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Calendar of Educational Events:

    •                   ARTICLES

       

    • A Taste for the Lord's Name

      It's after the temple's Sunday feast. Packed into our van, the children laugh and jostle one another as we head for the gurukulato watch a video of Krsna's pastimes. Nimai, the four-year-old brother of one of our students, starts singing the Hare Krsna maha-mantra.
      He sings quietly at first. Then his singing builds in volume and picks up a clear rhythm and melody. Eleven-year-old Visnujana starts to play the mrdanga drum he'd brought to the feast. Soon all the children are singing together. The singing is their pleasure, and they taste the spiritual sweetness of the Lord's name.

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    • An Offering of Love

      The students, from the beginners who can barely write to the almost-graduated, look up expectantly.
      "Blank paper, everyone! For the next two or three days we're going to write an offering to Srila Prabhupada."
      Every year, disciples and followers of Srila Prabhupada celebrate the anniversary of the day he appeared in the world by, among other things, writing letters in which they glorify him, offer him service, and express appreciation for all he did. The letters are offerings of love.
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    • Accepting a Spiritual Master

      This month (September) we celebrate Srila Prabhupada's one-hundredth birthday
      anniversary. To honor Srila Prabhupada, our children can sing his praises, decorate his seat, write homages to him, and help cook a feast in his honor. Honoring Prabhupada in these ways is important, but our children really honor him when they become his students.
      The Vedic idea of a student differs from that of the Western idea. The Western student
      hears a subject or learns a skill, pays his fee, and then goes his way. The Vedic student finds a self-realized teacher and becomes inspired to take a great vow of lifetime dedication as his disciple. (The child should be at least twelve years old at initiation, so that he or she can take vows with personal conviction. Generally, our children are older than twelve at initiation, but twelve is the minimum age.)
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    •                 RESOURCES

       

    •                 FESTIVAL BOOKS

    • Lord Caitanya's Appearance Day

      When those who are our pupils now are adults, what will the various aspects of festivals trigger in them? Will they associate kirtana, Deity worship, and the other activities with fun, love, friendship, safety, and adventure? Will their association be neutral? Or will taughts of kirtana or a festival trigger feelings of embarrassment, discomfort, or boredom?

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    • Lord Ramacandra's Appearance Day

      Day Activities and Resources For Teaching and Guiding Ages 8-12

      Each festival can be the focus for a five-day week, with a concentration each day on one of the five most potent items of devotional service as related to that festival. This program is flexible and can be used in other ways. For example, it is entirely possible to


      take one item of devotional service and concentrate on it for more than one day, or even an entire week. And, some people might want to only spend one day on a festival.



      Uses:


      For children in non-devotee schools as a supplementary program in the morning or evening


      For children being home-schooled to enrich the devotional part of the program


      For regular academic schools that are related to Krsna consciousness


      For Sunday schools, children's clubs, and similar supplementary programs.


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    • Appearance of Lord Rama - posters

      Posters take material from the book Lord Ramacandra's Appearance Day (Day Activities and Resources For Teaching and Guiding Ages 8-12) and make it easy to see all activities at a glance!
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    • Lord Nrsimhadeva Activity Book and Posters

      Activities and Resources for Teaching and Guiding
      Ages 2-18

      Uses:
      For children in non-devotee schools as a supplementary program in the morning or evening
      For children being home-schooled to enrich the devotional part of the program
      For regular academic schools that are related to Krishna consciousness
      For Sunday schools, children's clubs, and similar supplementary programs

      Organization of the materials:
      First, there is a simplified version of a story associated with the festival that can be read to the children. A detailed version is also provided at the end.
      Second, there is the educational focus in three parts: Learning Aims, What children will accomplish by the end of this unit, and Assessing how well the aims have been achieved.
      Some parents and teachers may find these brief ideas to be sufficient for them to develop their own programs.
      Third, there are lists of suggested activities for children of various ages. There are also genera suggestions not categorized by age.
      Fourth, there are pages of resources, songs and prayers, where to find stories in scripture,
      pictures to color, Internet links, and so forth, to assist with the suggested activities.
      Fifth, there are suggestions for how the study of this festival may be related to other areas of Study.

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    • Balarama Activity Book (for children aged 2-18) by Urmila Devi Dasi


      2-4 years:

      Dig a trench in the ground and fill it with water. Pretend it's the Yamuna River. Pretend to be Balarama and ask the river to come to you. Then hit the ground with a stick, pretending it's a plough.
      Play like monkeys, coo-coo birds, peacocks, and cows in the Vrindavana Forest.
       Mix honey and fruit juice, offer to a picture of Lord Balarama, and drink it with friends.
       Hear the simplified stories of Balarama that are in this book. Act them out.
      5-7 years:
       Read the story of the Yamuna River not coming.
      Draw a picture showing something from one of the Balarama stories.
      â Say which story is your favorite and what you like best about it.

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    •        READING & ACTIVITY BOOKS

    • Caitanya Reader

      Lord Caitanya loved to have kirtan every day. He never liked to stop chanting Hare Krishna.
      One day clouds gathered in the sky.  They cracked with thunder and all the devotees became afraid. Lord Caitanya took His karatals and began to chant:

      hare krishna  hare krishna  krishna krishna  hare hare
      hare rama  hare rama  rama rama  hare hare.

      He looked up at the clouds and chanted loudly.  In a moment all the clouds went away.  The sky became clear and the bright moon rose.  Lord Caitanya danced and chanted with His happy devotees.

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    • Krishna in the Curriculum or the Curriculum in Krishna? by Deva Gaura Hari Dasa

      This article gives an example of a curriculum planning process that focused on first situating an academic unit in Krishna consciousness, before then proceeding to cover the government Board of Studies' syllabus outcomes. This led to better outcomes for the students, more inspiration for the devotee teacher and appreciation from the Board's inspectors.

      Our Bhaktivedanta Swami Gurukula school in Murwillumbah, Australia, is a government registered and funded school. Therefore we periodically have inspections by the Board of Studies to ensure that we are achieving the outcomes set out in the Board's syllabuses. During the initial meetings with staff, in the year prior to our recent inspection, the Board's inspector made the comment that he could see how the planning documents had the philosophy of Krishna consciousness sprinkled throughout, but he didn't really see how the whole curriculum was being presented through the cultural vision of Krishna consciousness, as distinct from other non-Krishna conscious schools.

       

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    • Ancient Vedic History and Culture

      A textbook compiled for use in the Vedic education at Bhaktivedanta Swami Mission School

      CHAPTER I

      BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF SRILA PRABHUPADA

       In a little house in the suburbs of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), a baby boy was born to Rajni De and Gour Mohan De. He was named Abhay Charan, or ‘one who is fearless having taken shelter at the Lord’s Lotus Feet’. It was also Nandotsava or the day Nanda Maharaj observed a great feast and celebrations in honor of Lord Krsna’s birth. Abhay Charan’s uncle also called him Nandulal. He was also later called Moti, Nandu and Kocha lovingly by his family...            

       
      QUESTIONS
      1.   What are the things Gour Mohan did not touch as a Vaishnava?
      2.   Why did Gour Mohan leave a bowl of rice for the rats in his shop?
      3.   What did Gour Mohan want his son to become?

                                                                          FILL IN THE BLANKS :
      1.  Srila Prabhupada was named ________ _________ by his parents.
      2.  Srila Prabhupada’s father’s name was _______________ and his mother’s name was ______________ .
       

      by Gandhari Devi Dasi

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