Hal Young's Blog, page 13

Veteran’s Day Subscriber Freebie!

Veteran’s Day is one of those holidays everyone has heard of, but few people seem to know much about. This subscriber freebie changes all that…

All you need to do is sign up for our encouraging newsletter and you can access our great Veteran’s Day Celebration Guide for Families. It has links to songs, recipes, and tons of history, but best of all, it has three great freebies of our own – a printable and two audios (one fiction and one historical)! You’ll love it!

A New Writing Curriculum for Elementary Students

Rachael and Davis Carman, owners of Apologia, have been friends of ours for many years and we just couldn’t be happier to see all the new products they are releasing!

The latest giveaway in our new website celebration is a two book set of their brand new Writers in Residence curriculum for grades 4 to 8! It’s written by our friend, Debra Bell. Debra taught one of our boys an AP English class and she really knows her stuff.

 

Here’s what Apologia has to say about it:

The 2 books in this set include the All in One Student Text & Workbook + the Answer Key.

The Writers in Residence (WIR) series is a writing-focused language arts program. While completing high-interest writing assignments, students learn about sentence structure, the parts of speech, and the conventions of the English language for punctuation, capitalization, and usage. This meaningful context shows students how skill and understanding in the language arts enable them to create clear, engaging stories and essays readers want to read.

Writers in Residence™ provides a biblically-based framework for kids to think about language and communicate effectively in writing.

Your family will love this powerful learning tool because it includes:

 A complete writing curriculum that integrates grammar, punctuation, and capitalization
An easy-to-use All-In-One Student Text and Workbook
A helpful answer key with directions, checklists, and evalutation rubric for every writing assignment that takes the guesswork out of evaluating your child’s writing
A detailed lesson plan outline for four days a week for thirty-two weeks, make planning and teaching a breeze
Appropriate content for grades 4 through 8
Lively and engaging tone, written to the student
Visually pleasing page layouts, designed to guide your student through the lessons
Compelling interviews with favorite Christian authors

Back to Hal & Melanie: Thank you to Apologia who donated these books so we could give them away!

All you need to do to enter to win this set is to subscribe to our encouraging email newsletter.

We ask for your address so we can send the prize right out if you win! If you are already a subscriber, go ahead and fill out the form – our system will enter you into the contest, but not add you twice to the newsletter!

 

If you live outside the United States/APO/FPO, you can still enter, but if you win, you’ll need to pay the shipping cost to your location.

Thanks for subscribing!

Hal & Melanie

Celebrating our New Website!

We are delighted to be launching our new website! Our eldest son, John Calvin Young, has been working on it for a long time – to make it more mobile-friendly, easier to use, and more attractive. He’s a developer for RoleModel Software and is ridiculously busy, so we’re super grateful he pulled this together for us before the holidays!

In celebration, we’re going to giveaway something new every week day!!!

Today we’d like to invite you to subscribe to our newsletter and by doing that, to enter to win Apologia’s new American Literature Curriculum!

This program is seriously great! In the past, Melanie has generally designed her own high school literature assignments because she just couldn’t find one she really liked — until now!

Apologia American Literature is written by Bryan College professor and homeschool dad, Dr. Whit Jones and it is the perfect balance between challenging and doable for your high schooler! It’ll give your students insight from a Biblical worldview into the treasures of the American literary tradition.

Here’s what Apologia has to say about it:

American Literature Textbook & Online Solutions
$99
Author: Whit Jones
Format: Hardcover Textbook
Recommended Grades: 9-12
Now your students can explore the power and beauty of America’s greatest literary works from a biblical Christian worldview. Even students who have never before “gotten” classic literature will discover how enjoyable it can be, how it speaks to their lives today, and how it affirms and illuminates biblical truth. The course uses the Socratic method of asking probing questions about each work and leading students to a deeper understanding of what the author is saying how he or she is saying it. Beautifully illustrated in a stunning hardcover edition, our American Literature course features:
Biographical essays examining the background, culture, and beliefs of each author
Works from every major period and literary movement
Extensive online solutions offering greater insight and clarity to both parents and students

 

American Literature Student Notebook
$39
Author: Whit Jones
Format: Spiral-bound
Now your students can explore the power and beauty of America’s greatest literary works. The student notebook is a key component of the American Literature course. Every study question from the textbook is included, with ample space for students to record their answers. Also, the notebook is where you will find the chapter tests, semester exams, and detailed, step-by-step instructions for writing insightful and persuasive literary analysis papers on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark” and Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall.” This outstanding feature makes the American Literature Student Notebook invaluable preparation for future college coursework.

