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Birthday Bash: 12pm-Gentle Shepherd

November 1, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Diane Hurst from Gentle Shepherd will be sharing on the Art of Eloquence Facebook fan page this Birthday Bash half hour. Here is what she is offering as a prize for this half hour’s contest:

Picture and Writing: Older Ages
These pages are for grades five through eight. There are 11 closely spaced lines to write on. Picture prompts that are unique to this book are: make a picture of a space alien, of a jungle, of an unusual family, of someone playing a sport, of an unusual backyard, of an amusement park ride. The other prompts are the same as those in the Younger Ages book. Five copies will be given away! (Five winners for this one!)

To win this prize, you will need to post a comment to this blog post answering this question: Name two ways in which a study of speech communication skills can enhance your child’s life listed on our Homeschool Curricula page!

We’ll be picking FIVE Winners from among the correct answers and contacting you via email so make sure you leave your email address on your comment post.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for another chance to win a Birthday Bash prize from Art of Eloquence! And you might want to subscribe to the blog RSS feed so you don’t miss a contest today!

(DISCLAIMER: Communication FUNdamentals, our blog, normally only posts three times a week (MWF) but today we are having a new post/contest each half hour of the Birthday Bash.)

Congratulations to the Winners: Kim Gilbertson, A Ross, Kathy Balman, Dawn and Fibia

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Filed Under: Art of Eloquence News, Contests Tagged With: birthdy bash, contest, curriucla, eloquence, Facebook, Fan page, Gentle Shepherd, homeschool, Newsletter

Birthday Bash: 10:30am-Felice Gerwitz

November 1, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Felice Gerwitz will be sharing on the Art of Eloquence Facebook fan page this Birthday Bash half hour. Here is what she is offering as a prize for this half hour’s contest:

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1. One ticket for the Ultimate Back to School Expo: 50+ Audio

Encouragement for the entire year! 50+ audio sessions from homeschool motivational speakers! Bonus audios from homeschool graduates who share their hearts, why homeschool and so much more. This set is more encouragement to uplift you throughout the year, than how-to like our other sets!

2. One free music album, “Homeschool Mother’s Prayer Album”.

Songs that touch the heart of a homeschool mom in a way like no others! Lyrics by Felice Gerwitz, Media Angels, Inc, and musical score and production by Gabriela Frei (homeschool grad.). This five song album is available for immediate download.
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To win this prize, you will need to post a comment to this blog post answering this question: Name two of the five common reasons homeschoolers give for not teaching speech communication that are listed on that link on our Homeschool Curricula page!

We’ll be picking two winners (one for each prize) from among the correct answers and contacting you via email so make sure you leave your email address on your comment post.

(DISCLAIMER: Communication FUNdamentals, our blog, normally only posts three times a week (MWF) but today we are having a new post/contest each half hour of the Birthday Bash.)

Congratulations to our Winner: Teresa Gonzalez!

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Filed Under: Art of Eloquence News, Contests Tagged With: curricula, eloquence, Facebook, Fan page, Felice Gerwitz, homeschool, Homeschool Mother's Prayer Album, Newsletter, songs, Ultimate Back to School Expo

Birthday Bash: 10am -Heritage History

November 1, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Teresa Roth from Heritage History will be sharing on the Art of Eloquence Facebook fan page this Birthday Bash half hour. Here is what she is offering as a prize for this half hour’s contest:

Of all the stories which every child should know those from the Bible should be first. They are part of the instruction of the youth that cannot be neglected without a serious omission in his culture and development.

The author of this volume has tried to write the great story of the people of Israel so that children can understand it and love it, without simplifying the words of the Bible into too familiar a style. He has adhered wherever he could to the very words of the Bible but at times has not hesitated to change them in order to strengthen the telling of the story.

