Non-christian spiritual/religious folks - how do you build your practice/faith into your dc...

[raelize]

i am Quaker, but i lean heavily towards the mystical liberal end of the spectrum.  in terms of hsing, we are taking a charlotte mason approach.  i know that there is tons out their for the Christian folks out there, but not so much for others.  i am also a scientist by training, so i am taking a totally secular view of science etc.

but, i am interested in building our faith and practice into our learning.  so, what i am going to do is this:

1) use texts and writings that are sacred to me for our grammer, spelling, copy work  - the Tao Te Ching has always been an important book that i find compatible with Quaker theology. also, i want to add Rumi poetry, Rilke poetry, some important writings of George Fox (founder of Quaker religion), Khalil Gibran, etc.

2) also use these texts for read alouds (both me and dc) and for journal writing inspirations

i would also like to include a daily yoga practice or meditation practice at some point.  but, it will depend on our schedules for everything else.

so, non-christians, or non traditional christians - what do you plan to do?  and what texts, writings are you including?

[Stacey B]

So we're not truly homeschooling, ds is 4, but we talk about this a lot. It became really obvious this year at Yom Kippur when we went to Temple and I couldn't really give ds or myself a good enough reason why he had to sit there. We had read few stories before the day but it really missed the mark since what I love about my religion isn't really sitting in Temple. Since then we've been thinking long term about how we want to approach this. We're Reform Jews, whose beliefs are very much in line with Quakerism (I actually went to Quaker School for 5 year). For me the most important idea I want to share with Ds is how to be a caring person in the world, whether it is caring for himself, our community or the larger world (people and planet). We approach this through action: service (although at 4 I feel most comfortable with things like cleaning up trails and parks), stretching, Tai Chi, getting to know our neighbors. In terms of readings I am a fan of folk tales because of their style and how they aren't aimed at a specific age group, we all gain something through the stories, currently we are reading from "Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About". An interesting read, for the adults is the introduction to "From Totems to Hip-Hop" it gives a really interesting overview of why the literary canon is there and who is missing and why. From what I have found over the years (I was a teacher too) was the best books for general spiritual-ness were storytelling books "Spinning Tales and Weaving Hope" is one of my favorites. If  you are interested in a Native American tales that are very nature focused "Keepers of the Earth" and the rest of the series have tales and activities.

I love your idea of using a variety of spiritual texts with kids in other contexts, like grammar and stuff.

I hope I didn't get too far off of what you were looking for. We are still creating this in our house as well.

[Greenmama2]

Another young homeschooler here, DD is four and a half. We are Buddhists and to be honest we actually try not to focus on our religion at all. Our lifestyle includes so much of it that it just happens anyway, we can't avoid it. Talking (to each other) about our practice, going to retreat centres, ceremonies, volunteering at events or attending fundraising events. It's completely unavoidable. I guess it depends how much you already incorporate your religion into your lifestyle whether you need to do anything extra or not. I would estimate that on a normal week around forty percent of family time is taken up with some sort of Buddhist related activity.

[Dancerchic1981]

I'm Pagan and my hubby is Christian. He isn't very spiritual though so no church or anything.

My DD8 is very much interested in the different Pagan celebrations. We always celebrated Christmas and Easter and such, they're just differently named for me and not relating to God.

We just openly raised them. We never incorporated one religion or the other. When they show interest, we explore. Otherwise, we don't push it.

Around Christmas time and such, we do projects but nothing Christian or Pagan. We do wintery things and while sometimes a rabbittrail may lead us to a religious practice, we generally stay away.

[raelize]

thanks for the responses! especially the book titles, i will look into those.  i have keepers of the earth, but the others are new to me.
 

Originally Posted by Greenmama2 

Another young homeschooler here, DD is four and a half. We are Buddhists and to be honest we actually try not to focus on our religion at all. Our lifestyle includes so much of it that it just happens anyway, we can't avoid it. Talking (to each other) about our practice, going to retreat centres, ceremonies, volunteering at events or attending fundraising events. It's completely unavoidable. I guess it depends how much you already incorporate your religion into your lifestyle whether you need to do anything extra or not. I would estimate that on a normal week around forty percent of family time is taken up with some sort of Buddhist related activity.

