{photo by Wokandapix}
Down Home’s Thursday blog posts will typically focus on character, classical education, things happening on campus, student work, book reviews, interesting articles that connect to what we are doing, or anything related to our school/parent community. It's a new month, so today we'll start with character!
“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.”
~Henry David Thoreau
An essential part of SLOCA’s mission statement is to be a community that forges character. While we are always endeavoring to nurture strong character traits in our students through great literature, classroom discussions in various subjects, and guidance within individual families, as a school we also focus on 1-2 character traits each month. Down Home will occasionally take the monthly character trait and highlight it in some way. Here’s an example…
September’s character trait is Responsibility:
Basing decisions on practical wisdom and good sense, being dependable in carrying out commitments and duties, and being accountable for one’s words, behavior, and actions.
Catch phrase: Think before you act; finish what you begin; take responsibility for yourself.
The beginning of the school year is a perfect time to focus on Responsibility, as we transition from the carefree days of summer to taking on more responsibilities at school and at home. Being responsible starts with the small stuff – remembering your backpack and lunchbox, having a helpful and diligent attitude about chores and school work, taking care of your things and pets, and admitting your mistakes, for example. Of course we should model these actions for our kids, and let’s also recognize when our kids are being responsible and let them know that we notice!
If you have younger children, here's a simple Responsibility Hand Craft that you could make with them to help illustrate the idea of this trait, from Moments a Day.
Something new for this year: we've made a pdf “mini-poster” for this month’s character trait, if you'd like to print and post it in your home as a reminder (and we will post a new one every month for each trait that we focus on). A visual can be such a great tool to help keep important ideas in our minds. Put it on the fridge, next to your dining table, on the kids' bathroom mirror, or start a line of them down the hallway. You may even want to laminate them and reuse them each year. (Click on the name or the thumbnail for the full version):
September Character Trait: Responsibility
We’d love to know: Do you have any tips for modeling/nurturing/teaching Responsibility in your home? If you have a success story about this or any character trait, we want to hear it and encourage each other! Please leave a comment.