It is hoped that this volume will fill a long felt want for the nursery where the Bible story is a fitting end of the day; for the Sunday school where young children need to be told in simple words the story of the heroes of whom they are studying; for the every day school where the Bible is too much neglected and whose stories should be included among those that belong to the inheritance of every child; for the story teller everywhere who seeks for those great narratives that at all times are worth telling.

To win this prize, you will need to post a comment to this blog post answering this question: Name two of the roles ineffective communication can play in elementary students’ lives that are listed on our Elementary page!

We’ll be picking a winner from among the correct answers and contacting you via email so make sure you leave your email address on your comment post.

(DISCLAIMER: Communication FUNdamentals, our blog, normally only posts three times a week (MWF) but today we are having a new post/contest each half hour of the Birthday Bash.)

Congratulatons to our Winner: Karen!

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Filed Under: Art of Eloquence News, Contests Tagged With: birthday bash, Facebook, Fan page, Heritage History, heroes, heroes of israel, Israel, Newsletter

Birthday Bash: 9am-Phyllis Sather

November 1, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

(DISCLAIMER: Communication FUNdamentals, our blog, normally only posts three times a week (MWF) but today we are having a new post/contest each half hour of the Birthday Bash.)

Phyllis Sather will be sharing on the Art of Eloquence Facebook fan page this Birthday Bash half hour. Here is what she is offering as a prize for this half hour’s contest:

The Purposeful Planning Bundle

Includes ebook, handbook, and MP3!

“Is there really enough time to do all that
God requires of you?” ( Charles Hummel)
Purposeful Planning will help you get the results
you want. ($17.95 Value)

To win this prize, you will need to post a comment to this blog post answering this question: Name two of your favorite Art of Eloquence studies listed on our Jr/Sr High page!

We’ll be picking a winner from among the correct answers and contacting you via email so make sure you leave your email address on your comment post.

Congratulations to our winner, Margaret Myette!

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Filed Under: Art of Eloquence News, Contests Tagged With: birthday bash, Communicaiton, contest, Facebook, Fan page, jr/shr high, Phyllis Sather, Purposeful Planning Guide, studies

Should Your Child Have a Blog? Part 1

September 14, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

For the last two weeks, I’ve been talking about the pitfalls and blessings of having your child on Facebook. This week, I’d like to focus on a slightly different communication venue. Should your child have a blog? Just as there are both blessings and dangers with Facebook, there are slightly different blessings and dangers with a blog. This week, I’m going to focus on the positive aspects and next week I’ll focus on the negative ones. Here we go…

1. Typing skills. While you may only post a limited amount of characters on a Facebook post, a blog gives your child the ability to type as long as he or she would like. This allows your child to practice a very important skill used heavily in the Information Age!

2. Spelling, punctuation and grammar skills! Because your child will be typing more than one liners, quotes or sentence fragments, he will be able to practice the art of writing! This includes little things lost on most of the youth today like spelling, grammar, punctuation, making paragraphs, using a topic sentence, etc. Keep in mind that most blogs like WordPress or Blogger have a built in spell check that will auto correct when mistakes are made. If you ask your son to pay attention to these corrections, instead of ignoring them, he can learn how to spell, punctuate, etc.

3. Journaling. If you employ the use of a nature journal or other journaling, a blog is a fabulous way to keep your child’s journal! No mess. No storage problem and no cross outs!

4. No interaction. If you are worried about the “socialization” your child might be involved in while on a social networking site like Facebook, you can eliminate that issue completely with blogging by turning off the comments feature. If you’re worried a bit about privacy, you might want to consider that while a social networking site is designed to be more visible, people pay big bucks to have their website or blog appear on the top of the search engines! While your son’s blog may be accessible by anyone on the net, it’s much less likely that anyone will unless the exact URL is given out. And you can control that.

5. Cathartic. If your child has been having a difficult time with a particular issue, it can be beneficial for him to write about it. While you may not want this type of deeply personal information to be posted on a public place like Facebook, it might be acceptable to you and to him to post it on a blog.

