Teaching Virtue ~ FREE Character Study

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Without virtue, man can have no happiness in this world.” We sure are seeing this a lot today. Many human beings have lost their moral code and knowing the difference between what is right and what is wrong. It is so important to teach virtue to our children, especially in this fallen world.

Virtue isn’t just a character trait. Being a virtuous person takes decision making skills. You choose the right road, or the wrong one. This is something we can teach to our children especially at home.

Once they are out in the world so many things will be thrown at them. It can be hard to make the right decisions when you are surrounded by many that are not making them. If they have had practice making good decisions during their childhood and teen years, most often they will carry that out when they leave your home.

Teaching Virtue

We can teach virtue to our kids by setting the standard and leading by example. They model what they see at home. If you are making wise choices they will want to follow suit. Also, talking openly about why you have made certain decisions and making decisions together as a family helps.

Establishing rules and setting limits at home will help them to make wise choices while still living at home. Why are there limits set on technology, especially the internet?

Talk openly about movie and music choices and the dangers of clicking on the wrong thing and what it can lead to. Why do you have standards and rules on what can and can not be watched at home? What are your reasons for that? Explain these to your kids as you set them.

Doing a character trait study together is a wonderful way to start an open discussion with your family.

Teach virtue to your children with this month’s free character study printable pack:

This  Character Counts planner will teach you how to plan a month long study on the character trait of Virtue. Parents love that our planners are open and go and customizable. You can pick and choose what you would like to print and use for your family. You can use them anytime in the year since they are undated. I keep all of our planners in a big binder. We have a nice large collection of them as we download them each month. They are great to pull out if there is a specific character trait that you need to work on in your home.

Many families also use these for a morning Bible time in their homeschool. These planners are designed to be simple and fun, with activities for your entire family to participate in together. This is great for family time and has there are fun conversation starters. Yes, even parents can benefit too! 

This is what is included:

  • Character Quality Family Checklist Worksheet
  • 4 Week Study on Virtue
  • Analyze and Evaluation Sheets
  • Character Trait Planning Worksheets
  • Virtue Printable Posters and Scripture Posters
  • Virtue and Your Gifts
  • Family Virtue Brainstorming Session Sheets
  • Virtue Study Worksheets for Kids
  • Certificate of Completion

The directions on how to download your free Character Counts Planner are sent in each weekly ezine. The planner access information is always located at the bottom of each email. If you are not signed up, you can sign up HERE.

Build Virtuous Habits & Patterns thru Homeschooling

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Finish Well Homeschool Podcast, Podcast #135, Hope for the Mom of a Wayward Child, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network

Build Virtuous Habits & Patterns thru Homeschooling

In “Build Virtuous Habits & Patterns thru Homeschooling,” Episode, #136, Meredith Curtis gives some practical reality to what Charlotte Mason calls “Patterns & Habits” by zeroing in on 6 character traits (humility/obediene and honor/industriousness/diligence and faithfulness/greeting/service). She gives practical tips and wisdom so that you can use habits and patterns to build these virtues into your children’s hearts and lives. How do you build habits that turn into patterns of living anyhow? Don’t worry! Meredith will show you how!

 

 

 


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Show Notes

How to we instill virtues through habits and patterns?

Model

Scripture Memorization

Role playing/training

Correction

Try, fail, redo, try, succeed, rejoice

Proactive opportunities

Reward

Humility

God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

A teachable heart starts with humility. “I have something to learn and you have something valuable to teach me.”

How to model humility and maintain authority.

Obedience/Honor

Obey immediately, completely, and cheerfully

How children treat parents is how they will respond to God

Obedience Game

Holidays (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, others)

Thank parents/spouse for what they do

Hard Work

The Lord commends hard work and declares that all hard work brings a profit.

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop

How screen time sucks our children’s drive and ambition out

Schoolwork

Chores

Reward hard work

Diligence/Faithfulness

But when the Son of Man returns, will he find faith (faithfulness) on the earth?

He who is faithful in little is faithful in much

Do your best in everything. Whatever you do work at it with all your heart as if working for the Lord

Schoolwork, making bed, clearing plate from table, putting away what you get out, chores

Teach the joy of completion with easy tasks with occasional challenges

Reward faithfulness & diligence with praise and awards

Greeting

Greet one another.

Greeting communicates love and value. Place high value on others

Manners/etiquette

Teach to greet if shy

Greet when you arrive and when others arrive

Always say goodby and “thank you for having me”

Service

You are not the center of the universe

J.O.Y.

Joy of giving and serving

Notice needs

Play the “Let’s discover needs” game

Serve in small ways and grow

Help carry diaper bag/help carry others’ diaper bags/bring in groceries/carry boxes

Bear your own burden and help others bear their burdens

Talk about how fun it was to serve

DON’T complain—complaining saps the joy out of serving!

