Since children of different ages are at obviously different stages of development, in both their learning habits and in their ability to comprehend complex material, the curriculum for Spirit School is broken into three groups -- Kindergarten through 2nd grade, 3rd grade through 5th grade, and 6th grade through 8th grade. Each group has its own Curriculum Guide (for the parent/s) and its own Student Workbook (for the child/ren).
Each Curriculum Guide has a letter of introduction, age/learning level expectations, at least 50 complete lessons for each grade level, numerous meditations, a certificate of advancement, and suggestions for the next step. A complete lesson includes: suggeted previous lesson(s), lesson objectives, required materials, the presentation (activity/story/meditation), a "hands-on" portion and supplemental activities.
Each Student Workbook contains an introduction,
objevtives, and activities (coloring pages, crosswords, connect-the-dots,
diagrams for projects, etc) for each of the lessons included in the
Curriculum Guide.
SAMPLE -- Kindergarten Lessons:
- Introduction to Spirit School
- Introduction to the God and Goddess
- Faces of the Goddess
· Greek
· Celtic
· Norse
· Egyptian
- Faces of the God
· Greek
· Celtic
· Norse
· Egyptian
- Let’s Meet Mother Nature
· Nature walk
· Trip to zoo
· Our 1st nature project
- The Wheel of the Year
· Samhain
· Yule
· Imbolg
· Ostara
· Beltane
· Midsummer
· Lughnasadh
· Mabon
- The Phases of the Moon
· New Moon
· Waxing Moon
· Full Moon
· Waning Moon
- Cerridwen’s Cauldron
· Birth and Rebirth
· "Who were you before you
were born?"
- Guided Meditations
· Meeting the Goddess Meditation
· Meeting the God Meditation
· Earth (Tree Meditation)
· Air (Bird Meditation)
· Fire (Bonfire Meditation)
· Water (Fish Meditation)
- The Family Altar
· A very special place
· The tools
· A shrine for me
- Pantheon – A Family of Gods and Goddesses
· My family’s Pantheon
· The Celtic Pantheon
· The Greek Pantheon
· The Norse Pantheon
· The Egyptian Pantheon
- Ritual
- Magick
· Candle Magick
NOTE: Although many of the items in the above list may seem, at first glance, to be out of the reach of Kindergarten-aged children, I assure you that the material is presented in a simple, introductory manner. The idea behind presenting a child with a lesson about "Cerridwen's cauldron," for example, is to intorduce them to the idea of death, the symbol of the cauldron as a place of rebirth, and to make it a little more approachable in general. (Like it or not, your children will probably be exposed to the death of a loved one at some point in their early years. My opinion is that the child who already has some (limited) exposure to the idea of death and rebirth is better equipped to handle this time of change and sorrow than one who has had no introduction to these ideas.) Again, the lessons are brief at the Kindergarten level (as a five year old child finds it immensely difficult to concentrate for longer periods of time) and are primarily introductory in nature.
SAMPLE Kindergarten Lesson Plan:
Lesson topic: Face of a Norse Goddess -- Freya
Suggested previous lesson: "Faces of the Goddess"
or any other lesson in this section
Objectives:
· to acquaint child with one
of the Norse Goddess and one of her stories
· to lay groundwork for future
learning within the Norse pantheon
Materials needed:
· Student Workbook
· crayons/markers/colored
pencils
· map/globe
· macaroni/beads/etc
· string
Presentation/Activity:
I. Introduction
A.
Remind the child about last week’s lesson.
B.
Say that you are going to talk about a Norse Goddess this week.
C.
Show child where the Nordic lands are on the map or globe in relation to
where you are.
II. The story of Freya and
Her Necklace
Freya was a Goddess in the cold lands far
to the North. She was married to Odin, who was a king among
the Gods. Freya was very beautiful and very kind. Men said
that her dress could be light- or dark-colored depending on her mood.
She was a Goddess of the sky and the clouds, but she lived in a simple
cottage on Earth.
Because Freya was very beautiful, she wanted to have a necklace that was beautiful. She wanted a necklace that didn’t look like any others that had ever been made before. She wanted it to be made with metal that no man had ever used before. She wanted it to be set with stones that no one had ever seen. Freya wanted the clasp to be so new that no man knew how to open it.
One day a dwarf came to her house because he had heard that she wanted this necklace. "Beautiful Freya," he said to her, "I am a dwarf and very skilled at making unusual designs for necklaces. I will draw a picture for you of your necklace, but only if you let me stay in your home this evening." Freya agreed, and the dwarf stayed with her that evening. The next morning he drew a picture of the necklace that would be Freya’s, and he left.
A few days later, another dwarf came by her house. "A friend told me about the necklace you want," he said. "I have gone to the mines to get metal that only the dwarves have seen. It changes color like the sky at sunset. I will make it into the necklace you want if you let me sleep in your house this evening." She agreed, and the next day the dwarf melted the metal and shaped it into a beautiful necklace. Then he left.
The necklace still didn’t have any stones or a clasp, so it wasn’t complete. Three or four days went by, and another dwarf knocked on the Goddess-Queen’s door. "My lady," he said with very deep bow, for a dwarf. "I have come to set beautiful stones into your necklace. No man has ever seen these stones. They change shape and color like the clouds. I will do this for you, if only you let me stay in your home this evening." She agreed, and the next day the stones were put into her necklace.
Freya wept because the necklace was so beautiful. She held it up to her neck. It wouldn’t stay, though, because there was no clasp. So she hid it away until one could be made.
It was many weeks before the last dwarf came to her door. "My brother told me that you needed a clasp for the necklace you keep," the dwarf said to the Goddess. "I will make a clasp for you that no one but the two of us will be able to open. This clasp will keep anyone from being able to wear your jewels but you. It will keep your necklace safe around your neck. I only ask that you let me stay in your house tonight." Freya agreed, and the next day the dwarf finished her necklace.
It was and is the most beautiful piece of jewelry
ever made. Freya named it Brisingamen and kept it in a special box.
A beautiful handmaiden took care of it when Freya took it off. Only
once did it ever leave her, but that is another story.
III. Hands-on
A.
The child should color the picture titled "Freya" in the workbook.
B.
Make a necklace together. You can use anything from colored beads
to macaroni.
Supplemental Activities:
Make a special box to keep the necklace
in. You can use a shoebox, or anything of that sort. Use construction
paper, markers, glue, glitter, etc. to decorate it.
I am currently working on a book proposal for Spirit School. This project will be a little while in the making. I would really like any feedback that I can get, and I am hoping to work with a family or two in "testing" this curriculum. The material in the lessons is also easily translated into activities for alrger group settings. If you are interested, or have any comments, questions, etc., please e-mail me.