21 Rules of This House

My friend told me about a book called "21 Rules of This House" written by The Harris Family. This is Josh Harris from "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." It is the coolest thing to go through with your kids to teach them the rules and values you want them to have, but done on their level. The whole thing is illustrated and each rule is a color sheet with the rule written on the bottom. The idea is that you take a week to go through each rule, so it takes 21 weeks. Each day, you do something different to reintroduce and talk about it. Thank God I have an HP Photosmart. It's gonna help me so much in homeschooling. It can print, scan, and copy. I copy the rule of the week on Monday, let them color it, and post it on the frige. While they are coloring, we talk about what they see happening in the picture and what it means. I ask them as many questions as I can think of to help them fully understand it. The hope is that they memorize the rule after going through it so many times, but I'm lucky if Judah is even paying attention while I'm explaining it. Most of the time he is talking to himself or singing a song. Gabe gets it much faster and likes to interact with me, especially if I'm asking questions. He even memorized the first one on the first day! I also find a story in their Bible. The one we have is called "The New Bible In Pictures For Little Eyes" by Kenneth N. Taylor. It's the best kids Bible ever! Each story is also illustrated. The stories are very short and to the point, about a paragraph long. After each story, there are 3 comprehensive questions to see if they understood it. If they didn't get it, I use that opportunity to clarify. It also helps us get into a discussion about what we are reading and how they can apply it to their lives on their level. I find two or three stories pertaining to the rule so they see how it plays out in other people's lives and what God thinks about it. You can also use their own personal examples of how "yesterday you didn't share or show love to your brother" or "when you took out your blocks, you didn't put them away." Then have them reenact what they should have done or said. They also get excited to show visitors and their daddy the new rule. I ask them to try to explain it to them to see how well they understand it. After we have gone through each rule, they know what is expected of them so there are no more warnings for discipline. I don't like warnings anyway. The more I warn, the more frustrated I get. That is how you can discipline in anger instead of love. If you're a mom with young kids you definitely want to get this. You can find it on amazon.com and it's very cheap. It helps me not to second guess myself when I feel they did something wrong. I also just bought a guide to use while giving a spanking. I've used it a couple of times already and I love it. Stay tuned for that!!