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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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We are thrilled to offer Becoming, 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 16 one-hour sessions, with additional material including eight optional, offsite Faith Exploration activities, a youth journal and a facilitator guide that covers designing a mentorship program and end-of-year celebratory worship. Three of the 16 sessions/lessons are devoted to helping youth craft their personal mission/”north star statement” (our version of a 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 Lenes: Finally, we use five unique lenses to address all of these "big questions." On their way to answering the question for themselves, youth first explore how they are answered by…
Publication Schedule We are still in the process of shaping the content, so the entire curriculum will be available by August 1st. Cost We offer two subscription levels, one for larger congregations and another for smaller ones. Since this is our pilot year, we will update the program next year with all we learn. All of this year's pilot subscribers will received next year's updated version for free:
Samples In order to help you better discern if Becoming is right for you, we are making the Orientation session and one other session available for free. You can download those on our Samples Page. Those free items will be available by the end of June. Becoming Orientation Webinar Be sure to attend our “Welcome to Becoming” orientation video happening in early August. To register, go to our Webinars & Trainings Page. If you can’t make the webinar, you can view a recording of it on our Recorded Webinars page. This webinar will discuss the program’s distinctive components, implementation tips and any questions you have. This webinar will be especially helpful to those leaders facilitating the program. Questions Email our Director of Early Youth Resources, April Rasario, at dre@firstparishtaunton.org |
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