Religious Education Programs by Age

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Access the 2023-2024 Religious Education Brochure Here!

About Religious Education

We are a vibrant community of religious seekers of all ages, learning and growing together on the religious path. Some of our education programs are organized by age groups, and others mix different ages together. Our goal is to offer participants opportunities to learn new things, examine our own lives with honesty, and help and challenge each other to live according to our highest ideals of right relations with each other. In all of our programs, we use Unitarian Universalist principles as a guide and resource.

We encourage each person to take responsibility for their own religious life, and at the same time we are here to support and encourage one another on the journey. We recognize that parents are the primary religious educators for their children and we aim to supplement that with a faith community which can offer additional opportunities for religious growth and learning.

Over the summer, we have children of all ages come together for a story and special activities while adults are participating in the church service.

Our primary curriculum for elementary aged children has often been based on a rotation of foundational topics, which we call the pillars of our program. These are:

  • World Religions
  • Peace and Social Justice
  • Unitarian Universalism
  • Our Jewish and Christian Heritage
  • The Interdependent Web of Life

What We Offer Through the Lifespan

We provide children, youth, young adults, and adults an opportunity to explore, reflect, and learn in a nurturing spiritual community. Unitarian Universalist religious education programs offer all ages, inspiring:

  • Ethical growth – internalizing enduring values like justice, equity, and compassion, and gaining tools to act on them in everyday life.
  • Social growth – connecting with peers and people of all ages on a deeper level. Finding acceptance among people who see beyond the superficial.
  • Spiritual growth – feeling a connection with the sacred within, among, and beyond us.

Religious education programs include more than classes. On a Sunday you might find the preschoolers singing songs about kindness, the 2nd graders engaging with a story about loss and bereavement, the 5th graders talking with a Muslim couple about Islam, the 7th graders learning about responsibility in a lesson from our progressive sexuality education program, and the high-school youth raising money for the local homeless shelter. Many programs incorporate social justice activities, worship opportunities, service trips, fellowship, and fun.

Our religious educator and minister lead many of our congregations’ lifespan programs. Parents and other members of the congregation often lead them, too. Teaching can be a very fulfilling way to deepen one’s own faith.

We invite you to explore and contact our Director of Religious Education to get connected.

2025-2026 Curriculum

Cultivating Spiritual Resilience

through Mindfulness and Meditation

2025-2026 Curriculum

  • Preschool-6th Grade – Sitting Together: A Family-Centered Curriculum on Mindfulness, Meditation, and Buddhist Teachings by Sumi Loundon Kim.
    • Based on the idea that children experience spirituality through their senses, they will build connections with others and themselves and explore mystery, awe, love, contentment and inner peace by way of hearing stories, singing together, sharing food, observing and creating visuals and art as well as moving their bodies in dance and somatic practices. 
    • Learn more here: https://mindfulfamilies.net/
  • 7th-8th Grades – Our Whole Lives: Lifespan Sexuality Education
    • The OWL program addresses topics which include: personal values; gender identity/sexual orientation/gender expression; relationships; physical sexual health and body image; decision-making and self-advocacy; consent, social media and self-care, among others. This renowned program was developed as.a partnership with the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
  • High School (9th-12th grades)
    • While gathering weekly for check in and connection, our youth will be engaging in a variety of mindfulness and meditation practices to gain tools for resilience by cultivating wisdom minds and compassionate hearts. They will also be serving as Adventure, Wonder and Exploration Guides for our 1st-6th graders 
    • Navigating the world as a teenager can be stressful – juggling friends, family, schoolwork, and the wider culture around them is no easy task!  This year, our youth will be using a curriculum that builds a place to be calm, unwind, and be yourself.  Using mindfulness techniques, leaders will help teens to be in the present moment, cultivate relationships with kindness and empathy, and deal with pressure in constructive ways.  They will have opportunities to notice their own stresses and worries; acknowledge, respond to, and skillfully cope with their thoughts, feelings and difficult circumstances.
  • Adults
    • Gather with a small group over this year to learn and practice mindfulness and meditation practices. Learn how to differentiate between your thoughts and what is true. Through a wide variety of guided practices and discussion, cultivate spiritual practices to help ground and center your life in your deepest held values and beliefs. Develop more spiritual resilience to better cope with difficult people, situations and times.

Why Mindfulness?

Having resilience and the ability to put things into perspective are especially important for coping in the midst of the challenging times in which we are living. By gaining new perspectives on how to approach difficult circumstances, we can more readily accept the opportunities to stretch and grow rather than feel defeated by them.  Studies have shown that developing and practicing skills in mindfulness and meditation have many benefits for people of all ages.

Benefits Include:

  • Self-regulation and self-control
  • Enhanced flexibility
  • Equanimity (calmness and balance in the face of adversity)  
  • Improved concentration and mental clarity
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Positive relations with others (kindness, acceptance, compassion)
  • Increased self-acceptance
  • Decreased feelings of stress and anxiety
  • Decreased anger & depression
  • Decreased Increased social skills
  • Increased sleep quality

Regularly practicing mindfulness and meditation strengthens the mind and helps cultivate a compassionate heart, just like lifting weights strengthens muscles in the body.  A stronger, more disciplined mind is more skillfully able to navigate the stress and adversity of daily life.  Through our mindfulness and meditation curriculum, we strive to give our children and youth lifelong skills for stronger minds and loving hearts by expanding their spiritual capacities and increasing their resilience.

As we navigate these tumultuous times with as much wisdom as we can to be our best selves, and work toward a just and sustainable world, we need each other.  We need to prioritize our spiritual practices to ground us in what is most important.  We can serve others best when we remember to care for ourselves.

“The connection between mindfulness and the fate of the earth is immediate and total. … Here’s a koan it may take several lifetimes to solve: How do we make loving our children, spiritual practice, and healing the earth coincide without rushing? 

Our children, our practice, our earth – each requires our full energy and lots of empty, goalless time.  And each requires no separation whatsoever from the other two.”
From the introduction to Dharma Family Treasures: Sharing Buddhism with Children by editor Sandy Eastoak.

While pondering that koan, we can only take it one day at a time, putting one foot in front of the other, doing the best we can each day.  We may start out slow and shaky, but with practice, over time, gradually increase in comfort and skill.  The more consistently we engage in mindfulness and meditation, the better we will become at it.  This leads to becoming more spiritually resilient and more skillfully able to cope with life, the world around us and help each other along the way.

Links to additional information on the benefits of Mindfulness: 

Specialty Classes

The first Sunday of most months, we offer Specialty Class options for our Kindergarten – 6th Graders. These are special classes designed to increase connections between different groups of people. It allows different adults from our congregation to lead fun classes in the subject of their choice so they can get to know the children and vice versa.

It allows K-6th graders to interact with a wider age range of kids. It also allows kids to choose which class they wish to participate in each month as they arrive at church. Specialty class options vary widely and can include art, crafts, baking, games, yoga, music, dancing, and nature hikes. Previews can often be found on our parents Facebook group.

Intergenerational Services

About six-eight times a year, all ages are invited to remain in the commons to worship together during the Sunday service. There is still nursery care for infants and toddlers during these services. These services can help children and youth feel connected as a valuable part of the larger congregation as well as become more familiar with our Unitarian Universalist rituals, songs and messages. Children and youth are often invited to help lead aspects of these worship services as well. You can read more about these Intergenerational Services HERE.