Lacie is working on an essay assigned from Kolbe, What is the Meaning of I Am Who I Am? Lacie began with a brief essay she wrote. She understands that an essay should have an introduction, a thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. Good! We talked about the layers of meaning in I Am Who I Am. Then we wrote Who, What, When, Where, and Why, my standard means to organize my thoughts. Who is God? Who are the main characters? What did God tell Moses? When did God speak to Moses? Where was Moses? (Mt. Horeb). Why? Why is I Am Who I Am significant?
My suggestion was to take this apart in layers. First, what is the thesis statement? The paper is about the meaning of I Am Who I Am. First, literally, what is God’s name? Lacie is using the New American Bible with the commentary explaining YHWH. Next, she uses the Didache Bible for more of the significance, and finally the Catechism with an explanation of the mystery and implications.
Each quote and brief analysis is a paragraph. Lastly, Lacie draws the paper to a close and summarizes her points in the conclusion. She added parenthetical quotes for her three sources. After she wrote up notes, quotes, and a draft, I had her type it. At this point, we need to be able to make corrections, revise the verb tense, and flesh out the paper.
One other thing I did was look up Mt. Horeb. Where is it? I took a few minutes to look at biblical notes and modern maps—mainly for Midian and Sinai. Often kids don’t know Egypt is in North Africa and linked to Israel via the Sinai Peninsula. I took another minute to show her Africa, Israel, and the Middle East—two minutes for a quick geography lesson. Lacie knows Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt; it’s also good to see the relative proximity of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Lacie pointed out that her Theology overlaps her History right now! Yeah!
Yes, this is all we did for five hours. Lacie is still typing. Once she finishes, I’ll add a copy of her essay here.
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