Next Year: Character Study

I have been wanting to add some sort of character study to my plans for next year, but was at a loss where to start. I wondered about PACE (Program for Achieving Character Education) which is being enjoyed over at the Dumb Ox Academy but can't (so far as I know) get it in the UK, don't have the budget, and realistically don't have the time in our schedule for a full-blown program. But there is no doubt about it. My children - and myself, come to that - could certainly use some character training. Still, my mind was blank ... until this morning when I visited Sweetness and Light, found her post on the Fruits of the Holy Spirit and had a lightbulb moment. So next year we are going to do a study of the Fruits of the Spirit. This is the plan ...

Although the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists twelve fruits of the spirit, we are going to look at the nine listed in Meredith's 4 Real Learning post: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. That way we can focus on each for four weeks. I'm going to pick a Bible verse and a song for each week, which we will include in our morning prayer time. For each fruit of the spirit I will choose a saint who displayed that characteristic to focus on. Then I can round it all out with quotations, short activities, readings and discussion. I only want to spend a few minutes a day on this, so it will all be short and sweet. I like the idea of fridge schooling - displaying certain items weekly for the whole family - and the Bible verses and quotations would fit nicely in this display (though our fridge wouldn't work, and I'm not sure where to put it!). I had some free time this afternoon while Angel and Star played with friends and Little Cherub slept, and have started putting together some ideas. I'm enthused! I'll share some ideas later.