Year 5 Humanists: How can you lead a happy and meaningful life? worksheet

“Living Well as a Humanist” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 religious education unit “Humanists: How can you lead a happy and meaningful life?”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 24 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 25 to 30 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Living Well as a Humanist

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · Religious education · about 24 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain how humanists use reason and human values to live a good life.

A Look back3 min

1.
Sikhs meet in a gurdwara and share langar. Circle the name of their holy book.
Guru Granth SahibTorahQur'an
2.
Muslims pray in a mosque. Circle the holy book of Islam.
Qur'anTorahGuru Granth Sahib
3.
Jewish people read from a Torah scroll during worship. Circle the building where they worship.
synagoguemosquechurch

B Watch me, then you4 min

Mia's family is humanist. She has to decide how to treat a friend who was left out. These are her steps:

Watch me

Mia starts by thinking with reason.

She looks at the facts and thinks how her friend feels.

She chooses the fair act, using her own values and care for people.

Now you

1.
Ben is a humanist. He has a choice to make. Which step is missing from his chain? Write it in the box:

C Your turn8 min

Match, choose, sort and order. Each time, ask how a humanist uses reason and care for people to decide.

A wooden kitchen table with an open notebook and a pencil

1.
Join each word to its meaning with a line.
humanisthumanismreasonnon-religious
using logic and facts to think things throughnot based on belief in a goda way of seeing the world based on reason and human valuessomeone whose worldview is humanism
2.
Humanists decide how to live by using what? Circle the answer.
a holy book alonereason and human experiencedreams and luck
3.
Sort these cards into the right column.
We can work out kindness by reasonOnly a holy book can show us goodnessWe can use facts to make good choicesOnly a god can give our life a purpose
Humanists would say Humanists would not say
4.
Put these steps for a humanist choice in order. Write the numbers 1 to 4 in the boxes.
1. Choose the action that treats people fairly
2. Notice that a choice needs to be made
3. Think about how each person might feel
4. Gather the facts about what has happened

Say it out loud: What do all the answers have in common? Which words did you use to decide?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A plain closed book on a wooden shelf beside a small potted plant

Lou says: “Humanists cannot think about right and wrong, because they have no religion.”

1.
Write one reason why Lou is wrong.

E Think deeper4 min

A calm sunset over distant hills and a still lake with no people in view

1.
A humanist and a religious person both help a friend who is sad. Explain how their reasons might be different, and how both can lead a good life.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Living Well as a Humanist · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. Guru Granth Sahib your child may have picked the holy book of another faith. Ask: which book is kept in the gurdwara, and where do Sikhs meet?

2. Qur'an your child may have mixed up the holy books. Ask your child to name the book Muslims read and which place they pray in.

3. synagogue your child may have picked a building from another faith. Ask: where do people read the Torah together on Shabbat?

B

1. Look for: Gather the facts, or a similar step about checking facts or evidence, or thinking it through with reason. your child may have written a religious step like prayer. Ask: what does a humanist use to find out what is true?

C

1. humanist → someone whose worldview is humanism; humanism → a way of seeing the world based on reason and human values; reason → using logic and facts to think things through; non-religious → not based on belief in a god your child may have joined humanist and humanism. Ask: which word is the person, and which word is the worldview?

2. reason and human experience your child may have circled a holy book. Ask: what do humanists look at instead of a holy book?

3. Humanists would say: We can work out kindness by reason, We can use facts to make good choices · Humanists would not say: Only a holy book can show us goodness, Only a god can give our life a purpose your child may have put a human-centred idea in the wrong column. Ask: does this card rely on a god or a holy book, or on people thinking and feeling?

4. 1 Notice that a choice needs to be made · 2 Gather the facts about what has happened · 3 Think about how each person might feel · 4 Choose the action that treats people fairly your child may have put the choice first. Ask: what do you need to know before you can decide what is fair?

D

1. Look for: Says humanists do think about right and wrong, using reason, facts, human values or care for others. your child may have agreed that humanists are not good without religion. Ask: what do humanists use to decide what is right?

E

1. Look for: Gives a different reason for each person and says both can lead a good, meaningful life.

Words to use

Say“Which step would you take first, and what would you check before you choose?”

Instead of“Tell them humanists do not believe in anything, so they cannot be good.”

After the sheet

At tea, ask each person to name one fair choice they made today and the reason they gave for it.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

One Life, Many Choices(with a plan)
Humanism, nature and our planet(with a plan)
Testing Hard Choices(with a plan)
Humanist ceremonies(with a plan)
Humanists Around the World(with a plan)

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