Focused on Virtue

Last summer I attended an Educational Conference for a teaching methodology called Waldorf. While there, I learned of "The Virtue Project." And I felt it needed to be a focus in my parenting and teaching. This is a great perspective to take in raising kids or in education and developing them into more well-rounded citizens and people of character.

The Virtues Project was founded in Canada in 1991 by Linda Kavelin-Popov, Dr. Dan Popov and John Kavelin. It was honored by the United Nations during the International Year of the Family as a "model global program for families of all cultures". They create cards, affirmations, guides, etc. to help in various areas of life in which we can focus on bringing these virtues into play.

These are the areas of life they list for focusing on the virtues

It started when they sat down and studied and noted all the virtues they found mentioned in various major religious texts. From all the characteristics noted they found they were able to whittle them down into 52 underlying virtues. Click here for the website's definitions of each virtue.

The 52 Virtues

There are five strategies the use for the process of bringing these virtues into play in the various areas of focus in life. These are details for the first two (where I've been spending my focus), but the photo below has the summary of all five.

1. Speak the Language of Virtue: I love that they focus on speaking virtues (instead of focusing on the counterpart (opposite, bad behavior). Instead of saying to your child "don't hit your sister, that's bad," say "was that being gentle to sister?" This helps the child realize where they fall short of goodness, without labeling them as being bad. And praise when you see good virtues practiced, so you don't have to wait until the bad virtues come out.
2. Recognize Teachable Moments: If you notice your child doing something that isn't upholding positive virtues, use that moment to stop and help them evaluate. Like the example just mentioned. It's about asking the right questions and taking time to show a better way (without over-talking), rather than shaming kids and making them feel guilty or bad. As you practice teaching moments you will learn how to clearly and simply emphasize good over bad. 

I love the beautiful card set they sell, though I don't own a set. They had one at the conference and we each picked one and discussed it with our "neighbor." Each virtue card has the definition, picture, quote, statement of belief and a bullet list of ways one would show living that virtue. It's a great format for understanding virtues, whether of not you focus on all 52 (which is a lot and maybe a little overwhelming).

So, I started taking this concept and thinking about President Hinckley's 9 Be's. These 9 attributes of focus were a good starting point to work from. And for Gospel study I focus on the 9 Christlike Attributes: faith, hope, Charity/love, virtue, knowledge, patience, diligence, obedience, humility (and I added gratitude).

I will post more later on these as I try to see how to make focusing on virtues a more integral and defined part of my life and parenting, so my children have a simplified and defined view of the most important values of "being."

Teaching Your Children Values, by the Eyres has been a good place to start for ideas on how to teach some of the values. Then I will just need to keep practicing communicating positive virtues (so getting familiar with what they are and what they mean). And focusing on a few has been the greatest help, instead of trying to memorize and teach all of them (esp. when my child is only 4). The ones I focus on now are gentleness, responsibility, happiness, gratitude, thoughtfulness, etc.

This Week's Goal:

Why not pick one to focus on this week and try saying to your children, "you showed gentleness when you _____" so you acknowledge the child's postitive behavior, instead of labeling them as a person.

Homemade PlayDough

I love this simple recipe that doesn't need boiling water or cream of tartar. It makes four big balls. And it's awesome to have my kids make it with me and play with it, so they know where it came from and feel empowered to make their things they can play with.

1 c very warm water
4 c flour
2 T oil
1 1/2 c salt (this much, since there is no cream of tartar to preserve)
food coloring (four colors)

1. Get four bowls and divide 1/4 c water in each.
2. Add 1/2 T oil in each and add the different food coloring in each bowl as desired.
3. In a large bowl add the salt and flour together and mix.
4. Put 1 cup of the flour/salt mixture into each bowl and mix/knead each separately.
5. Store each in the fridge in a plastic bag--squeeze out air.

The consistency should be similar to playdoh from the store. :)


Ideas:
Winter: make playdough snowmen or Christmas trees and put out a bowl of trail mix (or candies) for kids to decorate as desired. They could even eat the dough--though it's super duper salty and not yummy at all! :)

Do You Have Candida? Part 1

Types of Candidiasis:

• If it is in the mouth or throat, it is called oral candidiasis, oropharyngeal candidiasis, or thrush.
• If it affects the genital area, it is called a yeast infection. In women, it may be called a vulvovaginal yeast infection.
• If yeast infects the skin on a baby’s bottom area, it causes a diaper rash.
• If the infection enters your bloodstream, it is called invasive candidiasis or candidemia.