Enter by subscribing to our newsletter! (We ask for your address so we can ship the curriculum to you if you win.) If you already subscribe, go ahead and enter, it won’t add you twice.

2 Timothy 4:15 – In Season and Out of Season

VIDEO: How We Became Unexpected Authors

Interested? Then check out our brand new online class, the First Time Authors Seminar!

CLICK HERE for more information! 

Q&A: “What Time Is Curfew at Your House?”

Several readers and audience members have asked us something like this:

What time is curfew at your house?

When do you require your kids to be home?

Is it different for teens and twenties?

It’s not an uncommon question but our answer may be unexpected–because we don’t have a formal curfew at our house.

 

Are there curfews in Scripture?

Actually, there are at least two examples – in Exodus 12, when God prepared the Israelites for the death of the Egyptians’ firstborn, He told them to mark the doorway with the blood of the lamb, and the Angel of Death would pass by. Moses told the elders in verse 22-23,

And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.   For the   Lord   will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the   Lord   will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike   you.

And in Joshua chapter 2, where Rahab the harlot helped conceal the Israelites who came to spy out Jericho. When she helped them escape the city, they told her when the attack came, to bring her family and relations into her house and tie a scarlet cord in the window – and as long as they stayed indoors, they would be safe from harm.

Admittedly, these were special occasions of the world-changing sort – not much guidance for managing your teenagers today!

But we realized when our sons were reaching the age when this sort of rule comes into play, that we really were managing quite well without a formal curfew at all.

So you don’t have curfews?

Not in the way most people think about it.

We discovered that they weren’t really necessary if our teens understood and followed some basic rules of consideration. When one of us leaves the house for some reason, we don’t just skip out and leave no word – we’ll let the family know that we’re going, where we’re planning to go, and generally when we expect to be back.

It’s basic courtesy – It’s just not kind to leave people confused and uncertain – even worried – when they can’t find you.  What if someone really needed your help before you left, or needed to share something with you or ask a question? Some of that can’t be fixed by cellphone once you’re in the car. And maybe, just maybe, there may be some questions about why you’re going at all.

It’s good teamwork – If one of us is making a run to the grocery store for a gallon of milk, there may be other things to pick up, or other errands that could be combined. Sure, we routinely text back and forth in the middle, like, “Are you still at Walmart? We’re out of paper towels,” But that may not be possible if no one knows you’re even there.

It’s safety – Frankly, it’s good to have people expecting you back. If something goes wrong and your cell phone doesn’t work, who’s going to know where to look for you? Or that it’s time to call out the search team?

But how does that look at night, with teenagers, just “hanging out” or socializing?

Pretty much like it does during the day time!

“Hey Mom – Dad – there’s a contra dance over in Carrboro Friday night. Any problem with us going?”

“Going by yourselves, or what?”

“We were going to ask a few of the girls from church if they’d like to ride. That keeps the number of guys and girls balanced at the dance.”

“That sounds okay to us. How late do you think you’ll be?”

“Well, it’s over at nine, but it’s an hour and a half to get back, and we usually stop for something to eat on the way home. Plus we’ll have to run the girls home, too. Say 12:30 or 1:00?”

“Well, be sure your cell phone’s charged!”

This, by the way, is not our 16-year-old asking, but 18- to 20-year-olds. Technically, they’re adults and don’t have to ask anyway. But they do it because of the relationship we’ve been able to build with them.

Relationship Is Key

We found that we can do this because we’ve worked out issues of trust and dependability in early years, and earlier hours, and shorter distances. They learned to keep us informed – “Hey, we got here safe and on time” and “We’re just leaving now, expect to be home in an hour” or “Stuck in traffic – got tangled up with the stadium exits.” It’s no more and no less than we do for each other as fully grown married folk. And as they showed themselves faithful and considerate, we felt more and more comfortable giving them more liberty.

This doesn’t mean there are no schedules or expectations at our house. Our kids have a bedtime, and we try to keep them consistent both into bed and back out of it. We don’t hesitate to say, “Hey, kids, it’s pretty late – let’s not start another video (or game or story or project).” And sometimes – like last week, when our town was recovering from a flood – there are external limits, like a city-wide curfew to prevent injuries or mischief while the lights were out.

