Religious Education

If you have strong beliefs yourself, you will undoubtedly want to teach your child about your faith and help her to take a part in the religious life of your community. However, even if you don't consider yourself to be religious, you may still want to help your child to understand the beliefs other people hold.

  • Help your child to investigate the meaning of the big national celebrations - Christmas and Easter. What significance do they hold for Christians? Do other faiths have similar festivals? Why is Christmas in mid-winter? Why are eggs an Easter symbol?

  • Explore the feasts of religions other than Christianity, such as Hannukah, Eid, Diwali and Ramadan. Again, look for similarities and differences between them.

  • Look for churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious buildings in your local area or the nearest big town. Do they have anything in common? If they have an "open door" policy, you can look inside. If not, you can at least examine them from outside. Does the architecture have anything in common?

  • Explore the art of different relgious faiths, such as Christian stained glass windows, Orthodox Christian icons, and Islamic geometric patterns. Could your child use them as a basis for her own work?

  • Explore stories from the Bible and other religious books. Can your child use them as the basis for his own stories?

  • Discuss the values that religions have in common, such as honesty, caring, peace and justice. Explore why these are held in common, and how they form a good basis for living, whether or not you are religious.

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