Maryland was the first state in the U.S. to mandate service learning for high school students. Service learning is a teaching method that combines meaningful service to the community with curriculum-based learning. Students improve their academic skills by applying...
Rich with queries and inspiration, this guide leads you through discerning direction for your Quaker religious education program this fall.
Use this coloring page when the world seems to need brightening. Author and illustrator, Anne Nydam (Wellesley Meeting, NEYM), invites you to send colored pages for posting in her on-line gallery: Nydam Prints, Black and White Download the image Fill This Day with...
Transitioning from life in Korea to America, a young woman struggles with change and figuring out where she fits. After her mother’s decision to marry a man in Alabama, 14-year-old Chuna, who thought she was just going on another mother-daughter trip, grapples with...
Mid-17th century England was swept by dramatic changes: sharp religious and political conflict, rising hopes, charismatic leaders and popular grassroots movements — in short, a world much like the one we live in today. Friends were born as a faith community into this...
"CURRÍCULO VISTO, CREADO Y DESARROLLADO como una forma de guiar y educar a los Amigos jóvenes en su fe cuáquera, similar a las Clases de Confirmación o los estudios de Bar / Bat Mitzvá que se encuentran en otras religiones. Para cualquier reunión o iglesia cuáquera,...
A Conversation about the Maps We Choose and the World We Want I'd love to see this book in every Quaker home and Friends meeting/church library. It's a surprisingly short and utterly engaging journey from world maps to questions of social justice and it's worth it...
A biography for younger readers about one of the most influential activists of our time, who was an early advocate for African Americans and for gay rights. Bayard Rustin was a major figure in the Civil Rights movement. He was arrested on a bus 13 years before Rosa...
"What do we do that makes us Quakers?" Follow how essential Quaker practices weave together the individual, Quaker community and Spirit, creating a unique, vital and transformative dynamic. The 15 short, free videos are great discussion starters. You can purchase...
Many faiths mark the transition of young people to teenage/adult status with a special process: learning, performance or ceremony. Quakers do not have a particular tradition for doing this. Some Friends have felt a yearning to honor this transition within their...
Lesson plan for the home with a book and activities. When fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba's Malawi village was hit by a drought, everyone's crops began to fail. Without enough money for food, let alone school, William spent his days in the library — and figured...
Lesson plan for the home with a book, music and activities — "All men are born free and equal." Everybody knows about the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the founders weren't the only ones who believed that everyone had a right to...
Lesson plan for the home with a book, music and activities: Young Drasko is happy working with his father in the Sarajevo market. Then war encroaches. Drasko must run the family flower stand alone. One morning, the bakery is bombed and twenty-two people are killed....
Activities to Pair with Books and Music HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE Please use these ideas in ways that work best for your children. The Concepts listed and Bible Readings are for grown-up background material to support you. Reading aloud the book together, or watching...
We use this settling routine from Ann Arbor (MI) Friends Meeting with all our kids, sometimes omitting a line or two. It's important to have chairs an appropriate height for all children so their toes can touch the floor. Sitting on the floor with knees bent and feet...
"There is that of God in everyone," paraphrased from George Fox's revelation, electrified 17th century England and continues to speak to us today. This 14-session curriculum offers an overview of Quaker faith and practice for middle and high school students. Designed...
In 1663, when all adults from Reading Friends Meeting were imprisoned for their faith, the children of the Meeting continued worship in the manner of Friends. This legend of Quaker Faith and Practice illustrates integrity, courage and non-violent resistance in the...
We are grateful to Nancy Pickering of Middletown Friends Meeting (Philadelphia Yearly Meeting) for three plays celebrating the Christmas season This is the Stable, A simple telling of the Nativity with readings from the book by Cynthia Cotten, illustrated by Delana...
This 11-lesson curriculum for First Day School explores four aspects of integrity: truth telling, authenticity, faithfulness/loyalty to the Truth, corporate action (our communal accountability to the Truth). For each week, there are engaging activities and/or...
In 2016, when global warming left the entire city of La Paz without drinking water for weeks, the Friends International Bilingual Center (FIBC) seized the teachable moment to educate children about the crisis and what they could do to help. Through QREC, Friends in...
The Questions We Ask is a lesson for older children and young teens. Karen Greenler (Madison Meeting, WI) has created an exploration of the creation story in Genesis laid alongside the Big Bang Theory. Her approach is addressed to"Quaker skeptics," the young Friends...
Había un gran interés en mi mente en no ocupar mi tiempo con relación a las cosas externas, de tal manera que nada me impidiera tener la fiel atención a la voz del Pastor Verdadero. —El diario de John Woolman, 1743, p.18 Este currículo es el resultado de una...
Una obra de teatro sobre la vida de Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) por Thomas Leverett. Lucretia es retratada tanto de niña como de adulta e incluye a otras figuras históricas: Elias Hicks, Thomas Coffin (su esposo), Lucy Stone (una activista por los derechos de las...
A series of six videos to help Quaker monthly meetings and worship groups welcome children and families. Recorded by Melinda Wenner Bradley in the Fall 2015. Rachel Guaraldi was the Videographer.
The Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) is an international, cross-branch, grassroots network of Friends sharing a stewardship for lifelong Quaker faith formation through religious education. We formed in April 2014 and now serve more than 300 Friends in our network. We actively engage and support each other across languages and continents. We gather for regional and annual conferences and offer monthly Conversation Circles via an online conferencing platform.
We share leadership as part of our collaborative mission, making decisions using the Quaker ‘sense of the meeting’ process, sitting in expectant, worshipful waiting for the emergence of shared truth. Read more…
Our work takes place in ‘circles’ or small groups of Friends who labor on a common task, usually meeting by video conference due to the geographic diversity of the membership. Read more…
The QREC Resource Library is a place to share lessons and other educational information in support of our work as Quaker religious educators. This library is a forum for curricula, articles, videos and other educational materials on Quaker themes. You will also find principles, policies and procedures to strengthen operation of your child, youth and adult religious education programs.
Find renewal, companionship, and help for nitty gritty issues in Quaker religious education, all the while opening spaces for Spirit to work and listening together for God’s way forward.
QREC holds an annual conference and retreat. In addition we hold online Conversation Circles and post other religious education events as we learn about them.
Online conferences for Quaker religious educators to share about their work. Conversations are scheduled for two sessions per topic to encourage international participation. Join the conversation…
Religious education events of interest to Quakers from all parts of the world. Please let us know about upcoming online or in-person events happening in your area. See the list of upcoming events…
Home is the heart of faith formation for all families. This is especially true for Friends. As an experiential religion, Quakerism is best learned through living in loving community. Indeed, the vast majority of faith formation for our young Friends happens at home in the busy swirl of daily life.
QREC depends on all of us sharing our gifts and skills as religious educators. Here are some of the ways you can get involved…
