Religion choices in Kindy

So we are starting to prepare ourselves for DD1 entrance into kindy next year (sob sob). At the moment we are trying to decide on the religion aspect.
At the school that she is going to go to, there are three choices, catholic, protestant or no religion.

Dh and I do not prescribe to any such religion, but we have faith. We would love for our girls to have a broad knowledge of religion, and in the future they can choose what is right for them. But this isnt helping us in forming an idea about what box we should tick next year.

The school she will be going to is a public school. We had talked about in the past about sending the girls to a christian school. Ive taught in them and loved my experiences there. DH went to a christian school for his infant and part of his primary schooling.

What direction would you go in with these choices? Im feeling pretty lost about it all.

Hmmm.... Hard call.
I'd send my kids to a christian school if I could, but don't have one here.

DH is no-religion and I'm Christian. (Assemblies of God), so don't fall into Catholic or Protestant.

Interested to see what the replies are.

I think in that case, where you don't have a particular religion but you do have faith and would like her to learn about more than one religion, I'd choose the no religion option. That way you can teach her lots of different aspects of religion, not just the ones relating to a particular faith you know?

I'm hoping to send DD to a Christian school because it's a fantastic school with great opportunities, even though we're not religious. The school is fine with students of any faith and their religious teachings are very open - it's really about being a good person. So in that regard, maybe I don't agree with what I said above lol, maybe a little bit of religion is good?

Sorry, I don't reckon I was much help in the end!

Sent from my GT-P7510

Thanks Charlotte and Kaytee :)

We have a christian school here, but it is very strict on how many times you attend church, strict with beliefs etc. A little too religious for our home. :)
I do wish it was more accomodating, but its not. :(

Personally, I would opt for the protestant stream.

This is because in my honest opinion, I believe the protestant education would be broader than the catholic stream (because there are many different denominations) and the catholic stream would also include some teachings/rituals/etc which DH and I don't adhere to.

I would not be selecting the non-religious stream because in my experience, a "non-religious" stream/group/class often ends up being an "anti-religious" or atheistic one.

While there may be elements of the protestant teachings which you don't agree with or believe in, they're unlikely to get overly technical at such a young age, and if there are bits and pieces which you wish to teach differently about, I believe it's much easier to explain to your children the differences between parts of beliefs (some people believe that xyz, others believe abc, I believe abc because...) as opposed to them being taught in more absolute terms at school and then having it completely contradicted at home ... (ie: God doesn't exist -v- God does exist, there is life after death -v- there isn't life after death, humans have spirits -v- we don't ... etc).

Not sure whether this helps, but that's what I'd be thinking.


:)

Thanks Peanutter,

I was thinking Protestant is probably the best direction to go down. Im worried that by the sounds of it, if you no-religion then they spend the time slot for religion doing nothing. I suppose the worst part is I dont know what differences they would be teaching between the two at such a young age?

I would imagine it would be pretty basic ... general Bible stories, that sort of things.

Do you know any parents of kids there at the moment? Or is there a chaplain or something who you can have a 30 minute sit down with?

I'd go in with a nice list of my questions ... 30 mins face-to-face would probably do it for me :)

But at the end of the day, if you're not happy with what's happening after the first term, surely you can swap?

Personally I'd go for Protestant scripture but I'm a Christian. Generally people in your situation would go for Protestant scripture. Usually only Catholics go to Catholic. BTW Charlotte AOG would be considered Protestant.

I used to teach Scripture and I assure you I wasn't there to brainwash the kids. I just taught them Bible stories in a fun way, we did some songs, played games and had a great time. It's about giving them the chance to see that the church isn't scary or irrelevant, and providing positive role models in addition to the other adults in their lives ( I'm not saying that only Christians can be positive role models). Unless there are ethics classes or teachers of other religions, non-scripture usually means sit in the library and read a book.

Why not go for Protestant classes, then if you have concerns you can always remove your child.

Thanks surprised.
That makes a bit more sense :) I know its all about stories and what not, but I wasnt too sure about the depth that is taught. (its been a long time since Ive seen religion in a public school :lol: )

Peanutter, I do plan on asking when we go in for our induction thingy and all that other stuff, but that isnt till the end of year. :lol: Im getting in very early! :lol:

I would probably go the Protestant line too. My girls go to a private Christian school that is a lot more easy going than the one near you sounds in that they accept families who are not practising Christians - which is certainly us - but it is still pretty full on. The kids pray multiple times a day (ie before recess, lunch etc), and there is lots of thanking of God and God bless you's going on. I must admit that DH and I do struggle a little with the religious side of it because it is far more full on than we imagined it would be, even for kindy and pre-primary. We accept that we need to support it (and we do), but do get a little bit of a laugh sometimes at the things the girls come out with - they take things so literally at this point so its pretty funny when they tell you that God is opening the door for us at the supermarket!!

I doubt you would get this level of religion in a public school, even choosing the Catholic stream, but the Protestant stream may be a smidge more balanced and open to discussion of other religions.