'll let you know how things go with this kit--I'm really excited to get started! And who knows, maybe Dan and I will learn something too!

Interested in TJEd?! See below!

Have you ever been able to attend a presentation by Dr Shanon Brooks? I
know that some on this list have missed the opportunity when he was here
for the Seminars and the Previews -- but he recently posted this video
recording of his overview. He even answers the question "Education vs
Schooling" are they the same or different.

I've posted them on our blog. Enjoy!

http://nwtjed.blogspot.com/2010/07/introduction-to-tjed.html

Posted by: Ann Agent

Project INSPIRE: Ten Grands for Kids

I always have this motto in my head, "Inspire, not require."

Well, I want to instill in my kids the love for music, and especially for the piano, since that was a love of mine and still is, in my life.  It's hard to find places that will allow children this young to participate in the audience but I took my chances with a "Ten Grands for Kids" Concert that was made FREE through the Snowman Foundation (http://www.snowmanfoundation.org/).  McKay and Elijah loved it!  It only lasted an hour and 15 minutes as opposed to the typical 3-4 hour concert they normally give.  I wish I had a clip from the actual concert but of course it wasn't allowed.  Here's one from a couple years ago.  Their concerts are really quite amazing.  I'd love to have our kids participate one day!

One cute thing McKay noticed was when some of the young pianists mentioned their ages (i.e., 13 or 15 years old, etc., there was even a 9-year old!!) McKay would say something like "Hey, that's close to Joseph Smith's age, cause he was 14!"  I thought that was kind of cool!

Since we can't go to concerts very often, I am finding the internet to be a great resource.  You can find a lot of great clips of fabulous instrumentalists which I can show to the boys, and they enjoy it.  Another thing I could also do better is to practice on the piano more myself, which I'm trying to do.

Teaching Right and Wrong

One of my favorite quotes by Dr. Laura recently is " . . . I get calls from parents so enamored by the fact that their kid is so talented or smart that they forget that their kids have to grow up to be descent people." (something to that effect--I wish I had the exact quote)

Isn't that totally true? Some of the best parents I know literally FILL their kid's lives with music lessons, dance lessons, scouts, soccer, daycare, friends, outings, hobbies, games, etc, and honestly, the kid never has time to "learn how to be a good person." Dr. DeMille (from "A Thomas Jefferson Education") says that children in the "Core Phase" (ages 0-8 roughly) learn the lessons of good/bad, right/wrong, true/false and this is accomplished through work/play. Well, it's easy for me to say, since I don't have kids involved in all that stuff right now, but you really need to good chunks of downtime with your children for "the instilling of values."

Here are a few ways we are trying to teach values, virtues, morals, whatever you want to call them, to our children. My feeling is that a true leader, or a patriot, must have these qualities, and these must be taught while they are in their youth.

The first thing we LOVE are the "Standin' Tall" series by Janeen Brady. I grew up with these and to this day sing the songs to myself at times when I'm faced with a moral dilemmas. I highly recommend them!


It comes in a set of 12 books/CDs and the values that it covers are:

1. Obedience
2. Honesty
3. Forgiveness
4. Work
5. Courage
6. Happiness
7. Gratitude
8. Love
9. Service
10. Cleanliness
11. Self-Esteem
12. Dependability

Another thing that hasn't worked as well as I hoped this year but I've improvised is having my kids be a part of a Joy School (preschool) group where moms take turns teaching lessons based on the Joy School Curriculum written by Richard and Linda Eyre. Joy School is another thing I grew up with, and since I was home-schooled I was able to help my mom teach it to each of my siblings. I love the lessons, I love the songs, I LOVE what Joy School teaches. These lessons are honestly as applicable to adults as anyone in my opinion. My only regret is that Joy School has gotten more expensive over the years (because of popularity) and there are typically cheaper options that groups will choose instead. I hope I can get a group of moms together for this upcoming Fall to do a Joy School group with me. Here's their website http://www.valuesparenting.com in case you are interested.

The final thing I'll mention now is a new thing for me, as in, I didn't grow up with these, but they are wonderful! My father-in-law actually got these for us and honestly I don't remember seeing them before--



We have started reading these books to our boys at night, for Family Home Evening, and when we have "dead time"--I shouldn't really call it dead time, but it's cool: Dan will be cooking in the kitchen, the boys running around like wild indians, and I'll just open one of these books and start reading to the family, and every so slowly, the kids will come over to the couch to follow along, or, if it's the main book of virtues, Dan and I will have some neat conversations stemming from something I've read. Honestly, the "Virtues" talked about in these books seem almost foreign in our society now--what has happened to "hard work," "responsibility" and "forgiveness?" I want our boys to know these things, and I want to know them even better.


Does your family do something special to instill values in your children?
Please share!!

"Kidschool"

OK. I admit to this plan not really catching on here yet. McKay has been involved in a mom's co-op preschool which has made the implementing of this plan difficult so far, but I really want to kick into this soon. I've even debated quitting the preschool group but haven't yet decided. I'm still weighing all the pros and cons. . .

"Structure Time, Not Content"
Oliver DeMille

Kidschool* (9-noon)
Chores
Read
Write
Learning "Games"
Music Time (piano, other instruments, theory, listening, etc.)
Indoor Activity
Outdoor Activity

*not necessarily in this order