Traveling - - Exploring Religion in a Non-Religious Homeschool

Mrs. G. has mentioned before that she did not choose to educate her children for religious reasons or wrap them in cotton batting to keep them from the educational or social ills of public school (though she does believe her children dodged a few of them by being home) or because she was inspired by the many homeschoolers she encountered in her daily life—she knew only one homeschooling family in her food co-op. Mrs. G. and her husband decided to homeschool because they knew intuitively that it was the best choice for their happy, spirited, confident daughter.

But let’s get back to religion. Mr. and Mrs. G. were both cradle Catholics. They went to Catholic schools, attended mass every day but Saturday and followed the church’s doctrines enthusiastically and in good faith. Mrs. G. isn’t going to speak for Mr. G. (who now identifies himself as an agnostic), but Mrs. G. started to question the church around seventh grade. She noticed things like the priests lived in a lovely Victorian house beside the church, where female parishioners willingly volunteered to cook and clean and tend the lovely rose garden in their backyard. But she also noticed the nuns (who taught school all day every day) lived in a little drab, tiny brick compound and did all their domestic chores themselves. She started questioning why there had to be all these middle men (priests, bishops, Pope) between her and God. Therefore, when she left home for college, she also left the Catholic Church. Mrs. G. still believes in a higher power, but she would probably be best described as a religious mutt. She has no beef with any religion.

So, when she started homeschooling her kids, religion was still very much a part of their education and every day discussions, but she approached it with her kids, for lack of a better word, cafeteria style. Mrs. G. wanted them to be familiar with all the world’s past and present religions, to recognize the similarities and the differences between them all and to respect the rights of others to worship in their own way. But more than anything, she felt she owed them the opportunity to explore whatever faith was honey to their heart—that lifted them up. Mrs. G, right or wrong, wanted them to be educated and then, as they matured, do the heavy lifting of deciding their own spiritual path. Or not.

Here are some books that helped them along the way:

~The Bible

~One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship by Mary Pope Osborne




~Usborne Book of World Religions (World Cultures) by Susan Meredith

~Children’s Books About World Religions by Patricia Pearl Dole

~The World’s Religions Series


~Many of National Geographic’s documentaries on world religions


Every once in a while our best intentions pay off, and, for Mrs. G, this began last year when her eighteen-year-old daughter began fighting the good fight of launching her own spiritual journey.

“I need more,” she told Mrs. G.

“Then, honey, go find it.”

And Mrs. G’s daughter did. She read the bible cover to cover and each Sunday, her alarm would go off, her feet would hit the floor and off she went to explore a new church—sometimes with Mrs. G. but often alone because, as she told Mrs. G, “This is my expedition.” And Mrs. G. thinks that takes courage and fortitude; she was recently blown away by a piece her daughter wrote describing her still evolving and tested journey.
Mrs. G. continues to think that one of the greatest things about homeschooling is the few years of freedom a kid gets to become who they really are—without same grade peer pressure. The few years they get to explore personal passions and follow rabbit holes that aren’t dictated by a school district’s mandated curriculum. Is homeschooling for everyone? No. Should it be exalted? No. Should it be written off as a bunch of nutters gone mad? No.

That about covers it for today.

Wait…there’s one more thing.

No matter where life takes them, Mrs. G. wishes each and every one of your children a safe, loving, challenging and most thrilling expedition.