Thursday, February 6, 2014

It's a Homeschool Atheist Parenting Kind of Day



The kids and I were looking at my Pinterest board this week. They love to see which memes I have posted specifically for them, what I have pinned in my secular parenting board, what I've found and pinned under Humor, Freelance Writing, Science Lover, Psyched and Psyche, Self Esteem and Selfhood, various science boards, and others as well. But one of their favorite boards of all is Secular for a Reason.
I can put my computer display on the big screen TV and we can all look through the memes together.

The kids love it when they point to a specific meme that they love, when they talk about how true or excellent the meme is, and I say Thanks, I made that one.  Like this one   -------------------->
It's neat to have my kids feel proud of me for something like that. I haven't made any in quite some time now. Maybe I need to get on that and make some more!

In lessons lately we have talked about some philosophers, some early religious figures in a number of religious traditions, and some controversial freethinkers. I am so proud of the kids for their maturity when discussing these things. I am proud of them for having minds open by wonder. I am proud for their questioning. I am proud of their ability to study an idea or person that they disagree with and to take that study seriously. 

The day we spent learning about Saul of Tarsus was an interesting day because I expected them, John mostly, to speak with derision about the dubious nature of the history and knowledge that is available about Saul/Second Paul. (John is one to point out fallacies of logic whenever they appear in our studies.) But, instead, he and Elizabeth seemed to truly appreciate having this figure to study. They both commented on the poor historical documentation on these early figures in Christianity, but they did enjoy learning about this important figure in the church. But they wanted sources! They wanted access to source documents and source writings! (They often make these requests when studying many biographical figures.) The internet didn't disappoint!

I also recently taught the kids about the so-called Four Horsemen:  Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Imagine being the one to introduce your children to these men and their writing! Since this lesson, I have caught both of the kids reading works by these men and listening to youtube vids with them. The other day we enjoyed a rousing lecture on TEDtalks by Lawrence Krauss. Man, it's fun being an atheist parent!

Yesterday afternoon our lesson was to listen to the
Bill Nye/Ken Ham debate.
What did you think of it?

What do you enjoy sharing with your children?
What do they get excited to learn about?



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