Upcoming in Religious Education

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The following calendar for the month of January is subject to change. If your household includes children or teens and you would like to receive regular updates about programs, please get in touch with our Director of Religious Education by emailing dre@uudanbury.org.

  • Sunday, January 1st – New Year’s Day! No programs and the nursery will be closed 
  • Sunday, January 8th – Regular Sunday programming; community removal of the Christmas Tree; rescheduled Caregiver Orientation for the high school OWL program 
  • Sunday, January 15th – Possible special social action project (to be announced) in celebration of Martin Luther King Day
  • Sunday, January 22nd – Regular Sunday programming including OWL for high schoolers and OWL later in the day for 7th-8th graders 
  • Sunday, January 29th – Regular Sunday programming including OWL for high schoolers and OWL later in the day for 7th-8th graders 

A Sampling of Topics Explored in Our Forest-School Inspired Program

Our Forest School program is child-led and play-centered, and the curriculum comes from the children. If you wonder what kinds of things children discuss through their play in a religious education setting, here is a list from the three sessions just prior to the deadline for newsletter submissions: 

  • Gender identity 
  • Oppression and inequality related to gender
  • Current UU Principles and the proposed changes to article 2 of the bylaws of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (where our principles are listed) 
  • Concepts of autonomy 
  • Elections and the right to vote 
  • Perseveration and stimming (neurodivergence) as part of the spectrum of human experiences 
  • Consent (this is a frequent topic) 
  • The Christmas story 
  • Social norms around gift-giving and language
  • Bodily differences and race/ethnicity 
  • Values around risk-taking 
  • The democratic process and other options for negotiating different priorities 
  • The meaning of “maturity” 
  • Whether or not people can change 

That’s right! All this came from conversations introduced by our young participants! Though our topics vary, they are always thought-provoking and informative in one way or another. However, it gets richer when children attend regularly and we develop ongoing discussions that develop over time.