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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

A few thoughts on Religious Training.


When considering Religious Training for homeschoolers, I got to wondering how and when this goes on in the average home. I realized in our house we don't have a formal time set aside called Daily Religious Training, that would be... um, well. Something anyway. Yet, you may have noticed? There is always a whole lot of training going on... whether we like it or not.

Regardless of whether or not we are aware of it, I believe that because we are humans created in God's image, we are religious, aware or unaware, and are being trained for better or worse from the time we're born. In that sense Religious Training doesn't really start in school years. It starts in Mom and Dad and is an integral part of the family culture even before the kids come. Matter of fact, I believe it's less what we do and more of who we are.

Our kids will sense our religion, what we believe and who we worship, whether we verbally lay it all out or not. We either show reverence toward God or we don't. We love Him or we don't. We serve Him or we don't. We may find that we show more reverence for Science or Nature than we do God. We may love or serve ourselves or some other thing more than God. Not showing reverence or not loving God or not serving Him comes in many different shades. Either way, our kids will know a great deal about our religion, regardless of what we say.

There is much more that could be said about that.

So how would you talk about the Religious Training that happens in your home?
When trying to pinpoint when religious exercise happens in your house, you might consider the following questions:

What place does God have in our home? Do we mention Him throughout the day? In what context? With what attitude? Is He only thought of during mealtime grace or while taking disciplinary action? Do we talk to Him? Alone and with our children? How often? With what attitude?
Do we love Him?

What place does the Bible have in our home? Do we read as a family? In what context? With what attitude? Do our kids see us feeding from it for ourselves? Are we familiar with all its parts? Is it basically seen as a rulebook? Do we understand it and know the stories?
Do we love it?

What holy days does our family recognize? In what ways do we keep them holy?

::

There are many other questions we could probably consider when thinking about this Very Important of Topics.

I didn't make time to post more this month, even though I wanted to very much. I have lots of thoughts. Alas, the demands on my present are more than will allow for much time for writing these days. I hope, however, that we might take some time to ponder the questions mentioned above and earmark a few for future thought and action.

::

To read more and in its proper context, read ch.13 of School Education in its entirety here.


This post is based on thoughts on Chapter 13 in Volume 3, School Education by Charlotte Mason. The topic, Some Unconsidered Aspects of Religious Training, is one option for posts advocated by the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival 2014 Schedule for April. 
If you'd like to read other posts on the subject, be sure to read all the April editions.
If you'd like to share your post with the upcoming carnival, find out how here.
Find links to past CMBCarnivals here.

5 comments:

Alesha H said...

thanks, Amy! Your posts are always an encouragement to me. There really is no other topic that so completely exemplifies how education IS a life, is there. :)

Tammy Glaser said...

You asked some wonderful questions. Important questions that we can all ponder and pause for reflection.

Mrs.K said...

I'm just curious, are there any link-ups for the month of May? I didn't see any links on the CM Carnival page.

amyinperu said...

yes. send your CM blog carnival submissions to: charlotte mason blogs (at) gmail (dot) com - no spaces. :)

nature study link up for may is here: http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com/2014/05/nature-study-monday-may-nsm-linkup.html

Mrs.K said...

Thanks for letting me know Amy. I really appreciate it. When I looked on your page for the CM Blog Carnival schedule, I didn't see any posts for the May 6th carnival at Dewey's Treehouse. Am I missing it somewhere?

And by the way, your little Miss Fantastic is absolutely adorable! Congratulations!

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