Hari Om,
After a quick overview of last class, also for the benefit of those who missed it, we started today's class off by discussing what India is to each one of us, and then went on to see what eminent scholars such as Prof Max Mueller, G.B. Shaw, etc., had to say about India. To Prof Mueller, India is 'Paradise on earth'. It is 'rescue of mankind', and 'the spiritual India fulfilled many many great souls' to others. As you can see in the attached picture, Dharmam kids don't see India the same way. Hopefully by the end of this academic year, we will have a different viewpoint.
Next we learnt the story of the kingdom of a tree, which was rich, prosperous, wise, and generous. Everybody around it prospered. People that lived far heard about the tree, came, stole all of its parts - leaves, fruits, branches, and in some time, all of the tree was gone. So, the people who lived around it started to leave, to look for better livelihood. The tree pleaded with them not to leave, and that it would regrow to its original tree, because of its strong roots. But they did not listen. The tree regrew, just as it said. This tree is the country of India. It survived many a invasions, and is growing strong, thanks to its roots in the faith of the Lord, and in the scriptures. Annie Besant famously asked, 'if the people of this sacred land, Hindustan don't maintain Hinduism, who shall save it?' Our Pujya Gurudev gave a clarion call to study the scriptures (where our roots are), understand the meaning, and live by its teachings in our everyday life. Chinmaya Balavihar facilitates the learning of the scriptures, and helps us understand the meaning of life.
Next, we located the places where we/our parents/ancestors are from, in the India map. (attached)
Talking about scriptures, we learnt about the vedas, epics, how Mahabharata was written, how there is no founder/author for Hinduism like other religions, importance of Bhagavad Gita, and some scholarly perspectives on Gita.
Awards and Honors: Bharat Ratna, Padma Awards, Sahitya Academy, Ashok Chakra, Param Veer Chakra, Dronacharya, Arjuna, Dada Saheb Palke, Bravery, Gallantry Awards....these are some of the awards that we learnt about in the class. Parents, these are things that we learnt growing up...please share your memories of/information about the recipients/awards. Any personal information, and family discussion, as you know, immensely enhances your kids' learning experience.
Puzzle: Since last week's word puzzle was a big hit, today we tried a crossword puzzle with Indian states/Capitals. Attached shows some kids near the map, hoping to find some answers. Got to say, our class loves puzzles!! Please encourage them to finish the puzzle at home.
Comments/Assignments:
- Good job to the kids who have made an earnest attempt to start and write the 'Gratitude journal' daily. Thanks to all the parents for your support and encouragement. If you have not started already, please have the kids started in today or soon. We are sure this will be meaningful and fun exercise. Early starters, please continue with the daily exercise.
- As your kids might have told you, we are inventing our new selves in the class. So far, we have Super Suchir, Superior Shyam, Sunny Sitara, Dynamic Dhruv in the class. We are waiting to hear from the 'rambunctious' rest of the class! ;)
- This year's theme lends itself to endless learning material. While we go through the content in the book in class, we strongly encourage the kids to read ahead, which might lead to more questions and hence discussions at home, research, and more learning and sharing in class. We will also try to connect with comparable histories that they already know. Before next class, please encourage your kids to read upto page # 49 (Architecture)
- We see that some kids don't have their books. Please stop by the book store in the cafetaria, and get them so the kids are able to keep up with the class lessons.
Next class is on 9 Oct 2016. Meanwhile enjoy the break celebrating Navarathri/Dusshera. Even if you don't celebrate, please don't forget to talk about the festival, and share your childhood memories etc., with your kids.
Happy Navarathri/Dusshera
