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Here are your Mega Bundle Resources:

Just click on these links to access them and then you can save them or print them.

• Character Qualities to Teach Your Children
• 10 Ways to Encourage Your Children
• Signers Flash Cards
• 10 Practical Ways to Put Character in Action
• Identifying and Dealing with Offenses
• 50 Things to Teach Your Kids from the Book of Proverbs

Who We Are:

The post Mega Bundle for Homeschooling appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.

We recently celebrated a birthday party for one of my grandsons. I decided to combine the birthday celebration with some fun history. SO…We had a Swamp Fox party. It was so much fun!

Francis Marion – The Swamp Fox

If you aren’t familiar with Francis Marion, you need to be. Heroes are something that our kids need. He was important in the War of Independence. He led a group of men who were a type of Rangers. They hid in the swampy land he was familiar with. They would attack the British and duck back into the swampy areas. It was British general Banastre Tarleton who gave him that name because he seemed impossible to catch or sneak up on. The name stuck. Anyway, he fought the British successfully in South Carolina. If you want more information on the Swamp Fox, we have several resources I’ll list at the bottom of the post.

Here is what we did for the party. I ordered three corner hats from Amazon. We had 8 little boys, so I ordered 2 packs of 4 hats. Then I found these great raccoon tails on keychain hooks to hook onto the hats as well as feathers to let the kids attach to their hats.

If you know the story, a British officer came on a prisoner exchange. Francis Marion invited him to stay for supper. All they had for supper were sweet potatoes cooked on the fire and served on bark for plates.

The officer asked if that was all they ate and he told him it was more than usual since they had company. Then the officer said, “You must be paid well to live this way.” Marion told him they were not paid anything. “Why do you do it then? the officer inquired. For the love of liberty, they told him. He went back to the British camp, resigned his commission, and went back to England. He said the British would never win over men who were willing to sacrifice so much for the cause of freedom.

The Swamp Fox Party Menu was :

Roasted sweet potatoes served on real bark

Roasted possum (aka roast pork)

Swamp water to drink (aka chocolate milk)

Served in tin cups such as the men would have carried with them for drinking

Mississippi Mud Cake for dessert

I found these plates for the kids – they looked like bark

I also gave each boy a cap gun

We made flags and attached them to sticks. Every boy was the Swamp Fox.

Disney back in the 50’s had a few episodes on their TV show of the Swamp Fox and they sing a cute song that one of my grandsons taught the other boys.

Rick told the boys the story of the Swamp Fox to begin the party so they knew the significance of what we were doing. It was so much fun and the boys are still singing the song!

Swamp Fox Resources:

America’s War Heroes reader 

Marion’s Men audiobook

Portraits of Integrity contains his story along with 44 other stories from history

The Fight for Freedom

America First Volume 2

The post Swamp Fox Party – Celebrating Francis Marion appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.

Here are your Mega Bundle Resources:

Just click on these links to access them and then you can save them or print them.

1. Character Qualities to Teach Your Children
2. 20 Ways To Delight In Your Preschooler
3. 14 Reasons Why I’m Glad We Homeschooled Our Kids
4. Identifying and Dealing with Offenses
5. Consequence Chart
6. When Tempted
7. 10 Ways to Encourage Your Children
8. Daily Schedule
9. Bible Quiz
10. Bible Quiz Answers

Who We Are:

The post Character-Mega-Bundle appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.

Fun Summer Days at Home

When my kids were young, I liked to try to do some fun things that weren’t a part of our normal school year- to make summer days more fun. These are simple, inexpensive or free ideas that really just let kids be kids. There’s no need to get fancy or expensive. Kids’ imaginations are the best toy, when encouraged to be used, and simple fun is usually the most fun!

So- before summer bids farewell for another year, here are some simple, yet fun ideas you can enjoy with your kids.

1. Have a marshmallow fight– the kids all love this one. Mom and Dad can join in. Purchase several bags of marshmallows, head for the backyard, and have at it. One rule we established was that you can’t take a bit and then throw it, because it gets all sticky and yucky. The family dogs love this. We’d reuse the “ammunition” if we could get to it before the dog did:)

2. Cook s’mores- nothing is better than marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate- a winning combo. We sometimes toasted our marshmallows on the grill, or sometimes built a bonfire, which was a favorite with all. Sometimes we’d invite friends over to enjoy them with us.

