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Becoming!
A Soul Matters Coming of Age Curriculum
Helping our youth shape their own UU identity and embrace the values that will shape their lives.
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Becoming is our Soul Matters coming of age curriculum. This program supports youth as they explore, develop and articulate their personal values and faith identity.
Curriculum Structure This curriculum is developed for 9th and 10th graders and ideally would come after a program that engages youth in interfaith exploration, like our neighboring faiths' curriculum, Crossing Paths. The core content is organized into approximately 31 one-hour sessions, with additional material including some optional, offsite Faith Exploration activities, a youth journal and a facilitator guide that covers designing a mentorship program and end-of-year celebratory worship. Four of the 31 sessions/lessons are devoted to helping youth craft their personal credo statement. These numerous, targeted sessions provide flexibility, allowing you to combine or eliminate sessions if wanted and to run the program over 3 months, 5 months or longer if you wish. Each of our optional, offsite Faith Exploration activities are designed to help youth explore their faith identity in a hands-on way. Some are social justice oriented and others are adventure oriented. For example, the Faith Exploration activity tied to the lesson about courageous faith suggests a high ropes course followed by spiritual reflection. Unique Components The Three Dimensions of the Spiritual Life: Becoming’s theological approach frames the spiritual life around three core themes and questions. This 3-part framework originated from work being done at the Sacred Design Lab. Here they are:
The Big Questions: Within these three general areas of the spiritual life, we invite youth to wrestle with more specific questions as they shape their personal religious identity. For instance, under Belonging we invite youth to ask themselves such questions as “What values am I committed to?” “How do I balance my responsibilities to family, friends, society and the faith community to which I belong?” and “How do I resist exclusion and support the belonging of others?” Some questions related to Becoming involve asking “How do I bravely honor my true self?” "What does it mean to live with authenticity and integrity?” “What parts from my upbringing do I want to hold onto and let go of?” Some questions related to the Beyond involve asking “What is my relationship to the sacred?” ”Is life random, indifferent, trustworthy, loving, dependable, threatening, cruel, good?” and “What are my responsibilities to needs greater than my own?” The Five Lenses: Finally, we use five unique lenses to address all of these "big questions." On their way to answering the session's question for themselves, youth first explore how they are answered by…
Getting the Packets All of the sessions and other material is available at the time of purchase. This will give you plenty of time to go through the curriculum and make any adaptations that will fit your unique context and calendar planning best. Cost We offer two subscription levels, one for larger congregations and another for smaller ones.
Samples In order to help you better discern if Becoming is right for you, the leaders guide, orientation session guide and two core session guides are available for free on our Samples Page. Additionally, an overview chart listing all the session titles and topics is available HERE. Becoming Orientation Webinar Recording Check out the recorded “Welcome to Becoming” orientation by clicking HERE. This recorded webinar discusses the program’s distinctive components as well as design and leader tips. It's a great resource for those facilitating the program as well as those still deciding if they want to purchase the program. Questions Email our Director of Early Youth Resources, April Rasario, at dre@firstparishtaunton.org |
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