Character Box

Practical life and character education can many times get put on the back-burner. I sometimes forget to include those in our education, even though they are some of the most important things I can instill in my children.

These traits have a large impact on their success as adults and their happiness in life.

One of the ways I am trying to remind myself to teach these important life skills is by starting a "Character Box." Each month I write down 4-5 character words to study (the number depends upon how many weeks there are in each month). At the beginning of each week, one of the children pulls a card out of the box -- it is the character word of the week. We unfold it, read it, and talk about what it means. Each night at dinner, we talk about how we were able to use that particular character trait (the word of that week) during the day and also discuss if we let any opportunities slip by. So far, the children have really enjoyed the character box and it has really added more "meat" to our dinner conversation!