Adding a little TLC

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Adding a little TLC...

Think of things you do for others that you blend in a little TLC and show them how much you care.

My husband never buys me anything.  I have only received flowers twice in the 29 years we have been married.  But the other day he had some change left over from what he had for gas and fishing stuff.  When he took me to work he left without telling me where he was heading and when he got back he had bought me a couple of donuts.  And they were cherry and maple.  That is what I buy when I get donuts for myself.  I had no idea he paid attention to what flavor of donuts I eat.  That was TLC. 

 A few years ago I gave my hubby 200 dollars for a shotgun. He hunts every year.  I had saved it up so he could get another shotgun.  I had lost his other one in the pawn shop.  Anyway, he showed me his gun and then told me to hold out my hand.  I thought he was going to give me the change he had left from purchasing his new gun.  But it was a wedding ring set.  I had lost my old set at the pawn shop.  He bought a cheaper gun and got me the wedding set because he knew I really missed wearing my old set.  He is normally very selfish and that time he added TLC to my TLC I had given him.

Another time I had noticed that two of my knickknacks on a very high shelf were crooked due to someone walking too hard by them I suppose.  Well, I thought to myself that I would get a chair and climb up and straighten them up.  But I got sidetracked.  A couple of days later I went to straighten them up and it had already been done.  My hubby did it without me asking him to.  That was TLC.

My granddaughter knows I have real dry skin on my legs and one day while I was watching tv with her she got up for no apparent reason and came back with some lotion.  She said she wanted to put it on my legs for me.  It was very relaxing.  She took it even farther and gave me a soothing foot massage.  She was only four at the time, but that was TLC.

My son is incarcerated.  I have been visiting him since October of last year every Saturday.  We have to visit with a glass between us and on a phone to talk to one another.  The other day when he was leaving he blew me a kiss and there were other inmates and jailers watching.  That was an act of TLC for sure. 

My pastor's wife gave me a reusable grocery bag for an Easter present.  Now that may not be what one would consider TLC, but she knows how much I love bags and she gave it to me before I had a chance to ask where she got it so I could get myself one.  The bag was one of those cheapy fifty cent ones, but getting it as a gift was priceless.

Those are some examples of adding a little TLC.  Do you cut your child's meat to help him/her eat easier?  Do you make the pancakes in shapes or people instead of just round circles?  Do you send cards for no reason?  Do you find little trinkets at yard sales for other people?  Do you put smiles on people's faces unconditionally?  Do you fix extra food so you can take some to a shut in?  Do you share your garden with your neighbor? Write of ways you add TLC or others have added TLC to your life.  These are little memories that make you feel good and have good memories.

Try to list at least ten ways TLC has been added to your life and when you feel down and depressed for some reason, refer back to your list and let the smiles be renewed all over again.

Finding Victory in Jesus

Independence Day is our nation's celebration of a great victory won to start a nation under God and not be under the rule of a king.  But there is a greater victory that was won recorded in the Bible.  This month let's journal about how the Bible is filled with many victories over satan's rule.  Our king is Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior.  We were victorious when we accepted Christ.  When was the last time you shared your salvation testimony with someone?  Journal about how the person responded to your testimony.  Was the person interested?  Did the person listen attentively?  Or was the person just pacifying you?  Now record why did you share your testimony?  So that the Lord will be glorified?  Did you share that time in order to plant seeds of faith?  Praise the Lord for the victory over sin.  Praise the Lord for saving your soul.  Write these praises down.  Record your salvation experience so others may find Jesus too.

Research the different times that the Bible has recorded victories over satan's evil hold.  Record how the people handled each incident and how the Lord was the Victor.  During these times take note what happened to the people who did not listen to God and do as He directed them.

