We Choose Virtues Parenting Cards Review

I am very excited to share with you about these Parenting Cards from We Choose Virtues. I received these materials through The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew a couple of months ago. We have used them several times a week, at the end of our devotionals. A happy homeschool cannot happen without character education. These parenting tools will help you with teaching virtue to your children.
We Choose Virtues offers many products, but the goal is the same: teaching children different virtues, like honesty, contentment, patience, helpfulness, obedience, diligence, perseverance, gentleness, attentiveness, a forgiving spirit, self-control, and kindness.

So there are 12 8.5″ x 5.5″ cards, printed on high-quality glossy cardstock paper, for 12 different virtues. The set costs $38.49 and they are intended for children ages 3-11.

Each virtue is represented by a child – a kid from VirtueVille. With names like Stop Sign Madeline, Cake Jake, Hat Matt, or Oboe Joe, these kids quickly become unforgettable. After a few sessions, I would just show the picture of a girl holding a stop sign and my children would blurt, “Stop Sign Madeline… She has self-control…” We started out by taking the Character Assessment (a special form from the same company, a free download with the purchase of the card set) for every member of the family. It was interesting to compare my assessment of myself to that of my husband’s of myself. It was also interesting to see what he thought of each of the children compared to what I thought. Overall, I am a tougher judge than my husband. Which is why I score low in Contentment (ha!). Next, I read the cards one by one to the kids – all in one sitting, but not everything on the back. To be exact, I only read the story which introduced the kid and his or her characteristics and the Bible verse. I received the Old Testament Bible verses, which were in King James Version. The manufacturer also provides cards with a mixture of verses from the Old and New Testament, using the New International Readers Version.

After that, every day after the devotional, we would pick three kids from VirtueVille, especially in the areas where we scored low, and we worked through some of the activities suggested. Other times, we simply talked about things that happened in our home which reflected a lack of patience or contentment, for instance. What the kids enjoyed the most was the songs. I printed out the song book and we learned these songs almost by heart. They are set to familiar tunes (B-i-n-g-o, My Bonnie Is Over the Ocean, When the Saints Go Marching In etc) and the lyrics are simple and catchy. For instance, here’s a bit of Obedient (to the tune of B-I-N-G-O): There is a girl/boy and I’m glad to say Obedient is her//his name-o O-o-bedient, o-o-bedient, o-o-bedient, And ___________ is her/his name-o. Throughout the day, when a conflict broke between them, I reminded them of a certain kid who would NOT do what they were doing (being selfish, not sharing, asking for more toys, not being content etc). It gave me an opportunity to show how such moments represent an opportunity to pray to Jesus for more virtue. When it comes to character, we should always be greedy for more, right? Since my children are four and six, they also enjoyed the coloring pages. Heather McMillan, the creator of these resources, has made sure they can be used in a series of settings: homeschools, church schools, after school groups, Jewish families (hence the Old Testament only cards) and so on. We are not a Jewish family, but we prefer KJV above all other English translations of the Bible. Right now they have several things on sale, like the classroom poster.

MAY-JUNE: *Promo Code BIG50 for 50% off their amazing set of 12 11×17 Kids of VirtueVille Posters! This is the first time they have ever offered these posters at this price. They are great for school classrooms, Kids’ Church, or your homeschool room. Kids love them for their bedrooms, bathrooms and kids’ hallways.
JUNE-AUGUST: *Promo Code BTS20 for 20% off anything in their WCV Store. This includes any kit. Let’s start school with virtues this year!

*Only one promo code per order A couple of days (!!!) into reading through these cards, my son did his writing assignment without being prompted one morning. I think it’s because the virtue cards break down expectations. One of them talks about not waiting to be prompted, but doing what you know must be done. I really believe that family life can be improved so much by better communicating expectations and clarifying values. These Parenting Cards will give you just the tools to start or continue on that journey with your family.