Religious Education

August is here and while most people think of August as one of the summer months, for the RE department it’s back to the books!

I’m thrilled to announce that Marlene Katz has stepped up to be our new committee chair for the coming year. Marlene and her husband Rob have two kids, Dylan and Avery, who are quite active in our RE program. I’m sure they look forward to their mom’s new role and participation in RE. I know we do!

This year’s regular RE program will be offered during the 9:30 service with the kids being divided into age-based classes. Identical thematic material will be presented during the 11:30 service but in a mixed age environment (though we are considering moving the young teens group to the 11:30 service… those teens need their sleep, you know!)

At our meeting in July, the committee mapped out our themes for the entire school year. Once again we have organized the year into discrete modules giving our volunteer teachers a clear timeline for their teaching commitment. Our year will begin September 2nd with a review of the seven principles. November 4th through December 16th will focus on Our Judeo Christian Heritage, January 6th through February 24th on issues of Social Justice, followed by an exploration of Our UU Identity March 2nd through April 20th. Finally, from April 27th through May 19th we will prepare for RE Sunday by writing our own personal stories in light of the year’s explorations, with the year culminating on May 26th when we will share those stories on RE Sunday

We are excited to be introducing the “Center Quest” program for the coming year. “Center Quest” is both a curriculum and a methodology that gives anyone the tools to become an engaging and effective teacher. Special training for teachers is required for the program to ensure its success. Several volunteers from Chalice will attend a training at the Palomar UU Fellowship in July to help get our year started. A training session led by Liz Jones of First Church will follow for all our volunteer teachers on September 21st and 22nd. The benefits of this training will last for years to come.

See a topic in our schedules you’re interested in? There’s no better way to learn more about a topic than to teach it! Once again we will need a full slate of volunteers to make the RE program a success in the next year. I encourage anyone even remotely interested in teaching RE (or anything else for that matter) to set aside these dates, and contact me right away!