HOW NEWSONG PRESS CAN HELP CHRISTIAN PARENTS & TEACHERS

“Where there is love, there is God.” –Leo Tolstoy

With Valentine’s Day almost here, we can count our blessings because of those whom we love. In some countries, such as Mexico, it’s also a time to celebrate our families. Whether you are honoring friends or family on Valentine’s Day,

I want to give honor to you as a parent and/or teacher of children and teens. Thank you for all the times you count to ten silently and forge ahead with the right things to do for the young people in your lives! Your love and constructive guidance are certainly appreciated by our Heavenly Father and most likely by your young ones, too. Please be encouraged to keep going with the good graces of God! Your wise teachings make such a difference as your children grow, and please take comfort in knowing that when they are adults, they can also claim a grateful understanding when they look back on how you taught them.

God has blessed me with many opportunities to teach hundreds of children, as a teacher in public and private schools, in churches, and as a mom, homeschool teacher, workshop and camp leader, Bible club leader, and swimming instructor.

I have had the added pleasure of getting to know children from different cultures and socioeconomic levels, as I have lived in New York, Colorado, the Philippines, Germany, Chile, Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland, as well as traveled far and wide throughout our wondrous world. All the while, I have had a heart for Jesus and a heart for children.

NewSong Press can help parents and teachers guide tweens and teens to write with a Christian worldview that is personal and true for them.

I invite you to come along as we build the NewSong Press ministry to help children and teens write with a Christian worldview. Future blog posts are to help assist you in writing techniques, to enrich your teaching both nonfiction and fiction writing skills to young, budding authors as well as those children and teens who secretly want to discover that writing doesn’t have to be a grind!

My journalism training (BS with Honors, from the University of Colorado) has bounced me into many successful nonfiction writing and editing jobs with magazines, journals, and curricula publishers. My recently released fiction book for tweens, Victor Survives Being a Kid, has earned an international book award. For many years, my classroom experience as a teacher has given me great opportunities to help children with their writing.

To help you in teaching language arts (reading and writing) to your children or students, I am available for in-person and virtual workshops, presentations, and podcast and radio interviews. Recently I presented Writing Tips for Teens at a Christian teen writers conference (done virtually) and was interviewed by Cynthia L. Simmons on “The Heart of the Matter” on how to help children with adjusting to big changes. This program is scheduled to be aired starting March 3, 2022. This spring I will be teaching in-person Writers’ Workshops to homeschoolers ages 10- up. In 2021, through the Washington county, Maryland public library system I led Meet the Author workshops.

Also, in 2021 I team led LightLab Church Camp Facebook live presentations for children, one of which is on YouTube—Lightlab Church Camp July 5, 2021. We also had in person hands-on science lessons with Bible lessons to explore the nature of light and how Jesus is the Light of the World. (See lightlabetc.com for more information about this awesome program and book you can use with children.)

I wrote Victor Survives Being a Kid to help children experience God, good humor and courage, and the love of family even while going through major changes.

​It’s a high adventure novel particularly for boys and girls ages 9-12, is set in Colorado, and told through the eyes of Victor Ortega when he is in middle school, looking back over his fifth-grade year. Children delight in the Spanish (with translations) sprinkled in the story. A free, in-depth activity and discussion guide for Victor Survives Being a Kid is also available on newSongpress.net. The paperback and eBook for Victor Survives Being a Kid is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Christianbook.com.

As Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:38-39, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord…neither height, nor depth… When I stood on the support bar of a small airplane wing, ready to jump with my parachute, God, in His infinite love was there. When I stared at a large black-tip reef shark one hundred feet deep while scuba diving in Mexico, God was there, too.

Maybe you are going through some mind-numbing, scary times as you muster the courage to teach and lead the children in your lives. God, in His infinite love, is with you no matter where you are. As said in Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (KJV)

It is my prayer that you know this powerful love from God as you live each day and celebrate St. Valentine’s Day.

NewSong Press can be a source for you as you guide and help young people to improve their writing in ways that can bless them and others.

Please feel welcome to contact me via my contact form if I can help you further and may you be blessed by future blog posts on this site to help and support you with your teaching language arts to children and teens.

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