Self Worth and Service

We are often wondering how we can help a child develop self esteem and self worth.  Often times we find ourselves when we lose our selves.  It's kind of ironic, but so true!  When we give and serve we find out who we are and the worth we have as an individual.  Kimber can help with that...

#4—Self-Serving Homework Assignments Can Transform into Service Projects

People all over the nation are becoming alarmed by the low self-esteem among our children. Why don’t they like themselves? Often parents and teachers turn to excessive praise and adoration to help the children think well of themselves. But we found that this usually has the opposite effect on the child’s growing personality. Here is what we discovered and integrated into the Kimber language arts curriculum, and what is now being recognized in many parts of society:

Community service is a great builder of self-esteem for children of all ages. In recent years, student self-esteem seems to have had almost too much emphasis. Yet, parents and teachers watch with increasing alarm as the children get more and more depressed, turn to drugs, contemplate suicide, and fall into the abyss of immorality. Today we even read of children murdering each other at school. What is happening?

Many feel that the cause for this low self-esteem -- or as we like to put it --low self worth, is because most learning methods direct children to think inwardly. They are encouraged to satisfy their every immediate desire--and “self” is Number One.

In contrast, we all know there is a better way. Teaching the child to think outwardly towards serving others--becoming concerned about the welfare of the other person--helps keep the child’s focus away from himself and his own problems. As Jesus said: “He that findeth his life [in self-service] shall lose it; but he that loseth his life for my sake [by serving ‘even the least of these’] shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

An article from USA Today displayed this headline: “Giving to Others to Give Kids Compassion.” The January 29, 1996 article reads in part as follows:

“Deborah Spaide of New Canaan, Conn., is still glowing from a holiday success story. Children from her area stuffed more than 1,000 shoe boxes with little goodies for homeless and needy children in three states .... ‘The kids were creative with what they put in the boxes,’ Spaide said. ‘It’s a simple project and they really got into it. It made them feel empowered to touch somebody else’s life.

“From this experience, she says the children learned an important lesson: Caring for others makes you feel better about yourself. But many kids today aren’t learning simple lessons of caring and charity. And one reason is there aren’t that many opportunities out there for them, says Spaide, 36 .... Spaide has written a new book, Teaching Your Kids to Care: How to Discover and Develop the Spirit of Charity in Your Children, ... which lists lots of creative ideas for charitable opportunities for kids.

“ .. .It all started because she wanted to make sure her own children developed compassion for others .... So she started looking for activities for her children. The first thing they did as a family was go into a disabled woman’s home and paint the walls and clean the apartment. Her kids started telling their friends what they were doing, and the friends wanted to come along to the next activity. Spaide found that kids were ‘starving for these kinds of opportunities.’

“ .... Spaide and her husband, Jim, say that they’ll know they’ve succeeded if their kids grow up and measure success in terms of the people they touch and help, instead of in terms of money or material gain. …We have nothing against money, but it’s an empty value,’ she says. ‘No matter how much you have, you never quite feel content. While charity, even in small doses, leaves you feeling satisfied and whole.’“

Parents can give their children “free reign” to think of ways that will help their neighborhood, community, city, state and country. As families go through the Kimber language arts curriculum, they will find the weekly service projects will develop a habit of service to last a lifetime.

HELP WANTED

Due to a series of unfortunate events our elective program has been significantly cut.  We've had people who needed to take full time positions elsewhere, people who are unexpectedly moving and various other life changing events that have made things unfortunate on our end.  We were so looking forward to all these great people were bringing to the table.  We will miss them and the things they were bringing to Kimber Heber Valley!

However we are optimistic that there are MANY of you out there who would LOVE to share your talents with us and others.  Do you write? Do you love art? Do you know how to crochet? How about youth leadership training? We would love to have you join our team!

Please contact us if you would like to teach an elective class at Kimber Academy ~ Heber Valley, we would love to see what talents you have and help share them with others.

Contact Natalie Clyde (801) 420-4700 natalieclyde@gmail.com
or Kyndra Sweat (435)671-2413 tkos29@yahoo.com

Detached Learning?

#3—Avoiding Detached Learning by Applying Knowledge to Life

Students who are unable to associate knowledge from one area of learning to another have detached learning.

One way to tell if a child has detached learning is through diagnostic exams. We discovered this years later when we developed our curriculum. There needs to be a way to check the academic knowledge of our children and students, and at the same time see if their knowledge is being internalized.

For example, when we first started our private schools and began testing the students, we found that many of them had memorized the fifty states and their capitals. This was good, of course. However, when they were asked to fill in a map of the United States, they did not know wheremost of the states were located. In addition, we found that most students did not understand why they were learning particular subjects. They seemed to think that the main reason to learn was to pass an exam and get a good grade. They had detached their knowledge from living life.

When the mind is able to grasp the whole picture of a subject, and attach particular information to other subjects, learning begins to make sense in every area of life. So we decided to incorporate into the Kimber curriculum learning exercises that correlated with many subjects. In history, for example, we gave some assignments to figure particular math equations. In language arts, we had the students perfect their reading and writing skills right along with history and science. In science, we involved creativity, geography, and Language arts skills.

An Associated Press article, written April 22, 1996, demonstrates the efficiency of this method of teaching. The foremost subject during one term at Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, was the study of the life of Leonardo da Vinci (who, incidentally, wrote these inspiring words: “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”).

The article reports:

“Teachers weave the work of the painter, inventor, scientist into lessons about science, English, math, history and art--a teaching style that’s gaining popularity nationwide.

“‘It’s a way of organizing curriculum without putting everything in boxes, or saying --OK, now it’s time to take out our science book,’ says Fran Simms, language arts teacher [Barcroft Elementary School]. ‘It connects the day, connects learning.’

“ ... Integrating subjects isn’t new, but the number of schools trying it has grown steadily since the mid-1980s, and more rapidly in the past five years.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of schools exploring it,’ says Sally Chapman with the Association For Supervision and Curriculum Development, which conducts workshops on the concept.

“At Brown-Barge Middle School in Pensacola, Fla., students learn lessons under themes. In the ‘Global Awareness’ section, for example, students research and write about different countries, study ratio and proportion by comparing the size of continents and learn science by studying climate, rainfall and ocean currents.

“‘The kids love it because it makes sense to them,’ says assistant principal Sandy Ames. ‘There’s nothing more frustrating than learning things in isolation.’

“... Teachers enthusiastic about integrated curriculum say their students don’t just march from class to class in blocks of time. They learn classic course work and skills, like writing, while exploring a larger issue.

“ .... At Barcroft, students are urged to be inquisitive, like da Vinci. They are taught to think like historians or investigators. Like da Vinci, the students draw from live models and keep notebooks.”

(The Daily Spectrum, Monday, April 22, 1996, Page B2)