Symptoms of Candida

• Skin and nail fungal infections (such as athlete’s foot or toenail fungus)
• Feeling tired and worn down or suffering from chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia
• Digestive issues such as bloating, constipation, or diarrhea
• Autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Ulcerative colitis, Lupus, Psoriasis, Scleroderma or Multiple sclerosis
• Difficulty concentrating, poor memory, lack of focus, ADD, ADHD and brain fog
• Skin issues such as eczema, psoriasis, hives, and rashes
• Irritability, mood swings, anxiety, or depression
• Vaginal infections , urinary tract infections, rectal itching or vaginal itching
• Severe seasonal allergies or itchy ears
• Strong sugar and refined carbohydrate cravings

How to Test If you Have Candida

Step 1: Fill up a glass of water half way first thing in the morning without eating or drinking anything.
Step 2: Spit in the glass of water (about dime size)
Step 3: Watch it for 2-3 times (For over 45 minutes)

Does the spit sink to the bottom or grow legs into the glass of water?  If it does, that means that you have candida overgrowth. 

There are many ways to be Candida-free but effectively treating candida involves stopping the yeast overgrowth, restoring the friendly bacteria that usually keeps them in check, and healing your gut so that candida growth can be controlled.  Getting rid of the candida overgrowth primarily requires a change in diet to a low carbohydrate diet. Sugar is what feeds yeast, so eliminating sugar in all of its simple forms like candy, desserts, alcohol and flours would be ideal.

Also, eliminating all fermented foods and reducing to only one cup a day of the more complex carbohydrates such as grains, beans, fruit, bread, pasta, and potatoes will prevent the Candida from increasing in number. Using diet alone could take some time before the Candida is back under control. But it will free you from the symptoms that you are currently experiencing. Imagine waking up in the morning feeling energized, focused and revitalized!

**for recipe ideas that help discourage yeast growth, check out my nourishyourbody blog

**Article source

Clean Media Idea List: On-going

I copied this extensive movie list from another blog post at purpose-driven-motherhood.com. I think it's a great list, but I haven't seen them all, so I can't verify them 100%. But I hope to whittle this down to my favorites too. 
I'd be interested in any others' recommendations. I will Bold the movies I've seen.
--------------------

The LDS For the Strength of You outlines the following guidelines for what good media is:

1. Uplifting 
2. Helps you feel the Spirit 
3. Encourages you to live righteously and make good choices

These are the media God says to avoid. 

1. Vulgarity 
2. Immorality 
3. Violence
4. Pornographic in any way
5. Do not participate in anything that presents immorality or violence as acceptable
6. Anything that drives away the Spirit
7. Media that makes it look like breaking God’s commandments is acceptable and has no negative consequences for you or others

Others' Clean Movie Recommendations

42

17 Miracles - about LDS handcart pioneers

19 Kids and Counting - Watch full episodes here.

A Little Princess (BBC version)

A Man Called Peter

A Man for All Seasons

A More Perfect Union - about the Constitutional Convention, by BYU

Akeelah and the Bee

All Creatures Great and Small (BBC)

Amazing Grace - William Wilberforce ending the British slave trade (immodesty of time-period clothing.)

Amish Grace - about forgiveness after a schoolhouse shooting

Amistad

An Affair to Remember

Anna and the King or The King and I

Anne of Avonlea

Anne of Green Gables

Annie

Any of the Mr. Bean movies, Mr Bean Takes a Holiday, etc., very funny, he's a MASTER of physical comedy.

Avengers

Babette's Feast

Ball of Fire -  Gregory Peck (funny)

BBC Elizabeth Gaskell movies

BBC Jane Austen movies

BBC North and South

BedKnobs and Broomsticks

Belles on Their Toes -  the old version

Ben Hur - 1959 Charlton Heston

Black Beauty

Bollywood

Born Free

Brave

Braveheart (violence R-rated)

Brian’s Song

Bridge on the River Kwai

Brigadoon

Buttercream Gang

Call the Midwife

Castaway

Chariots of Fire

Charlotte’s Web

Charly

Cheaper by the Dozen - older version

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Christy

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Courage Heart of Irena Sendler - about a woman who saved many children from concentration camps

Courageous - about becoming a great father (a couple intense scenes may scare younger children)

Court Jester - Danny Kay

Cranford - has some medical stuff--blood, accidents--that we zipped through, otherwise very sweet family stuff

Cross and the Switchblade

David Copperfield (BBC version)

Dolphin Tale -  Ashley Jud Harry Connick Jr.