6. Become an Author. Your child’s writings may become a best selling book one day! There have been many stories of people who started writing their thoughts on a blog and turned those articles or blog posts into a book. Feed your child’s passion by allowing him a venue to air his ideas, feelings or passions. Does he love taking pictures? Have him post his art on a blog. Does your daughter have a passion for sharing her ideas on abortion? Have her create a series of blog posts from them as she thinks of them.

7. Write articles. Does your child have an ambition to get into journalism? Have him write a series of articles on current events. Do you homeschool and want a way to keep your daughter’s essays? Have her keep them on a blog. At the end of the year, you’ll have easy access to her work and can even print them all off to show her work to grandparents.

8. Sharing ideas and keeping in touch. Blogging is a great way for your child to keep in touch with family and friends living far away. Your daughter can post what’s going on in her life and her friends and family can post comments in reply. It’s much less expensive than texting and it allows all who know her url to have her post available to read and reread.

9. Chronicle a trip, a mission, an idea or a time of life. When my daughter left to be a Russian exchange student for a semester, she started a blog to chronicle her experiences. It was such fun for family and friends to read about her life there and now she has a permanent record of them she can go back to whenever she likes. Your son can chronicle his experiences in 8th grade, working at a part time job, volunteering at a soup kitchen, etc. The possibilities are endless.

10. Start a business. Sometimes our children have a unique idea that catches on. Why not start posting about it on a blog? Later on, you can add a shopping cart to sell an eBook he wrote on that topic or use things like Google Adsense to generate revenue to save for his college expenses.

Blogging is more like writing where as Facebook is more like texting. Blogging allows your child to perfect his writing skills and also other communication skills as he responds to the comments left on his blog by friends and family. He’ll learn how to be diplomatic, how to take criticism, how to be an effective communicator in writing. Blogging is a great way to introduce your child to communication skills he may not otherwise be exposed to at a young age. This can serve him well in life as he gets older.

I hope you found these tips helpful. Next week I’m going to share the negative aspects of blogging. Until then, share your experiences in blogging. Do you blog? Do you allow your children to blog? What have you found helpful about blogging?

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: blog, blogger, blogging, communication, Facebook, social networking

Part 2: Should Your Child Be on Facebook?

September 5, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Last week I shared part one of Should Your Child Be on Facebook? I shared the benefits of allowing your older child to have a Facebook account. I’ll bet there were some things that surprised you, weren’t there? Well, this week, I might surprise you again when I share the drawbacks and even the dangers of having your child on Facebook.

One big Facebook No No is if your child is under age. Don’t start too young. Facebook rules say you have to be 13 to create an account. The only way around this is if you lie. I’ve met some parents–even Christian parents–who tell me they allow their 11 year old children to misrepresent their age to Facebook in order to get an account. Not only is this against the rules, but this is a bad lesson to communicate to your children: it’s okay to lie sometimes. You may not come right out and say so, but this communicates the message indirectly.

Privacy is another issue that we all have to contend with on a public social network like Facebook. It’s even more of a challenge for the young who believe they are invincible. Nothing bad can happen to them! They’re Super Kid! Laugh not for this is what many young people think is true of many issues. It’s actually a recent scientific discovery that teenagers brains do not yet allow them to think things through as adults do. They tend to make rash decisions. It’s so easy to give away too much information on the net and that can land you in trouble with friends or open you to potentially harmful consequences.

If you’re a homeschooler, you’ve often been asked, “What about socialization?” Well, what about it on Facebook? If your child is on Facebook and you are not monitoring it closely, he could end up friends with folks that give him the wrong kind of socialization. There is a growing trend to be less cordial and much more brazen when you don’t have to look the other person in the eye. This may not be the kind of social time you want your 13 year old to have.

Too much time online may discourage in person friendships and take time away from homework, chores or family interaction.

While Facebook may be a great way to ease shy people into communication situations as we talked about last week, it is also an easy way for shy people to retreat into themselves and avoid human contact. They may become comfortable socializing ONLY if they are not face to face with someone. This may have the reverse effect.