3. Make targets and shoot B-B guns– This one needs adult supervision, but we taught all our kids gun safety rules with the B-B guns. The kids LOVE making targets. We hang each person’s target on a different tree, line up in a row, and Mom or Dad will tell each one when it’s their turn to shoot. After the round is done, everyone runs to see how they did and back for another round to try to break their record.

4. Play under the sprinkler-Easy and fun. Just turn the sprinkler on a good hot day and have at it.

5. Play with Play Dough– Make a fresh batch of homemade playdough and play on a kid’s table or picnic table out under a tree. A couple of my kiddos would do this for hours on a summer day. We have molds of animals and food and little plastic knives. Great fun. Here’s an easy Marilyn Boyer playdough recipe.

Homemade Playdough– from Homemade with Love by Marilyn Boyer

• 1 c. flour
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 c. water
• 1/2 c. salt
• few drops of liquid food coloring
• 3 Tbsp. cooking oil

Mix and cook in a saucepan on medium heat until the mixture coagulates into a ball. Cool. Store in an airtight container.

6. Make homemade popsicles or yogurt pops– (recipe included)

Fruit Yogurt Pops- Good for you!

• 2/3 c. yogurt
• 2 generous Tbsp. honey
• 1 c. strawberries or other fruit

Put the yogurt in a blender. Turn on low and add strawberries a few at a time. Blend till smooth. Add honey and blend. Freeze in popsicle containers.

7. Make a town in the sandbox or garden- All this takes is a little sand or dirt and a bucket of water. My kids used to love building all the stores, hospitals, houses, etc. and then making the roads to connect it all. They do get dirty, but boy do they love it. They can even make signposts and name the roads and subdivisions. My boys really enjoyed doing this and got very elaborate in their creations.

8. Play with play kitchen outside, putting water in the sink- nothing excites little ones like having water in the sink of their play kitchen! I’ll bring all the play food and dishes outside to the deck or patio and this provides hours of fun.

9. Wash doll clothes by hand and hang them up to dry on the clothesline- yes, clotheslines are out of date, but boy is it fun for little girls to have a basin of soapy water, scrub up all their dollies’ clothes and get to use real clothespins to hang their wash out to dry. We’d hang a special line down low for the day so they could easily reach it.

10. Collect wildflowers and make a scrapbook labeling them. Use a field guide book to identify them. It was so much fun finding a wildflower no one else had found yet and fun showing off the scrapbook to grandma or a friend.

11. Make homemade ice cream

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

• 3 c. sliced strawberries
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 c. whole milk (we use raw milk- has it’s own cream)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Clean strawberries and slice. Blend strawberries, sugar, and milk in a blender or food processor using a blade attachment. Pour the strawberry mixture into ice-cream maker and process according to the freezer’s directions. Serve at once when processed or store in the freezer.

12. Decorate cupcakes. I will make up a batch of cupcakes and icing.  Let the kids ice the cupcakes and then choose toppings- M&M’s, sprinkles, gummies, coconut, chopped nuts, crushed butterfingers or heath bars, crushed Oreos, etc. Be sure to take a picture of the finished product! Take a few over to your neighbors to enjoy.

Please comment and share with us some fun summer activities you’ve done. We’d all love to get more ideas! Enjoy these summer ideas! Delighting in your kids is the cornerstone of parenting.

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12 Ideas for Fun Summer Days at Home the Kids Will LOVE! #homeschooling #summeractivities
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Grain-Free, Sugar-free Rhubarb Crisp

I adapted my old stand-by apple crisp recipe as I am now limiting grains and sugar in my diet.
This actually turned out really yummy!

4 cups rhubarb cut into small pieces
1 cup Swerve brown sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds, pulsed in a blender to look like oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease square pan 8 x 8.

Place rhubarb in the pan.

Mix the remaining
ingredients thoroughly.

Sprinkle over rhubarb.

Bake 30 min or until rhubarb is tender and topping is golden brown. Serve warm or cold. I
poured a bit of grass-fed cream on top of mine.

Tasted wonderful!

The post Sugar Free Rhubarb Crisp You’ll LOVE appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.

Lately, I’ve been trying to eat sugar and grain-free, it can be challenging to find snack options that are both satisfying and nutritious. However, these energy bites tick all the boxes as Gluten-Free Energy Bites.

Here is a really YUMMY recipe for energy bites. They are great to grab quickly.

