Welcome to Issue Five of Keep on Track

Our Focus in this e-zine is: Kindness. Being a friend to others and showing kindness.

Each Keep on Track Issue endeavours to provide the reader with practical advice and food for thought.

The layout of the E-zine is as follows:

• Greetings from Marianne
• News
• Considering our Goals
• Curriculum Application
• Organizational Tips
• Coming soon

Greetings from Marianne

In this issue, we will focus on kindness.

News

In this e-zine, I don't have a whole lot of links to my new pages. Yes, I added a Math Curriculum page in the Bookshop and there's been some interesting new posts in the Homeschool Gallery, but many of the things I have been working on are not visible, just yet.

You will be the first to hear about the new e-book I am writing. I am excited about it and at the moment, I am trialling this in my home. I don't want to give too much away right now, but it contains full language arts lessons which revolve around a specific author. ... coming soon....

Also, another massive job I am undertaking at the moment is a site-change-over. I am working on transferring all my pages (200+) into another template. This doesn't alter any of my content, but it will hopefully lead to easier navigation for you. This is mostly fun for me to do, but can lead to some headaches too, and so it takes some time. Soon, you will see half a site in my new look and feel while I change all the pages over to the new look. ...coming soon....

And then... I'll be back on track to writing new content!

Considering Kindness

Kindness is found in many forms. It is seen in helping others, having time for others, being gentle and patient, caring for both the weak and the strong. It can be seen in the way one cares for animals, both those who are 'useful' to man, and others. It can be seen as one listens to the troubles of another, serves a family, provides a meal, cares for the needs of a stranger and of a sick child.

Here are some wonderful quotes on kindness and friendship.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles H. Spurgeon

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Author Unknown

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~George Washington Carver

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"With every friend I love who has been taken into the brown bosom of the earth a part of me has been buried there; but their contribution to my being of happiness, strength and understanding remains to sustain me in an altered world." - Helen Keller

Here are some sobering words from George Washington to his nephew, Bushrod Washington: Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence,. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. 1783

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. " - John 15:13

Curriculum Application

Examples of Kindness; Jonathan - his special kindness he showed to David; Ruth - kindness to her mother-in-law. Jesus: There is no greater kindness than a man who lays down his life for his friends; kindness to the Samaritan, and those who were considered unlovely.

Characters from History

Jim Eliot
Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot (Lives of Faith)

Elizabeth Eliot
Through Gates of Splendour

Hudson Taylor
Hudson Taylor: Deep in the Heart of China (Christian Heroes: Then & Now) (Christian Heroes, Then & Now)

John Bunyan

Brother Andrew
Brother Andrew: God's Undercover Agent (Heroes of the Faith)

Corrie Ten Boom - kindness in the face of adversity;
Corrie Ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels Den (Christian Heroes: Then & Now) (Christian Heroes, Then & Now)

Simpson and his Donkey - the kindness of one soldier helping those who had fallen; (from the Gallipoli campaign in World War I.

The Story of Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground Railroad (Dell Yearling Biography)the kindness this woman showed by helping the slaves escape.

The Story of Helen Keller and her teacher - Annie Sullivan. The friendship and persistence of the teacher toward Helen.

Science
Research the Canada Goose and other animals who show loyalty and kindness to others. The Canada Goose, will remain with their mate for their lifetime. It will stay by its mate if it is wounded, even in winter. The bond of loyalty is very strong. Often they fast, mourn and stay by the side of a dead mate.

Literature

Fairy Tales:

Heidi (Kingfisher Classics)- the friendship of Heidi to all she met, and how her kindness was a lesson to her grandfather.

Number the Stars - the kindness shown to Jews in World War II;

The House of Sixty FathersThe House of Sixty Fathers - by Meindert de Jong, - the friendship of the American soldiers to a Chinese boy during Japanese invasion of China.

Writing
Writing narrations from Literature readings above. Use this Story Map to write out a plot summary of one of the stories, fairy stories or incidents which showed kindness in action.

Copybook -
Copy these Scripture Verses:
Proverbs 17:17;
John 15:13

Find more Bible verses to copy.

Copy this short prayer of Kindness to Animals:
Little children, never give
Pain to things that feel and live;

Let the gentle robin come
For the crumbs you save at home;
As his meat you throw along
He’ll repay you with a song.

Never hurt the timid hare
Peeping from her green grass lair,
Let her come and sport and play
On the lawn at close of day.

The little lark goes soaring high
To the bright windows of the sky,
Singing as if t'were always spring,
And fluttering on an untired wing -
Oh! Let him sing his happy song,
Nor do these gentle creatures wrong.

Recitation
This is also a simple poem to recite.

Maths
Make a cake! Make a meal - give it to a family who are struggling at the moment; (measuring ingredients and following recipes includes a heap of maths!)

Arts and Crafts
Act out one of the stories you have read. Dress up as a character.

Make a diorama of a story scene from above.

Practical Living
Keep a star chart on Kindness.
How can you be kind to others?
Encourage your children to be creative as they deliberately decide to focus on being kind. Reward their kindness on the star chart - and reward their creativity. (examples: making someone else's bed; cleaning up toys you didn't play with; making afternoon tea ready for everyone; doing a job you know needs doing without needing to be asked; and so on)

Discuss the kindness which God so richly lavishes upon us continuously, far more than we deserve or imagine - shelter, food, clothing, family, the knowledge of the gospel, a beautiful world, healthy bodies and so on.
Write a prayer to God thanking Him for his Kindness to us in all these ways and especially in the gift of grace to us in Jesus!
Have a family prayer every day for a week in which you thank God for his many gifts.

Organizational Tips

I have also made a rule for myself not to check my emails or do my own personal work on the computer in the morning, when we are all-hands-on-deck. It is not only my children who can be distracted from the work!!

Coming soon...