In the season of Christmas and festivals of light, we consider how to celebrate in the manner of Friends: How do we approach this season as Friends? What can we share with Quaker religious education colleagues from our experience? What can we share with families in...
Children learn through play. They play school, they play house, they even play COVID, giving everyone shots. Do our children know enough about being Quaker to play Quaker? Children are fully spiritual beings. Meeting life needs to be as open and comprehensible to them...
Friends Meetings, like all faith communities, are at risk of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults. This one page explanation of the risk is a good conversation starter for Friends meetings seeking to create or strengthen safety policies. Rules of Thumb for...
Aconcise exploration of Quaker faith and practice for young children. Without preaching or proselytizing, children who are believers talk about their religion, as they have learned it from -- or practice it with -- their families. Religions of the World books (Rosen...
Have you ever imagined how you came to be? Do you stop and wonder what your place is in creation? Becoming Me presents a way of looking at life and the meaning of our existence, based on timeless spiritual insights. The simple words and radiant illustrations touch...
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...
This superbly illustrated Bible interprets the text of all the most important stories in the Old and New Testaments, making it an essential Bible reader for the whole family. The DK Illustrated Family Bible uses original texts selected from the New International...
Simple, direct statements are paired with watercolor illustrations to highlight some of the rallying causes for organized marches throughout the history of the United States. The text and art begin with two marches that will reemerge as metaphor later in the book: a...
Learnings that Light the Way. Tuesday, May 18, 1pm Eastern (USA) and Thursday, May 20, 8pm Eastern (USA). Listening for emerging practice and ideas among Quaker religious educators as we move into this new time.
Alphabet Words to Inspire Compassion, Kindness and Positivity This book features 26 empowering alphabet words to activate the potential of our children and create a bright future for humanity. A New Alphabet for Humanity teaches children the power of positive words so...
This curriculum is a gem. Designed for 5-7 year olds, it is useful at home and in First Day School. Each lesson is based on an excellent storybook. Kreidler was a Quaker and brilliant educator. His curriculum normalizes conflict as an inevitable part of life in...
We as human beings need stories. It's this primal part of who we are as a human race — from the very beginning. That's how we have always made meaning. Telling stories, over and over again. Caryl Cresswell, a recorded minister in Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting, a...
Make your Quaker Religious Education come alive! Weave Quaker Activists into your lesson plans bringing a fresh, contemporary voice of lived Quakerism to your Friends Meeting or Church. Use digital technology to invite the world into your classroom in the person of a...
A rich collection of useful websites with curricula and learning materials from many different yearly meetings, Quaker organizations and other educational organizations for teaching all ages. Please use the comment section below to suggest other websites that should...
Every day can be about creating peace. Here are some multicultural books on peace for Quaker collections......
This experiential curriculum uses mandalas to help children learn about their past and current connection to the Divine and to their faith community. Can be taught in one or more lessons. From the author… "In 2017, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Annual Sessions...
Lesson plan for the home with a book and activities. 1930's Great Depression is the setting of a boy's ingenuity in helping his family. Like so many people during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Marshall Loman's dad has lost his job. There's little money, but there...
"It all starts with stopping," says author Beth Collea, as she describes how the practice of coloring mandalas helps young children settle. Links are provided to websites with free, printable mandalas from the simple to the intricate. This tool is useful for family...
Meeting Needs linked with FGC Resources: A Sampling (Bolded words can be put into a search engine like Google this way — “FGC clearness committees”, or "FGC outreach” for example or into the FGC search window on the website without the “FGC”) Outreach: How can we...
From the child's point of view, living in a small Meeting can be very rich. The segregation between children and adults that is the norm for popular culture and many large Meetings is impossible here. It is like living in a small town, or a large family where everyone...
This picture-book version of the Biblical parable of the loaves and fishes tells the story from the perspective of the young boy who offers up his simple lunch of rye bread loaves and fish he'd caught at his quiet fishing spot to Jesus, who uses them to feed the...
This book is based on Michael J. Sheeran’s doctoral work in the Dept. of Politics at Princeton University. A Jesuit priest, he spent two years (1973—75) conducting interviews, reading, and observing the actual decision-making of the Quakers. Sheeran was convinced...
This is an idea packet assembled for families and small meetings who seek to educate children in Quaker faith and practice. Originally published in 1986, this is a treasure trove, worthy of adaptation and revision given that most Quaker meetings still face these...
A Busy Box can be kept on hand should children arrive at a small meeting with no formal religious education program. For Meetings with an RE program, the Busy Box is useful to help young Friends quietly join Meeting for Worship before or after the lesson. Friendly...
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…
