Attention homeschooling parent….you have a great learning opportunity approaching!
Ok, now that I have your attention, let me explain what I mean. Between Thanksgiving and Chinese New Year there are a lot of different holidays. Many of these holidays are major holidays for the different major religions of the world. You may not celebrate any of them. But it would be a great opportunity to share the beliefs of others with your child. Even if you have a specific belief, you could use this opportunity to explain to your child why you believe the way you do and compare it to the other beliefs.
Some people shy away from explaining or teaching about the other religions besides their own. The problem with that is that the world is getting to be a smaller and smaller place. Two hundred years ago, I might never meet a Jew or a Muslim. Now I might live next door to one. Years ago, I might not have ever heard of Hanukkah, or Ramadan, or Winter Solstice, or Kwanzaa. Today, we are much more likely to encounter someone who celebrates the holiday. You do not need to believe the way someone else does to be willing to learn something about what they believe.
In fact, in an age where you might live next to families from all over the world, you probably even have people who believe differently than you do in your homeschooling group, especially if it is inclusive, or interest based. Wouldn’t this be a great time to have the children share different religious beliefs? I’m not saying have your child believe in something different than you do, I’m just suggesting having them learn something about other beliefs.
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