Having a good work ethic does not come naturally for most of us, and this is even more true for children. There are families where one parent is a bit carefree or even lazy, while then the other parent is a 'get-r-done' kind of person. This can often cause problems between husband and wife which
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For our family we have many times of, "Thank you, Lord, for our DAILY bread." We are working hard to break the generational bondage of slavery in our family. The slavery spiritual blindness, the slavery of debt and the slavery of trusting the 'experts'. We know we'll never be able to accomplish e
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The QBQ!!! I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is a fast read with short chapters that stress the importance of personal accountability. Although the book is focused on personal accountability at work it bleeds into EVERY area of life! I think this a great book to use at your dinner ta
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If you want to know someone, to see what they are made of, roll up your sleeves and work along side them. Nowhere is this more true than with your family, especially your children! Whether doing daily chores or working for pay outside the home it is your duty to train your children to work
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Bigger schools, more books (think about who is writing the books) and more teachers are not going to solve the education crisis in America. Public education is about control and money. How about parents keep their money and their children? What if your tax dollars were spent on an education that
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What will you do with the gift of today? Waste it or use it? You are what you think about...garbage in, garbage out! There are empty libraries and a LOT people numbed out with Facebook and games complaining about how hard their life is. If you are not getting anywhere...not moving forward,
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People who love Mondays love their life and they know their purpose.When you embrace your purpose and you know it's not about you, but rather about something MUCH bigger, you can't wait to get at it! I get so frustrated with people who gripe about Mondays, about going to work. These same people
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Although this is an article about Canada, the United States is in the same boat, and they are both sinking! It’s hard not to laugh when Barry Smith starts telling stories about the hapless young workers he has to deal with. Smith, who runs Toronto-area roofing company RoofSmith Canada, tells
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For the last couple years I have prayed that my children (remember they are older teens and 20 now) would see real heart ache, to see suffering, not that I wanted it to happen to them, but to see that there are so many in need. I wanted them (and myself) moved to deeper levels of compassion for othe
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A couple weeks ago a quote was used in the sermon at church, it was so rich I just have to share it with you! Dr. Lightfoot shows that it was the custom of the Jews to bring up their children to some trade, yea, though they gave them learning or estates. Rabbi Judah says, "He that teach
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Do you remember your first job, maybe even a part time job during the summer as a teen? Do you remember your biggest lessons learned? Having to work for someone besides a family member can be a great step toward maturity for your children, especially your sons! Be on the look out for ways your
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Before we had kids I was an expert on children! Yep...it's true! THEN God gave me some and I repent and confess I know very little! I think part of my ignorance was because I had two siblings growing up and I was at a baby sitter or at school for the majority of my childhood. Both my parents worked
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”To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them…” ~Richard Henry Lee Emma's 4-H Shooting Club had regional competition last Saturday. They did pretty good. Their club placed third
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Kelly asked: "My question would be how to find a balance between wanting your teens (mine are 13 & 17) to respect you and like you? I want them to obey, but they, especially the boy, challenges me. I am thankful to have a great husband who really interacts with all of us……but, I just
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We value our freedoms. We take seriously our ability to protect ourselves and to protect those who are weaker, life is precious! Did you know that in the pioneer days of our country there was always a gun hanging over the doorway? It was to protect the homestead and family from wild animals and f
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The other day I wrote about Family Life Makes Good Cents, and how we have implemented some things in our home. After a few e-mails I feel like that post needed a Part Two. :) First of all, this is what has worked for our family at this season. The thing about family life is that it is alw
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A couple weeks ago I posted why I believe older kids should have to help pay their own way. Today I'd like to break down how we do a few things and the benefits of living as a family. It is COST effective to live together and share: Auto Insurance - Our adult children can be on our auto insuranc
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Diana left this comment in the comment section of The Two Most Important Things in Education: As our kids are getting into the higher teens and they are getting income from various places we have struggled with what to require of them (for example a friend our ours has her children contribute hal
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Our greatest resource, and possibly the most abused, is TIME! One of the lessons that were taught to me early on in my homeschooling days (almost 18 years ago!) was because of our freedom, and not being limited to someone else's agenda, that it was easy to get over committed and overwhelmed w
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The grass is always greener on the other side... only to find that it still needs to be mowed. If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher! If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet there is more manure there!
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All parents, well good parents at least, want their children to grow up to be responsible, respectable, productive adults. No parent is proud when their adult 'child' becomes a bum who squanders time, talent and money. I am simply amazed at the stupidity of this extended adolescence phenomena that
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How often do you hear parents say that they want their children to have it better than they did? That they want to give them all they can? We love our children and we do want to and should give our kids good gifts, but that does not mean that we should make life too easy for them. Sometimes the be
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Everything is always changing, nothing stays the same. I love going to my grandmother's in Upstate New York, it is where I spent the most of my time growing up and many things there still 'look' the same, but things are different. This old apple tree is a special landmark on Grandma's farm.
