Faith Development: Young School-Aged Children

  • Building Self-Esteem
  • Wondering
  • Learning What Authority Figures Think and Do

"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means."
                                                                                                    -Albert Einstein

We have three multi-aged classes for children ages 4 years through first grade.Children in these classes attend the first portion of the service with their families every week before leaving for class. These classes all follow the Spirit Play model of religious education, which is based on the Montessori method and emphasizes the child community in class.Religious Education classes help develop the young school aged child’s sense of belonging to a religious community, which supplement’s the parent’s work teaching about the traditions, values, and beliefs of their own family. 

Philosophy

Our philosophy is that the spiritual development needs of young school aged children are: to feel valued and to value others, to feel a part of a religious community, to explore their ability to make their own choices about religious questions, and to learn what trusted adults in their lives do and believe.

The young school aged child

The young school aged child learns best through hands-on experience.Their understanding of what religious community is developed through their participation in it.Children of this age want to feel accepted in community.They are learning how to interpret symbols and is interested both in ‘real’ cause and effect thinking and ‘magical’ thinking.They are beginning to explore religious questions and like stories that inspire wonder.At this age children are interested in the beliefs of trusted adults, and will often accept the word of the trusted adult as categorically true.

Our classes for young school-aged children support their spiritual development by

  • Including them in a portion of our Worship Services, which affirms their place in our community and shows them how we ‘do’ religion
  • Introducing stories with concrete materials and inviting them to explore stories with hands-on work responses
  • Building a child community in their class by giving them jobs such as passing out snack, using child-sized furnishings, and enjoying a ‘feast’ time together.
  • Empowering children to explore their own ideas by inviting them to Wonder after stories are introduced without judging the ‘correctness’ of their ideas.
  • Providing opportunities for children to make choices about their work, allowing them to work with materials in their own time.
  • Affirming children by noticing their actions and valuing their work without judging.
  • Introducing stories that explore moral and religious questions.
Parents support healthy development by:
  • Talking about what they believe.
  • Incorporating rituals and spirituality into your family life.
  • Affirming the child, and practicing Positive Behavior Support at home.
  • Teaching the child how to identify and express emotions.
  • Encouraging the child to Wonder without judging or correcting his/her ideas.
  • Setting time aside for play.
  • Ensuring your child has adequate social time with children his/her own age, and to work cooperatively with children and adults.
    • Intentionally exposing your child to differences in people and families.
    • Talking about ‘same’ and ‘different’, honoring both.

    Helping their child to navigate challenges and to learn how to identify and solve problems.

    • Offering opportunities for decision-making.
    • Finding ways that the child can contribute to the family.
    • Asking the child about what he/she believes.
    • Having routines at home.
    • Modeling active participation in religious community.
    • Modeling acceptance of diverse theological differences.
    • Establishing family rituals of celebration, connectedness, thankfulness, and rites of passage.

Remember: Many parents have expressed to me they are reluctant to express their own theological opinions to their child, because they so want their child to form his/her own beliefs. At this age, children very much want and need to know what you believe.  By talking with them about your beliefs and showing them how your values are reflected in your life, you affirm that religious questions are important.  Have faith that they WILL form their own opinions, and respect those opinions as they evolve.

"The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values."
©Tryst Chagnon 2006