Dreamer

Driving Miss Daisy

Easter Parade -  Judy Garland and Fred Astaire

Emma - the Gweneth Paltrow version

Emma Smith, My Story

Ender's Game

Ephriam's Rescue - about LDS handcart pioneers

Evan Almighty

Ever After

Facing the Giants - faith-based football movie

Faith Like Potatoes

Father of the bride, part 1 & 2

Field of Dreams

Fireproof - about strengthening marriage

Fly Away Home

Follow Me Boys

Follow Me Boys

Forest Gump

Forever Strong - rugby player who has a change of heart (immodesty at a pool party)

Freaky Friday

Freedom Writers

Front of the Class - Hallmark film

Frozen

Gandhi - the long version

Gettysburg

Gifted Hands - about Ben Carson, famous pediatric neurosurgeon who pulled himself out of childhood poverty

Glory Road

Goal

God’s Not Dead - Christian college student being persecuted for beliefs

Godspell

Going for the Gold

Goodbye Miss Fourth of July

Goodbye Mister Chips

Goodnight Mister Tom

Grave of the Fireflies - animation showing WWII affected Japanese

Gravity - Sandra Bullock

Green Mile

Hans Christian Anderson -  Danny Kaye

Harry's War

Heaven is for Real - based on true story of boy's near-death-experience

Heaven Is REal

Heidi

Here Comes the Boom

Hobart Shakespeareans

Hobbit

Hoosiers

How the West Was Won

I Remember Mamma

I.Q.

In Search of the Castaways

In the Name of God's Poor - the true story of Mother Teresa

Jane Eyre (certain versions)

Joan of Arc (Ingrid Bergman version)

John Adams miniseries - has a few short scenes you'll want to skip, you can buy edited version

Johnny Tremain - Revolutionary war time period

Joseph (Ben Kingsley version)

Journey for Margaret

Kiki's Delivery Service

Lark Rise to Candleford

Lassie

Lassie Come Home

Lean on Me

Legend of the Guardians

Les Miserables (Geoffrey Rush version)

Letter Writer

Letters to God

Letters to Juliet

Liberty's Kids - animated Revolution series

Life is Beautiful -  Italian with subtitles, this should be viewed by older children since the thematic content is heavy, about the Holocaust

Like Stars on Earth

Liken the Scriptures - entertaining musical scripture stories

Little House on the Prairie series

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Little Men

Little Shop Around the Corner

Little Women (1949 and Wynona Rider versions were both recommended)

Living Scriptures - animated series about Bible, Book of Mormon, heroes in history, also documentaries about modern prophets and pioneers

Lord of the Rings

Love Comes Softly - faith-based series of ten movies set in the 1800's

Madame Curie

Man in the Iron Mask

Man of La Mancha

Mary Poppins

Meet Me in St. Louis - Judy Garland

Meet The Robinsons

Miracle on Ice

Miracle Worker - about Hellen Keller

Miracle - about 1980 US hockey team

Miss Potter

Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House - Cary Grant -  HILARIOUS family movie about buying and renovating a home

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Mr. Holland's Opus

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ( James Stewart)

Mrs. Arris Goes to Paris

Mrs. Miniver

My Fair Lady

My Name is David

My Neighbor Totoro

My Side of the Mountain

Nanny McPhee

National Treasure

National Velvet

Newsies

Night at the Opera - best Marx Brothers movie EVER, very quotable

Nim's Island

October Skies

Old Yeller

On the Town - Gene Kelley, Frank Sinatra

One Good Man - about a new LDS bishop

Paper Clips

Parent Trap (old or new version)

Passage to Zarahemla  - intense but great for older kids and teens--the DVD contains two versions, one for younger kids

Pay it Forward

Perfect Harmony

Playing for Time

Pollyanna - Disney or BBC version

Prince of Egypt

Princess Diaries

Rascal

Remember the Titans

Rigaletto

Rocket Man

Ruby Bridges

Sarah Plain and Tall series

Saratov Approach - based on true story of missionaries kidnapped in Russia, intensity

