Religious Exploration for Children
We invite all young people to join us to share our time and hearts together!
WEEKEND CAMPS
This year we are offering two weekend camps to enhance our kids’ experience at the Fellowship, with time for deeper learning, more connection, and lots of fun. While the kids are having their camp time, the adults will also be having time for learning and connection!
Sunday Class Information
Sunday Religious Exploration (RE) classes are offered during the 11:00 am service from September through late May.
Don’t forget to register now! (See button below)
Nursery (9:00, 10:10, 11:00 am): Ages 6 months–4 years
Children will be supervised in a safe and nurturing environment that encourages creativity and group play.
Coffee House Service Childcare (9:00 am) Ages 4-10
Children of all ages are highly encouraged to participate in the 9:00 Coffee House service to more deeply connect with the members of our community. Childcare is available for young people in grades 4K-5 who are better served in a self-directed play environment.
*Regular RE classes will continue to be offered at 11:00 am.
Fun and Friends (10:10 – 10:50 am)
Children in 4K through 5th grade (ages 4-10) are welcome to join friends new and old during Middle Hour for our newly created Fun & Friends. Fun & Friends is supervised
crafts, games, and relaxed play time (as requested by the children and parents themselves).
Sunday Religious Exploration (11:00 am)
Pre-K through First Grade: Ages 4-7
Students are introduced to the rituals and classroom structure of religious education. These include chalice lighting, joys and concerns, and UU Values. Our goal is to build an environment of safety and curiosity that begins the path to individual UU identity and spiritual development.
2nd through 5th Grade: Ages 7-11
Students in this group gather to light their classroom chalice and share their joys and concerns before being introduced to a lesson based on our monthly themes. After the lesson introduction, students continue their exploration of the topic by engaging in activities designed to help reinforce concepts covered in class.
6th-8th Grade and Above: Ages 11-13 and Above
Crossing Paths – Click HERE for details.
Children and Youth in Services
The best way to help children feel connected and valued at the Fellowship and to help them love coming here is to bring them regularly. We encourage our children to sit with their family for the first part of the service and to participate in the opening rituals. It’s ok for kids to be wiggly or make noise, and if they need something to do with their hands, an activity bag can be found outside the sanctuary.
All-Ages Services
These special services are held throughout the year and allow children to stay in the service the whole hour with age-appropriate stories, activities, and songs for the whole congregation.
Adults Are A Critical Part Of Our Religious Education Program
Our Religious Education program is successful because of the wonderful adults who commit their time to support our children and youth, while they also learn and grow in their UU faith! Adults commit to helping one Sunday each month.
Please contact director of religious exploration Kim Hartman at [email protected] with questions.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Religious Exploration Program. Here at the Fellowship, we are passionate about providing quality programs and educational experiences for all of our young people. We strive to support and enhance whole child development, cultivate a sense of wonder and reverence for the gifts of life, nurture a deeper understanding of those things that go beyond words and foster a deep sense of social responsibility. Our RE program encourages the use of critical thinking skills to help our young people create an understanding of their place in the world.
We work hard to create a culture of connectedness and belonging, and our programs endeavor to cultivate a sense of belonging and community; a community where people of all ages are recognized for their unique contributions and gifts to the larger whole.
We believe that the educational experiences we provide at the Fellowship will enrich the lives of our young people; that the tools and skills that they acquire here will set a pattern of lifelong learning and spiritual growth. It is our desire that the lessons learned in our classrooms will not only cultivate individual growth but that the education provided here will ultimately contribute to the good of the larger world community.
It is a pleasure and privilege to work with the children of the Fellowship. We look forward to working with you and your family!
Kim Hartman, Director of Religious Exploration
The Fellowship’s Religious Exploration program…
- Offers liberal religious education for children and youth that promotes welcoming, anti-racist and anti-oppression values
- teaches our children and youth about their UU identity, and to question and find their own spiritual path
- increases awareness regarding issues of social responsibility
- provides an emotionally and physically safe, secure, and nurturing environment
Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Religious Exploration Mission Statement: The mission our religious exploration program is to grow a community of compassionate young people by:
- Maintaining a safe, welcoming, and developmentally appropriate environment
- Fostering caring relationships
- Exposing them to diverse voices and religious traditions
- Engaging them in critical thinking about values in their world
- Offering opportunities for meaningful social justice work
Religious Exploration Philosophy and Goals
We believe that Religious Education & Exploration is a lifelong process, and we seek to provide programs for all age groups. We also strive to appeal to the interests and concerns of our diverse congregation. Our programs are based on the assumption that young people receive their primary religious education in the home. Our efforts are in support of families who are raising their children with respect for liberal religious values.
We endeavor to provide an educational ministry to our program participants that will enable each person to:
- Feel loved and supported as part of a concerned religious community
- Develop a positive self-image
- Form a Unitarian Universalist identity by learning about our values, heritage, traditions, symbols, and celebrations
- Explore the spiritual wisdom of the world’s greatest religious traditions
- Cultivate life skills of creative and non-violent problem solving, the ability to question and think for oneself, an attitude of responsibility for one’s choices, and the self-confidence and desire necessary to interact socially to create a better world
- Celebrate diversity
- Affirm our interdependence with the universe and our responsibility to cherish and care for the earth
- Experience the lifelong joy of growth in religious understanding.
