September CORE and Journeyman Inspirements

Monthly Theme:
How a COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION can increase your happiness and bless your life on your journey...

 

MEMORIZATION! 

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24 –for a prize! 

...Run, that ye may obtain.

Poem: (Try to at least memorize the bold part)

LIFE IS WHAT WE MAKE OF IT
by Edgar Guest

Life is a jest;
Take the delight of it.
Laughter is best;
Sing through the night of it.
Swiftly the tear
And the hurt and the ache of it
Find us down here;
Life must be what we make of it.
Life is a song;
Dance to the thrill of it.
Grief's hours are long,
And cold is the chill of it.
Joy is man's need;
Let us smile for the sake of it.
This be our creed:
Life must be what we make of it.

Life is a soul;
The virtue and vice of it,
Strife for a goal,
And man's strength is the price of it.
Your life and mine,
The bare bread and the cake of it
End in this line:
Life must be what we make of it

7 HABITS!   

Read the first section in Part II of "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens."  Highlight or jot down your favorite quotes or stories (at least one!).  Do whatever baby steps you feel inspired to do at the end of the section (at least one).  

-- Please let Sister Biesinger know if you would like to teach this sometime this the year!

CORE CLASS:

PART I: Discuss and teach each other about the following:

*KNOWLEDGE: do all of the following
-watch Ken Robinson's "Educations Death Valley"-take a minute to write or draw your favorite part or your favorite quote.

- http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley.html

-Read The Introduction and Ch. 1 of “The Element” by Ken Robinson

-Do a word study on a word of their choosing from those underlined in: "finding happiness through commitment to your journey of education."

Then do one of the following:

-Read one or more of the chapters in the rest of the book “The Element”

-Look through the I'm a Mormon website and find your favorite three

*Take that knowledge to UNDERSTANDING: do one or more of the following

-Teach us about what you learned about those people by acting, drawing, speaking, etc.:

                -their passions

                -their struggles

-Make your own “I am a Mormon” or other similar video
-Read  Doctrine and Covenants 88:77-80 and write a paper that compares what you read there with what you studied above and how it applies to your life

*DO HARD THINGS to create INTELLIGENCE: do one or more of the following

-Team up with someone and help each other keep up with filling out your SAR

-Fill out an accountability report that has listed at least five things you are passionate about or feel inspired to work on this week and bring it to share.

-Find a mentor to be your running partner and get started!

-Prayerfully brainstorm what you are passionate about and pick three things to act on.  Make a goal for at least one of them before next Vanguard and then do it!

PART II: Now, let's study the life of someone committed to their education: Da Vinci!

*KNOWLEDGE:  do both one and two:

1. Watch the video at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe8ttb_learn-about-the-life-of-leonardo-da_creation
or you can read the pages here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzFTE1OI37bbeDd2N0d6UGZzN0U/edit?usp=sharing  (this also satisfies some of the Master Class inspirements)

2. Check out pages of DaVinci’s notebook at http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/dv/!  Pick a section or two and browse through, though please be cautious in the sections of the “Proportions and on the movements of the human figure” and “Anatomy”, as they have sketches of the human body that may not be appropriate.

*Take that knowledge to UNDERSTANDING: do one of the following

-Make some type of skit, presentation, artistic study, building creation based upon what you learned or saw of one of the following:

                     -something you learned about in Da Vinci’s notebook

                     -Da Vinci’s life

-Da Vinci created a masterpiece based upon "The Last Supper of Christ"  by studying the story and the people involved carefully.  Study a story from the life of Christ, taking time to pay attention to detail, and draw a picture or write a poem about it.  Share it with someone or in Vanguard, telling us what you learned during the process.

*DO HARD THINGS to create INTELLIGENCE: do one of the following

-Da Vinci kept coming across so many ideas, he wrote them down like mad!  Sometimes, he would only write down the beginning of ideas, barely getting them down, before more ideas would come and he would start writing down those!  Spend an hour just writing down any ideas that come to mind, and see what happens.  (Keep an eye out for elephants approaching infinity when you doodle :)!)

-Start your own collection of Da Vinci type-notes!  Find two or more things that interest you in your life, and research them...then record what your thoughts are about them.  Put them in your tome in the section that fits best, then come to class and show us!

-Prayerfully consider learning a different learning style (like drawing, writing, music, building) that you haven't really used before.  Find a book or mentor to show you how to do it.  Do a Da Vinci type project (art, writing, building) about something you are interested it and bring it to class to show.  Think about how your commitment to your personal education motivated you to try something new.

 

Journeyman Class: 1-3 with movie afterward

Please feel free to attend if you have done the work of CORE class and are prepared with the material for this class...we look forward to awesome things with you!

