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Favorite Character Building for ages 8-11
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We have used Child’s Book of Character Building a few years ago. I have started reading Proverbs to them again, but I am looking for something more here. What have you liked to use and saw results with your children? I need something for ages 8-11, spending one to two weeks per character trait, and Scripture to go along with it would be nice. Audio stories at bedtime would be nice too. Thanks.
Has anyone used the Character Concepts curriculum by the Boyers? I’d love to hear your thoughts and what level I should get. Thanks.
No a character curriculum, but our absolute favorite ever is – Little Britches series by Ralph Moody. I also like Boyhood and Beyond (Thus far it has been just as applicable to girls as I’ve found myself convicted when I read it to my son. We’re on about ch. 10.)
I was going to suggest Character Concepts. I heard both speak at last years homeschool conference. Great wisdom and insight with a heart for solid character starting when little.
I purchased a couple of the books (Portraits of Integrity, which is really good) and am strongly thinking of purchasing the Kids of Character guide that goes along with it.
It says level 3 is for ages 7-10
I just stumbled upon something called Character Corner last week. Bought the “Little Lads and Ladies of Virtue” Book for $12! And I’m loving it. Simple, 5 lessons per trait, for young kids… Definition, verse, and “I wills” begin each lesson. The character corner.com
Christie, re. Little Britches – my children are 5, 7, almost 11 and almost 12. – would you say Little Britches would be enjoyed/appropriate as read aloud for all of these ages? Or would it be better to give as independent reading just to my oldest two? (youngest is a girl…she loves to participate in most everything we do, though I did notice when we were studying local history, stories of French/Iroquois wars etc. did not sit well with her..) Any advice welcome! Angie
Well, I’m not Christie… But my kids all loved it, and it is perfect for boys at 11 or 12… Or a bit before, in my opinion! I have an 8 yo I’m thinking about when to start reading it to. I’ll wait a bit yet, but he would love to hear it now after getting on on a bit with older sibs last round. I wouldn’t miss reading it aloud! and I prefer to edit on the fly b/c all that cowboy language is way to appealing to boys at that age IMO!
DH is in the middle of reading the Little Britches series to our four kids, ages 5-13. They are all enjoying the books!
Thank you, jawgee and anniepeter, for your input on Little Britches. I will definitely not miss reading it aloud…
To the OP – I realized I do have a suggestion for you: William Bennet’s, The Book of Virtues. It is about $19 on Amazon. I LOVE how the book is sectioned BY VIRTUE, with each section including scripture, poems and short stories to go with each virtue. I am using it alongside our history studies which is why it didn’t come to mind initially when you asked for a recommendation for a character book, but certainly, character building is what it was designed for…
We really like the Millers books also. I also printed off and spiral bound all the lessons here http://www.kidsofintegrity.com/about-kids-integrity. I REALLY like these–they’re very complete and have multiple Bible stories/lessons to go along with each character trait, a list of possible verses to memorize, prayers, activities, creative discipline, etc. There’s a lot of pick and choose from. I also got the small cards from We Choose Virtues to go along with them (there’s only 12 of these, and so far we’ve only done the lessons that match up with the cards). WeI spend 2-3 weeks on each character trait, reviewing the card and memory verse each day and going over one Bible story go-along or activity most days.
Thank you for all the great ideas, everyone. We have read and enjoyed the Miller books and I forgot that we got only halfway through Wisdom and the Millers last year, so we are finishing it now. And I have an audio book of the Bennett Book Of Virtues I am playing for them at bedtime. Thank you for reminding me of these. I ordered a Character Concepts book and CD to try next. If we like the audio, I may do the Uncle Rick club for more bedtime Bible readings.
I am holding off a few years on the Little Britches books until my younger is a little older. Does anyone know the best place to buy these, on a budget? Or the audio books?
We have a few of the Uncle Rick books on audio, Uncle Rick reads the Psalms, Proverbs, Bible Stories and Matthew. My kids really like them, and they are great for bedtime and/or rest time.
Another FANTASTIC book on tape are the Sugar Creek Gang books. My ODS (7) is LOVING them. He listens to them over and over and they have such great character qualities in them. Stories about the boys and their adventures with Biblical messages throughout. They were a bit more expensive, but he listens to them all the time and I could see passing them onto him for his kids someday. They truly are treasured in our house. My DD and even my 4 years old enjoys them, as do I. I hope to collect the entire series over the course of this year. We purchased ours from http://www.belovedbooks.com/page/page/1567900.htm but I am sure there are other places to purchase.
Sugar Creek Gang is great, too. We own all of them on cd and the narrator is perfectly terrific! All of us love them. They are appropriate for anyone 3 & older. They have been listened to more than any other. These are short, which is great for around town car trips.
Little Britches – I own all in pb and am actively looking for hb copies. I also have all of the audiobook versions narrated by Cameron Bierle. They are super fantastic. I got mine from Audible. These have been loved by ages 5 and older at my house. Ds5 doesn’t remember them from 1.5 years ago, but even though he was only 3, he enjoyed them at the time. Ds11 is now reading them on his own.
Have you looked at SCM’s Laying Down the Rails for Children or Beautiful Feet’s Character study guide? Both have book suggests for character training.
We also love the Miller books and Little Britches. I’ve read a couple Lamplighter books as well.
Speaking of ‘character’, I’m starting a new series of blog posts called ‘Defining Charlotte’, where I intend to define various words/concepts in Charlotte’s original writings. Many of the words/topics will be based on my local CM Book Club discussions, with the first being ‘character’.
http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2015/02/defining-charlottecharacter.html
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