Saving Sarah Cane

Scamper the Penguin

Scarlet Pimpernel

Schindler’s List (about the Holocaust) - R rated

Seabiscuit

Second Hand Lions

Secret Millionaires Club

Secretariat - Great story of dream, struggle, victory

Sense and Sensibility

Sergeant York (Gary cooper)*

Seven Alone

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Seven Days in Utopia

Shadowlands - based on true story about C.S. Lewis, the author of Narnia series

Shenandoah (James Stewart)*

Singing in the Rain - Donald O'Conner, Gene Kelley, Debbie Reynolds

Something the Lord Made

Soul Surfer - beach attire

Sound of Music

Sounder

Spellbound

Stand and Deliver

Stand Strong - learning that family matters more than image, living within one's means, faith

Star Wars

Stone Fox

Support Your Local Sheriff

Surf's Up

Swiss Family Robinson

Tale of Two Cities

Tangled

The Absent Minded Professor - 161 version Red McMurray

The African Queen

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

The Bachelor and Bobbie Soxer - Cary Grant, Shirley Temple

The Best Two Years - about LDS missionaries

The Bible in the Beginning

The Blind Side

The Book of Ruth

The Book Thief

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Chronicles of Narnia series - Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, etc.

The Elephant Man

The Emperor’s New Groove

The Father on My Three Sons

The First Grader

The First Olympics: Athens 1896

The Fox and the Child

The Glenn miller story

The Greatest Game Ever Played

The Happiest Millionaire (Disney)

The Hiding Place - of course the book is better (always, right?) but I just LOVE the Ten Boom family and feel inspired by their strength and faith every time I think about them

The Human Experience

The Indian In The Cupboard

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness - about an American woman missionary who saved many children at the beginning WWII

The Keys of the Kingdom

The King's Speech

The Lake House (not to be confused with LakeHouse)

The Letter Writer

The Longest Yard

The Man from Snowy River

The Marva Collins Story

The Mission - music by Ennio Morricone

The Music Man

The Other Side of Heaven - Disney about LDS missionary John Groberg in Tonga

The Power of One

The Pride of the Yankees: The Lou Gehrig Story

The Prince and the Pauper

The Princess Bride

The Red Pony

The Road Home

The Robe

The Rogue Stallion

The Sandlot - some swearing

The Secret Garden

The Son of God

The Spirit of St. Louis

The Story of One

The Swamp Fox - Revolutionary war time period

The Ten Commandments

The Terminal

The Testaments: of One Fold and One Shepherd

The Tooth Fairy - Julie Andrews

The Ultimate Gift (on Clearplay?)

The Ultimate Life

The Vow

The Work and the Glory series

The Yearling

The Young Victoria

Time Changer

To Kill a Mocking bird - Greg Peck

To Sir, With Love

Tuesdays with Morrie

Twelve Angry Men

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Victoria and Albert

Vivah

War horse

We Bought a Zoo

What About Bob

What The Deaf Man Heard

What's Up Doc? -  hilarious & wacky Barbara Streisand movie

Where the Red Rern Grows

White Christmas -  Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye

Wild Hearts Can't be Broken

Willow

Wives and Daughters

Wizard of Oz

You Can't Take it With You - James Stewart

Yours Mine and Ours

Documentary Recommendations

Most of these ideas are from friends, which again means I can't verify whether they meet the LDS standards above.

