Rational Sunday School, Take One

One of the things I’m very proud of in my nontheistic community is our work to create a Rational Sunday School; the Sunday School focuses on character-building, scientific thinking, philosophy, religious literacy and (most importantly) FUN—all in a secular context. When my husband and I began working toward creating a nontheist group in our community, it was very important to us that children be valued and included, and that programs to nurture them be a priority—and it’s happening!

Currently our Rational Sunday School meets twice a month, and includes six children ranging in age from preschool to fourth grade. In many ways, we’re just winging it, although Ute Mithchell’s article on Rational Sunday School has been very influential, and when one of our Freethinkers contacted her, she offered a ton of resources. We meet for an hour in a community room at the public library, and do not charge anyone to attend. Money for any necessary materials is drawn from donations to the Prescott Freethinkers.

Because I know that communities of Humanists and other nontheists are springing up around the country, and because I know children’s programs are so essential to these groups, I’m going to try to post our “curriculum” (such as it is) and notes on our experience so that anyone interested in this kind of program can learn from our attempts. And I’d love suggestions from other nontheists as well!

Below is a brief write-up of our very first Rational Sunday School this past August. It went surprisingly smoothly, and the kids loved every minute of it! We have since done lessons on imagination and on gratitude, which I’ll post when I get them written up. We are also encouraging different members of our group to create lesson plans in their areas of expertise (upcoming examples will include evolutionary biology and debunking magic). Any and all ideas are encouraged!

Rational Sunday School

(Preschool – 4^th grade)

Our First Lesson: Community

Time: 1 hour

Equipment: Hula hoops; Blind folds; Tennis balls; Rope

Introduction

To learn one another’s names, we went around the circle with each child saying his/her name along with the names of the children introduced before him/her. The children all helped each other if someone couldn’t remember a name.

Topic: Community

Since much of the purpose of our Rational Sunday School is to build community, we thought it was important to talk about what community is and why it is so important. We asked the kids to explain what they understood community to mean, and talked for awhile to clarify the definition and significance. We emphasized that we were working together to build our own community to support one another and learn together. We all tried to think of examples where working together in community accomplishes what we cannot do alone.

Cooperative Games

We played several silly cooperative games to get to know each other and learn to work together.

Knotty Hands:

“To play this game, ask the children to stand in a circle. Next, instruct each of them to bring their left hand forward and with it catch hold of any other child's left hand, except for the ones who are standing immediately next to them. When they are done, ask them to do the same with the right hand. Now, the fun part begins. The children have to untangle themselves from this self created web without letting go of each other's hands! You will find many of the kids instructing others on how to go about it, while others try various means such as climbing on top of the hand-web to untangle the knots.”

Hula Hoop Pass:

“Form a circle and all join hands. Put a hula hoop around the grasped hands of two players. See how fast you can pass the hoop around the people in the circle without letting go of hands. You can add another hoop and make it go the other way.”

Snack and Social Time

Mine Field:

Use the rope to create a large square, which marks the boundaries of the field. Spread the tennis balls around to create the mine field. First, one child volunteers to attempt to get through the mine field without touching any of the balls—while blindfolded. After a few failed attempts, the children each find a partner and go to opposite sides of the minefield. One player is blindfolded and the other verbally tells them how to go through the field. If a mine is blown up (touched), the child must start over.

Wrap Up

Because this was our first attempt at Rational Sunday School, we took time at the end to ask the kids what they liked best (Knotty Hands!) and what they didn’t like (they liked EVERYTHING)! We also asked them what kinds of things they’d like to do and learn in the future, and compiled a list for future lessons.