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Resources

Jesus Fill My Heart and Home by Meredith Curtis Lovely to Behold A Wise Woman Builds by Meredith Curtis God's Girls 104: Motherhood by Meredith Curtis

 

How-to-Homeschool Books if you want to learn more about homeschooling or plan to homeschool 😊

Joyful and Successful Homeschooling by Meredith Curtis Unlocking the Mystery of Homeschooling High School by Meredith Curtis and Laura Nolette Quick & EZ Unit Study Fun by Meredith Curtis Seven R's of Homeschooling by Meredith Curtis

 

These are just a few of our many resources that work well for all ages together!

Newspaper Reporting by Meredith Curtis Travel God's World Geography by Meredith Curtis Travel God's World Cookbook by Meredith Curtis HIS Story of the 20th Century by Meredith Curtis

More Podcasts You Might Find Helpful

Finish Well Radio, Podcast #080, 12 Happy Habits with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network Finish Well Radio Show, Podcast #085, Don't Waste Your Life with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network Finish Well Homeschooling Podcast, Podcast #104, From Goal to Habit with God’s Grace, with Meredith Curtis on the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network Finish Well Radio, Podcast #041, Get In Shape Spiritually for the New Year with Meredith Curtis on The Ultimate Homeschool Radio Show

Raising Boys in a #MeToo Generation – MBFLP 227

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

You spend years teaching your sons right from wrong, good manners instead of bad, and all the right social skills. Yet in a super-sensitive time, even a hint of misbehavior toward a female – sometimes just an accusation – can affect the rest of their lives! When you’ve worked hard to keep your son’s conscience clear and his life innocent … how can you keep him from stumbling into trouble he didn’t deserve? This episode, we’re talking about training your son how to keep his life above reproach – and sometimes, making hard choices because they’re not only right, but safer.

The Most Important Thing

The best way to stay out of trouble is simply, don’t do it! Paul asked in Romans 6:2, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?Jesus said, “If you love me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) If we claim the name of “Christian” we have a responsibility to live like it. If you don’t chase after sin, then you’re not earning the trouble that comes with it. Easy, right?

We need to be careful about the “hidden” sins we permit ourselves, too. Pornography is a trap that many young men fall into. When Jesus warned in the Sermon on the Mount, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart” (Matthew 5:28), He put His finger right on the use of porn–what else could you call it? Sadly, young men who dive into porn sometimes try to imitate it, but always receive harmful, false ideas of how to relate to women. It’s poison.

One thing that seems common to so many of the accusations that emerged with #MeToo is alcohol use. How often to we hear protests or explanations that start, “We were at a party and we’d been drinking …” This is not about the morality of alcohol per se, but a simple observation to our sons–it’s best not to partake when you’re young, single, and need to be alert!

But even if we’re careful to avoid sin ourselves, we need to be very cautious about who we associate with. Proverbs 13:20 says, “The companion of fools will be destroyed.” Peter, again, says in 1 Peter 4:3-4,

We have spent enough of our past lifetime [before we became believers] in doing the will of the Gentiles–when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties … In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.”

Did you catch that? He not only warns against drunkenness–unquestionably sinful–but also drinking parties. Just hanging out with people who are pursuing sin is risky behavior, and it can damage our reputation even if we weren’t deep in the sin with the others.

(continued …)

 

 

 

Reputation matters

In fact, that’s a good place to wrap up. It’s important to avoid a negative reputation, where people are willing to believe an accusation because it would be consistent with your past behavior. But even better is to build such a positive reputation for the right sort of behavior that even when the accusations come, those who know you will come to your defense. The culture is pushing us to believe that men and women are interchangeable, that there’s no difference in their thinking and feeling, that everyone wants to live out the same lascivious fantasies–yet the Bible tells us differently, and experience proves it!

Our calling is to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh (Galatians 5:1), and our lives should be marked by the fruit of the Spirit–which includes things like kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). When our sons walk in that spirit, they may not avoid every accusation, but they’ll steer clear of trouble they can avoid, and they’ll find it easier to deflect the falsehoods others may fling!

Upcoming Events

July 15 – Albuquerque, N.M. – Redemption Hill Church

July 19-20 – Phoenix, Ariz. – Arizona Homeschool Convention

November 8-10 – Flat Rock, N.C. –  Come Away Weekend marriage retreat

Building or Re-Building – To Become A Better Husband – MBFLP 170

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Our sons face particular pressures on their way to becoming husbands – and fathers face some of the same issues as they live out their own vows! In the second part of Hal’s presentation to a recent men’s conference, he’s talking about the reality of both the temptation and the grace to resist it or if necessary, to repent and recover from a fall. It’s another look about being intentional about preparing our sons to be effective and godly husbands!

Want to know more about our new book, Love, Honor, and Virtue, and how it can help you teach your son about Biblical sexuality and equip him to walk with integrity? CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE!