Questions on Parshas Shekolim to think about and discuss:

When is it read?
What does Parshas Shekolim talk about?
Why do we read it before the month of Nissan?
What do we do nowadays to remember the half shekel?
What is the significance of only giving half and not a whole shekel?
Moshe was shown the half shekel coin in fire. What is the significance of this?
What lies in the name of the coin – “shekel”?
The Gemora (Megilla 13b) brings that we should bring our shekolim before the shekolim of Homon that he paid to Achashverosh to kill the Jews. How does our bringing it first counteract the shekolim of Homon?

Ideas for answers on Parshas Shekolim:

Parshas Shekolim is read on the Shabbos either when Rosh Chodesh Adar (Sheini in a leap year) falls or before the week when it falls.
It comes from Parshas Ki Sisa and discusses the half shekel given by each Jew towards the funds used for the community sacrifices.
Since the community sacrifices were bought new every year, in the month of Nissan, the collection of the shekolim was made from the month of Adar.
In some communities, before mincha on Taanis Ester, people take three half coins and give them to charity.
Half means feeling incomplete and needing the assistance of others. The message here is that every Jew is not simply alone but is part of the whole community and together comes success and completeness.
“Shekel” is linked to the word “shokel” meaning to weigh. This means that Parshas Shekolim is telling us to reassess our priorities in life. What do we give value to? This is an indication on our spiritual level. Before the miracle of Purim we need to face who we really are and think if we would have been worthy to have the Purim miracle happen to us.
Perhaps the idea is that Homon claimed that the Jews were unconnected and not unified. By bringing our shekolim first, where we all give half, we thereby express that we Jews are unified. As such, the shekolim of Homon are harmless since they can only work when the Jews are not unified.