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Anyone who knows Olivia knows she has a passion for politics/government. Ever since she was little she has had this desire for justice and what was "right" and what was "wrong". I have always listened to conservative talk radio when I was driving, even when she was little, so current events and po
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I'm going to start a new series called, How to Work It Out. We all know that character and a good work ethic is important, but how to go about practically living that out is sometimes hard to figure out. With this series I'd like to spotlight some parents that are (or have finished) equipping their
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Here is a little twist on Kipling's poem If, written by Olivia: If you can never marry, see all your dreams rearranged, and still remain pure, If you can plan and plot and it all be overturned at a moments notice, and still submit joyfully, If you can slave over a dinner all day on
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The first time I heard this poem was when Charles Heston read it on the radio. His incredible manly voice drew me in; but even more so, the virtue of this poem goes to the core of what manhood is! IF If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you
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Before you read any further I want to make clear this is just a list that we are aiming for, as is the list for our daughters. This list may change a little as time goes on. Our only true requirement for our children to receive our blessing on their marriage is that they and their spouse be Ch
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We all want to give our children a good start in life and that includes the skills and character they will need for marriage and family life. A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Proverbs 31:10 The normative is that most women will get marrie
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A while back we watched Frontier House, a PBS series about 3 families that go back in time to 1883 Montana. Most of the people in this series were not equipped skill wise to live off the grid and on the land. I wish I could find a video clip of the teen daughters when they wer
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I guess it is because the bulk of my parenting (as far as child training goes) is coming down to it's last few years that I realize so much that I wish I'd known when I was younger!!! Most of us are not taught any parenting skills as we grow up, let alone marriage skills, other than what we 'see'
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I received this e-mail from a brokenhearted mom. Unfortunately, her problem is a common one. I always hesitate to advise in these situations because I'm only hearing one side. So let's look at her situation from her point of view. She writes: st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#default#ieooui)
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Yesterday I posted about teens and low expectations. A good look at American history over the last 50-100 years and what we've done to the family can explain a lot . Last night we watched a documentary about a family that moved away from the typical American lifestyle to a simple life.
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This weekend our girls attended the Rebelution Conference put on by Alex and Brett Harris, the authors of Do Hard Things. The Rebelution is all about encouraging teens to rebel against low expectations. I believe that our culture has lowered the standard so much that we actually e
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There are times I can look at the state of our country and wonder if we will ever pull it together; if we will ever have leaders again with character like those that founded this nation. It looks pretty bleak! I see people throw their hands up in the air and grumble how they hate pol
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More than ever do we need to be teaching our children the history of our country. We have got to know real history and defend our God given rights! Prosperity has given us a couple of generations of people who for the most part, just don't care, and to be honest many are flat out lazy.
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I try to read a chapter of Proverbs every morning. I'm thinking if I were to heed the truths in Proverbs more often I'd avoid a lot of heartache and frustration. :o) How easily I forget or reason out why to do what is contrary. In light of yesterday's post about Responsibility and not
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Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man has had to labor for everything, except sin. ~Joel McDurmon We need to resign ourselves to the fact that everyday brings more work. You can complain about it, you can even run away from it, but it does not change that fact that t
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You can lead a horse to water but you can not make him drink it. You can teach, drill, lecture, beg, explain, and even prove facts to a child, but it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to learn it! No passing the buck!
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Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least, you will, by such conduct, stand the best chance for such conseq
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"It is neither wealth nor splendor, 0 but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness." ~Thomas Jefferson True tranquility can only come from God, it's called Peace. We all have a void in our lives that can only be filled with God. Peace comes from knowing that God is
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Will our life’s work stand the test of the fire when we come before the Lord? Will it have lasting eternal value - or will it end up in ashes? There’s an interesting difference between wood, hay, straw - and gold, silver, and costly stones. Wood, hay, and stubble are fo
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"The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure." Montteville Let's be diligent to teach our children that work is a good thing, even a hard, nasty task can be somewhat enjoyable if we have a good attitude.There are many
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Do your kids constantly ask you for money? Do you ever hear, “I’m bored”? Do your children spend money on foolish things that disappear in no time? Do they spend money as fast as they can get it? If so, then it is time that your child learn
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Children can even be successful through failure, as long as they are learning and persevering. True failure is trying nothing, doing nothing. ~Kathy Brodock
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I am not a watcher of Saturday Night Live, but this is so on target for what we are talking about this week!
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It is never too early to teach children responsibility concerning money. Even very young children are given small amounts of money. Teach them how to think wisely - Biblically about their money. Teach them the value of a dollar by earning it. As children grow older
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This is from Character Journal (http://CharacterJournal.com). I love it! Tomorrow we will discuss Responsibility with finances. _____________________________ How to Demonstrate Responsibility at Home * Teach children responsibility by assigning chores relative to their age and ability.
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“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” Teaching our children to serve those around them, which ultimately is serving Christ, is an important tr
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Our family's choice:
You cannot be a true man until you learn to obey.
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