But we try to keep in mind that Hebrews 5:14 says that the mature believer is able to discern and choose between good and evil because he’s had the freedom to consider options and make choices. That requires us to loosen the leashes a bit as our kids age, and as we see the fruit of our teaching and the ongoing relationship between parent and young-adult child!

CLICK HERE and check out episode 147!

Your friends,

Hal & Melanie

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Psalm 90:12 – About Time

The Fine Art of Juggling Schedules

Families with children are busy families, at any age. At some stages, though, we found ourselves getting lost amid all the errands and activities and classes and meetings. As our kids get older, they develop their own schedules – and that impacts each member of the family.

So how to you manage schedules in a normal, active family?

 

The key we found is communication – keeping up with everyone’s commitments and plans allows us to coordinate our own. Here are some things we’ve found helpful:

Set up a master calendar somewhere. When Hal had an office job and our kids were young, Melanie kept track of the family’s affairs and Hal kept a planning notebook for work. When our kids got bigger, though, we realized we had to have a central calendar that everyone could refer to. We use Google Calendar. It’s free, you can share it to as many family members as you like, and you can access it from your phone. We set up different categories and color-code them – one for “Family” and one for each member separately, then other categories as needed (like “Business” or “Church” or “School”). If you have a limited resource like one car with three drivers at home, you might even put “Car” on your schedule!

Set an alarm. Alarm clocks are not just for wake-up! Most of us carry cellphones, and even the basic ones have some kind of alarm feature. When the schedule is really tight, sometimes we’ll set an alarm on the phone to remind us to get ready for the next event on the list, or to remember to take medicine, or whatever.

Hold family meetings. We found that no matter how many written records we created, somebody would forget to read them … and the younger kids didn’t have Internet privileges, anyway. Keep them short and to the point – if you allow a lot of side conversations, a 10 minute update meeting can take an hour! We try to remind everybody, “This is what’s happening today, and here’s what’s happening the next several.” Morning or evening? Whichever works for you. We often have our family devotions in the morning, and then roll immediately into the meeting. Your family’s schedule might not accommodate that – maybe Dad leaves for work before the kids are even awake – so just do whatever seems to fit.

Create a message center. Several of our friends have whiteboards in their kitchen – we do, too! That’s where we put up chore assignments, daily schedules, major to-do list items, and upcoming events. It’s also a great place to post your memory verse for the week, a family motto, or some other inspiration reminder. “But a big whiteboard is expensive!” you say.  Actually, not always. We recycled ours from someone who remodeled their office. Check your local school system or government surplus department for possibilities. You can also get a sheet of Melamine-style laminate at a home improvement store – our local Lowe’s offers it for about $25 for a 4×8 foot sheet – and simply nail it up! It will take dry erase markers just fine, you can wipe it clear with window cleaner, and if it gets worn out, it’s easy to replace.

We also have an ongoing conversation in our chat window. We started using the chat feature of Skype when our oldest son was studying abroad. We discovered that it was useful to expand the conversation to everyone in the family, and use that for minute by minute check-ins. This is available on your phone, too, so we use it from the desk at home and from the phone when we’re out.

It’s amazing how much living we pack into 168 hours per week – in fact, all our living fits into that allowance – but whenever you have more than one person, you’re going to find overlaps and conflicts are likely. A few simple, inexpensive tools and techniques can help you juggle even a large family’s multifarious doings!

Want more ideas and encouragement?  Download Melanie’s workshop, “Homeschooling A Houseful” and see how she learned to teach six – that’s right, six – grade levels at the same time, while nursing a baby!

Check out episode 146 of our podcast!

 

Hurricane Safety

Today on Facebook, we saw someone from the Midwest giving advice to a mutual friend in the zone a hurricane is predicted to strike — advice that could cost them their lives. For our friends in the path of this huge storm, who may not have been through a hurricane before, we wanted to share a few safety tips.

We’ve survived several devastating hurricanes both on the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast. Once we were over a hundred miles from the coast, but our area experienced such severe flooding that many homes and businesses were destroyed. Another time, again over a hundred miles from the sea, so many trees came down that we were without water or power for ages. Here’s how to stay safe:

1 – Take the basic precautions of storing up enough food, medicine, and water to last until help can reach you. Prepare to survive on your own for several days at least.