These energy bites have quickly become a staple in my diet because they’re so easy to make and perfect for when I need a quick snack. You may want to make a double batch. They quickly disappear in my house.

Ingredients for Energy Bites

• Sliced Almonds
• Peanut Butter
• Sugar-free Syrup I used Choc Zero. You could use honey instead or any sugar-free syrup)
• Salt
• Vanilla

Recipe for Gluten-Free Energy Bites

1 cup pulsed sliced almonds (you can use pulsed almonds for any recipe that calls for oats.)

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup sugar free syrup or honey- I used ChocZero syrup

dash of salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. cacoa powder

Mix the ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl, using a spatula or spoon to combine everything evenly. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure that all ingredients are incorporated.

Once the mixture is fully combined, use your hands to roll the mixture into small balls. The size of the balls can vary based on your preference, but aim for a size that is easy to pop into your mouth as a quick snack.

Store the energy bites in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

The post Gluten Free Energy Bites appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.

Here are your Mega Bundle Resources:

Just click on these links to access them and then you can save them or print them.

1. Character Qualities to Teach Your Children
2. 20 Ways To Delight In Your Preschooler
3. 50 Things to Teach Your Kids from the Book of Proverbs
4. 14 Reasons Why I’m Glad We Homeschooled our Kids
5. Schooltime Activities for Preschoolers
6. Identifying and Dealing with Offenses
7. Consequence Chart
8. Age-Appropriate Chores
9. Cleaning Poem
10. Resources For Easy But Engaging Family Times

Who We Are:

The post Bundle Gift appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.

I Corinthians 13 Valentine Brownie Hearts

This is a simple way to help teach kids about the true meaning of love as described in I Corinthians 13.

It only takes 3 ingredients- little heart pans, brownie mix, and tubes of icing to write with.

Make up the brownie mix per directions on box. Spray mini heart pans with olive oil spray, fill hearts 1/2 way with brownie mix.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes, but keep a close eye on them.

After they cool, write the characteristics of love on them.

Let children choose which characteristics they want on their Valentine Brownies Heart Shaped.

We wrote ‘LOVE IS’ on a doily and placed it in the middle of our tray and arranged brownie hearts around it.

Then eat and enjoy.

Characteristics of love are:

Love is: kind, patient, not jealous, does not brag, not arrogant, not seeking its own benefit, rejoices in truth, never fails, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Looking for more ideas? This Valentine’s Day Treats with Rice Krispie treats is fun and simple.

The post Valentine Brownies Heart Shaped appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.

I feel sorry for young people.  Youngsters today are growing up without inspiration. They are growing up in a culture in which virtue and sterling character are viewed as obsolete. Much of our society seems dumbed down, watered down, downgraded.

It’s the Me Generation

It’s the Me Generation. The universe revolves around Me.  Don’t do or say anything that might offend Me. Because…well, I’m Me.

You can tell a lot about a culture by noting who their heroes are.  In our culture, it’s entertainers and pro athletes for the most part. We tend to categorize them in the general term, “rock stars.”  These people may be immoral, hooked on drugs, and emotionally derelict, but their exotic lifestyles appeal to Me.

We old folks grew up in a different environment. Although television was beginning to dilute our cultural heritage with bogus heroes such as Superman and Batman, we kids were still inspired by the lives of real people who had done great things—for others, not for Me.

Heroes of the Past

My mom had invested in a set of beautiful Bible story books which I devoured by the hour. Young David had killed the lion and the bear and finally the evil giant, Goliath (He made me a lifelong advocate for the little guy).  Samson had destroyed 3000 Philistines at his death.  Moses had led Israel across the wilderness, praying down supernatural provision along the way. Noah had spent 120 years building a giant ship to save a remnant of the human and animal species.  None of these biblical characters were portrayed as morally perfect, yet they all had an impact on an impressionable little life.  I never got over the thrill.

Along the way, I encountered more heroes. Some of them were real, some fictional.  Television offered cowboy good guys who always wore white hats.  Far better, real life constantly thrust before me examples of people who had done, dared, and suffered great things for causes bigger than themselves.  Our history books introduced us to great Americans (remember that phrase, “great Americans?”) and every school classroom sported a portrait of George Washington.  For a reason.

