Melanie Andersen's Website

A Program
for Baha'i Education
at Home

"It is incumbent upon the Spiritual Assemblies
to provide the mothers with a well-planned programme
for the education of children, showing how, from infancy,
the child must be watched over and taught.
These instructions must be given to every mother
to serve her as a guide, so that each will train and nurture
her children in accordance with the Teachings."
-`Abdu'l-Bahá

I have not been able to find a well-planned programme. There may be one or even several but I am not currently aware of them. The following resources are my attempts at creating my own programme for my family. It is a continuous work in progress and it is in no way complete but I hope
that the resources I've created for my family may be of
some use to others. Enjoy!

My website contains many other resources for providing
a Baha'i Education for your children at home. Please
explore all the links starting from the Baha'i Education page.

WHEN DOES BAHA'I EDUCATION OF CHILDREN BEGIN? FROM BABYHOOD

"Thou didst write as to the children:
from the very beginning,
the children must receive divine education
and must continually be reminded
to remember their God.
Let the love of God
pervade their inmost being,
commingled with their mother's milk."
-`Abdu'l-Bahá

"It is she who must,
at the very beginning,
suckle the newborn
at the breast of God's Faith and God's Law,
that divine love may enter into him
even with his mother's milk,
and be with him till his final breath."
-`Abdu'l-Bahá

Baha'i education of children must begin from the day they are born. We must establish spiritual discipline from the beginning. Include your baby in morning and evening prayers. At first, you must be very forgiving and patient of their inability to sit quietly and still. We must remind the children the behaviour that is expected during prayers and model it ourselves. But we must remember that this training and discipline may take 5 to 8 years to fully develop.

GIVE EACH CHILD A "BAHA'I BINDER" TO KEEP ALL THAT THEY HAVE LEARNED ORGANIZED

Haifa receiving her Baha'i Binder
on her 3rd birthday as a gift.

I highly recommend having a binder for each child which can be their "Baha'i Binder". I also use transparent page protectors for each page because when the children use it on a daily basis, the pages can easily become torn or bent otherwise. The binder is useful to keep track of what the child has learned and to review what has been learned. Ask the child to create a cover page for their binder. Perhaps you could print out a page that says "(name of child)'s Baha'i Binder" or "(name of child)'s Book of Prayers and Holy Writings" and then ask them to put stickers on it or colour it.

Many of the pages that you can print from this webpage include a border. Cut off one inch around the edge of the pages with normal or zig-zag scissors and then glue each page to coloured card stock. Encourage your children to colour and decorate the remaining one inch border once they have memorized the prayer or Writing. This helps them to take ownership of the Holy Writings of God. They will often prefer this to a prayer book.

You could also give them a sticker to place in this border every time they read or recite from memory that verse. Make sure the child does not write in the area where the Holy Writings are - this area must be kept clean and readable and treated with reverence and respect.

You can also print out prayers and create beautiful prayers like scrapbook pages. You can ask your children to help put the page together and to decorate it.

You may also want to have your children copy the prayers and Baha'i Holy Writings by handwriting. This will help them to concentrate on every single word (you can discuss the meaning of each word together), it will help them to memorize it, it will make the verse even more their own, it will help them to practice their handwriting. Only do this if it is age appropriate. You may begin with them tracing your own writing of the verse. Do not do this if it becomes an unpleasant chore. Perhaps when the child is older and handwriting is easier for them, they may want to do this and think that it is fun.

The "Baha'i Binder" I have created for my children has three sections: Prayers, Writings, Lessons. Further down on this webpage are pdf files you can download and print for each of these sections.

TEACH CHILDREN TO CHANT PRAYERS
FROM HEART IN THE MOST MELODIOUS TONE

“They who recite the verses of the All-Merciful in the most melodious of tone will perceive in them that with which the soverignty of earth and heaven can never be compared.”
-Bahá'u'lláh

It is best to sing prayers to your baby. (If you do not know any Baha'i prayers in musical form, ask other Baha'is if they can teach you some or buy some Baha'i CD's with prayers sung or create your own melodies.) If you do this on a daily basis, you will find that as soon as your baby can talk, he/she can chant prayers from heart.

When teaching children to memorize prayers, have them recite the prayer every morning and evening until they offer to try to say it from memory by themselves. Never push a child too hard or make the experience unpleasant. If your child cannot yet read, ask him/her to repeat short phrases of a couple of words long after you. So you may say, "O God!" then the child would say, "O God!". You say, "Guide me" then the child says, "Guide me". It is also much easier to memorize a prayer in the form of a song than as mere words that are recited. You may sing it every morning and evening and ask the child to join in if they like or when they feel comfortable to do so.

The following are compilations of prayers appropriate to teach to children. Part 1 has shorter prayers. Part 2 has longer prayers. These can be printed and placed in their "Baha'i Binders" as you teach each prayer to them.

Prayers: Part 1 (pdf)

Prayers: Part 2 (pdf)

TEACH CHILDREN TO CHANT THE HOLY WRITINGS FROM HEART AND TO PUT THEM INTO ACTION IN THEIR LIVES

"During His [`Abdu'l-Bahá] days
it was the usual work
of the children of the household
to learn Tablets by heart..."
-Shoghi Effendi

The following are compilations of Baha'i Holy Writings appropriate for children to study, understand, put into action in their lives and memorize. Again, please remember that it is preferrable to chant them in a melodious voice. Repetition and regular review is the secret to remembering them by heart. Read, recite and/or study one or more of them every morning and every evening during family prayer time.

Writings: Part 1 (pdf)

Writings: Part 2 (pdf)

TEACH CHILDREN THE ONENESS OF GOD AND THE LAWS OF GOD

"That which is of paramount importance for the children,
that which must precede all else,
is to teach them the oneness of God
and the Laws of God."
-Bahá'u'lláh

"Say: By God! His Law is a fortress unto you,
could ye but understand. Verily, He hath no purpose therein save to benefit the souls of His servants..."
-Bahá'u'lláh

When teaching these lessons to your children, be sure to only use what is appropriate to their age. If they are still very young, it may not be appropriate at all. It may be better to just help them memorize some of Writings: Part 1 and discuss them with your children. It is also useful to look over these lessons and see how you can apply them into your family life. When you teach these lessons to your children (especially the Laws of God), be sure to implement each one into your families life as you learn each one. For example, it would not be wise to teach your child that we are supposed to wash our feet once every day in summer and then neglect to actually do so. Therefore, do not present a lesson unless you are ready to commit to being obedient to the law in your families life.

Lessons: Oneness of God and Laws of God (pdf)