For Secular Families

I am a “none.” I am one of a growing number of religiously unaffiliated people in the United States. Since we are a minority group in a religious world, it is helpful to connect with other people’s experiences. This page collects my posts related to secular family life and the books we read along the way. :)

Books for Secular Families about Religion

Exploring Religion From a Secular Perspective - Features The Story of Religion, One World, Many Religions, and What Do You Believe?. (Ages 8-12)
Exploring Religious Diversity from a Secular Perspective - Features Many Ways and Faith. (Ages 4-8)
Faith and Doubt in Teen Fiction - Looks at the portrayal of religious teens in fiction featuring Small Town Sinners and others. (Ages 12 and up)
Speaking Up, or #YAsaves again - Features the teen novel Hush and the author’s decision to publish under a pen name due to her religious community. (Ages 14 and up)
Secular Teen in a Secular Family - Reviews the teen novel Girls Don’t Fly. (Ages 12 and up)
Magic, Miracles, & Skepticism - Explores the nature of skepticism as portrayed in a picture book, Anton Can do Magic, and a teen novel, The Probability of Miracles.
Big Questions for Little Skeptics - Features Really, Really Big Questions about God, Faith, and Religion. (Ages 10-13)
Fictional Religions of Teen Fiction - Features two teen novels that include made up religions, Godless and Sparks. (Ages 13 and up)
Reading Bible Stories – Features a couple of picture books about the Noah story, We’re all in the Same Boat and Noah’s Bark. (Ages 4 to 8)

Books for Secular Families about Science & Wonder

On the Day You Were Born’s Lasting Connections - Features Debra Frasier’s classic picture book. (Ages 4 to 8)
Celebrating Questions - Features a couple of picture books that encourage inquisitiveness. (Ages 4 to 7)
Exploring Evolution - Introduce evolution with these three books. (Ages 6 to 10)
Exploring Our Origins - Review of Older than the Stars by Karen Fox. (Ages 6 to 10)
The Good and the Bad in Science - Review of Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain by Diane Swanson. (Ages 10 to 14)
Introducing Darwin to Kids - A picture book version of Darwin’s words just might pique a kid’s interest in science and nature. (Ages 8 to 12)
Choosing Science Books - Highlights a few inspiring science titles. (Ages 10-14)
The Poetry of Science - Reviews The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination. (All ages)
Vicki Cobb Wins Lifetime Achievement Award - Vicki Cobb is well known for her hands-on approach to science for young readers.
Finding Magic & Wonder - Features a couple of picture books that encourage a sense of wonder. (Ages 4 to 8)
Searching for Magic with Richard Dawkins - Reviews The Magic of Reality. (Ages 12 and up)
11 Experiments That Failed - Reviews this picture book and talks about the scientific method. (Ages 4 to 8)
Evolution for Everyone – Features three books about evolution at various levels.

Secular Family Life

Answering Questions - Thoughts on my inquisitive daughter and my attempt to answer her questions.
How We Learn - Looks at the parenting book The Mind in the Making and encouraging curiosity.
How Non-Religious People Talk About Religion - Thoughts on using respectful language and modeling tolerance to our kids.
Finding a World Greater Than Ourselves - Features a poem written by a UU teen about nature.
Our Secular Bedtime - My reluctant search for a bedtime “blessing.”
Happy Anni-birth-mas! - A look at my family’s December traditions.
In Anticipation of Mother’s Day – Features my zine about becoming a mother and how that relates to my religious beliefs.