Born again at sixteen, I began to discover another category of heroes.  Corrie Ten Boom who had suffered in a concentration camp for hiding Jews from the Nazis.  George Whitefield, the great British preacher who led the Great Awakening up and down the American east coast.  John Paton, missionary to pagans so depraved that when his wife and baby died, he slept on their graves to keep the locals from disinterring and eating their bodies. George Muller, who had supported 2,000 orphans by faith, without asking anyone but God for help or even letting their needs be known.  David Brainerd, who poured out his life before the age of 30 in taking the gospel to the Indian tribes.

Sure, boys in my day collected baseball cards. But back then (believe it or not) even sports “heroes” took responsibility for their personal example to the kids who idolized them. They tried to be the kind of people the kids thought they were.  My point is things were different sixty years ago.  Not perfect, but far better than they are now.

Kids Need Heros

Because kids need heroes. Not immortals like Superman who never fail because they are indestructible. But real people with real weaknesses and fears. People who sometimes rise above those fears and win seemingly impossible victories. People of real virtue like Robert E. Lee, so noble in defeat that he was admired by friend and foe alike. There was a time when every town in the South had a school and/or a street named after him, and women brought their babies for him to pray a blessing over them.

One has to wonder when people suggest tearing down a statue, how many of them have even read a biography of the person the statue memorializes.

I’ve pondered on the question of why heroes have such a powerful influence on young lives.  I think one reason is the power of inspiration.  Boys who spend time reading about great men instinctively want to become great men.  To attack great challenges and overcome them.  They see how men in former times suffered, fought and sacrificed for causes bigger and greater than themselves, and became bigger and greater men in the process.

It’s similar for girls, of course. How could a girl read about Corrie Ten Boom and ever be satisfied with a life spent watching soap operas?

Heroes encourage us in our difficulties. And when kids read how Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver rose from slave childhoods to become world changers, it ignites a flame of hope that they too, can one day be world changers as well.

Heroes are life and breath to the optimism of youth. They are hope-givers.  At the same time, they make us ashamed of the littleness of our problems and the pettiness of our excuses.  They make us hunger to be more than we are, discontent with the mediocrity we see around and in us. They challenge us to lift ourselves from the swamp of the mundane and start climbing.

Uncle Rick Audio Book Club

These are some of the reasons that so many of the books I record for the Uncle Rick Audio Book Club are biographies.  I myself thrill to stories like that of Jake DeShazer, who suffered for years through Japanese prison camp tortures and yet went to Japan as a missionary after World War II ended.  I love how George Rogers Clark led his men across 200 miles of flooded, freezing river bottoms to take Fort Vincennes.  And oh, so many others.  Ben Franklin. The Swamp Fox. Stonewall Jackson. Thomas Edison. Fanny Crosby. Patrick Henry. Eddie Rickenbacker. Nancy Hart. Lydia Darragh.

I have worn a number of hats over the years. Each role has had its rewards.  Marilyn and I have met, taught, counseled and learned from thousands of parents and their children.  We’ve been privileged to write books and travel across the country speaking to groups of marvelous appreciative people. But I think that if I had done nothing in my career beyond the delightful work of recording great books for young people, it would have been a wonderful journey indeed.  The fan mail I occasionally get from kids around the country affirms that I’m not the only one inspired by the lives of heroes.

I recently received a wedding invitation from a young man named Michael who has been listening to my audio books since he was a small child.  I have met him only once in all those years.  Now my wife and I are to have the honor of joining his family for this very special day.  It seems that in some small way he views Uncle Rick as a hero in his life.  That’s very kind, but undeserved.   What I’ve done for him anyone could have done. I introduced him to real heroes. And they have helped him grow into the fine young man that he is.  I wouldn’t be surprised if someday he is somebody very special. Maybe even a hero.

~ Rick Boyer

Rick Boyer wears many hats. Parents know him as a speaker/author who tackles the challenges of parenting head-on.  He offers practical, effective solutions based on Scripture and over 40 years of parenting experience.  He and his wife, Marilyn are the authors of many popular books on parenting as well as the Bible-based Character Concepts curriculum.

To homeschooled kids, Rick is “Uncle Rick,” a dynamic storyteller who brings Scripture and history to colorful life and turns them into delightful and life-changing character lessons. The Uncle Rick Audio Book Club offers 2 youth audio books per month for a $10 monthly membership.  Check out his audio recordings at www.UncleRickAudios.com

The post Why Your Children Need Heroes appeared first on Character Concepts Blog.