Calendar for the 2007-2008

Please note that there is always nursery care for the littlest ones even if there is no Sunday school.

Children and Youth: What We Teach and Why
Our Program for children and youth is on the large side, with over 250 students attending from the nursery through high school. There are almost 70 volunteer teachers, leaders and mentors giving of their time and spirit to our children this year. We can’t thank them enough.

Nursery through Seventh Grade

• The Nursery. Cathy McKone-Simons is on staff to lead our youth caretakers on Sunday mornings during the service. Although there is no curriculum, children up to three years old find lots of attention and care here.
• Preschool. We draw from three UU preschool curricula: Celebrating Me and My World; We Are Many, We Are One; and Chalice Children. We seek to provide preschoolers with experiences and opportunities to grow in trust and caring and to develop their self-identity and sense of connectedness with all of life. The underlying theme celebrates diversity and interdependency.
• Kindergarten. The curriculum Treasure Hunting (new-revised edition) uses the theme of treasure hunting as a concrete way of involving children in the excitement of the search for the meaning of life. It addresses issues that children face daily, explores the meaning of Unitarian Universalist principles and values, and emphasizes an accepting and caring community.
• First Grade. Stories about God looks at God as the central symbol in a religious communication system. This curriculum is story-based and covers three themes: God is a oneness that can take many forms; God is love and worth that can take many forms; and God is mystery that can take many forms. We seek to address the spiritual and theological needs of young children by helping them develop a language with which to express their own thoughts and feelings about God.
• Second Grade. Experiences with the Web of Life introduces children to the UU Principle of respect for the “interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” We seek to develop awareness of the interdependence of living things and each child’s place within the web of life; nurture children’s enjoyment of nature and sense of wonder and awe; and to gain awareness of, and comfort with, change and growth as characteristics of living things (including birth and death). We also hope to develop a desire to protect the environment.
• Third Grade. Stepping Stone Year is based on the premise that religion helps people find answers to important life questions and that a religious community can help people in their search for answers. The various units include Beginning Myths, Stories Science Tells Us, The Wonder of Birth, Adventures of Our People (American, Canadian, and English UUs), Wonderings About Death, and Making Decisions.
• Fourth Grade. Living the Promise focuses on the major people and events of the Hebrew scriptures, seeks to portray responsible, positive, and noble ways of life, and looks at how we view ourselves, others, and all of creation. This year provides a Unitarian Universalist and humanist perspective on Judaism and looks at the development of monotheism and the meaning of covenant. This is one of our favorite curricula.
• Fifth Grade. A Kingdom of Equals: the Radical Path of Jesus introduces students to the life and teachings of Jesus. This curriculum is based on the stories as told in the Gospels, but uses insights from modern Biblical and historical criticism where appropriate. It focuses on Jesus’ basic themes of love, forgiveness, justice and equality, which remain true in any era.
• Sixth Grade. In the fall, our sixth grade teachers use an in-house curriculum dedicated to exploring all seven Unitarian Universalist Principles, as well as offering a greater knowledge of UU history and traditions. In the spring, the focus shifts to an in-depth study of Islam, which often includes guest speakers and a trip to a mosque.
• Seventh Grade. Having been a field-test site last year, we will continue to use the now complete Compass Points curriculum, that explores the many facets and challenges of a person’s spiritual quest with a special emphasis on how the UU Principles and Sources can provide direction and nourishment for the journey. We feel this curriculum can provide excellent preparation for our students as they move toward 8th grade and the excitement and demands of our Coming-of-Age program.

With a good deal of attention paid to the stages of faith development, the framework of our classes begins, in kindergarten, to set a pattern that continues throughout the program. We open together with a chalice lighting and sharing, work on a lesson or project for the day, and close together before leaving the group. By the time our children are ready for their Coming-of-Age year, our hope is that they will have a sense of their individual spirits, and that they will have found joy, safety, and connection in this place. Our goal is to see that this connection is sufficient to encourage their continued spiritual journey with a solid grounding in their Unitarian Universalist identity.

