Sept. Apprentice/Core

Sept. Apprentice/Core Class

Study/Learn


1 - Read: “21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader” Chapter 7: Discernment


2 - Read: “The Young Traveler's Gift” Chapter 4: Wisdom (You can read the whole book to understand the story line, but then re-read chapter 4)


3 – Read: Proverbs 4:7


4 - Hero Study: Research and take notes on a person you admire from this time period (1850 to 1945). This could include someone from your family history, an inventor, musician, religious leader, author, government leader or someone else you admire and want to learn more about. Find information from a library book or other reputable source. (Note: Wikipedia is not allowed. Copying and pasting is not allowed. This needs to be in your own words.) Here are some ideas of thing you could include in your notes: your hero’s life and experiences, how you think they filled the mission God sent them to live, how their hard work, education, talents, and even life challenges helped them become a better person and do something worthwhile, how you can see God's hand in his or her life, and what Christlike characteristics that person had that you admire. Be sure to take notes about your hero and hand in your notes. At the end of your notes, list the heroic qualities and principles you admire about your hero. Be sure to write one or more of those qualities that you want to develop in yourself.


5 – Do a word study on “wisdom” (Click on the tool box at the top of the Mt. Nebo Vanguard page if you forgot how to do one.  )


6 – Read: “Abraham Lincoln: a photobiography”
Chapters 1-5


Know/Understand


CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TO DO:

• We are told in the scriptures not to judge other people. Is this the same as being discerning regarding them? Why or why not? Write out your argument either way, have supporting references and be prepared to share what you learned with the class.
  
  
  
• Why is discernment an important part of being wise and having wisdom? Do a word study on “discernment” and compare and contrast it to your word study on wisdom.
  
  
  
• Journal for 20 minutes on what wisdom means to you and why it is an important trait to work hard to acquire it. Set 3 goals that you can start now on your quest for wisdom. Be prepared to share them with the class.
  
  
  
• Create a collection or collage of quotes and scriptures about wisdom. Feel free to illustrate your collection if you’d like. Record how it could affect your life in different areas (academically, family, spiritually, etc) as you gain more wisdom.
  

Become/Serve
(If you are doing more than 1 level of class this week, just choose ONE Become/serve for the whole week.)

• After quoting Proverbs 4:7, Theodore M. Burton, then Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles, said: “We must feed the spirit as well as the mind and as well as the body. I plead with our youth, get learning, and with all your getting get understanding. Get learning of the spirit. Get learning of the mind. Get learning of the soul, and become a rounded man or a rounded woman, learned in all ways, for I testify to you this day that security, true security, comes from a knowledge of the divinity of Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of all learning and of all wisdom. This is the greatest knowledge, the greatest learning, the greatest comfort that men can have. If men have this knowledge in their hearts, they can withstand all the vicissitudes of life.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1961, p. 129.)

What can you do to gain a better knowledge of the divinity of Christ, which is where all learning, wisdom and understanding comes from? Make a list of 5 things that you can do and choose 1 of them to work on this week.

Sept. Journeyman

Sept. Journeyman Class

“What is the answer to the dilemma that surrounds us?  The answer is to love our Founders, our country, our founding document, and the God that gave them to us.  We must teach that love to our children, pray for our leaders and plead for help.  The answer is to get involved.” 

  - Pam Openshaw, author of “Promises of the Constitution”

Study/Learn

1 – Read: John Q. Adam's letter to his son, George (seen below)

2 – Read: D&C 109:7

3 – Read: “Promises of the Constitution.” preface, prologue & p.93-121.  Write one or more sentences at the end of each mini chapter that summarizes the main point.

4 - Read or watch: talk by Ezra Taft Benson from April 1976 "The Constitution - A Glorious Standard"

5 – Watch this video about how to give a speech.  Scroll down to “Method 1 of 5” and start there.

Know/Understand

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

• “The longer I live the more convincing proofs I see...that God governs in the affairs of men...I...believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.” - Benjamin Franklin during the Constitutional Convention.  Find 5 scriptures that back up this idea that God prepared this land and these men to create our country and Constitution.  Think about ways you can better obey the laws of the land and be a better citizen.  Set a goal and write a plan of how you can accomplish it.  Bring your plan to class.

• Imagine you are one of the Founding Fathers – How do you feel after writing and signing the Constitution?  Write a letter home to your family to explain your feelings.

• Summarize in your own words the points about the Constitution that Pres. Benson spoke about in his talk.  Choose one to teach your family about this week and then be prepared to teach the class.  Why is it important to uphold our nation's Constitution?

• While reading "Promises of the Constitution", choose one of those main concepts and choose a way to teach it to the class. You can use a Prezi or Power Point presentation, white board discussion, object lesson, short game or activity or simulation, or find a video online to help you teach the concept.

Become/Serve
(If you are doing more than 1 level of class this week, just choose ONE Become/serve for the whole week.)

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

• Although some people may be blessed with a keen mind, most people need to put forth effort in order to improve their minds and ability to reason.  In section 5.4 of “Promises of the Constitution” we read about James Madison. Daily, James Madison prepared for logical decisions during the Constitutional Convention by sitting in the front center and taking many notes.  Read Romans 12:2 and make a list of 10 things that you can do in your life to “renew your mind” daily and keep your heart turned to God. (Some could include cleaning up their space, organizing, getting rid of a bad habit like foul language, reading your scriptures, etc) Choose one of those things to work on this week and come prepared to class to share your experience.

