Humility, Empathy, Courage, Honesty, Openness, Generosity, Gratitude

For College Students and Adults of all ages

Humanism for Parents - Parenting without Religion by Sean Curley (Publisher:  Lulu.com, May 2007, 96 pages).

Sean Curley's book is a practical guide for parents, grandparents, teachers and other child-care-givers who want their children or students to learn without depending on traditions, practices, and rituals of established religions.  Broken into several easy-to-read chapters, Humanism for Parents provides everything from an "Overview on Humanism" to "Tenets of Good Parenting." Of specific interest is the advice Curley provides on how to acknowledge life's milestones, including what he classifies as the "Age of Reason," the "Age of Maturity," and "Adulthood Celebrations."

The author has stated that "Parenting has always been difficult, but historically parents have had thousands of years of religious history, traditions and practices to use as a basis for their parenting. With the modern prevalence of the secular or Humanist household, this is no longer true and parents need a guide to help them understand the advantages of religion in parenting, but without reliance on religion....The book includes information on humanism, morality, spirituality, traditions, practices, moral issues, and has sections for teens and younger children."

Both Dale McGowan's two books, and this one, are important resources for humanist parents trying to make their way in today's overtly religious world.

Link to the publication: http://stores.lulu.com/seancurley

Heartwood Ethics Curriculum/An Ethical Curriculum for Children. 

This is a literature-based curriculum that aims to teach elementary school-age students seven character attributes: courage, honesty, hope, justice, love, loyalty, and respect. Lessons and home assignments are organized around multicultural stories. The activities are designed to connect the experiences of characters in the stories to the children's lives.  Each of the six elementary curriculum kits includes 14 lessons; each lesson includes reading an illustrative story aloud, class discussion, reflective journaling, and small-group or individual activities. The developers estimate that two to four weeks are needed for children to assimilate each of the seven attribute. Posters, maps, buttons, and music CDs can be obtained through the Heartwood Institute's website. The Institute offers teaching manuals, teaching videos, a do-it-yourself training module that includes videos, and on-site professional development workshop.  Check the web site for the current cost of this resource. For more information, contact: Heartwood Institute, 425 North Craig Street, Suite 302, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Web: www.heartwoodethics.org. Email: hrtwood@heartwoodethics.org.

Lessons for the Heart: A Social and Emotional Skills Program by Michael Schulman, Ph.D., chairperson of the Moral Education Seminar at Columbia University

This is what Dr. Schulman writes about the purpose of the resource:

“This book provides lessons in social and emotional skills. Each lesson consists of activities to foster understanding oneself, one’s values, and one’s impact on others. But the lessons are not value-neutral. They are designed to stimulate compassion, principles of right and wrong, and a strong sense of personal responsibility—qualities that to some degree most students already possess. So the book is also a handbook for character education, encouraging students to make choices and take actions to express their best selves and fulfill their own pro-social values. After working on these lessons, the hope is that students will treat each other, and others they interact with, better. The lessons are also designed to be engaging and thought-provoking, easy to carry out, and not preachy or corny.”

This incredibly useful resource begins with several questions in which the answers are presented in depth, i.e., what motivates kids to care about others? Why are some children kinder than others? How do you foster caring? This is followed by several suggestions for teaching the lessons… and then the lessons themselves which include an overview, the objectives, needed resources or materials, activities and procedures, and – in most cases – student activity sheets. The 15 lessons and the “messages” are as follows:

For information about accessing the entire document (108 pages), contact Dr. Schulman at 28 East 10th Street, 2D, New York, NY 10003 or e-mail: mdschlmn41@yahoo.com