Although our children attend the service in the sanctuary fairly regularly for the first fifteen minutes, we make an effort to fill their exposure to worship with regular intergenerational services as well, and children’s chapel services with themes relevant to the specifically challenging world of children. These are wonderful opportunities to share music, art, spirit and wonder in an environment that can be especially interactive and child-friendly!

Nursery-Grade Seven Committee: Cris Goldsmith and Josh Cohen, Co-chairs; Wendy Berenson, Dot Jacobson.

Coming of Age
We are in the midst of our 20th Coming of Age class for eighth graders. FUSN was one of the first UU congregations to craft this year-long rite of passage for youth. Members of this congregation spearheaded its beginnings in 1983, and it has since continued as a strong completion to our children’s program. While a mentor/candidate relationship is the core of the program, we also visit different houses of worship as a part of a Comparative Religions class, and include the Our Whole Lives sexuality curriculum. There is as strong social justice component, and at the end of the year our candidates present their personal credos at the graduation service in May. The program requires a strong commitment from candidates, parents, mentors and organizers, and we are proud of its success.

COA Co-directors: Marc Kaufman, Susan Bartlett and Wendy Atamian. OWL teachers: Amy Cody and John Furst. Comparative Religion teachers: Tom Bean and Alice Nichols. Social Action coordinator: Kevan Hartshorn. Credo-writing consultant: Bob Zeeb.

Youth Group
The Youth Group meets at 11:30am Sunday mornings in the Youth Room under the stage, with Dana Hanson and Matt Holley leading our group as Youth Advisors. All high school youth are welcome!

Our Youth program has been growing slowly and consistently. We are fortunate to have a co-ed team of paid advisors, and strong parent support for a variety of activities. This year we will be initiating opportunities for Youth worship, and continuing support for involvement in district and national UU activities.

This Society maintains a strong social-action focus, thus our young people are regularly involved in social action opportunities supporting such diverse efforts as filling Red Cross boxes, fundraising for an inner-city literacy program, securing holiday gifts for families at risk, working at the local food pantry, and the like.

There is also lots of pure fun: sleepovers, movie nights, and picnics. Our annual Youth Coffeehouse, which benefits the Chawama Family Support Home in Lusaka, Zambia, is also a hit with many youth.

Adult Education
Click here to download the Winter 2008 catalog.
This promises to be a rich year for adult education at FUSN. The full calendar will be on-line by the end of August.

Bible Study - every other Friday morning at 8 AM Everyone welcome at any time (we only ask that you arrive promptly). Beginning September 15th - come fine out how the second year will progress!

Everything UU: A three session introduction to what Unitarian Universalism is, its history in America, and the particular history and mission of this church. This course is repeated several times during the year. The next sessions will be held on Wednesday evenings: October 25, November 1 and November 8. DRE Anne Bancroft will be hosting this workshop with staff and lay leaders.

Spirituality and Film - Friday evenings monthly -look for announcements. Every evening includes the viewing and discussion of a film. The films are often chosen by the group -all have some spiritual and or ethical dimension. Sessions begin early so we can eat as we watch and there is adequate time for discussion. Aurelie Goodwin will be coordinating these evenings. Call her with questions or suggestions for films.

Adult Education Committee: Connie Adkins, Anne Bancroft (DRE), Aurelie Godowin, Freya Olafson, Ellen Porter-Honnet, Adrienne Robinson, Rick Runyon, and Bob Zeeb (chair).

How We are Organized
We divide our program into four groups: N – 7 (Nursery through Grade 7), Coming of Age (Grade 8), Youth (Grades 9-12), and Adult Education. Each is overseen by a committee with the assistance and guidance of the staff. These committees are brought together under our lay-led Religious Education Council. The Council includes at-large members in addition to representatives from each of the sub-groups and has the following goals:

• to coordinate our programming across the lifespan
• identify and provide intergenerational opportunities for faith development
• maintain a vibrant learning environment in our congregation and community.

This year’s Council Chair is Hiram Brownell.

Our program is a cooperative one, which means that our staff coordinates its efforts with many indispensable and energetic volunteers from our congregation to provide learning opportunities that are fresh and engaging.

We are here for you – call us whenever we can be of help.
617-332-3438.