Buddhist Homeschooling Mamas

[dolphinmama]

Any other Buddhist Homeschooling Mamas out there?

[almadianna]

moved this to the Learning at Home and Beyond forum.

[CCJWGM]

I'm not quite Buddhist, not quite Pagan, and not quite Hindu but a strange mixture of all 3. Does that count? A Child of the Universe really, but Buddhism is definitely in there.

[hadleys_mom]

We are a Buddhist homeschooling family!

[Greenmama2]

We are here
Mahayana Buddhists in Australia. Beezer, I came to Buddhism after being an avowed Pagan since my early teens so I think it definitely does count. Plus His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that you shouldn't discard your roots but instead incorporate the practice of compassion within that tradition however feels right to you (strongly paraphrased but ykwim).

[Holiztic]

Agnostic here, but probably closer to Buddhist than anything else!

[tjlucca]

I wouldn't say strictly buddhist, but definitely Mystic. I practice Zen meditation. But we're here!

[PGTlatte]

I would not id myself as Buddhist at this point, but I am learning about it and giving it a lot of thought lately.

[mary3mama]

Cool thread.

Buddhism and Paganism resonate the most with me. I'm an earth-celebrating, goddess-oriented mama with delighted interest in the way of the Buddha.

[Namaste Amma]

Combo Buddhist/Hindu/Seeking here. Planning to homeschool our 2 year old and about to pull my 8th grader to HS him.

[deditus]

Originally Posted by mary3mama

Cool thread.

Buddhism and Paganism resonate the most with me. I'm an earth-celebrating, goddess-oriented mama with delighted interest in the way of the Buddha.

Me too.

[Mittsy]

We are! We're a atheist/buddhist combo.

[craft_media_hero]

I would like to learn more and have always felt drawn that way but don't really have a community or mentor here to learn from.

[nathansmum]

Originally Posted by mary3mama

Cool thread.

Buddhism and Paganism resonate the most with me. I'm an earth-celebrating, goddess-oriented mama with delighted interest in the way of the Buddha.

Me too! I ID as pantheist - mostly have a strong pagan leaning with buddhism in there too.

Just discovered a lovely book of Buddhist tales (with lovely illustrations) at the library a few weeks back to read to the kids which they've been enjoying. At the end of the tale there is a buddhist message given.

[hadleys_mom]

Originally Posted by nathansmum

Just discovered a lovely book of Buddhist tales (with lovely illustrations) at the library a few weeks back to read to the kids which they've been enjoying. At the end of the tale there is a buddhist message given.

What is the books title? Sounds interesting.

[Freddi]

Hallo, we are a Buddhist familiy (my husband, me and our two daughters 5 and 2 years old). We plan to homeschool them and we already talk al lot about the Buddhas teaching. I use the discourses from the Majjhima Nikaya to talk about how to deal with anger p.ex. ... what are your experiences? Up to now I haven't met any homeschooling parents and I only know a few Buddhist parents, but they don't teach Buddhism to their children. Hope to hear from you, Federica

[marimara]

Hey there-I'm technically pantheist too, w/strong buddhist leanings.  I tend to use my pantheist/pagan beliefs to describe the world and Buddhism with how I relate in it.  Anyways, the books referred to might be Jon Muth, I have both Zen Ties and Zen Shorts, both of which are really exquisitely illustrated..  

[CCJWGM]

I was wondering how everyone incorporates your spirituality into your homeschooling?  I model mindfullness and we do yoga together and am "Waldorf-inspired" because it just resonates with me.  How do others do it? 

One of my DS's favorites books is "Anh's Anger."  He is highly emotional and it has truly helped him to "sit with his anger."  I love incorporating spiritual children's book into our learning but it's hard to find really great ones.  Eventually I'll make a formal list of ours and post it here at MDC but I haven't quite gotten my act together enough for that. 

[dovey]

I'm wondering the same thing.  How do people encorporate buddhism into family life.  For example, sitting meditation.  I do not do it anymore having 3 children, one a baby.  I want to sit again, and I'd like to teach my kids about sitting, but how?  It's hard enough to squeeze in our academic activities into the baby's naptimes.  Does anyone do short sitting or walking meditations with children?

We do talk about Buddhist concepts - it is easy to figure out ways to express compassion in our daily lives.  We are vegan, we rescue bugs on the floor, my kids like to feed ants.  I also have found the book "Making the Mind an Ally" helpful.  I've read parts of it to my children - the metaphor of the mind as a horse to be guided seems to resonate with them.  But I would like to figure out how to help my daughter with her temper and her anger issues.  I haven't figured that out at all yet. 

I'm interested to read other responses.

[Freddi]

Thanks for all these interesting book titles! I too find that compassion is such a precious thing to live with children. They love to protect and save small beings.

> regarding meditation I don't practise very often seated. But I try to be very aware in quiet moments. On Sunday we celebrate our Buddha-day and after paying homage to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha I meditate a little. My 5 year old daughter rings the gong when she thinks it is enough. But she doesn't really want to try yet. I think that will come later. I will take her to monastries and children retreats when she is a bit older. I talked to a wonderful burmese nun, Dipankara, and she said with 6 years children can participate in her retreats ...

> my 5 year old picked up buddhist concepts very naturally. I often talk about reincarnation and kharma with her, and she has really integrated that already. I thought to draw all the different realms with her where reincarnation is possible.  The 2 year old puts her palms together and bows to the Buddha or carresses the statue =:-)

> concerning anger we once drew our anger on a poster (we gave our anger the name Mr. Strutzefeld) and around that we drew what to do during an acute attack (like in the Middle length discourses nr. 20) ... it was very intersting and helpful, allthough she is too young to really control her self, but she learns not to identify with it and that is really precious. Sister Dipankara said to think about beautiful things ...

> do you celebrate Vesakh with the children? We wanted to try this year ... building up sceneries with the birth, the illumination and the death of the Buddha and also give some Buddhist gifts ... have you got more ideas or experiences?

Happy to hear from You!