September is upon us. School is about to begin. Some of us breathe a sigh of relief over that and some of us just are not quite ready. But come what may it is fairly certain that we will be shifting from a summertime routine to a fall routine.

For those of us with no children at home it may mean thinking ahead to the chores that come in early fall with a vision toward winter. For those of us with children it includes some of that and all the start up of getting children and families into homework and bus routines. And all of this done with memories of summer dancing in our heads

This past July I was blessed with being able to return to Star Island for the Religious Educators Professional Development week. Jesse and Naomi went with me. We were able to reconnect with old friends and colleagues. And we were able to participate in the 100^th anniversary of RE week on Star Island. It was an emotional moment for me. A little bit of our family history was tied up with that moment and it was very good to be there. I also was able to attend some workshops and lectures on Social Justice and Religious Education and I am hoping that I can bring some of what I found there to our work here at May.

During July I was able to finish up my Fellowship application. I had hoped to get a September interview date. And although technically that is still possible it is highly unlikely at this point. And so now I need to look ahead and see which dates are available to me and which work best with my personal and professional life. The good news is that my paperwork is in!

But one of the best things for me right now is the startup of our RE program. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, both new faces and returning faces, and would love to hear the stories from summer, from the different travels and adventures.

I think that this program year promises to be interesting, lively, with lots of opportunities for our youth to learn about themselves, their world and their faith.

As in previous years we will be having four different “terms” — Fall, our unique Seven Weeks of Unity, Winter and Spring. Each of the terms is comprised by about 8 Sundays of lessons. Our class groupings as of this moment are as follows:

• Nursery (birth — approximately 3 years old)
• Natural Wonders (approximately 3–4)
• Creating Home (K)
• Peace Pals (1-2)
• Moral Tales I (3)
• Moral Tales II (4)
• Toolbox of Faith (5-6)
• Coming of Age (7-8)

You may notice some new names to our class groupings. That is because this year we will be using more of the new Tapestries of Faith curriculum that is being developed by the UUA. We have been a test site for this curriculum for the last two years and have had good experiences with it. The RE committee and myself believe that this curriculum will help our children not only grow in their own faith but also in their understanding of their Unitarian Universalist heritage. As to how the groupings are arranged we make our best guess based on last year’s attendance as to what groupings will make sense this year. There is some flex as to how these groups are arranged and if changes need to be made we can do that.

Important Dates:

Sept. 7^th Our year starts off with our Water Communion Service This intergenerational service is a time to regather, reconnect and celebrate. On that Sunday there will be registration material and more information about for RE available.

Sept. 9^th guide training 6:30 p.m. at May

Sept 14^th our class groupings start meeting

Sept. 14^th a parent orientation for the Coming of Age group immediately following the service at May

Welcome to newcomers, welcome back to oldcomers. I am looking forward to seeing all of you.

~ Jennifer Hamlin-Navias, Director of Religious Education