Taking It Home for Sunday, May 12th

Grades K-2: Wonderful Welcome

Taking It Home, Session 13: The Gift Of Learning Together

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.

— Theodore Roosevelt

IN TODAY'S SESSION... The children explored the intangible gift of learning together. They heard a story about a rooster that did not know how to do its job —waking up the farmer and the other animals. The other farm animals attempt to teach the rooster what to do. Ultimately, the rooster realizes that he knew how to crow all along, but he needed his friends to help him learn. The children learned a new weaving skill and experienced learning from and with each other.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about... what it means to learn together. What are some of the things you learn together as a family? What else would you like to learn together?

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try... Choose an activity that the family has never tried before and learn about it together. For example, if you have never cooked as a family, choose a recipe that could involve all members of the family. You may want to try to weave something together. Use the instructions from Activity 4 of this session to make a belt together. If you give the belt to an extended family member or a friend, make sure you let that person know they are also receiving an intangible gift — the gift of learning together.

A FAMILY ADVENTURE

Visit a working farm in your area. There might be a dairy barn or goat farm near you that offers tours. When you go, find out how the different parts of the farm work together.

FAMILY DISCOVERY

Younger and younger children are accustomed to doing research online and this is a great way to learn together. Sit down with your child(ren) at a computer and research a topic together. You might investigate places where you all want to travel, animals you have always wondered about, a sport you would like to learn, the history of your own family's ethnic group(s), or upcoming schedules of family activities in your local area. If you find out about a course you can all take together, such as a local ecology or an ethnic dance course, consider signing up!

Grades 3-5: Love Will Guide Us

Taking It Home, Session 8: Love is Accepting

Learning to live with what you're born with/is the process,/the involvement./the making of a life. — Diane Wakoski, American poet and essayist, in The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems

IN TODAY'S SESSION... the children learned from our fourth Unitarian Universalist Source, "Jewish and Christian teachings which tell us to love all others as we love ourselves," and explored gender stereotypes through a story based on Jacob and Rachel, from Hebrew scripture. While we may wish to believe the damage of gender bias belongs to the past, there is still much to be learned about gender identity. We talked about gender as a feature of identity we find on a continuum, rather than a binary (male/female).

Another topic explored today is one of expressing emotions. The group role played expressing emotions and how they react to those emotions.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. The story "The Strong Man Who Cried" challenges gender stereotypes. Jacob cries whenever he sees something beautiful. Rachel would rather tend sheep then stay home with other women. Use this story for a teachable moment in your family. Ask about Jacob and crying. Ask about Rachel and the way her father responds to her. The children learned that this story was written a long time ago, when gender roles and expectations were rigid. Talk together about what, if any, gender stereotypes exist today—at home, at school, or in the media. Name specific people who do not fit a gender stereotype. Talk about how a gender stereotype can hurt everyone—the person whose behavior does not fit it, as well as people whose behavior does seem to fit. Talk about how stereotyping can prevent people from giving and receiving the love and acceptance we all deserve.

Family Discovery. Try this session's Faith In Action activity at home, with items you have around the house. If more than one gender lives in your home, examine who plays with which toys. If there is only one gender represented, what toys do you have? Are any toys which, according to stereotype, "belong" to the other gender? Invite everyone to play with a toy they do not usually play with.

Middle School: Riddle and Mystery

Taking It Home, Session 13: Oh My Soul

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. — Chinese proverb

Talk about the quote. Do you agree with what it says? What does it mean to have light in your soul? Is having light in your soul the same as having love in your soul? How do you get light into your soul? How do you get light into somebody else's soul?

WHAT WE DID TODAY

Today's Big Question asks, "Do I have a soul?" We began with a meditation and talked about the general meaning of soul. We talked about what other people say about soul, and reacted to their ideas. We heard the story "Why and Where God Hides," and learned that some people think God or the Divine is in each of us, maybe even in our souls. During WCUU, we heard about what various UUs have said about soul in different times and places. Our NUUs Analyst said that many UUs today use the word "soul" when they speak of their deepest, nonphysical selves, but they do not think of the soul as something that lives forever and goes to Hell or Heaven when we die. Most UUs are more concerned about what we are and do in life than in death. Finally, we made masks to explore our own inner selves and souls.

FIND YOURSELF

Did you ever hear about people "finding themselves"? Talk to your family about what that means. Some people say that finding yourself means learning to know your deepest self. Other people can support you while you do that, but in the end, you are the only person who can really go inside yourself, and you are the person who can understand yourself best. Do other members of your family agree with that? Do they think that "soul-searching" is a way to find yourself? Can meditation help with that?

REFLECT ON YOUR BELIEFS

Here is a traditional prayer poem that children have sometimes said just before going to bed:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Are you familiar with that poem? Have people in your family ever said it? How do you react to it? What do you think would happen to the soul in the poem, if the person died in the night and the Lord took the soul? What sort of religious belief about soul does the poem reflect?

SHARED SEARCH

Travel to a place where the word "soul" or the idea of "soul" is important. Maybe it is a church or a cemetery. What do you find there?

PHOTO CHALLENGE

Photograph the spirit of yourself. How do you do that? Maybe you photograph a place where you have made a difference. Or maybe you photograph something that represents an idea of yours. You decide.

FAMILY FAITH IN ACTION — DEEPER CONNECTIONS

As a family, reach out to another family of people you like but could get to know better. Try to connect, and to understand each other. (Do this together with adults, because not everybody is safe and easy to get along with). Making better connections with other people can be very rewarding. You and they get to know more about who everybody really is inside.