Now, think of the times in your life when you were battling satan.  Record the times you followed the Lord's direction during your trial and tribulation.  Write about how the Lord brought you through these times and the battle was won victoriously.  Were there times though you went into battle and did not rely on the Lord to be your commanding officer?  Did you enter into the battle and not consult the Lord's direction?  What victories were won during these times?  In the end, did you call on Jesus for help?  Record these different times and compare the outcomes.  Memorize the following verse and carry it as you go into life's battles:

Prov 3:5-6   Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Write the lessons you learned from the times you did not let the Lord direct your path and you went into the battle on your own.  Write how you learned to understand the importance to trust in the Lord first with your life battle you are experiencing.

Praise the Lord for the times He forgave you for not taking Him with you as you marched head on into a particular battle.  Those times you went "alone" you were not really alone.  Write how you came to that understanding.

There are many battles we all must fight in this world.  Depression, financial struggles, relationships, jobs, strangers, mistakes in general,  all are different kinds of battles.  Are you experiencing a war of your own right now?  Are you currently battling one of satan's deceptive lies?  Record this war you are in and pray for the Lord's guidance to overcome it and then record how the Lord helped you come out victoriously.

Journal the different times you know the Lord won the victory over one of your friends' battles.  Record how the Lord was victorious in your family's life.  Write these victories down so that others may learn from them one day.  You will have them recorded and will be able to use them to help others.  This is how our generals of our armed services go into battles today.  They read and study up on battles/wars from the past and take note how they were won.  We have something to rely on in battles and can learn from history.  It is the Bible.  Let the recordings of the Lord's many victories be your example to win your personal battles.

Record the lyrics to "Victory in Jesus".  Now journal how that song can be your own personal story.

Make a list of the different battles you have been through.  Record how the Lord helped you win them.
Now make a list of the battles you are currently experiencing.  Record your prayer on how you will seek the Lord's direction in each of these battles.
Record prayers of how you will rely on the Lord for battles you may encounter in the future.

Do a word study on victory, victorious, victoriously, and victor.
Record verses that have "victory" in them.

Extend your word study on synonyms of victory:  triumph, conquer, success, win.  A couple antonyms of victory are defeated, beaten.  Write how these words relate to incidents in your life.  Record how the Lord helped you overcome them.

July 4th may be a day to celebrate "independence", but we must go through each and every day "dependent" on the Lord.  Depend on the Lord as your commander-in-chief.

An extension activity:  Do a word study on depend.  Record the different people who depend on you.  Remember the one thing you must take into battle for these people - prayer.  Can people depend on you to pray for them?  Start a prayer journal for your family and friends.  May you become their prayer warrior.

This Independence Day make a commitment to depend on Jesus. May you be victorious knowing the Lord is on your side.  Fight the enemy, satan, the devil with God's Word.  Use Scripture as your weapon.  The Bible is your sword in this war called life.  You will always win when you have Jesus to guide you through whatever struggle you are experiencing.

Have a safe holiday and remember to celebrate your dependence on the Lord everyday.

Words to Inspire from IDEALS

Words of Joy

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.  Psalm 100:1

The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you.  John Greenleaf Whittier

Enthusiasm makes ordinary people extraordinary.  Norman Vincent Peale

Man cannot find true essential joyo anywhere but in his relationship to God.  Oswald Chambers

God is the organist; we are His instruments.  His Spirit sounds each pipe and gives the tone its strength.  Angelus Slesius

This is the secret of you.  We shall no longer strive for our own way but commit ourselves, easily and simply, to God's way, acquiesce in His will , and in so doing find our peace.  Evelyn Underhill

Joy is that deep settled confidence that God is in control in every area of my life.  Paul Sailhamer

We are all strings in the concert of God's Joy.  Jakob Boheme

Music exalts each joy, allays each grief...softens every pain.  John ArmstrongWords of Faith

Words of Faith

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1

And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, ad be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.  Mark 11:22-23

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.  Mark 11:24

Joy is peace dancing, and peace is joy at rest.  F.B. Meyer

And Jesus said unto them,... If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.  Matthew 17:20

A song will outlive all sermons in the memory.  Henry Giles

In God's family there is to be one great body of people: servants.  In fact, that's the way to the top in His kingdom.  Charles R. Swindoll

Words of Kindness

Do all the good you can by all the means you can.  John Wesley

I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.  Henry Ward Beecher

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  James 2:17

The heart is the happiest when it beats for others.  Author unknown

And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  Colossians 3:14

Charity chapter in the Bible - I Corinthians 13:1-13

Evening Prayer by Bess Kine Baker

If I have done an unkind act today, 
If I have caused a falt'ring step to stray, 
If I have walked far from Thy chosen way,
Dear Lord, forgive, forgive.

If I have spoken cruel words of wrong, 
Or made a discord in some grand, sweet song,
If I have wandered aimlessly along,
Dear Lord, forgive, forgive.

And when my life has hastened to its end,
O Thou, my soul's true, tried and faithful friend,
Be with me, and Thy peace aWords of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving...invites God to bestow a second benefit.  Robert Herrick

We mistake the gratuitous blessings of heaven for the fruits of our industry.  Roger L'Estrange

Each day comes bearing its gifts.  Untie the ribbons.  Ann Ruth Schabacker

One act of thanksgiving when things go wrong with us is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclination.  St. John of Avila

May silent thanks, at least to God, be given with a full heart; our thoughts are heard in heaven.
William Wordsworth

The Lord is Good - Psalm 100

Without Thankfulness by John Henry Jowett

Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion.
Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception.
Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude.
Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.nd mercy send,

And, Lord, forgive, forgive.

Words of Peace

Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God.  Matthew 5:9

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.  
Samuel Smiles

Sad soul, take comfort nor forget, the sunrise never failed us yet.  Celia Thaxter

Peace by Mildred Spires Jacobs

Peace is looking at a child
With eyelids closed in sleep
And knowing that the love of God
Is constant, true, and deep.

Peace is gazing into depths
Of water, cool and clear,
And knowing fast within your heart
That God is ever near.

Peace is hearing birds that sing
In harmony of voice
And knowing that you too can live
With God's own way your choice.

Peace is living day by day
With His own company,
So you will have within your soul
Divine tranquility.

My granddaughter the Prompter

My daughter said her daughter is a mini grandma.  She has several journal books she uses and she has several different colors of bags and totes for her books and journals.  Just like her grandma.  Hey, at least I am not guilty of setting a bad example.  Anyway...

My granddaughter is only eight years old, but she is well on her way to becoming a lifetime journaler.  She expects to learn a new word each day.  Besides the new words they discuss in her preschool class, she wants her grandma to give her a new word of the day too.  Now they are not just your ordinary words most preschoolers want to know.  They have to be big and interesting sounding words.  They must catch her attention.  Words we have been discussing are "extraordinary", "outstanding", "possibilities", and so on.  We did "blizzard" since we had a blizzard with a snowfall of almost 6 feet overnite.  Occasionally I will give her a word that her teacher used in class.  She will say "I already know that word grandma."  She will use the word of the day somehow in a sentence with everyone she talks to that day.  Oh, Reader's Digest Word Power is going to become my favorite tool with her.  We will be learning how to spell soon and then I will work on definitions and dictionary drills with her too.  For now she learns the meaning and how to write it.  Afterall she is only four you know.  Well, there are times I forget that.  She tends to include herself in our adult conversations.  She gets bored playing with children her own age.  Okay, I know.  Grandma is bragging, but she really is pretty smart and as a preschool teacher myself, I adore her and her love for learning.  Everything we do is a learning experience with her.  She questions everything.  And she has some pretty intelligent opinions about things, especially things she has just learned and wants others to know that "she is smart" as she will tell us.  Our times together are constantly new and "exceptional" as she learned the meaning of and loves to use all the time.

During one of the days I got to spend time with her (my husband and I babysit the grandchildren after school on the weeks they are at home with their mother - our daughter.)  we were watching one of the programs she enjoys (I Carly is her favorite right now) and I told her I wanted to color instead.  She asked why because she enjoys coloring too but she was interested in her show and was deciding which to do.  So, I told her because I did not want to watch the show and that I love coloring.  She put her hands on her hips and told me you should love people not things grandma.  So, that led to some very lengthy conversations about things you can love and things we can love or people we love etc.  And then we talked about things we don't like.  In our household we don't use the word hate very often so we discussed things we "strongly dislike".  Then our conversations led to Jesus loves us and hates sin.  We are to love everyone but not like the sin they do.  We never got to the coloring until much later in the day.  And I learned a lot from a four year old that day.

When I got home I started listing all of the things we had discussed for my journal and low and behold I realized she was not only a journaler like her grandma, she is also a prompter.  She made me think of so many new things I could journal about.  She is "amazing" (one of her favorite words).  So, I will share the different prompts I was able to get from my day with a little person...

Things I love...
People I love...
Things I love to do...
Things I would love to do...
Things I love about my husband, other family members...
Things I love about my friends and other relatives...
Books I love to read...
Creative art projects I love to do; would love to do...
Crafts I love to do; would love to learn...
Ways I love to journal...
Things I love to eat...
TV shows I love to watch...
What I love about my job...
What I love about my town...
My favorite places I love to go to...
The time of day I love the most...
The season I love the most...
Writing utensils I love to use...
Moments in my life I love to recall...
Things I love about myself
And then you can use the same ideas and substitute the words "don't love", "don't like", or "dislike".

For a more extensive activity you can do a word study in the Bible using the words "love" and "hate".
You can write the verses that relate to those words.  You can find poems/sayings that involve those words too.

You can do a study on how Jesus loves us and you can journal the different ways that Jesus has shown His love for you.  You can journal the different ways you show Jesus you love Him.  Or the ways you would like to show Him you love Him.

You can write in journals assigned to your different family members and write them love letters.

And for the scrapbooker/journaler you can include pictures of people and things you love.

Hope this long post was helpful.  I love sharing prompts with you and I truly love talking about my granddaughter.  I will share more of her prompts with us again.

A Colorful Event prompt...

As part of my preschool lessons I introduce "colors" to the children.  I do not do a color of the day or discuss more than one color at a time.  I teach "color of the week".  I start with the primary colors, then go on to the secondary and so on.  Each color is discussed in detail in all of the academic areas.  We also wear the color of the week on Friday.  And each day the children are encouraged to bring something with that color from home.  Well, I thought the subject of colors would make some great prompts.  I hope these prompts will add some "color" to your journaling experience!

Some traditional prompts (relating to color ) that have been used by many are:
What is your favorite color?
If you were a color, which one would you be and why?
What is your favorite NEW Crayola brand crayon color?
Describe the colors in your house, such as your living room decor, bedroom, etc.
What is the color of your hair and eyes?

But let's take this color prompt a little deeper.  Let's begin with the primary colors...
What "emotion(s)" do you feel when you see the color RED?  BLUE?  YELLOW?
How does the colors mentioned cause you to react?  For instance, ADhD children are overstimulated by the color red.
Red is a hot color, Blue is a cold color, and Yellow is a bright color.  When you see these colors how do you respond to them?  (Sometimes I write with the color red when I am angry; the color blue when I am sad, and the color pink when I am "tickled pink" about something.)

Now substitute the other colors and answer the prompts with them.

When I discuss the secondary colors I also show the children what primary colors are needed to make them.  As a creative art activity we draw with the color(s) we have been discussing.  I also encourage them to use the color in their journals somehow, such as writing letters in those colors etc.  Here is some creative art activities for you to enjoy as you journal:

Decide to do use one color of ink in your journal that day.  (You can even change the font color if you journal on the computer.)
Design a border with that color.
Create a bookmarker with the color you have chosen.
Draw pictures inspired by that color.
Use the color as a background to your page.
Color/write lightly when you are in a playful mood or color/write pressing down hard with a crayon to show anger.
Use the color of the day and draw shapes to represent your mood on your page (black circles could represent being in the black hole of depression; red hearts could represent being in love, etc.)

This will be a good way to celebrate colors beyond your journaling...
Wear the color of the day.  Record how you felt at the day's end wearing that color.  (Yellow colors would make me feel happy.)

Observe your surroundings, your environment, your world and take note of all the things you noticed that had the color of the day.
List the many items that is in your house that has the color of the day.
Think about that color and how it effects you during the morning, during midday, and at the evening?  Does it effect you the same no matter what your attitude/mood is?

Discuss hue, tint, shade, and color scheme in your writing and how it can relate to what you are recording that day.  Use them as descriptive words to your posts.  Such as, there was a tint of pink in the horizon as I sat on my deck drinking hot tea...

Now to further your imagination...
Think about the color of the day and imagine that color in the different areas of your house.  How does it change your perspective of things?  Such as, if your kitchen is now a shade of green and you imagined it to be yellow, how would it change things for you?  Do this activity each day and see how it effects your feelings, your moods, your attitudes, etc.

Most of us have one special area that is set aside for our journaling moments.  Imagine that your table is painted the color of the day.  Would it effect how or what you write?  Would it inspire you differently if your table was a new color each day or would it restrict your writing?

My students learn songs that relate to the color of the week.  One special song we sing each week is Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, Red and yellow, black and white, Jesus loves the little children of the world.  We discuss how people are the same and different.  We all have eyes, hair, etc. but our eye and hair color is different than a friend's, etc.  The different ways we are unique.  And how we all do not have the same skin tone.  We discuss nationality, ethnic groups, and prejudism.

As a prompt, you could research different songs that mention colors.  You could read books about different colors and write what you learned from the story. (An example for my lesson plan would be Little Red Hen and then we discuss sharing and teamwork and selfishness, etc.)

The order I introduce the colors is red, blue, yellow, purple, green, orange, black, brown, gray, white, and pink. Can you believe that my students get upset when I quit adding color to our lessons of the week?  So, then we discuss the rainbow.  This adds many more weeks to our learning experiences.  You could do so many more prompts just discussing things relating to the rainbow.  Examples:  God uses the rainbow as a symbol of promise.  What are some of God's promises you can claim today?  If you could find the end of the rainbow, what would you expect to be there?  And so on...

This is some of the ways that you, too, can use "color" to prompt your writing.  May you never find "dullness" to your writing.  May color add life to your journaling experience.

Are You In A Rut In Your Prayer Life?

This can be applied to writing out your prayers also.  Adapt it to fit your style of praying and journaling.

10 CREATIVE WAYS
TO ENERGIZE YOUR PRAYER LIFE   http://www.beliefnet.com/
1) Change Your  Environment - If you pray in the light of morning, try praying in the dark of night. If you pray in your living room, try praying in your kitchen. If you pray indoors, try praying under the open sky or the graceful boughs of a tree. Changing your prayer environment can give you a new perspective on your life and spirit.
2) Change Your Routine - If your prayer time is sandwiched between dinner and bedtime or homework and hobbies, rearrange your schedule so that prayer is the priority. The more important prayer is to us, the more attention we give it, and the deeper we can go into our relationship with God.
3) Sing - Instead of whispering, praying silently, or intoning your prayerful words, try singing loudly and joyfully or softly and plaintively. Music can be freeing for the spirit--and your prayers will take on a whole new sound.
 4) Exercise - Walk, run, stretch, or cycle while you pray, feeling the rhythm of your spirit with the movement of your body. Use exercise with prayer as a way to reflect upon the gift of your life and self, inside and out.
5) Refocus - If you have a long list of prayer requests, you might be too tired by the end of the list to devote much attention to your own inner spirit. Try to refocus your prayer time so that it is balanced between the needs of others and yourself. Taking time for you will build your own strength so you can be of help to others.
6) Listen - Sometimes we are too busy praying to hear what God has to say. If prayer becomes one-sided, boredom can easily follow. Set aside time each day to clear your mind of all distractions, sit in God's presence, and listen. God's voice is anything but dull!
7) Study - Faith is not just in the moment. There is a rich faith and prayer tradition that has gone before us. Reading and studying the great believers and writings of years, even centuries, gone by can have a profound effect upon prayer today and tomorrow
8) Team up - Are you bored going off by yourself to pray? Team up with a prayer partner. Whether in person, on the telephone, or online, the power of prayer can be multiplied when people come together.
9) Be A Child - Remember when you were a child? What questions did you ask of God, then? They were probably very different from the ones you ask now. Whether you came to believe as an adult or were brought up in faith, if your prayer life feels stuck now, approach it as a child - with wonder, simple questions, trust, and humor (yes, at times, God has a wonderful sense of humor!). Enjoy.
10) Visualize - Imagine that everything around you is infused with the presence of God - including yourself. God all around, up and down, inside and out. God is listening to you, every word you utter and every need you have. More than any other, God loves you. Unconditionally. Visualize that love and renew your energy with it.

A prompt from years ago...

When I was in sixth grade my teacher had a writing assignment for us. She wanted us to write a descriptive paragraph. She gave us the beginning of the paragraph and we were to finish it. She gave us "I was walking through the woods". Well, I got an F on my paragraph. Yes, an F. Now why would I fail such an easy assignment? Because this is what I turned in...I was walking through the woods when I fell in a hole and died.

Oh, how the teacher did not appreciate my creativity. I am not sure why I did that. I loved to write. I was writing in diaries (that is what we called journals back in the day) and I was already writing poetry good enough to be entered in contests. I guess I just thought that was cute to respond that way. (My father did not think it was cute one bit).

But that assignment has remained in my memory all these years (I am 51, so it was 40 years ago). She was using prompts before we called them prompts. As a teacher they are called suggestions or motivators. Well, I have been thinking of ways that teacher could have gotten me more involved in the assignment. I mean I must have lacked motivation. Back in those days teachers taught in what we now call "teacher-directed". The students were not involved in any hands on learning. We were given the material and expected to "get it" without much encouragement from the teachers. Well, that is not how I teach. I believe in "teachable moments",hands-on activities, and student-directed activities. I believe the students should be involved in their learning experiences. Make the assignment more real to them and they remember and learn better.

So, what would I do if I were to give my students that same writing assignment?
First, I would take the children on a field trip. If it were possible that is. We would actually go to the woods. We would explore our surroundings and our classroom that day would be in the woods. Then we would go home that day and consider what we would write in our descriptive paragraph.

If we lived in a school district that would not allow us to take a field trip to the woods or if there was no woods to be found, we could go to the library and research "the woods" via through actual books. (No online research for this assignment allowed.) And then after learning what we could and observing pictures in the books, we would go home and finish our descriptive paragraph.

I would also extend this assignment and have the students get into groups. One group would be assigned researching "animals that live in the woods." Another group would research "the environment in the woods, such as trees, moss, etc.)
Another group would research the different states that have "woods". And so on. We would probably discuss these topics over the course of a month. Take as long as we needed to. They could even bring in twigs and insects and leaves and such that is found in the woods and put in our science center. Oh, the many ways I could present "I was walking through the woods" assignment.

Why I just wrote that I fell in a hole and died I really do not know. But if I had a student today who did that same thing I would not give him/her an F. I would allow the student to explain the reason for the response. Then I would give that person a second chance to write a full paragraph. Students do need to respect the assignment and complete it even if they do not agree with it. So, if the student had a legitimate reason for responding that way, I would consider the grade appropriately.

I am thinking how my teacher, back in 1971, would have presented that assignment in the first place. She would have said, here is your assignment. We would have probably been told to write a descriptive paragraph, but no more direction than that. So, I bet I was just not encouraged or motivated enough. I was ADhD back then before the disorder/syndrome was ever identified. Now we would recognize the characteristics of a child with ADhD and accommodate that child with assignments that would allow her/him to do the best job possible. We teach to the different learning styles nowadays also. I know that I learn as an adult with a hand-on approach (kinesthetic learning style)as well as visual learning. If that is how I learn now it stands to reason I would have learned that way in grade school. All I got in sixth grade was written assignments on the chalk board. The teacher said here is your assignment and now do it. Not much else in ways of teaching to the child's learning style. So, I probably was bored and that was my way of finishing such a silly assignment (silly in a sixth grader's opinion silly).