Tools for Leadership:

FALLACIES!

Read pages 7-32 of The Art of Argument book (We will be using this book all year) (don't worry about filling in the blanks and doing the "assignments"...just read it and think about it for now.)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Argument-Aaron-Larsen/dp/1600510183/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377749009&sr=8-1&keywords=The+art+of+argument

Bring three examples of ads or commercials

CIVILITY!

Do a word study on the word “Civility”

Read “Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct” pages 3-12…come prepared to teach us your favorite thing you learned from it.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Choosing%20Civility%3A%20The%20Twenty-five%20Rules%20of%20Considerate%20Conduct 

Pick one thing you learned and practice it at least for a day, then tell us how it went!

JUSTICE/LAW:

Gain knowledge by reading the Introduction (pg.15-17) and Chapters 1-5 of "Whatever Happened to Justice" and the Ten Commandments found in the scriptures.  Read with a pen in hand and underline your favorite quotes.  Also, write down in the margin of your book (check with parents to make sure it is ok) any questions, concerns, or thoughts that you have so that we can discuss them in class.  You might also circle any words you don’t know and write the definitions in the margin. You can even draw pictures in the margins if you would like J

Choose at least 2-3 inspirements from the following list (or create your own :)...) to help you understand what you have read and become an advocate for truth, justice and the importance of common law.

-- Prepare a graphic summary of the Intro. and Chapters 1-5  

--Do a word study on one of the following words or another word of your choice from the book and share in class.  Words to choose from:  Justice, law, principle.  

--Prayerfully choose a word, topic, concept or principle that you learned about from your reading and teach us about it in class.  Here are a few ideas you could teach about and a few ideas of fun ways to teach them.  Remember, you can teach them anyway you want :)! These are just a few ideas to help you out.  There are many other things you can teach.

o    Common Law-act out the scenario described in the book about the common people and how they resolved conflict. Have fun with this and don’t be afraid to ask other people to help you.  You might consider practicing before class.  Plan to take 5-10 minutes.

o    Two fundamental Laws (chapter 5)-Review the two fundamental laws and then dramatize a conflict between two people and have the class give suggestions on how to resolve the conflict using one of the two laws or  come up with a fun way to help us memorize the two fundamental laws.

o    Higher Law and why it is important.  Role play a situation that shows how impossible it is to resolve conflict if there is no source of a higher law or create a poster or digital presentation showing other religions and their beliefs in a higher power.  Try to find some religions not mentioned in the book.

o    How Do We Know If It’s Law (chapter 7) Review or have a hand out of the guidelines for deciding if a custom should be law. Prepare a game by coming up with 10 laws.  Have the class decide if they are laws using these guidelines.   

--Search the scriptures and find examples of righteous vs. unrighteous judges in the scriptures.  Share in class.

--Share a scripture or modern day story that support, “the two fundamental principles of common law are a part of the fabric of the universe.  Disobey them and life gets worse; obey them and life gets better.” (pg. 16) Or, if you don’t agree, find a scripture or modern story that disputes the above quote.

--Look for examples of conflict in the news.  What laws are being broken?  Are they based on higher laws or mans?  Evaluate them based on the two fundamental laws.  Bring to class and share.

--Draw a picture or bring an object that represents something you learned from your reading and share in class.

--Share an example from your own life that gives evidence that things go better when we obey the two fundamental laws talked about in the book.

--Set a goal of one way you want to improve in your commitment to follow Gods laws.   

Deeper Study of "Journey of Commitment to Education"

KNOWLEDGE (study):

Either:

-Watch "Hackschooling makes me happy" and take notes about his "educational path"

- or read "Education of a Wandering Man" by Louis Lamour  (it's totally worth it!  Talk about a man with a cool educational experience!)

UNDERSTANDING (prayerfully consider how it relates to you) :

-make your own documentary, presentation, artwork, script, outline of your own educational journey to date, including spiritual, family, work, and religious experiences in addition to "secular educational"

 INTELLIGENCE:

ACTIVITY AFTER CLASS:

-Watch "Akeelah and the Bee"* and discuss it considering the following questions:

      --how did Akeelah show a dedication to education?

      --what hard things did she run up against?

      --what tools helped her on her journey to her goal?

      --how did her commitment improve her happiness and the happiness of those around her?

-Then come up with a plan to follow, using your SAR or planner, and really use it during the upcoming week to take your further down your journey toward your academic, spiritual, physical, and mental goals. (We will do this part in class after the movie.)

 *Please feel free to check out this movie to see if it is appropriate for your child: http://www.kids-in-mind.com/a/akeelahandthebee.htm