Should I teach my children R.E. if I am home schooling?

 

Should I teach my children R.E. if I am home schooling?

One of the things that I have been looking at is, should I teach my children R.E. now that I am home schooling?

Over the last several years we have been teaching our children a mixture of different religious ways of life due to our own family and friends beliefs.

A lot of this was done so that my children would know more about the ways that people are brought up and may and may not believe.

My self I was brought up Church of England with a Catholic and Protestant Parents and Grandparents.

Now that I am a parent my self we have gone back to a more Pagan up bringing with our own children and would still attend “Messy Church” once a month before lock down.

Messy Church

Iis "a way of being church for families". Its slogan is "Church, but not as you know it".

But when I look at my own up bring and being forced to do R.E at school we were only taught the basics that included the three following faiths.

• Christianity.

• Judaism.

• Islam.

Christianity 

Christianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest religion, with about 2.5 billion followers. Its adherents, known as Christians, make up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories, and believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in Christianity) and chronicled in the New Testament.

Judaism

Judaism is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by around 500 BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Israelites, their ancestors. It encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization.

Islam

Is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion started by the prophet Muhammad in the early 7th century. It is the world's second-largest religion with 1.9 billion followers, or 24.9% of the world's population, known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 47 countries. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and has guided humanity through prophets, revealed scriptures, and natural signs. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, believed to be the verbatim word of God, as well as the teachings and normative examples of Muhammad.

I personal hated R.E. due to the way it was forced onto me and the way that R.E classes also included other subjects like.

Personal Physical Education

Sex Education

Fashion

Health and Well-being

Religious Days and Events

Family Relationships

Charitable Beliefs

Death and the After Life.

Rights and men, women and children.

Plus may other subjects, however it was not a subject I enjoyed and I hated having to be made to read allowed in this lesson and to read about things like how sex before marriage is a sin.

I think to be taught this subject at any age for me I found very confusing and even with my own children the information about R.E. is some what hard to teach and explain.

I remember my children believing that Farther Christmas was at the birth of Jesus Christ and that all people who are Muslim are terrorist.

This is from being taught in state ran and Christian schooling.

State School

State schools or public schools are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all children without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation. State funded schools exist in virtually every country of the world, though there are significant variations in their structure and educational programmes. State education generally encompasses primary and secondary education.

A Christian

A school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countries, there is a strict separation of church and state, so all religious schools are private; in others, there is an established church whose teachings form an integral part of the state-operated educational system; in yet others, the state subsidizes religious schools of various.

Types of school

Types of school - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

So now I think to myself will I teach R.E at home?

One thing that was on T.V recently was Hanukkah and I did not minded my children learning about this and did a day on what Hanukkah was the same with Diwali.

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE. It is also known as the Festival of Lights.

Diwali is a festival of lights and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, notably Newar Buddhists. The festival usually lasts five days and is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika (between mid-October and mid-November).

Yet I think personal I will look at teaching a more Pagan way of life and teach about what I call “Holy Days” when required.

Pagan

Paganism (from classical Latin pāgānus "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism or ethnic religions other than Judaism. In the time of the Roman empire, individuals fell into the pagan class either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population, or because they were not milites Christi (soldiers of Christ).

“Holy Days”, a day on which a religious observance is held.

Below I have added some links that you may find useful so that you can make your own mind up.

Should religion be taught in schools? - netivist

Four Reasons Why You Should Teach About Religion in School (Opinion) (edweek.org)

Religion in Schools Pros and Cons | APECSEC.org

Schools should teach religion. What they shouldn't teach is faith. (nbcnews.com)

7 Reasons Why Religion Must Be Taught in School | Edutopia