I have written about her before here and here But ai! I digress! This is not the place to gush about my obsession with that amazing woman and her ways......
While reading her books & watching her show I learned about their character qualities list and how they use it. I absolutely LOVED this idea but alas I am not Christian - so what's a mom to do?!?
It seems the character based teaching materials out there are written from Christian perspectives and worldviews which are great in many ways (which is why I use Sonlight.com for most of our homeschool curricula) but I really needed something that aligned with our family value system and Scientology religion better.
So I spent.....ummmm......a really long time.....too much time maybe....creating my own chart. I used the Duggar's as a base and took out or changed ones to suit us better and searched our religious texts for more insight. I spent hours combing through, thinking it over and pouring over dictionaries for good definitions. I also read through The Way to Happiness many times (non-religious moral code) to get ideas.
It was a labor of love. And I loved every minute. Even the ones that were way too late getting the excel spreadsheet to format properly.......ok maybe not those.
But I wanted more meat. I needed more books and items to give it "body." I used trusty ol' Facebook to ask the good people for help. And a friend turned me on to Value Tales. This series for children takes a famous person from history and uses their main character trait to tell their story, while emphasizing that trait. Perfect!!!!!!
Here's my system:
1) Several times a week (is my goal!) I will pull out our chart which I keep on my kitchen cabinet but also in a manilla folder for easy portability.
Ideal Character Qualities Document
(I am new to sharing on google docs & can't seem to make it appear as it does in Excel. If you want a copy comment here with your email and I will shoot it over to you. Or better yet help me figure out google docs! :)
2) I will have one of the children pick whichever one they want for that day. And I write it down on the folder. It ain't pretty but it's functional. This way I can keep track of what we've covered.
3) I will read that character quality definition aloud to them and explain it up a storm.
4) I then ask them to give me examples of both the ideal character quality and it's opposite. For example they would talk about Compassion and examples of such, and then Indifference and examples of such.
5) I usually have them act them out too. They love that part. Right now C is very into horses and L is very into spy's and weapons - so if they are having trouble I will give them an example within their zone of understanding/reality.
6) I then have them spend some time (5-10 minutes) reading from one of the Value Tale books.
Hooooooked!
Before Value Tales......................................After Value Tales (riiiiight)
7) I then ask them about the book and the character's quality and how it helped him/her succeed. I also ask questions about what they think would happen if that person didn't have that quality, etc. I might ask how they are that way/not that way in their life and how it help/harms them. Not sure if the cog wheels really turn the way I hope - but I can only lead the horse to water right?
This is not a perfect system. It's a baby begining. If anyone out there in cyber space has a great system for teaching ideal character in a secular way - please share!
xoxo
For those wondering how/why to use Sonlight if I am not Christian.....
Why: It's a fan-flipping-tastic homeschool curricula. And that is an understatement. Have I really never shared my love of Sonlight before??
I chose them because:
1) I fell in love with the highly organized and almost scripted daily checklists.
2) It was recommended by Heather Sanders of the homeschooling section of Pioneerwoman.com
3) It is literature and history based. This appealed to me as I think an education based on textbooks is pointless - too boring and bland. History does not come alive via textbooks. Sonlight uses quality novels galore in addition to a few textbooks. It's maybe 10% textbook and 90% historical novels, etc.
4) YOU CAN TEACH SEVERAL CHILDREN AT ONCE SPANNING AN AGE RANGE. This might be the #1 reason I chose Sonlight.
5) Because it's Christian based - the novels are quality, they are based on moral character and true heroes. I have cried more than once while reading a novel because I was so moved by how much a single person can do for the good of mankind.
6) They have have incredible customer support system. And their teacher's manuals and weekly notes are incredible. I could weep for how much I love them, and how they have literally thought of everything.
How: I just don't read or do any of the specific bible activities. I bought a children's bible that my kids love and they can read through that to get acquainted with the bible stories which I think is incredibly important. There are times when Christian world views come about in the general readings, and I use those moments as teaching opportunities and social studies. Since Christianity is a widespread religion with many teachings agree with, I don't find harmful or confusing to expose the children to other people's religions and views. On the contrary, I love that it's ME exposing and being available to answer questions. It has also lead to many, many very deep conversations about our own religion and how our views differ on some things.
2 comments:
really enjoyed reading what you wrote and your care to really help your children have understanding and ability to reason in their life
That's so awesome Allie!! Love this post, we have talked about how to teach these qualities and this is a great answer! I would love a copy of your chart :)
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