• In “Promises of the Constitution” section 5.13 we read about Benjamin Franklin.  His travels to Great Britain and France and the many years he spent there were not vacations, but business trips that involved a lot of hard work, negotiations and frustration.  He served his fellow men and made many sacrifices for his country.  Think of ways that someone your age can serve your country.  Choose one and  start to do it this week and come prepared to class to share your experience.

John Quincy Adam's letter to his son

THE BIBLE AND ITS TEACHINGS: 

Letters from John Quincey Adamsto his son, George

LETTER I.

St. Petersburg, Sept., 1811

MY DEAR SON: In your letter of the 18th January to your mother, you mentioned that you read to your aunt a chapter in the Bible or a section of Doddridge’s Annotations every evening. This information gave me real pleasure; for so great is my veneration for the Bible, and so strong my belief, that when duly read and meditated on, it is of all books in the world, that which contributes most to make men good, wise, and happy — that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more steadily they pursue the practice of reading it throughout their lives, the more lively and confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country, respectable members of society, and a real blessing to their parents. But I hope you have now arrived at an age to understand that reading, even in the Bible, is a thing in itself, neither good nor bad, but that all the good which can be drawn from it, is by the use and improvement of what you have read, with the help of your own reflection. Young people sometimes boast of how many books, and how much they have read; when, instead of boasting, they ought to be ashamed of having wasted so much time, to so little profit.

I advise you, my son, in whatever you read, and most of all in reading the Bible, to remember that it is for the purpose of making you wiser and more virtuous. I have myself, for many years, made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year. I have always endeavored to read it with the same spirit and temper of mind, which I now recommend to you: that is, with the intention and desire that it may contribute to my advancement in wisdom and virtue. My desire is indeed very imperfectly successful; for, like you, and like the Apostle Paul, “I find a law in my members, warring against the laws of my mind.” But as I know that it is my nature to be imperfect, so I know that it is my duty to aim at perfection; and feeling and deploring my own frailties, I can only pray Almighty God, for the aid of his Spirit to strengthen my good desires, and to subdue my propensities to evil; for it is from him, that every good and every perfect gift descends. My custom is, to read four or five chapters every morning, immediately after rising from my bed. It employs about an hour of my time, and seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day. But, as other cares, duties, and occupations, engage the remainder of it, I have perhaps never a sufficient portion of my time in meditation, upon what I have read. Even meditation itself is often fruitless, unless it has some special object in view; useful thoughts often arise in the mind, and pass away without being remembered or applied to any good purpose — like the seed scattered upon the surface of the ground, which the birds devour, or the wind blows away, or which rot without taking root, however good the soil may be upon which they are cast. 

Sept. Master Class

Study/Learn

1 - Read: Jacob 6:12

2 - Read: “Uncle Tom's Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Mark passages that you like and would like to remember.  You can get this book free in the public domain and can listen to an audio recording here... Uncle Tom's Cabin

Know/Understand

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

• Research the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe.  (See “Research the author” in the tool box on the main blog).  How has your interpretation of the book changed by knowing about the author?  Did it change your understanding at all?  Be prepared to share what you learned with the class.

• Choose a character from the book and do a Character T chart using quotes from your reading on how that character did or did not show wisdom.  If the character you chose was wise, list 5 things that you appreciated about their wisdom and how having wisdom affected their life.  If your character did not have wisdom, list 5 things that he/she could have done differently to be more wise or learn more wisdom in their life.

Become/Serve
(If you are doing more than 1 level of class this week, just choose ONE Become/serve for the whole week.)

• From a General Conference Address in April 1982 by Dwan J. Young who was then the General Primary President of the Church: "As we observe the process of natural growth, we become acutely aware of certain eternal principles upon which all growth is predicated. First, growth is the expected norm. It’s the divine challenge given to each soul as it enters mortality. Our Heavenly Father expects us to use the great gift of life to enjoy and to celebrate this central truth. Because we have life, we can grow and develop and do some things on earth we cannot do anywhere else...Only God’s children have the capacity to direct their own growth. This means that we can use this time on earth to bring optimum growth and development because we have the power to make choices. It’s not enough just to grow. Even the weeds and the biblical tares can do that. It is expected of us that we will shape our growth so that we will not be like Topsy (in Uncle Tom’s Cabin) who “just growed,” but rather we will successfully negotiate the bumps and curves by enlarging upon our talents, by disciplining ourselves, so that our mortal experience brings us toward greater and greater mastery of those characteristics which make us worthy of association with the Divine.  Intelligent observation tells us that growth comes one step at a time. The scriptures say precept upon precept, line upon line. (See D&C 98:12.)"

Think about your life.  Are you growing and progressing as a human being, or just growing?  In Luke 2:52 we learn that "...Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."  Evaluate yourself on these 4 areas: learning/wisdom, physical health, spirituality and social skills. Set a goal in each of these areas that you would like to work on and commit to work on those things this week.