As a corollary to being treated badly by others on Facebook, the idea that nobody can see you may make children feel like these relationships are not real which will allow them to feel more inclined to treat people with less grace themselves. This behavior may transfer over to real life.

Finally, children may have a problem choosing their friends wisely. It may be hard to police their Facebook activities fully. This may leave them time to friend people with whom you may not want them to have contact. If you have a Facebook account and are friends with your child, he may get a friend invitation from one of your adult friends. This may make him feel uncomfortable about saying no and/or may open this person’s friends to do the same.

These are just a few of the issues, dangers or drawbacks in allowing your child to have a Facebook account. I think each child is different and each parent will need to take these issues into account before deciding whether or not to grant permission to each child and at what age.

What has your experience been with children on Facebook? What do you think is the right age for your child? What considerations, restrictions or instructions have you given your children? Or do you allow them to be on at all? Share!

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: children, consequences, Facebook, friends, homeschooler, socialization

JoJoisms Now Available as T-Shirts!

September 2, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

We interrupt this Friday to bring you a new kind of Friday Funny!

Extra, Extra! Read all about it! You asked for it; you got it! No not Toyota, but JoJoism T-Shirts!

Last week, I posted one of my JoJoisms on the Art of Eloquence Facebook fan page and got this response, “I’d love to have that on a t-shirt!” Several said they’ d like to see it too so…here they are!

As far as I can tell, you have the option to order these in any size, color and style of t-shirt you like! So, just because you don’t see your favorite JoJoism in a color or style you like, doesn’t mean you can’t get it that way!

I only had time to add just a few of my JoJoisms, but I’d like to ask you which ones YOU’D like to see on a t-shirt. The ones most requested, are the ones I’ll add next. I have written almost 200 JoJoisms and when I get to 200, I might just have a party! Here is the back of the shirt:

NOTE: They say sizes run extremely small so they ask that you order them one to two sizes larger. They do have a body size chart listed to help you with that.

We don’t make much on these t-shirts, we just found that Zazzle would help us provide our customers with a product they had asked us for. Go check them out and please let us know which JoJoisms you’d like to see on a t-shirt by leaving us a comment on the blog.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled internet reading. If this had been a real Communication FUNdamentals emergency, you would have been instructed where to turn to find further JoJoism t-shirts that reveal life’s truths…as I think of ’em!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Facebook, Fan page, JoJoisms, t-shirts, Zazzle

Should your child be on FB? Part 1

August 29, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Some say Facebook is a blessing allowing you easily to keep in touch with friends and family, meet like-minded people, help you find a job or even market your business. Others say Facebook is a waste of time and, too easily, an invasion of your privacy. I say Facebook is a tool, a communication tool, much like email, the cell phone and your mouth. What you get out of it often depends upon your input, expectations and most of all, how you use it.

But is it a good idea for your children? In this article I’m going to share the benefits and drawbacks of allowing your children to have a Facebook account. Due to the length of this article, I am going to break it down into two parts. In this first part, I’ll cover the benefits of allowing your child to have a Facebook account. Next Monday, I’ll post part two in which I’ll discuss the drawbacks. You may be quite surprised at what I have to share on both sides of the issue!

One of the benefits of allowing your son or daughter to have a Facebook account is that it is a fantastic way to hone his communication skills. By interacting with friends and family on Facebook, your child will learn to tailor his message to each individual as he posts comments on Grandma’s wall or to little Jimmy who moved away last month. He’ll also gain description skills that communicating via the phone or in person would not afford him. Body language, facial expressions and tone of voice are absent from Facebook posts. It becomes necessary for Bobby to effectively describe the school project he had to do for history class instead of just show it to Jimmy. Facebook, if used in this manner can help increase his writing skills, especially if Bobby utilizes the Notes feature in order to write up his views expressed in his paper on Abortion. There are many examples of communication lessons to be learned by allowing your son or daughter to express themselves in writing on Facebook. These are but a few.

