Monday, November 5, 2012

Comparative religion, what are all those holidays about anyway?

You do not have to be homeschooling for religious purposes to recognize the fact that the time between Halloween and New Year is full of holidays spanning a large number of religions. Some parents will totally ignore those holidays that do not coincide with their own beliefs. Other parents don’t just ignore the other holidays, but will even attempt to discredit those holidays.

There are a number of families that will use this holiday season to present to their children the richness of diversity that exists in our world. Remember that it is not necessary to believe in the religion for which the holidays are important. Teaching our children that there are other beliefs, and comparing those beliefs to your own family beliefs, helps our children make their own decisions about what they believe.

You might even be able to use the holidays to launch a couple of lessons in history related to the time and place where the holidays originated. Maybe add these history lessons to your timeline, or reconnect to family traditions that might have been lost to time. If nothing else, you might even discover new traditions that you might want to include in your own family.

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