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Bright-Kids
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Vol. 5, No. 38 - September 22nd, 2008
http://hometown.aol.com/brightkidsrus
mailto: debi@simplemom.com
Copyright 2008 Deborah Taylor-Hough
ISSN: 1536-0466 All Rights Reserved
________________________________

Subscribe: join-bright-kids@hub.thedollarstretcher.com
***: leave-bright-kids@hub.thedollarstretcher.com
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IN THIS ISSUE:
-- "Dear Readers"
-- Quote-able
-- Teach Children What to Do Next Time
-- Experiment: Testing for Tannic Acid
-- Reader Tips
-- Assorted Information (resources, archives, etc.)
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< < O U R . S P O N S O R > >

VitaBrownie by Vitalicious

"This is the most nutritious brownie you can find."
- Lisa Drayer, Women's Health Magazine
(on Good Morning America)

According to Lisa Drayer, R.D., contributor to Women's
Health Magazine, "It definitely is delicious and it's
another guilty pleasure that's good for you, too.
VitaBrownie is not the typical brownie at all -- it's
healthy. Plus it's fortified with vitamins."

http://www.kqzyfj.com/email-1374001-10468019
________________________________

Dear Readers,

My good friend, Catherine Levison, came to my church on
Saturday and presented one of her popular All-Day Educational
Workshops based on the philosophies of Charlotte Mason, a
British educator from the previous century whose ideas are
currently experiencing a rebirth, especially among American
private and home schools. Catherine's workshop was wonderful!
Everyone came away inspired and refreshed ... and the lasagna
lunch didn't hurt either. ;-)

http://snurl.com/3ssr4 [whiteriverpres_synodnw_org]

I'm thinking about hosting some future workshops at my church
in Auburn, Washington on topics like simplicity, frugal living, home
organization, educational ideas, the holidays, and parenting.

I'm curious if there are any Bright-Kids' readers out there in the
Pacific Northwest who'd be interested in attending something
along those lines if we sponsored it in Auburn? Feel free to
drop me a note at DSimple@aol.com if you have any thoughts
you'd like to share about the idea.

Simply Yours,

--Debi
(Deborah Taylor-Hough)
Editor, Bright-Kids Email Newsletter
--Author of the popular 'Frozen Assets' cookbook series, 'A Simple
Choice,' and 'Frugal Living For Dummies(r)'
--Editor, Simple Times and Bright-Kids email newsletters

http://brightkids.wordpress.com
http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com
http://snurl.com/DebiTupperware
http://dsimple.wordpress.com
________________________________

QUOTABLE

"Always be nice to your children because they are the ones
who will choose your rest home."

--Phyllis Diller
________________________________

TEACH CHILDREN WHAT TO DO NEXT TIME
Copyright Dr. Scott Turansky & Joanne Miller, RN
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
http://effectiveparenting.org/


Don't you feel like some days you have to discipline kids for
the same things over and over again? The child who has a
problem hitting, interrupting, or just being annoying to others
may need a lot of correction.

It's these problems that are great candidates for a Positive
Conclusion. Each time the negative behavior takes place,
have the child take a short break and then come back to you
for a debriefing. During that conversation, one of the questions
should be, "What are you going to do differently next time?"

When you ask this question your child has to state the right
response back to you. If Bill is frustrated with his brother Jack
and responds by arguing or saying unkind things or grabbing,
the right response is to talk about the problem. If you continue
to discipline Bill for these wrong responses and he continues
to verbalize that the right response is to talk about it, eventually
he is able to catch himself sooner and talk to Jack about the
problem without using the negative behaviors. This takes time
and repeated discipline sessions, but children learn by repetition
and frequent, gentle reminders.

Sometimes children don't know what they should have done
differently. In fact, some parents are so used to telling their
children what not to do, they, themselves, don't even know
what the right response should be. Sometimes the solutions
are not easy. That's all the more reason to use this question
with children. Both parent and child can brainstorm about
alternatives to unwanted behavior.

By communicating the right response to you verbally, your
child will begin to see the difference and learn to change.

This tip comes from the book 'Home Improvement, The
Parenting Book You Can Read to Your Kids' by Dr. Scott
Turansky and Joanne Miller RN BSN.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
--Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN are authors
of a large number of books and other resources on parenting
and family life. You can visit them online and subscribe to their
free parenting email newsletter at: http://effectiveparenting.org/

You can order their books online at:

"Home Improvement: Eight Tools for Effective Parenting"
http://snurl.com/effectiveparenting

"Say Goodbye to Whining and Complaining ... In You and Your Kids!"
http://snurl.com/goodbyewhining

________________________________

< < O U R S P O N S O R > >

My Child, the Author

You can imagine your child's delight seeing their story
printed in a magazine, or a college-bound youth highlighting
on their application that their artwork has been published
nationally. My Child, the Author ebook shows you how to
see your child's creative works published. It's easy. It's fun,
and publishers are looking for stories, poems and artwork.
Don't pay to be published. MyChildtheAuthor.com

Special homeschoolers discount: visit www.MyChildtheAuthor.com

Click on Educator's discount at the bottom of the page.
Use email address: info@MyChildtheAuthor.com
Password: cbook

Contact us at info@MyChildtheAuthor.com

(Be sure to mention Bright-Kids when writing.) :-)
________________________________

EXPERIMENT: TESTING FOR TANNIC ACID
Copyright Robert Krampf
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
http://krampf.com


On our recent trip to Wakulla Springs, we didn't get to take
the glass bottom boat ride, because the water was too murky.
Normally the water from the spring is crystal clear, letting you
see fish, manatees and other creatures through the boat's glass
bottom. They had recently gotten lots of rain, which washes
tannic acid out of the soil and decaying leaves, giving the water
a brown color. Even so, we had a great trip, but it reminded me
that there is an easy test you can do to detect tannic acid.