A second benefit of allowing your son or daughter to have a Facebook account is in increasing his expertise when interacting with folks of different beliefs and cultures. I’ll talk about the warnings of allowing your young children to get on or friend people he doesn’t know in part two, but let’s assume Bobby is 16 and has relatives in other states or countries. What a wonderful opportunity to learn about their culture and experiences! He’ll learn how other cultures see the world, how they live and may even see pictures recently taken of the Liberty Bell, or the Washington Monument or Big Ben!

An additional advantage is that your child will learn how communication works in the technological age they live in and will work in. Many companies are now hiring people to man Twitter and Facebook accounts in order to help customers who post they are having trouble with their company or product. I’ve had a very large company contact me via the social networking sites after I posted that I was having a hard time with one of their products. He helped me solve the problem! While your son may not be hired to do this, he will very likely need to understand the inner workings of communication in the technological age. In addition, Facebook has been used to catch criminals, to find a job, to recover a child during an Amber Alert and to ask for help or prayer with some serious matters. Facebook is not only the wave of the future, it is a most efficient way to disseminate information and get feedback!

Facebook is also a great way to stay in touch with family around the country build relationships with them and friends who moved away. I mentioned this earlier, but this may be the only way Bobby can have much of a relationship with his brother who is deployed or his grandmother who is back east. I have found Facebook to be a blessing in staying connected with my daughter while she has been 1800 miles away at college, when she was half way around the world as a Russian exchange student for a semester and when she was on a missions trip in Israel for two weeks!

Finally, Facebook is a fabulous start to overcoming shyness. Shy people are more likely to make friends or talk to friends if they can do so without having to be intimidated face-to-face. This can help build their confidence and self esteem enabling them to transition from online communication to in person conversations.

As you can see, Facebook is simply a tool. Used correctly, it can enhance your child’s communication skills and friendships. However, there are also some dangers. I’ll talk about them next week.

Can you think of any other benefits of allowing your (age appropriate) child to have a Facebook account? Share your stories and experiences with my readers!

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Filed Under: Communication Articles Tagged With: children, college, communication, communication skills, Facebook, Family, friends, friendships, shyness

Art of Eloquence Facebook Party-November

August 22, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

Last week I had the honor of co hosting a 15 minute segment of the Homemaking 911 Facebook party on Thursday night. I have seen postings for Facebook parties in the past several months and had considered it as an alternative to having our regular audio party on TalkShoe, but I had never been to one until last week. It was such fun!

So now we have decided to put on our very own Facebook party in order to celebrate Art of Eloquence’s 9th Anniversary in November. Since Art of Eloquence uses humor to teach communication skills, we’d like to bring in some people who use humor in their business or ministry. In order to make the most of this event for everyone who would attend, we’d like to ask that you all take a few minutes to answer five short questions.

1. What day of the week is best for you to attend a two or three hour online FB party event?

2. What time of day is best for you to attend a two or three hour online FB party event?

3. Who are your favorite funny Facebook friends you’d like to see present at the FB party?

4. What are your favorite blogs, websites and/or YouTube channels that use humor to present their family friendly ideas?

5. Who are your favorite people who use humor to present and share the Gospel with others?

Please post a comment on the blog with your thoughts and feel free to give us advice or ideas as you would like! We’d love to hear from you. Thanks so much for your help! We’d appreciate it if you would be so kind as to forward this post to others you may know and ask them to put in their two cents worth as well.

If you liked this post, make sure to subscribe to our RSS Feed so you don’t miss one and SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: for even MORE communication fun, FREE gifts, Book of the Month Club and exclusive excerpts and offers we don’t share with ANYONE else but our subscribers!

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Filed Under: Art of Eloquence News Tagged With: business, Facebook, Facebook Party, favorite people, funny, Gospel

Did you really want to DO that on Facebook?

