This is from The Homeschool Lounge:

Some of you may have some experience with this, and (while that hurts me to think you’ve lived with it) I need a little help from those who have had some real success!

For those who have had a child who could fire up and respond in anger quickly, I’d love to know more about some of the Godly responses and tools that helped you through it.

Please consider this is a boy about the age of 7. He can become easily frustrated, and it builds rapidly. Sometimes we don’t see it coming, and even when we do, I often say or do the wrong thing.

Help?

Thanks in advance!

Hugs to you, Jennifer!

After experiencing similar anger/tattling/conflict/fighting problems, I decided to incorporate The Young Peacemaker into our day by doing a page or two each morning for our devotional segment of school.

Studying the topic of peacemaking preemptively, instead of only talking about it when there is an anger outburst, has made a huge difference in the atmosphere of our home by reducing the number of kid-conflicts. Reducing, not erasing! :) We still have at few each day! But, because the foundation has been laid, they are easier to work through than before.

My seven, five, four, and three year old are doing a fantastic job of memorizing the verses for each chapter (we do about a chapter a week).

If you put good things in your heart, good things will come out of your heart. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)

There is even a resource page dedicated to using The Young Peacemaker as part of homeschooling.

I hope this helps. I certainly have learned a lot from doing The Young Peacemaker with my kids – and I’m a moderator at PeaceGals.com! It certainly gave me a new perspective when training my children vs. talking to adults about the same topic!

Much love,
SJA

From Peacemakers:

The Young Peacemaker is a powerful system that parents and teachers can use to teach children how to prevent and resolve conflict in a constructive and biblically faithful manner.

The system emphasizes principles of confession, forgiveness, communication, and character development, and uses realistic stories, practical applications, role plays, and stimulating activities.

Although the material is designed for 3rd through 7th grades, it has been successfully used with preschool and high school students.

The lessons in The Young Peacemaker may be summarized in Twelve Key Principles for Young Peacemakers:

1. Conflict is a slippery slope.
2. Conflict starts in the heart.
3. Choices have consequences.
4. Wise-way choices are better than my-way choices.
5. The blame game makes conflict worse.
6. Conflict is an opportunity.
7. The Five A’s can resolve conflict.
8. Forgiveness is a choice.
9. It is never too late to start doing what’s right.
10. Think before you speak.
11. Respectful communication is more likely to be heard.
12. A respectful appeal can prevent conflict.

The Slippery Slope

The Young Peacemaker uses a simplified version of the Slippery Slope to help children understand the various responses to conflict.

The slope is divided into three zones:

The Escape Zone: Deny, Blame Game, and Run Away

The Attack Zone: Put Downs, Gossip, Fight

The Work-It-Out Zone: Overlook, Talk-It-Out, and Get Help

The Five A’s of Confession

Children, like adults, can learn to confess their wrongs in a way that demonstrates that they are taking full responsibility for their contribution to a conflict.

Admit what you did wrong.

Apologize for how your choice affected the other person.

Accept the consequences.

Ask for forgiveness.

Alter your choice in the future.

Four Promises of Forgiveness

Children can learn to forgive one another in a way that models the forgiveness they have received from God through the gospel of Jesus Christ:

I promise I will think good thoughts about you and do good for you.

I promise I will not bring up this situation and use it against you.

I promise I will not talk to others about what you did.

I promise I will be friends with you again.

These promises may be summarized in a poem that is so easy a four-year old can memorize it:

Good thought
Hurt you not
Gossip never
Friends forever

Today was the first day of the driving segment of my motorcycle class.

Above is a picture of the bike I rode in class: a silver, 2007 Kawasaki Eliminator 125.

The pace of the class was just right – it was challenging, but I gained a little more confidence with each skill I mastered.

Prior to this class, the only time I’d ever been on a motorcycle was as a passenger – once – on my father-in-law’s bike. I am tickled that I went from knowing nothing about driving a motorcycle to riding around in (go ahead, laugh!) third gear.

Admittedly, as I watched the instructor do the dry run, there were a few exercises that made my stomach feel like it does at the crest of a tall roller coaster. They seemed impossible for me to do. As I approached the course, I just took a deep breath and relaxed. I ended up doing just fine. (Everyone stalled a few times, so my stalling doesn’t count!) No crashes or bike-dropping to report.

There are two things I need to practice:

One, I have very small hands. I really have to stretch them to reach the clutch or the brake levers. The instructor said that I can put my wrist at the very top edge of the grips in order to operate the levers – this is a little trickier than it sounds! I really have to almost let go of the throttle or the left handle bar in order to squeeze the levers completely. Obviously, my hand isn’t going to grow, so I need to just be smoother in transitioning.

The second thing I need to work on is shifting. There were a few times when I felt like the bike was getting away from me. To compensate, I’d try to do the clutch/downshift and I’d lurch a little. Or, I’d be looking through a turn and would be trying to shift up a gear and would have trouble finding or feeling the gearshift through my boot and then would kick it more than what I needed to. Eek!

Again, though, in the last quarter of the class, I was much improved compared to the third quarter. Really, if I can do this anyone can. The instructors are so thorough and really coach the riders each step of the way. Exercises were followed by a discussion time during which we identified the skills we used and the instructors offered pointers.

About 20 minutes before the class ended, Tom brought the kids by to watch. It was so cute to listen to them talking in the back seats about mommy on the motorcycle – two “m” words that I never thought I’d hear in the same sentence, EVER. :)

UPDATE -April 5

Well, I passed the written test but failed the driving test.

