In my last post I talked about how homeschooling benefits Conservative Christians. I mentioned how homeschooling helps teach my children our faith freely. I also mentioned that while I enjoy this freedom, I also feel I have the responsibility to teach my children scientific theories as well as other religious philosophies. I imagine that I am not the only Christian homeschooler who feels this way.
I have always discussed and taught my children things that did not necessarily mesh with my faith. Take Greek Mythology for example; which I started teaching as early as second grade. My son simply asked why we were reading something that seems to oppose what we had learned in church. I answered that because it is part of our culture to be familiar with these stories and that they would come up in trivia and literature later in life. My daughter on the other hand gave me a hard time when I tried to teach her something that did not sit well with her Christian faith.
Little kids are amazing when it comes to standing up for what they believe. The Greek Mythology discussion went something like this. “Mommy, why do I have to read this? There is only one God.” “Well”, I respond, while this does not necessarily gel with what we believe about God, it is a large part of American Culture and you will need to be aware of these stories for many reasons.” “Well I’m not reading it”, she says and storms off. Now as her mom, with no set in stone timetable for when to teach what, I decided that we would revisit this subject on another day. A teacher, I fear, would push, or punish the child until they complied. (I have heard many teacher-child-religion confrontation stories) Frankly, I feel that would make the child more cold toward the subject, and just drown the whole subject out.
Likewise, we are currently having the same struggle over evolution with my 10 year old. Where my older son accepted my answer, and went ahead a learned the “facts” of evolution, my daughter is boycotting the subject. My response that “this is a widely accepted theory that you need to be aware of”, has not convinced her to sit down and study evolution. I cannot blame her, but as her mother, I must make the material available for her consumption and get her to digest it eventually.
Let us move on to religion. Once a child reaches a certain level of emotional and spiritual maturity, I feel it is important to learn about other faiths. We are not to this point yet, but my son has accepted the fact that you cannot argue and defend what you do not know. As for my daughter, well, that is another story. Eventually she will come around.
Stay tuned on my next post for books and resources that will help you teach evolution and other subjects in a way that is acceptable to Christian children (and their parents).
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
*Want to know more about homeschooling? Start with the 2006 homeschool blog in review!
* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?