More than just scholastic learning

As much as I blog about learning and fun activities, I also believe that discipline and other lessons about how to be a good human being are just as important. I'd love to hear more ideas about how you implement these things. The following ideas come from a post at http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/bored.htm#inout that I just love....

• A "help wanted" bulletin board that parents keep. Whenever a child says, "I'm bored" they can be instructed to go to the bulletin board and see chores that parents would appreciate help with.
• Starting "dialogue journals" with children in a notebook, where the child and parent ask questions and get responses of one another.
• Hand write a short note of encouragement to everyone on our family's Christmas card list over the Summer. We might write one or two notes every day or so.