Another great afternoon at Living Learning Children.
We started off by reading from Catherine Vos’ Child’s Story Bible. We read about the covenant of God with Noah. They understood that the word covenant means “promise”. The words read are not watered down nor is it mere snippets of The Story. It is whole and living. Yet, the children listened and understood every word in one reading. They narrated back, and asked questions. There is no moralizing on the part of the teacher. Only presenting the Word, and trusting that the Holy Spirit is preparing their hearts and minds.
We then sang the hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”. We have been singing this hymn for many weeks, and the children are now very familiar with the words. Not just the chorus, but the accompanying stanzas as well.
We went on and reviewed the lovely Christmas poem by Sara Teasdale. We only started reading this in our last meeting, but most have memorized 3 or 4 stanzas out of six.
I then read Lola Basyang by Severino Reyes. The words were difficult, even for me. But they listened in context and narrated back fluidly, some in Filipino and the others in English. My goal is for them to love the beauty of our own language. Little steps using Filipino Living Books.
For handicrafts, we continued with carving. They slowly transferred their design to the candle. My usually active four year old boy sat and worked on his handicraft for about 30 minutes. Each child was focused on carving. All did their best. No one was in a rush to finish. All were transfixed in the moment of creating.
I then introduced a new classical painting by Fra Angelico. Everyone sat and silently observed the painting, trying to remember all they can about the exquisite work. I took the painting away, and they told me all they remember. Next week, we will all sketch the painting with full attention to the details, and to the whole. Thus, forming a relationship with the painting, and with the artist as well.
We took a break. They had free play and had snacks.
To cap it off, for Ex Libris Book Club, we read the last two chapters of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. We have been journeying with Pinocchio for many weeks now. The story broke the children’s hearts again and again as Pinocchio chose to do the wrong thing. They were all waiting if he would ever change. At some point, they lost hope in Pinocchio. But the last two chapters surprised them all. As I closed the book, a lot were moved by how this story ended. Some were teary eyed, myself included.
And so, that is our usual afternoon at Living Learning Children.
Here are moments of the past year. No busy work, only Living Activities that capture a child’s need for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
Living Learning Children: Nature Study 2016 from Living Learning Children on Vimeo.
Living Learning Children: Handicrafts 2016 from Living Learning Children on Vimeo.
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Eventually, we will add Shakespeare Play discussions, Living Math, and Classical Composer Studies once we are in full gear on January. Meanwhile, we will have a soft launch this month of November. We will focus on preparing our hands, hearts, and minds for the coming CHRISTmas Season. We start on November 9, 2016. Join our community?
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