Culture of Kindness

We are teaching kindness to our children through discipline and homeschool.

This year in homeschool we have a theme – Countries and Cultures.

Pictured here are a few of the awesome materials we’re using in our studies.

This is the kind of stuff that gets me so excited about homeschool. I love learning with my kids! And I knew I would learn so much with them exploring this topic of countries and cultures. I also hope that they will learn so much, and that their eyes will be open to new and different things. We are teaching kindness as we teach our children to be tolerant of others’ differences.

We are about a third of our way through our homeschool year and we’ve already learned so much! Here are a few things that have stuck in my mind:

First we looked at cultures of North America.

If the USA is a melting pot, Canada is a mosaic, is what our “Cultural Geography” book said (by Dennis Bollinger). We took that opportunity to learn about mosaics and practice our art. As we learned about Mexico we named the different foods that are part of Arizona culture that were created and named in Mexico; like tortillas, tacos, burritos, etc. We also made mini pinatas and celebrated the Day of the Dead.

We learned that there are over 1000 islands in the Caribbean! We learned a Spanish song from Puerto Rico about a little frog. Even our little #10 learned to sing, “Coqui, coqui,” with us. So cute!

We’ve looked at cultures in South America.

My brother-in-law, who is from Colombia, enriched our homeschool learning of South America with his memories. We tried to play soccer, like he did as a kid, but we need more practice!

We learned that there’s a waterfall in South America called “Angel Falls” that was used as the model for the waterfall in the movie “Up.” We learned about volcanoes in the Andes mountain range.

When we read about the poor people in Bolivia we realized how blessed we are, and we wished we could help those people. Teaching our kids to look out for others’ needs is teaching kindness.

We learned a little about Brazil and had our own version of Carnaval, which included masks and a parade.

Next we headed across to European cultures. 

Now in homeschool we’re studying Europe, “a peninsula of peninsulas.” We’ve learned that Scandinavia is the stage for the “Frozen” movies, and we had a guest speaker from Norway who gave us a sweet taste of her culture. She brought us a Norwegian treat. 😊

We are working on a Bulgarian song about a little flower announcing the beginning of spring. We are not very good at Bulgarian, but we’re having fun! And up next is a study of our own ancestors from Europe and when and where they lived there.

I’m excited to keep working our way around the world and having my own eyes open to new thoughts and ideas. One of the things that I really hope to accomplish this year, as we learn in homeschool about the differences in the cultures around the world, is to have my children learn to accept and love the differences in people. Right here in our “melting pot” of a country, there are different cultures, beliefs, ideas, and traditions all around us. I hope that my children learn to love people from every background. I hope our teaching kindness for others will sink in.

What kind of culture do we have in our home?

As we learn of other cultures in homeschool, we are also building our own culture. We want this culture in our home to be a culture of kindness, respecting those around us while standing up for ourselves. We, as parents of the next generation, have a big responsibility in shaping the future. A lot of what happens next in our world’s history depends on what we teach and model for our children. If we want a peaceful world, we need to teach our children how to deal with people peacefully, especially when they disagree. We need to be teaching kindness.

We get plenty of chances to remind our kids about this as they deal with each other. One of the things they disagree on most is their music. Our teenagers, especially, have their own unique tastes in music that really clash with each other. I personally think it’s fun to hear the variety when the different kids pick their songs, but the siblings don’t seem to think it’s fun.

They need reminders that shouting and insulting are not good ways to say what they need to say. They need reminders that it is ok for their sibling to like their own music just like it is ok for them to like theirs. We can take turns, or use earbuds, or ask nicely and have them turn it down a little. Slowly, slowly, we’re teaching kindness at home. Then they can take that out into the world someday.

Thanks for reading my blog. If you liked it, share it. And go enjoy your adventure.

To see the rest of our culture adventure see Culture of Kindness Part 2.

For more about homeschool, see My Homeschool Philosophy.

Most of our homeschool materials are found on Amazon or Christianbook.com.