I’ve been thinking about the role stories play in forming moral character and I stumbled across this Family Virtues Guide at a book sale. It’s a neat book because the authors looked across many cultures and major world religions and found 52 virtues common to them all.
For the last few years, as I’ve read different books with the kids, I’ve reflected on themes of virtue either within the plot or the characters and I’ve been cataloguing them so that I would have 4-5 books per virtue to read each week. So as we embark on another year of homeschooling, one of our “curriculums” this year will be reading stories related to a virtue per week and learning about what each virtue is and isn’t.
This week’s virtue is Peacefulness. I really like the definitions of each in the Family Virtues Guide. Peacefulness is: “an inner sense of calm that can come in moments of silent gratitude or prayer. It is a way of becoming very quiet and looking at things so that you can understand them. It is facing your fears and then letting them go. It is trusting that things will be all right. Peacefulness is a way of approaching conflict with others so no one is made wrong. Everyone wins because you work to find a peaceful solution. Peace comes when you give up violence, prejudice, and thinking of others as enemies. Peacefulness comes from an awareness that all human beings are part of one human family.”
Pictured are the books I chose to go along with this virtue this week (Cookies is more of an introduction to virtues generally though, not about peacefulness and was our first read).
I plan to post the books with the weekly virtue each week if you’d like to follow along with your family, or if you have any other picture books that you think exemplify this virtue in a way that is told through the story (and not in a “let me teach you about peacefulness” kind of way), I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
Discover more from Welcome to RinkydinkMum
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