1. Agenda: Grinding America Down  - the documentary I recommend the most often to others. Watch it free here.
2. America: Imagine the World without Her 
3. For Our Day: Covenant on the Land info here
4. Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure
5. Runaway Slave: Why Growing Dependency on Big Government is Destroying America 
6. Unstoppable - by Kirk Cameron, about people losing faith over "where is God during tragedy" 
7. Fires of Faith (a three-part BYU series about Reformation and King James Bible)
8. Why Christianity 
9. Captivated: Finding Freedom in a Media Captive Culture 
10. Indoctrination: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America 
11. Building the Machine – about Common Core. Watch it free here. 
12. Waiting for Superman - very interesting documentary on public schools
13. Privileged Planet
14. Back to Eden
15. Thrive
16. Unlocking the Mystery of Life
17. My Life as a Turkey -Joe Hutto mothered a bunch of wild turkeys from birth, then they recreated it as a documentary
18. Nova episodes on PBS, I think our favorites though have been the "Making Stuff" series.  IE: Making stuff smaller, stronger, faster, etc. The host, David Pogue, does a great job.  Here's a link to one of them, It's the Making Stuff Wilder episode. http://video.pbs.org/video/2365105192/
19. American Experience and Nature on PBS 
20. Anything by Ken Burns, he's awesome.  He goes into depth on whatever he's documenting.  We have his civil war, baseball and National Parks documentaries that we recorded off TV when they aired.  
21. We have used videos from izzit.org for the past couple of years. They send free DVDs once a year (you get to choose). They have teacher guides that come with them. The newer ones have the guides on the disc, but the older ones have booklets in the DVD case. Here are some that we have (the next six videos in this list): 
22. Who Owns What (Property Rights and Regulations)
23. Unintended Consequences: Eminent Domain
24. The Road to Prosperity
25. Yours and Mine- The Lesson of 1623
26. 2081 - A short film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"
27. Unstoppable Solar Cycles
28. Everyone's Space
29. Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution 1, 2 and 3 - combats evolution 
30. Forks Over Knives 
31. The Story of US 
32. PBS American Experience
33. Ken Burns Civil War
34. BYUtv American Ride
35. Ken Burns The War (PBS) 
36. The World at War
37. American Presidents (available at the Davis County library)
38. PBS.org has many of their programs for you to stream for free: Nova, Frontline, Nova Science Now, American Experience, Masterpiece Theater, etc. 
39. Between the Folds – documentary on origami 
40. How the Universe Works (series)
41. Secret Life of Bees
42. Blue Planet
43. March of the Penguins
44. Documentary on solving the mystery of Titanic (Netflix 7-11 yr olds loved it) 
45. Drive Through History DVD's 
46. Moody Science videos are very good. They have a wide variety of topics. 
47. The American Heritage series is excellent. We just bought the sequel and a collection of single DVDs. 
48. Wild Horse and Wild Ride – I just watched a really interesting documentary on the Mustang Challenge. It followed several trainers from the time they picked up their wild mustangs to the Challenge in Ft. Worth (one of several in the nation) 100 days later. It was really fascinating. 
49. Farmageddon – about the FDA
50. Business of Being Born
51. Civil War - by Ken Burns 
52. National Geographic: Inside North Korea
53. Mitt - about Mitt Romney 
54. There's a great documentary about Albert Schweitzer on You Tube. Very inspiring, and was filmed while he was alive, with the understanding that it would only be released after his death. What a great man with a divinely inspired mission!
55. God of Wonders - on Netflix 
56. How the Universe Works - on Netflix
57. The Rise of Global Governance 
58. Agenda 21: How Will it Affect You?
59. Rise and Fall of Rome - by history channel
60. What the ancients knew 
61. What the ancients did for us
62. Age of empires
63. Horrible Histories (BBC)
64. "Make Things (Faster, Smarter, Colder, Safer...)" episodes on Nova

Sources to watch movies and documentaries 

Most of these ideas are from friends. 

1. Zion Tube is a great movie resource with an LDS perspective. Find trailers, full movies, documentaries, Disneys, classics
2. Christian Cinema, is a Netflix-type company that only carries family and faith promoting movies. 
3. Christian Film Database - It appears that you can rent or watch movies using pay-per-view.  They promote films with a Christian message, and claim to be the most extensive database of Christian movies ever. 
4. Netflix
5. Your local library 
6. Youtube
7. Discovery education has a wonderful website (was known as united streaming) has a plethora of videos.  
8. History channel has some good stuff...sometimes you can find a whole episodes on You tube. 
9. National Geographic
10. History.com 
11. Civilwar.org 
12. BBC
13. PBS.org 
14. BYUTV 
15. Mormonflix.com
16. MormonChannel.org 
17. LDS.org 
18. Top Documentary Films 
19. The YouTube channel "Disneytv4me" has some old, really fun Disney episodes that were on the weekly Sunday night TV called The Wonderful World of Disney. 
20. I've been impressed with the list of recommendations at The Center for Social Leadership Oliver DeMille's site).
21. Feature Films for Families
22. I also like to watch Moody Science classics on youtube. Just do a search on youtube for that phrase. There are a little cheesy but hark back to a simpler time when life was cleaner, which makes me feel good. They focus on believing in God and science.
23. You can get signed up at http://puritanpicks.com and have a service like Netflix that only stocks family friendly movies. A similar site is http://faithandfamilyflix.com. Cool!
24. Izzit.org 
25. Hallmark movies