Ideas that we came up with during the initial kickoff discussion of the class teachers:

Activities

Want to organize a quarterly activity outside of the class. The ideas included:

• Swim party at the Gonzalez home (they have offered already) - have a party on a Saturday with parents bring a side dish for food
• Kickoff meeting in August at the start of the school year (maybe during 3rd hour class time) to meet the parents, talk about the goals for the class, put some of the upcoming events on the calendar, etc.
• Father/son camping
• Lasertag at Main Event
• Sleepover
• others?

Ideas for class lessons

• Tie all the lessons back to a common theme from 'Raising a Modern Day Knight' which define manhood as:
  • Rejecting Passivity
  • Accepting Responsibility
  • Leading Courageously
  • Expecting the Higher Reward: God's Reward
• Explore the themes they came up with in ImageryOfKnights to see how they appear in the Bible and can be applied to modern life
• Pull lessons from 'Bible Heroes & Bad Guys' and from "Bible Wars & Weapons"

Other Items

• We want to design a class logo around the Knight theme and get T-shirts made for the class
• Organize classroom around teaching time first followed by game time last assuming they did well during the teaching time

Capture of Email Discussion prior to the meeting

From Brian McGill:
Kelly and I recently purchased the book "Bible Heroes & Bad Guys" for Garrett and I have discovered that this book is part of a series that might be of interest and/or a resource for our class. Here is some information about two of the books:

"Bible Heroes & Bad Guys" synopsis: As part of the new 252 series for boys, Bible Heroes and Bad Guys will excite, teach, and hold the attention of boys 8 to 12. Boys will come away from reading these books with a knowledge of how to be deeper, cooler, stronger, smarter for God.

"Bible Wars & Weapons" synopsis: As part of the new 252 series for boys, Bible Soldiers, Armies, and Battles will excite, teach, and hold the attention of boys 8 to 12. Boys will come away from reading these books with a knowledge of how to be deeper, cooler, stronger, smarter for God. "Excellent for Homeschool Use"

If you don't mind, go to the following website and type in "252" in the search window. This will take you to the the two titles I have referenced above. The 252 Series draws upon Luke 2:52 focusing on four primary areas of growth to help boys become more like Jesus:

1. Mentally (smarter)
2. Physically (stronger)
3. Spiritually (deeper)
4. Socially (cooler)

http://www.zondervan.com

From Mike Rohrer:

• I like the name Knights of Grace! I think it will be good to spend some lessons defining what the attributes of the Knights were.
• I suggest Google Groups over Yahoo Groups. I am involved in a few groups that moved away from Yahoo because Google was easier and more flexible in the content with much less advertising.
• I am definitely on-board to help out with the class as needed. I propose that everyone submit their availability to you so you can schedule the team.
• If we are going to study wars and battles in the Bible, I hope we also study the theology behind the wars. Also answer the question "Why does God say thou shall not kill, but in the Bible God promotes Israel in many wars which includes killing?" I understand these things, but still struggle with it.
• Want to work at building connections with the kids so they could feel comfortable talking to us about problem, struggles, etc.
• Overall goal of working to be able to take their knowledge and apply it at school, with friends and influence situations that are not right.