But the more I think about it I believe I just had no idea what I would see in a woods and had no idea how to finish the paragraph. I lived in a navy town in California. Right outside of my house was a four lane highway and right passed the highway was the naval shipyard. I saw hundreds of battle ships, hospital ships, submarines and navy personnel. But I had never been to a woods. I went to a school where we never had long time friends because every one moved so often. No one stayed the night with anyone that lived in the woods. This made no sense to me then. We moved to Oklahoma the summer between sixth and seventh grade. Then I learned what the woods was. But when the assignment was given this student had no idea what to write about so I just fell in a hole and died.

What would I write now? Oh, I could write so much. If I were in sixth grade and lived in Oklahoma I could write the colors of the leaves in the woods. I could write about the animals I saw while playing in the woods. My first experiences in the woods was with my new friends and we would explore for hours. No two days are the same in the woods. Walk to the same area you were in the day before and there would be so many changes. It was also those days of discovery in the woods that we realized I had environmental allergies and my days of asthma began. (Never had any breathing problems until we moved to Oklahoma.) So my experiences in the woods are definitely more successful since I actually moved to an area that had "a woods" to relate to.

Has the ways we teach and the philosophies of teaching changed that much over the years? I am glad I am a teacher now. Technology allows for so many ways to teach a child. But I also am a firm believer that students still need to experience what they can hands-on. And children need to be exposed to books more now than ever. Today they just put the information in a search engine and click there is the answer. Children still need to know how to open a book and find the wonders of the written word and pictures first hand. I am a lover of technology, but if you want your child to be a successful student introduce them to the library, to books, and teach them how to use a dictionary and research books. Need help with your child using their imaginations? Get them away from the computer, from the television, and from entertainment games. That is a wonderful way to help encourage imagination. And the children will learn how to use descriptive words if they experience it for themselves and not rely on wikipedia, google, yahoo, dogpile, bing, and other search engines for the answers. Get them involved and when something is worth learning and they did it themselves it will be the best learning experience. Taking pride in work they do themselves, ownership, is the what deserves an A. Don' let your child fall into the black hole of internet and die academically. Get involved in their learning experience and you will find each day you are learning too.

That particular writing assignment has caused me to think of many more prompts. See the posts of all the prompts I got just from my sixth grades teacher's prompt from years ago. Don't know why I even thought of that today, but it was worth sharing. Tell me what happened when you walked through the woods or on a beach or in a mall, depending on the area you live....

Walking through the woods prompt and more...

Walking through the woods, I...
Walking on the beach, I...
Walking in the countryside, I...
Walking in the desert, I...
Walking in the park, I...
Walking on the farm, I...
Walking on the concrete jungle, I...

Choose one or more of the prompts that you can relate to and share with me your descriptive paragraph. Describe your walking experience from a recent adventure or from past memory. Or, if you want you can even describe what you would expect if you walked in any of those areas. Never been to the woods, or the beach, or the desert? Never walked on a farm? Don't live in the country? Do some researching and see what you can come up with. Share your findings.

Now let's go on a different kind of walk. Here is a different twist for the walking prompts.

While I was walking with my -
husband, child, grandchild, parent, friend, coworker, I...

Walking into the local retail store, I noticed...
Walking into my favorite restaurant, I noticed...
Walking through the aisles of the library, I noticed...
Walking with my dog, I noticed...
Walking up the stairs, I noticed...

While walking into the convenient store, I was aware of...
While walking through the doors of my favorite coffee shop or my favorite book store, I was prompted to write about...

And now has any of those prompts I listed encouraged you to write? Have they got you thinking of other prompts using the word WALK or any form of it?  Also do a Bible verse study on the word "walk".  How does the Bible tell us we should walk?

Has anyone walked in a marathon? Walked in a walk-a-thon? Walked for a cause, such as breast cancer, down syndrome, or autism? If so, describe your experience and your drive for doing it.  You can also prepare to run a marathon through the Bible.  Enjoy your walk through these prompts and share them on the journey with your friends.