It's The Holiday Season....

Let's talk religion!!

A bit of history; I am baptised Protestant, I attended a Catholic primary school and went to church each Friday.  We do not practice any religion in our home, although I am open to religion and am a spiritual person.  Spiritual person who doesn't practice a religion? Yes, I believe there are gods who are within us, and around us, in nature.  I believe we need to treat others as we like to be treated, or karma will abound.  I believe that when you take a step back and truly watch the world around you, that you will experience much more then you will running through your day as we normally would.

Religion is an institution that causes conflict, where the expectation to donate money is there every week, where one person preaches the words of one book, this kind of organized religion is not in our household.  At least not at the moment.  That may change as our children get older.  If our children find a religion that they are interested in, that they want to follow, I will support that.

Religion has come up in our little home over the past 2 weeks because our oldest daughter has a religion course in school.  This doesn't bother me, in general.  My stumbling block is that I am trying to find a way to teach my 7 year old that Jesus may exist, he may have planted one grain of sand and created the Earth and Noah's ark may have saved every animal in existence from a great flood, but the world could have always been here the way it is now, or it could have been born from one massive bang.....

We celebrate Christmas in our home.  Not as a religious celebration, but because it is tradition.  Has been tradition since my Mom was a little girl in Germany and my Dad a little boy in the USA.  We still enjoy turkey on the 24th, Santa comes for a visit that night as well and then we have a lazy day on the 25th with lots of food and gift sharing.  Our tree is decorated each year, we bake yummy things and share merry beverages with family.  Family is always around, sleeping wherever there is a piece of floor.  Gift giving is limited to one Secret Santa, one gift from each Grandparent and then the parents decide from there.

How do you take Christmas, which has become a consumer time of year instead of a family oriented holiday, and help your children hang on to the traditions, help them understand that Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Dongzhi and Yule are just as important to other cultures around the world.  How can a school focus solely on Christianity as our world has become so small and the classroom is most certainly full of children from many different backgrounds?

Wouldn't it be more educational to have the children share their holiday traditions is a special way with the class?  Wouldn't that help the kids reflect more on why their family has lit a candle for the past 2 weeks?  I know my children would be much more interested in learning what their classmates do over the holidays, religious and otherwise, then learning about Noah's Ark.

This little blurb comes from the Globe and Mail, last Decemeber:

Tony Pontes, the director of education at Peel District School Board – one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse in Canada – sent a memo this month encouraging staff to celebrate Christmas with their students, but also Ashura, Hanukkah, Yule and Kwanzaa.

A decade ago, when the region began to change with immigration from South and East Asia, some schools were apprehensive about mentioning Christmas with an increasingly non-Christian student population. But there’s value in it, Mr. Pontes says.

“If schools are acknowledging and celebrating all faiths and all holy days throughout the year, there need not be any issue or discomfort around Christmas.”

I will always say Merry Christmas, because this is my tradition.  I want my children to learn about religion in school, I just wish there was a more general way of approaching the subject, as a whole, because the course is called Religion, not Christianity.  I don't think nativity scenes should be taken down, nor do I believe that menorah's should be removed from city hall decorations.  I think we should each hold on to our individual tradition and when in Rome.....

I also believe that our children need to have something to believe in, other then just Santa.  Am I the only Mama struggling with this?  How do you begin to introduce your child to other religions while their school only teaches one?

When I find the answer, I will share.  Unless you have an idea!

After School Organization

We have started a "clean sweep".  Normally I can stay on top of the clutter, when new shoes, shirts or even artwork come into the house, something needs to leave.  Our home isn't large enough to collect everything, and with three little ones it is easy to collect.... everything!

As the seasons change and the clothes in the closet change, we do a donation pile and a garbage pile. As tax season passes, we shred old papers from four or five years ago.  This time I pushed our de-clutter time a little long.  So now we are going extreme by opening each box in all the closets and reorganizing like mad!

Until last year, my biggest weakness was the kids artwork.  I had no idea where to put it as it came in the door, nor what to do with it until the end of the year when I could take my time, compare all the projects and keep what we loved.

Then I discovered after school boxes.  Take a box that is big enough to hold your needs, but small enough for your child to handle.  I have three blue boxes that are approximately 9" by 12" by 3" with a hinged lid and an id. label.  These boxes fit easily into my small cabinet space.

In each box are items that help with homework and after school entertainment.  Chloe has pencils, erasers, a ruler and a math lapbook.  Mea has pencils erasers and colouring pages.  Rafael also has colouring pages, pom poms to make insects and felt monsters which entertain for what seems like hours.  You can find some great ideas for the monsters here; Monsters.  

With the boxes, everyone can sit at the table and "work".... if the legos and cars don't distract first.  The boxes are also a great place to temporarily store colouring pages that come from school, and finished projects too.

When the after school boxes start to fill, I do a quick toss of items that never got fully finished, and that I know will not make it to the school year box.  After the quick toss, the projects that are left are put into a drawer until the end of the school year, when we go through each and every project to decide what we keep in our school year box for the next 20 some years.

I've seen those cute little school year books at Chapters. I can't imagine having to dwindle down my childrens artwork to a few pieces to fit into the little pocket of this book.  So I opted for something a little larger. 

No, that is not my child!  This idea came from iheart organizing with free printable labels, and cover sheets to boot!  All three of my boxes have files and file holders with labels, and cover sheets from preschool to grade 12, even though my little man does not begin kindergarden for another 2 1/2 years.

The boxes sit in each closet and the girls love to go through them every couple of months and remember! I will love it in 10 years!!

Do you have secrets for entertaining the little ones while big sister/ brother needs help with homework?