Teaching the Virtue of Kindness

Oct 31, 2011


children working on a project

Last week, we started studying the virtue of Kindness in our homeschool. We used our We Choose Virtues cards each day, spending 10 minutes learning more about this virtue.

On the first day, we discussed it means to be "kind" and what the opposite of kindness would be, such as selfish, sarcastic, rudeness and hurting others (intentionally).

On another day, we talked about what "mocking" means and why it's not kind. My girls do not mock others, but they regularly encounter it from a certain person. Of course, it upsets and hurts them. Understanding what mocking is can help them to better deal with their own emotions, deal with the person who did it, and also reinforces to them why it is so wrong. On the chalkboard, I broke it down for them:
  • Mock: Tease or laugh at in a scornful or contemptuous manner.
  • Contemptuous: Showing contempt
  • Contempt: The feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.
Mockery shows evidence of the need for a change in attitude on the part of the one doing the mocking. It is caused by a haughty attitude. My daughters needed to understand this so that they can avoid internalizing the mockery and judging themselves to be worthless.

During another session of our kindness study, we talked about the types of behaviors we would consider "kind". They were then asked to go through magazines (which I'd collected through Freecycle since no one in our home reads magazines) and make a collage of images which depicted others being kind.

They found all sorts of things: Children hugging kittens; vets taking care of animals; husband's and wives holding hands; young people enjoying a meal at a sidewalk cafe..

older child helping a younger child

girls laughing together

the words acts of kindness on poster board

children cutting photos from magazines

children attaching photos to poster board

child holding finished collage

They did a great job on this homeschool project and had a lot of fun. Hands-on activities really work in our home. It was a fun study and I am so happy we have the We Choose Virtues cards for inspiration.

What projects have you enjoyed doing with your kids? Share in the comments.

Happy Homeschooling!

9 comments

  1. Jennifer Silcott10/31/2011

    Wow! I love your project. What a great idea. I have three little girls and this is something I would like to do with them. Thank you for sharing. 

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  2. Thanks for stopping by.. yes the girls had a blast. They went on to make other mini-collages over the next few days.

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  3. What a great idea!  I just love hands-on learning!  I need to come up with more ideas of it for our homeschool.

    Coming over to visit from the HHH.

    Hope you have a great rest of your week!
    Many blessings,
    Lisa

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  4. Great ideas!  I love that we can teach virtues to our kids and that we can choose to focus on those things in our schooling.  It's such a privilege for me to be able to discuss virtues and manners with my kids. 

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  5. Thanks for coming by, Lisa!  Glad you enjoyed the post. I love hands-on things. I'd rather hike or make a scrapbook page using leaves we picked up on a hike or make a poster than most other tasks. It's just fun!

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  6. Lexi, when I saw your reply in my email. I thought it was.. well.. Lexi..my 13 year old. Then I read the response, "I love that we can teach virtues to our kids.." Ha! I was so confused!!

    Thanks for coming by ..hope to see you again!

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  7. I really liked the collage idea. 
    www.feedingnineonadime.blogspot.com

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  8. Wow, really love this and will definitely try it with my Fiance's girls. The eldest seems to have some habits of acting contemptuous and mocking people. Maybe this will help her!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading my post. I truly hope it helps.

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