August 15, 2011 by Art of Eloquence

A while back, I posted, Did you really want to say THAT on Facebook? so when an obscure Facebook “friend” posted this on my wall, the idea for Did you really want to DO that on Facebook? was birthed.

It happens occasionally on Facebook. I call it the I’ve Got a Christian Cause so the Ends Justifies the Means Disease. This is where people send you a friend request and then never interact with you. They never reply to or “like” any of your posts, never answer when you post on theirs, never post on your wall UNTIL…they begin asking for help with their ministry/business.

I don’t mind if, once in a while, one of my Facebook friends lets me know they are involved with a charity and asks for my help by posting on my wall. If I can afford to give, the cause is something I believe in and the charity is on the up and up, I’ll help. If I can’t, maybe I can simply pass along the information. Just by virtue of it being posted on my wall, allows my Facebook friends to see the need. However, when someone ONLY posts on my wall for the express purpose of advertising their wares or plugging even a legitimate charity in a way that smacks of spam, I see that as a problem. Here’s what I mean.

This particular person posted a very long comment about his charity on one of my most popular posts of the day complete with link, hype, tear jerking story and desperate plea. The only thing that didn’t come standard was a tissue. Notice how, as a comment on a post that had MANY replies, his request for money was automatically sent as an email to each one of the people who had replied to my completely unrelated post. How convenient for him, hmmm?

At the time, I was willing to extend grace thinking he might just be an over zealous, kind soul who didn’t understand proper Facebook social networking etiquette so I left his comment there. However, the very next day I found the exact worded, lengthy comment to my most popular post of THAT day. I got curious to see if this was a duplicate or if this was his Modus Operandi. Sure enough, his entire Facebook wall was replete with time stamped indices of HUNDREDs of duplicate copies of this exact comment he had left on other’s posts…all of which were their most popular posts of the day! There wasn’t one post on any other topic or any evidence that he ever left a different comment when replying to anyone else. I unfriended him. I didn’t see any use in pursuing a friendship with someone who had no desire to connect beyond asking for money.

You may ask why I didn’t contact him in order to share my insights about how he might find a more constructive way to share his mission with others. I’ll tell you why. I’ve met Mr. I’ve Got a Christian Cause so the Ends Justifies the Means before. They always sing the same song and it’s a waste of precious time to attempt to show them the error of their words. They don’t have time to be nice; they are too busy doing good things. They don’t have time to communicate with each individual; they are doing the Lord’s work. It doesn’t matter how they communicate; God demands boldness. If others take offense, so be it; I’m blessed to be a martyr for Christ.

God’s Word is filled with scripture that tells us to speak in grace. Over 4500 scriptures deal with our mouths, tongues, lips and words alone! The ends don’t justify the means in sharing your God-given mission or your faith any more than it does when you are trying to gain success or money.

The next time you are tempted to post something bold knowing that some might take offense, think about two things: 1) Does God really want you to say THIS? and 2) HOW would God want you to say this? In trying to answer question two, reflect on a few of those 4500 scriptures.

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Colossians 4:6

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29

“-So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Issaiah 55:11

“An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of the citadel.” Proverbs 18:19

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
JoJo Tabares holds a degree in Speech Communication, but it is her humorous approach to communication skills which has made her a highly sought-after Christian speaker and writer. Her articles appear in homeschool publications, such as Homeschool Enrichment Magazine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which also endorses her Say What You Mean curricula. You can also find JoJo on web sites such as Crosswalk.com and Dr.Laura.com. For more information on communication FUNdamentals and Christian-based communication skills for the whole family, please visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: business, cause, charity, Christian, disease, ends justifies the means, Facebook, Facebook wall, hype, ministry, spam, story

Birthday Bash: 9am-Phyllis Sather

Part 2: Should Your Child Be on Facebook?

JoJoisms Now Available as T-Shirts!

Should your child be on FB? Part 1

Art of Eloquence Facebook Party-November

Did you really want to DO that on Facebook?

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