Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Memories...

We celebrated our daughter's 19th birthday yesterday. As the celebration continued at the dinner table I found myself going back to her 3rd birthday. We had a house and yard full of friends and the mood was jubilant. Suddenly Emily came into the yard, placed her hands on her hips and announced in a loud voice "This is the BEST birthday I have ever had!!". Of course I laughed through my tears, my husband hugged her and she got a huge round of applause. Now back to yesterday; she got the cell phone she has wanted for the past year, clothes, lots of makeup and a special gift from Daddy...and she brightly proclaimed "This is the BEST birthday ever!!". Now you are wondering..."where are you going with this walk down memory lane??" Well, I'll tell you.
I am learning each and every day how very precious memories are...unlike financial and material possessions they won't be foreclosed on or repossessed. They are ours...and we must treat them as precious. Today I am suggesting we all begin a family journal...that we write these treasures down for our families to cherish. We don't need to spend tons of money on scrapbooking goodies...we can use a simple notebook. By doing this we can make a history lesson...
Writing is sometimes a chore...and sometimes a blessing.
We are continuing to work towards bringing our workshops to you. Please don't forget our special offer: Gather together a group of 10 or more students and your child will attend for free! We offer a variety of workshops...and look forward to meeting you soon! In the meantime...notebooks are 5 cents at Wal-Mart, go grab a few and let the whole family begin writing their memories!!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

The 21 Day Habit...using it!

One of the first things we discuss in a SchoolTools workshop is utilizing your time well and creating good habits. As we were teaching a workshop this past week I was struck by the fact that I need to use the "21 Day" plan myself. I love writing the blog...but I admit I haven't been consistent about doing this...SO, as we do in all of our workshops I challenged myself to make a blog habit. For the blog to be timely and I hope interesting I should be posting at least twice a week. I have written "BLOG" in my planner and will be crossing it off as I stretch my blogging muscles ;-)
So, let's talk about the 21 day habit...studies have shown that if a person truly wants to create a new habit or change an old one they need 21 days. I have personally found this really works, much to my surprise ;-) At our workshops we challenge the students to write down a habit they wish to adopt. They have been fun...a few examples were: eat breakfast, make my bed, write in my journal, not drink pop...the list goes on and on. We try to "make a habit" of contacting the students to see how they are doing. Their successes have been terrific. To make it more fun for them I always join in the challenge...generally the kids do a much better job!!
I challenge our readers to pick a habit you would like to create or break and take the challenge with us; you will be amazed.
May I also suggest you make the habit of checking our blog regularly...to keep me on my toes and to also read of new workshops, success stories and to post to us.
We welcome the feedback and the comments. It keeps us on our toes!!!
Our special continues...invite 10 or more students to a workshop and you will receive a workshop free!!!!