My foot touched down in the middle of a “figure-8” (which is done within in a very small rectangle on the pavement) and I went a few seconds over in the lap/sharp corner test (gaging speed before going around a sharp corner – apparently, I could have gone faster) . I passed the quick-steering around an object (counter-weighting) test and the “stop on a dime” test.

So… I’m really bummed. BUT, the instructor said that I did great and that it’s just a matter of having more practice.

To have a little perspective, Saturday was only the second time I’d ever driven a bike in my life. Many of the other students had been riding for years, illegally, and then were regularly riding their bikes since recently obtaining their permits for the class.

I’m not sure if I’ll take the PenDot test at the driver’s license branch or if I’ll retake the free class. Either way, I’m focusing on the Bradley Teacher’s Training for the next few weeks. The next motorcycle class opening isn’t until I get back from Florida anyway.

In the mean time, Tom’s once-frightening bike doesn’t seem so scary to me anymore and I think I’ll take it to a parking lot for a spin to see if I am comfortable enough to take it out in traffic. With my permit, I can ride during the daylight and without passengers.

What do I think about motorcycles now? If you know how to ride them safely, you won’t be as afraid of them. Ladies, if you are afraid of your husband getting a bike – may I suggest that you and he take the class together and see if it changes your mind :) Even if you are not the primary driver of the motorcycle, and plan on just riding on the back, this skill is helpful to know if you are ever in a situation where your husband is unable to drive and you are stranded somewhere with only a motorcycle to get help or go home.

“You won’t get to ultra-simple if your life includes children … but you can find ways to simplify, no matter how many kids you have.”

Long ago, we implemented a majority of the things mentioned on this list, and I can attest that they do work well and contribute to sanity in the home. If someone was looking for a succinct how-to list, this one comes highly recommended by me.

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (AP) — Zach Dunlap says he feels “pretty good,” four months after he was declared brain dead and doctors were about to remove his organs for transplant.

Dunlap was pronounced dead November 19 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas, after he was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident. His family approved having his organs harvested.

As family members were paying their last respects, he moved his foot and hand. He reacted to a pocketknife scraped across his foot and to pressure applied under a fingernail. After 48 days in the hospital, he was allowed to return home, where he continues to work on his recovery.

Dunlap said one thing he does remember is hearing the doctors pronounce him dead. Asked if he would have wanted to get up and shake them and say he’s alive, Dunlap responded: “Probably would have been a broken window that went out.”

His father, Doug, said he saw the results of the brain scan. “There was no activity at all, no blood flow at all.”

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I’ve only tried about a dozen versions of kimchi in my lifetime. Obviously, I’m not a connoisseur – however, I do know what I like when I taste it!

When we were in Tokyo, we bought a container of kimchi from the Seven-Eleven. (Seven-Elevens are to Tokyo what Wawas are to the Philadelphia area – one on every corner.) By far, it was my favorite of the kimchis I had tried.

The ginger and garlic were well balanced, perfect for a light snack or a compliment to dinner. Fresh and simple, it tasted homemade.

The recipe below is reminiscent of the one we experienced in Tokyo. The only difference was that the one in Japan was redder in color – perhaps powdered red pepper was used instead of flakes.

Heat-wise, this recipe is just right. It’s spicy enough to make me reach for a beverage, but not so hot that it takes my breath away or ruins the flavor of everything else I eat for the next week!

Kimchi

Recipe from The Accidental Scientist (< -Check out this website! Lots of interesting facts about food are waiting to be discovered here!): [caption id="attachment_7729" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Kimchi made from this recipe, fermenting in my fridge![/caption]

Koreans possess a passionate fondness for kimchi, serving this spicy fermented pickled vegetable dish at most meals. While many other types of pickles (such as store-bought cucumber dill pickles) are fermented in a prepared salty solution, kimchi ferments in the vegetables it their own juices. Although there are scores of varieties, kimchi is usually made primarily from cabbage.

2 1/2 pounds napa cabbage (if smaller, reduce amount of salt slightly)
1/2 cup kosher salt
a walnut-sized knob of ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch scallions, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons crushed red chili pepper
2 jalapenos, minced fine
fish sauce to taste (my addition to this recipe… I like about 1/4 c. in mine)

a glass or plastic bowl
2 to 3 1-pint sterilized glass canning jars
Plastic wrap and rubber bands OR Loosely sealed lid, so as to allow the fermentation gasses to “burp” — NOTE: you do NOT want a metal lid to touch the kimchi

1. Wash the cabbage, then chop it coarsely. Toss it in a glass bowl with the salt and let it sit overnight.

2. Drain the water off the cabbage and rinse it very well to remove the excess salt.

3. In a large glass or plastic bowl (don’t use metal), mix together the ginger, chili peppers, jalapenos and scallions. Then, add the well-drained cabbage. Toss the ingredients thoroughly to coat the vegetables. Save the juice that accumulates in the bottom of the bowl.

4. Pack the mixture tightly in sterile glass jars and cover with the juice. Add water if necessary to achieve 3/4-inch headroom. Cover the tops of the jars with plastic wrap, secured with a rubber band. Keep the kimchi in the refrigerator for 3 days before eating.

Follow-up:

After this batch of Kimchi sat in our fridge for a few days and turned into fermented goodness, we decided to serve some with lunch this afternoon. Leah, my youngest, kept wanting more. When she came back for thirds, she made sure to blow on it before eating. :D

WASHINGTON — A largely unreported meeting held at the State Department discussed integration of the U.S., Mexico and Canada in concert with a move toward a transatlantic union.

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