we have this also. we are pretty involved in our Meeting for Worship, and attend or discuss our faith often.  this is really a new idea for me and it came about because i wa looking at a copy of the Tao Te Ching while dds were in the bath and they asker me to read some to them. i realized that it would make perfect grammer practice.  things like: Let your mind be at peace.  is exactly what i want dd to think about during the day and to be discussing with her. 

thanks for your responses and ideas
 

[zjande]

I tend to just use the Christian curricula due to a lack of much else.  I'd love a Hindu curriculum, but have found very, very little. I teach the kids pretty much all the "regular Christian" religious stuff, but minus the Bible. I do love all the messages & talk of God in the Christian curricula, but I'm not a big Bible believer. I use the Old Testament as a kind of history text, and teach the New Testament as an important, helpful guide to life. I am always interested in reading new curriculum to see exactly how the Bible is used, if at all, in it. I do really lovelovelove teaching the kids about God & enjoy including it in our curriculum. I use a lot of Rod &Staff stuff. And Apologia... but a secular history curriculum. I relied heavily on the book called I Come From Joy, written by/for Hindu Sunday school teachers for most of my now-12 yr old's copywork. I gobble up every non-specific religion book about God for children that I can find. :) There is one I just adore that is quite Hindu-ish called The Mountains of Tibet. :) If anyone happens to be interested, I can share some amazon links to a couple books we like. Later, when I have time. ;)

Anyway, that's what works for us. :)

[Tigeresse]

We are UU so we do get a pretty good religious overview through the RE there, and I also like to incorporate a earth based spirituality into our seasonal routines.  I am also a Kundalini Yoga teacher, and have started teaching this to 2 of my kids.  My dd is still a bit young for it and my oldest is not around a lot.  KY is a *very* spiritual form of yoga, closely aligned with the Sikh faith, which teaches that there is truth in all faiths and that God is within all of us. 

Right now we are studying ancient India so it all works out really well!  I also love the idea of using spiritual works/poems/quotes for copy work and will be doing that as well. And, in keeping with the upcoming season, we are listening to The Autobiography of Santa Claus , by Jeff Guinn.  A little slow so far, but we'll see!

[Callimom]

This is pretty much us as well.

Originally Posted by Tigeresse 

We are UU so we do get a pretty good religious overview through the RE there, and I also like to incorporate a earth based spirituality into our seasonal routines. 

[CCJWGM]

We are a mix of pagan, Hindu, and Buddhist.  I am still looking for ways to incorporate more into our hsing.  My children are young (3 and 5) though so it isn't a biggie yet. 

Off the tops of my head -

We are using some of the tenants of Waldorf now since it is nature-based and in-tune with what I believe. 

There is a book called The Joyful Child by Peggy Jenkins which is wonderful. It is not a how-to hs book or even about hsing at all.  But I think it covers well helping children with spirituality and is a great resource book.  Hmmm....I think I need to reread it for upteen zillionth time. 

I'm a big fan of picture books and using quality picture books to just read and experience without teaching.  There are wonderful picture books to accomplish this goal such as "All I See Is All of Me" and our current read "Giving Thanks:  A Native American Good Morning Message" by Chief Jake Swamp.  I'd love to hear more picture book suggestions - maybe I'll start a thread about that when I have an extra second which I don't now. 

I'll be back later read the responses better since it is of great interest to me.

Edited by CCJWGM - 11/22/10 at 12:12pm

[raelize]

all three of these books sound great.  i am going now to the library's website to request them!!
 

Originally Posted by beezer75 

We are a mix of pagan, Hindu, and Buddhist.  I am still looking for ways to incorporate more into our hsing.  My children are young (3 and 5) though so it isn't a biggie yet. 

Off the tops of my head -

We are using some of the tenants of Waldorf now since it is nature-based and in-tune with what I believe. 

There is a book called The Joyful Child by Peggy Jenkins which is wonderful. It is not a how-to hs book or even about hsing at all.  But I think it covers well helping children with spirituality and is a great resource book.  Hmmm....I think I need to reread it for upteen zillionth time. 

I'm a big fan of picture books and using quality picture books to just read and experience without teaching.  There are wonderful picture books to accomplish this goal such as "All I See Is All of Me" and our current read "Giving Thanks:  A Native American Good Morning Message" by Chief Jake Swamp.  I'd love to hear more picture book suggestions - maybe I'll start a thread about that when I have an extra second which I don't know. 

I'll be back later read the responses better since it is of great interest to me.