A few years ago, when we were looking into universities for our oldest child to attend, we got to know a little about Calvin College in Michigan. Although Rebekah ended up going to Samford University instead, one thing stuck in my mind about Calvin. It was a project that all students must complete as part of their core curriculum. Each student is paired with an older person from the area, must meet with them several times so as to learn all about them, write their biography (it was an English project), and then present that person with a bound copy of their biography. I remember thinking what a wonderful idea this is. The students get to meet the older generation, learn from their life experiences, establish important friendships, and get to make that older person feel very special. Do have any other examples of using relationships and real life in this way to teach important lessons?
Absolutely! Seniors are a big part of Ems life, mine too. She has many friends who are 65 and older. Every Thursday she plays the piano at church for them. They love it! Ems receives practice as well as encouragement from them. They love her. She is their adopted granddaughter. LOL Drawing is also important to Ems. She loves drawing pictures of their families and of them. One friend's 'fridge is covered in Ems pictures. One of the men loves to talk about his military days. He isn't graphic because Ems is only in 6th grade, but he talks about how people used to be compared to how they are now. Ems gets a lesson on the past. At the same time, she brings a lot of pleasure to them. I think she is the only youngster I know who has dozens of seniors at her birthday parties. LOL Along with what I listed above, Ems helps to prepare them meals and we go to visit them so we can bring them some joy as well as help them clean their house.
That's really wonderful! In previous generations, it seems young people really respected their elders whereas today I feel our children can so easily miss out on learning from them. I think it's fantastic that your daughter invites seniors to her birthday parties!
With all of the concern about socialization, being with old individual teaches many different things that being with peers doesn't teach,besides history etc. she is being taught about getting along and listening. She is bringing such joy to the seniors too,many don't have family around and she fills their need with love and friendship.
When I was in 7th grade, we had to do an assignment similar to this for english class. Of course we didn't have to have ours bound as a book, but we had to choose an older person and get to know them. We had to come up with lots of questions for the person, and then we had to write a report about our person's life. I still remember the couple (I couldn't pick just one of them :love I chose.. they taught me all about WWII!!
