Introducing Tending Virtue, for families with children in elementary and middle school. Tending Virtue tools include an 11x17" poster and a 5x7", 6-card flashcard set that covers six essential virtues: honesty, courage, gratitude, joy, hope, and kindness.
The beautifully designed poster and flashcards are perfect for parents who want to reinforce the importance of these virtues in their children's lives. The poster is large enough to be easily seen from across the room, and the flashcards are the perfect size for smaller hands. They can be used as visual aids during morning devotions or as part of a daily discussion about character-formation.
Tending Virtue aligns perfectly with our Morning Virtues program and coincides with the first 6 virtues covered in those issues, making it a beautiful addition to your homeschooling curriculum or an intentional addition to end your family's school day. The virtues covered in this product are fundamental to developing a strong and well-rounded character, which is important for children (and adults) of all ages.
Tending Virtue is a valuable tool for Christian families with elementary and middle school-aged children. It provides an easy and effective way to teach your children about the essential virtues of honesty, courage, gratitude, joy, hope, and kindness.
Who's it for?
The virtue definitions and topics covered in this collection are ideal for children who are in first grade or older. For children in first-third grade, some of the terms utilized may need more explanation and care. For children 4th grade and up, the included definitions will easily be grasped and hopefully be applied as they walk through their days.
What's included?
You have a few options:
- 11x17" poster alone
- 5x7" cards alone
- Or grab the set that includes both
One family needs only one set of cards and one poster. These are not consumable items and, with care, can last for many years.
Both items work as stand-alone tools, but the flashcards add depth to the terminology included on the poster, and are highly encouraged to use alongside the poster.
POSTER HANGERS ARE NOT INCLUDED. We recommend a 12" magnetic poster hanging set like this from Amazon. NO DIGITAL DOWNLOADS INCLUDED
What is meant by "excess and deficiency"?
The classical philosopher, Aristotle, put forth a "Doctrine of Mean" in his book Nicomachean Ethics. While Aristotle was neither Jewish nor Christian, we can take his sound philosophies about the nature of man and ethics and take it captive for the purposes of glorifying God.
"Excellence of character is concerned with emotions and acts, in which there can be excess or deficiency or a mean. For example, one can be frightened or bold, feel desire or anger or pity, and experience pleasure and pain generally, either more or less than is right, and in both cases wrongly; while to have these feelings at the right time, on the right occasion, toward the right people, for the right purpose and in the right manner, is to feel the best amount of them, which is the mean amount -- and the best amount is of course the mark of excellence. Likewise, in acts there can be excess, deficiency and a mean.... Hence excellence is a mean state in the sense that it aims at the mean."
By taking important Biblical virtues and defining and explaining them in a way that compares and contrasts their excess and deficiency with their mean (or "right amount"), we can help our children (and ourselves) build a fundamental understanding of what it truly means to be grateful, joyful, hopeful, etc, without lapsing into excess and deficiency. The goal here is a well-rounded understanding of both virtue AND vice so that we can better understand correction (by a loved one and by the Holy Spirit).
This kind of language helps our children temper their own behavior and gives us the appropriate language for explaining inappropriate behavior or habits which might manifest in everyday life... silliness (when it's inappropriate), foolishness, harshness, etc.
Sample
Please view the images in detail to read the descriptions and definition of each virtue in excess and deficiency.