2 – Do NOT under any circumstances, go to a basement during a hurricane. If you are at the coast, there may be a larger than expected storm surge. If you are inland, flash flooding can happen on even small creeks, especially if a dam bursts.

3 – Put any loose furniture or yard tools away inside because hurricane force winds can turn them into projectiles.

4 – If the wind suddenly stops, do NOT go outside. You are in the eye of the storm and the very worst winds in the hurricane lie on the other side.

5 – Do NOT drive through water, particularly running water. Do not walk through flood water, either. 24 inches of running water can float off a car and 6 inches can knock you off your feet.

6 – If a dam goes and water is rapidly rising in your house, go to the top story or even the attic, but take an ax or other tool to make a way to leave when rescuers arrive.

7 – The worst flooding often happens several days after a hurricane, so do not stop paying attention until the flood risk passes. You can watch this by checking lake depths on your state natural resources site. We know people who were eating breakfast in their pajamas several days after the hurricane when the National Guard came screaming into their house, yelling, “Jump in the truck, the dam’s blown!” They never saw another piece of their home.

Hal and I ran a homeschool relief program after Hurricane Floyd devastated eastern North Carolina and we got to hear everyone’s story first hand. Be sure your homeschool records and your computer are in a safe, waterproof place. At a minimum, you need to take with you transcripts and whatever documentation your state requires for you to be able to homeschool if you evacuate. Birth certificates, passports, and all this should be in your “Go Bag” along with meds, food and water, and child supplies.

We’re praying for all of you. Keep us up-to-date if you are able.

With much concern,

Hal & Melanie

For help homeschooling in the aftermath of disaster, through illness and trials, and during other difficult seasons, get our workshop, Homeschooling in Hard Times.

We’re Having an Autumn Download Party!

And it’s a party you don’t want to miss!

I don’t know about you, but I need some encouragement right about now. Today’s dreary weather is a reminder that the days are getting shorter and colder. Meanwhile, the gloss has worn off school a bit and the children are getting a little restless.

Here’s Help!

 

ALL of our downloadables are 50% when you use the coupon code Fall2016! Here are some favorites you ought to take a look at:

First, while our newest book hasn’t even been released yet, you can get the Sneak Preview Edition in ebook as part of this sale! It’s the whole thing, just may have a few small changes in the final edition. It’s for young men in their teens and twenties and tries to give them a Biblical view of sexuality.

As the parents of six sons, we’ve pretty much been there, done that when it comes to raising boys! Our award-winning book, Raising Real Men will give you the practical help and encouragement you need — the ebook or the mp3 audiobook download or both! (We call that the Mom and Dad Special.)

 

We recently celebrated our 30th anniversary — and that our book on marriage won the 2015 Christian Small Publishers Book of the Year award! Make your marriage even better with the ebook or mp3 audiobook or the His and Hers Special (both!) at 50% off the download!

Have you run into Hope Auer’s books yet? Her historical fiction makes the Bible come alive! You can get A Cry From Egypt (required in several homeschool curricula), A Stand at Sinai (the sequel), or the Radio Theatre (with over 50 actors and an original score) in the downloadable forms for half off! Or, get the whole Promised Land set:

Our audiobooks are on sale, too!

The downloadable version of the Men of Iron audiobook is brand new! It tells the story of a young man who becomes a knight to redeem his father’s reputation. The Howard Pyle classic at half price!

 

We ALL love Pollyanna! It was hilarious — and taught us to be more grateful, too. Learn what happens afterward, too, in the sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up. Or, get the set!

Did you know Theodore Roosevelt wrote a book for children? He did — and we turned it into an audiobook with sound effects — because history is much better with cannonfire! Download any of our Hero Tales set or all of them at 50% off with the coupon Fall2016.

 

The Five Little Peppers helped our children learn to be content and to enjoy family life more. You can download the audiobook now!

You can use this coupon sale code on any of our great conference workshops and classes, too! We have over 30 of them on all kinds of topics!

 

That means you can even sign up for our super-popular online classes AT HALF PRICE as long as you choose an all-downloadable option!

 

We’ve even included the downloadable version of our holiday books!

 

And our ebook on Coming of Age Celebrations!

So, yeah! Pretty much everything is on sale!

Just enter the coupon code Fall2016 on checkout and get all these great downloadable resources at HALF PRICE!  

Enjoy!

Your friends,

Hal & Melanie