on being quaker

i don't consider myself solely quaker but i do identify largely with the beliefs of the society of friends. i recently stumbled across the connecticut friends school webpage and they have a list of the 6 quaker values on which they built their school beliefs. they adopted the acronym spices which stands for simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship and weave these testimonies in their daily curriculum. since i am wanting to embrace my spirituality more deeply, i feel this would be a great starting point for us in our homeschooling activities.

since this week will be a short school week, we'll discuss the 6 values briefly and a bit of history about quakers or the society of friends. we'll do a bit of study of william penn.

website resources:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after1500/religion/quakers.htm
http://www.qis.net/%7Edaruma/feathers.html - we'll do a craft involving adding a white feather to a wreath to hang on our door and draw a pictures similar to the one above
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe9Q4Ecy8xI&feature=related - joan baez singing bob dylan's blowin' in the wind and other various songs about peace (she is a quaker...and really, bob dylan should be too!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVCqPAzI-JY joan baez, we shall overcome

books requested from the library:
william penn by kieran walsh
the arrow over the door by joseph bruchac
the quakers by jean kinney williams
a colonial quaker girl: the diary of sally wister 1777-1778 edited by megan o'hara
thy friend, obadiah by brinton turkle
simple gifts by chris raschka
a quaker book of wisdom: life lessons in simplicity, service and common sense by robert lawrence smith

i'm not too hip on the whole thanksgiving tradition, so i thought this would be a nice alternative to that sham, highlighting early american settlers who were here on a mission of peace and integrity.