Home Grown Hearts Academy Homeschool Blog: character study

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

We Choose Virtues Parenting Cards ~ Review

Hello friends, I've always found teaching good character to be one of the most important things I could do for my daughters. I'm sure as a parent or teacher you will agree just how important it is. I was recently blessed by a recent review that helped me and my daughters immensely. We just recently had the opportunity to review KJV Parenting Cards and a Download Bundle from We Choose Virtues. We have been using them several times a week and my daughters and I absolutely love them. The recommended age is 3-11.

What are the Parenting Cards?

The Parenting Cards are 13 double sided, high quality cards and measure 8.5' x 5.5' in size. These wonderful cards are loaded with helpful tips on introducing and demonstrating the 12 virtues. They include a virtue user challenge, "What to say after 'I'm sorry'", a virtue catchphrase, antonyms for the virtue, the name of a "Virtue Kid" with an inspiring story, and a wonderful bible memory verse. I love that they are made so well, because I can use these for years to come. I also loved that you could lay them out or hang them up to be displayed on a wall. I had ever intention of hanging them up, but never did get around to it, because we liked being able to change them out and focus on certain ones more in depth. We also had fun picking a virtue of the week and displaying it on our refrigerator.

What is the Download Bundle?

The Download Bundle is packed with wonderful tools that are sure to help in teaching the 12 virtues. The bundle includes a handy teacher's handbook, a family character assessment sheet, very cute coloring pages, butterfly awards, and sing-along song sheets.

How did we use this wonderful tools from We Choose Virtues?

We started by filling out the Family Character Assessment sheet that was included in the Download Bundle. I noticed immediately that we had areas to work on and decided to start with the virtues cards and tools from the Download Bundle that would benefit our family most. The best part about these awesome tools, was being able to tailor them to our families needs. Being able to be flexible with the tools helped us address areas of individual need while also learning and working together. It also lead to wonderful discussions about each virtue and how we could help each other. Each Parenting Card features a character with an adorable name and story. My daughters absolutely loved hearing the stories and my youngest daughters favorite activity was coloring the characters. I'd love to give you an example of one of the cards. A particular card we covered one day was the "Kind" card. This card features a cute character named Kettle Gretel. We went over the Virtue User Challenge and read all the stories, tips and bible verse. One activity was making a kindness poster. Each of my daughters made a poster that had two sections. One section said "Please don't" and the other said "Please do". They wrote things that they didn't want, for example, one daughter said "Please don't say rude things to me." This activity allowed each sister to understand the needs of the other. We hung the posters on our refrigerator and referenced them during the course of our review. I loved this activity and felt that it gave my daughters the opportunity to list some things that were bothering them and also lead to discussions on fixing issues and being kind to each other.

The teachers handbook also found in the Download Bundle is filled with lots of great information and ideas on how to teach each virtue and enrich your character studies. I found that it was nice to print and reference when looking for fun, workable ideas. There is no need to print it if you don't want to though. It can also be read and referenced from the file.

Also used during the review were the sing-along songs. They were so fun to sing and my daughters had a blast learning them. I even heard them singing them out loud at later moments. It was fun to hear. The songs are sang to the tune of familiar songs, such as B-I-N-G-O. This made learning them even easier for my daughters.

The bundle also includes Butterfly Awards that can be printed as many times as needed. These awards are to be giving after a child is caught using their virtues. I remember a similar idea when I was growing up called "Caught You Award". It was an award that a teacher would give us in school, when we were caught being nice or helpful. I always loved receiving them. My daughters thought these were neat also. I will admit, that I didn't originally print out as many as I should have, but that's the great thing about having them in the bundle. I can print as many as I need when needed.

I think we did very well with the KJV Parenting Cards and the Download Bundle and I would recommend them to every parent and teacher. I loved that my daughters had fun with them and it didn't feel like I was forcing them to participate, but rather they wanted to because they want to have good character. We Choose Virtues has definitely created wonderful learning and teaching tools and I'm glad we had the opportunity to review them.

What do they cost?

Parent Cards ($38.49)

Download Bundle ($7.99)

Right now thorugh June you can use Promo Code BIG50 for 50% off their amazing set of 12 11x17 Kids of VirtueVille Posters! This is the first time they have ever offered these posters at this price. They are great for school classrooms, Kids Church, or your homeschool room.

Also, through August, you can use Promo Code BTS20 and save 20% on anything in the We Choose Virtues Store.

Want to connect with We Choose Virtues?

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wechoosevirtues

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/WeChooseVirtues/

Blog -- http://www.wechoosevirtuesblog.com/

Click below to read more great reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew

Monday, April 21, 2014

The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions Review

Hello Friends, I recently had the chance to review The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions from Home School Adventure Co. What a huge blessing! I went into this review with expectations of how wonderful this book would be for my daughters. I had no idea how reading this would touch my heart in the way it did.

So, what is The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions?

The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions is a 160 page, fourteen chapter classic book written by George MacDonald with added analysis journal questions. The story follows two young girls, a princess and a peasant, through their experiences with The Wise Woman. Both girls' parents have spoiled them and lead them to a point where intervention was needed. The Wise Woman recognizes overwhelming pride in both of the young girls and sets out to help them. Both girls have very different circumstances forming different forms of pride. Each girl experiences a different form of creative discipline.

A wonderful woman, Stacy Farrell, has taken The Wise Woman and added around 16-24 analysis questions to go with each chapter. The analysis questions are wonderful, as they carefully helped us to examine the morals of the each characters' actions.

My daughters, ages 10 and 9, did have a bit of a hard time understanding some parts of the story and some of the journal questions. This presented a perfect time for us to have a discussion on what each part meant and how understanding it, could bless us. I found that The Wise Woman can teach you a lot about yourself and some parts even showed me what I didn't care so much for. I think the key is being open to it. I also wanted to add, that some may have the impression that this book if only for women. This is not the case at all. This book is a great story and study for both male and female. The age range recommended for this book is around ages 12 and up, but when used for read aloud and discussion as a family then ages 9-11 would be appropriate as well. High schoolers will be easily able to read and compete questions on their own. We found that approximately 30-45 minutes was a good amount of time for us to read one chapter and go through the questions.

There is also a section in the back of the book that focuses on vocabulary. We found this section to be extremely helpful. There were times when reading that my daughters would look at me confused and ask me what a word meant. The vocabulary section allowed us to study the word and write the definition. I found that writing them down, allowed my daughters to remember them better.

My Final Thoughts

My daughters and I really loved this book. I loved how creative the story was and how it turned out to be a wonderful character study for my daughters and for me. I was able to really reflect on my parenting and see areas that needed improvement. Perspective is a wonderful thing and one I certainly got when reading this wonderful story. I certainly recommend The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions not only for young people, but for everyone. I will be keeping this book in a safe place and revisiting it in the future with my youngest daughter.

What does The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions cost?

We received a downloadable copy for the review and the cost for the downloadable copy is $14.95 but you can purchase a print book for only $28.95.

Friends, right now The Home School Adventure Co. is also offering a promo code for downloaded purchases. Just use code CREW-10 and you will receive 10% off. The code is only valid through May 15.