"There are five occupations which help to gain God's benevolence. The first is pure prayer; the second, psalmody; the third, reading the Holy Scriptures; the fourth, contrite remembrance of one's sins, of death and the terrible judgment; the fifth, work with one's hands."
("Reflections on the Eight Thoughts", Abba Evagrius, "Early Fathers From the Philokalia," translated from the Russian text, "Dobrotolubiye," by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer, eighth edition, (London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1981), pp. 113 - 114)
With that in mind, I want our school to mark its day with the practice of these things:
1. Prayers
2. Edifying music--,
3. reading of Scripture, and wise teachers
4. Reading stories portraying virtue and truth,
5. Work of service, writing, problem solving, inquiry and supervised play
Help me add to my collection here, if you have any ideas!
Sources for Songs--Who can forget what they've sung! And while none of this really qualifies as "psalmody"--it sure helps form a "cheerful heart" and that does good like a medicine! Besides, I think that good music helps lay a foundation for psalmody. I'm also looking for sources for the psalms set to music--(like: in their entireity)--any leads on this? Making up my own tunes isn't any short process . . . and not so "charming", either!)
Here are lively ones we've enjoyed for the car, kitchen, exercising and around the house:
Richard Scarry DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B00005QFE0/ref=dp_product-image-only_0/102-0898085-4942518?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=130&s=dvd
Schoolhouse Rock DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JKTY/qid%3D1128084564/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-0898085-4942518
Geography Songs cassette
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1883028043/qid=1128084782/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0898085-4942518?v=glance&s=books
States and Capitals CD:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1883028140/qid=1128084782/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-0898085-4942518?v=glance&s=books
History Songs (really helpful for internalizing a sense of US history):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1883028078/qid=1128084782/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-0898085-4942518?v=glance&s=books
Lyrical Life Science (brilliant and delightful at any age! Lyrics worthy of repeating ad infinitum (as children WILL do) and they'll thank you in highschool biology! 3 fantastic tapes comprise this series
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0964636700/qid=1128085113/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0898085-4942518?v=glance&s=books
