About – Yet Another UU Curriculum Site

Yet Another Unitarian Universalist Curriculum Site contains religious education curricula and supporting material for use in Sunday schools in liberal congregations.

About these curricula

These curriculums are designed to support values-based children and youth programs.

Calendar and schedule: These curriculums were written for use in Unitarian Universalist congregations with a typical school year calendar and Sunday morning schedule. (Obviously, they can be adapted for other settings.)

The curriculums are designed for a typical class session lasting 50 minutes, with the kids attending part of the weekly worship service before class
A core goal of the curriculums is for kids to have fun and build community, so lesson plans generally allow significant time for check-in and (often) free play
The curricula are designed for a school year divided into four quarters of about 8 weeks each; this is why many curriculums include 8 lesson plans

Cultural setting: The curriculums are designed to be used with children and youth from diverse cultural traditions and ethnicities. Many of the field tests took place in the San Francisco Bay area in a white-minority county, with diverse children of diverse parents ( European, African, South Asian, East Asian, South American, etc.). Since parents are the primary cultural, spiritual, and religious educators, the curriculums are designed to reinforce what young people may learn at home, while also introducing them to traditions they might not otherwise be familiar with.

Ecological setting: The Ecojustice curriculum was originally designed for the climate and seasons of the San Francisco Bay Area. A second version was created for southern New England. The curriculum can easily be adapted for other bioregions.

About me

I’m Dan Harper, principal author of material on this site. I’ve served in Unitarian Universalist congregations ranging in size from 25 members to 550 members (3,000 members if you count Church of the Larger Fellowship, an online congregation). I’ve worked as director of religious education, minister of religious education, interim minister, and I’m currently working as a parish minister.

My credentials: B.A. in philosophy from Haverford College. A year of graduate study in creative nonfiction at Emerson College. M.Div. from Meadville/ Lombard Theological School, with a focus in religious education. Fellowshipped as a Unitarian Universalist minister with a religious education speciality. More than thirty years direct experience working with children and teens.

Credits

The curriculums and lesson plans have been developed in partnership with teachers, children and youth, lay leaders, and the minister of religious education. Sunday school teachers have taught, given feedback, and contributed to the development of these curricula. Children and youth have participated in these programs, and they have also provided feedback (in fact, one curriculum was co-written with a young person). Credit to specific people is given in each curriculum.

The curriculums on this site have grown out of actual classes and workshops with real live children and teens at the following Unitarian Universalist congregations: First Parish in Cohasset (Coming of Age, Ecojustice Camp); First Parish in Lexington, Mass. (Judean Village); First Parish in Waterown, Mass. (Peace Experiments); Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto (Beginnings, Coming of Age, Ecojustice Camp, Ecojustice Class, From Long Ago, Greek Myths, Judean Village, Neighboring Religious Communities, Peace Experiments).

Copyright

You are welcome to use any of these curricula in your congregation. Teachers can access lessons from their tablet or smart phone, and/or they may make a printed copy of any page on this site for their own personal use. UU and other liberal congregations may print as many copies of curricula as they need for their Sunday schools. Some curricula are available as print copies or ebooks; purchase of a print copy will grant you permission to make unlimited copies for your congregation.

Regardless of any permission to copy, each and every curriculum is protected by copyright. There are unscrupulous people out there who will take material from the Web that is not copyright-protected, turn around and slap their own copyright on it, and then bar the original author from publishing (and yes, Virginia, it has happened).

I retain copyright to all material on this site (except where explicitly noted otherwise). If you have any questions about permissions, you can contact me at:

dharper dot
fpcohasset at
gmail dot com