To try this, you will need:

- steel wool
- vinegar
- a pot to boil the vinegar in
- a white plate or saucer
- tea
- coffee
- other things to test


Put a wad of steel wool about the size of the palm of your hand
into the pot. Then pour in about an inch of vinegar, and place
the pot on the stove. Heat it until it boils, and then reduce the
heat to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, watching
to be sure that the vinegar does not boil away. If it gets low,
add more vinegar. This is going to SMELL, so you should get
permission to smell up the house. It will also help to open a
window.

After 5 minutes, remove the pot from the heat, and let it cool a
bit. Spoon some of the liquid onto a white plate. It will have a
slightly greenish color. You have produced a solution of iron
acetate, a chemical that will help us detect tannic acid.

Add a few drops of tea and watch carefully. When the tea first
hits the liquid, it will be brown, but almost instantly, it will
change to black. The tannic acid in the tea is reacting with
the iron acetate to cause the color change.

Add a few drops of coffee. This time, the color is more brown.
Coffee does contain tannic acid, but much less than tea, so
you don’t get the dramatic color change. You can test other
drinks as well.

I wanted a very strong source of tannic acid, so I chopped
some acorns and soaked them in hot water. This gave me
a fairly clear liquid that turned the iron acetate an inky black.

Tannic acid is found in many plants, from oak trees to giant
Redwoods. It helps discourage insects and other creatures
from nibbling, and preserves the wood. It can be found in tea,
coffee, wine, pomegranates, persimmons, cloves, tarragon,
cumin, and many other foods.

Have a wonder-filled week!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
--Robert Krampf travels the world providing fun science-related
programs to schools, home school groups, and other venues.
You can learn more about him at: http://krampf.com/bio.html
________________________________

Visit our new Nature Study Bookstore online!
http://astore.amazon.com/naturestudy-20/
________________________________

READER TIPS
Submitted by Bright-Kids' readers. Share your favorite family
educational tips by emailing Debi at: DSimple@aol.com


== Calendar Computer Pages ==
Here's a fun idea I use with my son. Last year, I would make up
calendar pages on the computer for him, and try to add any fun
activities he had going on, building on a monthly calendar he had
made in kindergarten the year before. This summer, I was given
a 1/2 used presentation size graph paper in poster size. I marked
it as a monthly calendar, and put all of our activities on it. We had
a busy summer, and he knew upon looking at it what we were going
to do. I hung it on the back of our basement door with an old wreath
hook, making it very visible from the kitchen table. It's stopped the
"What are we going to do today?" questions, as well as encouraging
him to read. I also used different colored markers to write events we
had on a regular basis. Now that school is back in session, I'm still
making the calendar, and including all of his "specials" for the day,
library, art, gym, music. When we look the night before, we know
what day to pull out the gym clothes for school, or when to wear
not so good clothes for art class.
--Jen B., Morrow OH


* * Your Tips? * *
Do you have some great family fun, educational, or parenting
tips/ideas you'd love to share with other parents and caregivers?
Just send your tips and ideas to Debi at Bright-Kids:
DSimple@aol.com
______________________________

READ-ALOUD BOOKS FOR FAMILIES:

http://snurl.com/reading4kids

Recommended books for children and families
(This is a great list to print out and hand to your kids'
grandparents for suggestions at gift-giving times!)
_______________________________

A special thanks to Gary Foreman and the friendly folks at
The Dollar Stretcher for making this mailing list possible! :-)
http://www.stretcher.com/
_______________________________

< < B E . O U R . S P O N S O R > >

Would you like to place an ad in this newsletter? Contact
Mailto: marketing@stretcher.com
Subject line: bright-kids
Discover the modest rates for reaching this targeted market.
________________________________

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your family and friends. :-)
________________________________

BRIGHT-KIDS ARCHIVES

For a list of most back issues of the Bright-Kids Email
Newsletter, click on the "Read Messages" button at
the following website:

http://hub.thedollarstretcher.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?visit=bright-kids
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DEBI'S RESOURCES:

Personal Blog: http://dsimple.wordpress.com
Nature Study Books: http://astore.amazon.com/naturestudy-20/
Frugality/Simplicity: http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com
Cooking Ahead: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frozen-assets
Bright-Kids: http://brightkids.wordpress.com
Tupperware(r): http://my.tupperware.com/debihough
Personal Webpage: http://simplemom.com
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