It was a rough night. I kept waking up, unable to sleep. Tried watching TV, but that didn’t help. Anyway, at some point around 4:30-5:00am I did fall asleep. Imagine my surprise when I woke to my backup alarm going off at 6am! Somehow I had turned on the wrong alarm on my alarm clock and slept until the first kids started arriving for Seminary! I jumped up, grabbed some jeans and a sweatshirt, and asked my DS to run downstairs and open the back door while I brushed my teeth and picked up my lesson materials.
We were able to start class on time, but it’s only because I was too lazy to take everything down last night. :) And I was a bass singer for the opening song, but it seemed to go well.
Moses 6
Today’s lesson was Moses 6. I used Lectures on Faith, Second Lecture, as a bit of supplemental material to help out with this lesson. We talked about how knowledge about God is passed down by human testimony, often from father to child (as these kids have experienced). Then we talked about Adam’s records and what was in them and what they were for. Then we talked about Enoch’s call with an emphasis on Enoch’s reluctance, God’s reassurance, and Enoch’s obedience. Wrapped up with Enoch’s message and I passed out the sheet on Moses 6:60 I made yesterday.
The kids tried again at the end of the lesson to pass of their Books of the Old Testament in order. The other two zones can’t do it faster than 4 minutes, so they have to keep trying. Zone 1 was able to do it in 2 minutes and 30 seconds. It’s the major and minor prophets that are messing everyone up.
I had two more pass of Scripture Mastery verses today out of four attempts. I’m surprised at how many of them are doing those. Some kids don’t care, I’m sure, but none are actively rebelling.
This was the first day I actually had kids close their eyes during class. I didn’t complain though, because I wanted to sleep, too. I will try to keep it more active next time. While the lesson was good and they participated, I think I probably needed a little more activity to help them stay engaged.
Moses 7
Tomorrow it’s Moses 7, and I have 3 assignments from the student guide and another for each zone to do. They will share their discoveries at the end of class.
Using what they know about Zion, Group one will write down what they think Zion will look like in their homes, communities, schools, and at Church. I have also asked them to list at least one specific thing they can do to begin building Zion now.
Group 2 will do the activity from the student guide about What Makes the Lord Weep. I have asked them to list things in their homes and other areas that might make the Lord weep. I hope that doesn’t get out of hand. :/
Group 3 will do the activity from the student guide called Answer Enoch’s Questions.
When I have the kids share, I think I will end with Group 1 so that we end with what Zion can be — a happy note. Or Answer Enoch’s Questions would be good, too: the earth will rest.
Moses 7:18
Friday they will do Moses 7:18 as their reading, and after they pass that one off, I’ll let them start on Exodus 20. I think it’s important for us to spend time on the longer scripture mastery passages in class and let the kids learn the shorter ones on their own.
There’s a you tube video I will use called Learn the 10 commandments in 5 minutes along with some 10 commandments memorization aid cards I made.
On this day we will split into three groups that rotate. Schools here call this centers. I guess it’s like mini classes. Everyone covers the same material for the same amount of time — it’s just in different order. I hope they’ll get 10 minutes at each station. One station will be a lesson with me. I will review the grouping of the Books of the Old Testament, talk about the Pearl of Great Price/Genesis concordance, and I will probably give them some time to work on ordering the books of the old testament quickly. A second station will be where they can use the laptop and the scripture mastery card I mentioned above to start learning Exodus 20. The third station will be a surprise for them — but it will be the scroll that I’ve been promising. I made the scroll yesterday and took some pictures, but I won’t post them until tomorrow. So tired……
Monday we will do a general conference review. Some of the parents have agreed to send in food, and the kids will come back with questions to ask for our review game. Since I expect some of them to forget or leave their cards at home, I will also supplement with some bonus review questions about what we’ve learned so far.
It’s a little freaky, but my lessons are planned through Tuesday. And I know what we’re doing Thursday and Friday (videos) and so I think that next week will be easy. Just two lessons to plan, really.
Yesterday all of the things I had signed up for ended up being cancelled, and so all I had to do was go to the Band Parent meeting. The band teacher is a bit of a crazy, but okay. My favorite part was when she said that the 7th grade class was “too small” to take to contest. After some thought, I finally piped up and said that I hoped she pitched that to the kids in a better way, and asked if she was going to do something nice for the 7th graders who stuck it out when last year was such a bad year for bad. “Bad year” was her phrase. :) (They had 3 teachers and a lot of personnel issues.) The orchestra teacher is not such a stickler and was down with my suggestion, but the teacher didn’t commit. We’ll see what happens. Now the seed has been planted, anyway. DS seems to be liking band better this year and is practicing more. I think he’ll like band if he gets into it, but I will not push it in high school. Band is for the goobers here, instead of for the cool kids like in the South.
My aunt took the kids while I was gone and then had me take some clothes from the closets she’s cleaning out., courtesy of the recent electrical work. Today is supposed to be early release and I better go lay down if I’m going to get aught up on my rest before the kids get home.
