Northern Virginia Ethical Society DEE Blog

Stream Cleanup Update: Bring Cleanup Energy to Your Own Community!

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 23:42:54 GMT

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we won't be able to meet at our usual stream cleanup location. Fortunately(?) I pretty much guarantee that if you walk outside and look around, you can find a space to clean up!

On Sunday morning (or anytime this weekend when rain doesn't stop you) please take some time to put on some long sleeves, long pants, and thick gloves, grab a trash bag (and a recycling bag, and a compost bag if you can) and start collecting.

I'd love any pictures that you take of your local cleanup! Text them to me or email them to dee@noves.org. I'll also create a post on Facebook and you can add them into the comments there. We'll use this pictures during our Spring Festival on 4/7!

La Mano Amiga Fundraiser April 11!

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 22:42:46 GMT

Thank you to all who joined us last week for our platform about the work our Ethical Teens are doing with La Mano Amiga. As promised, here is the information about our upcoming fundraiser!

April 11, 5:00pm
Johnny Pistola's
2333 18th St NW
Washington, DC 20009

Your $50 in-person ticket includes an open bar. You can also join virtually for $25!

Get Tickets Here!

What is La Mano Amiga?

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 22:56:34 GMT

Did you know that over the past year, our Ethical Teens have helped adult orphans in Honduras change their lives by building new businesses, providing safe homes for their families, or expanding their ability to earn a living? Through their work with La Mano Amiga, a non-profit started by Jessica Tyndall, who came up through NoVES!

I hope you can join us in person or virtually to learn more about La Mano Amiga, the work they've done, and how you can help.

This platform will have an interactive component, so come prepared to participate and practice making the hard choices that we've been making each month for the past year.

Don't worry, even though I'll be delivering the platform on Sunday, we'll still have activities for our Ethical Kids. Thanks to Melissa for stepping in and helping out!

Sunday's Ethical Action: Writing Letters to Elders

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 02:21:22 GMT

This month, the kids focused on talking about how we show love to others (for example, by serving them ice cream!) For our ethical action this month, we encourage you all to keep that theme going by writing letters through Love for Our Elders. Each month, this organization highlights some folks who would love to connect with others through letters. This is a small way to make someone's day, and I hope you'll consider taking some time out of your day to brighten someone else's.

I will be hosting a site to the west of our regular meeting space, in Ashburn. Join me at Blend Coffee Bar from 11:00-12:00, where I'll have materials to write letters.

11:00am-12:00pm
Blend Coffee Bar
43710 Southern Walk Plaza
Ashburn, VA 20148

Darwin Day & Ethical Action

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:34:33 GMT

Sunday is one of our favorite days of the year -- Darwin Day! The kids will be serving banana splits in a somewhat roundabout but still relevant celebration of Charles Darwin. Our sign-up form is here and I would appreciate any help with toppings that we can get!

I'm coming in hot today with another ask! For our ethical action this month, we will be writing letters to seniors through Love for our Elders. We'd love for people to "host" a meeting at a local cafe. I'm planning to host one in the Centreville area and would love insight into what location works best for everyone who is planning to join in that area. Would someone be willing to host something closer to Falls Church or Vienna? I'll bring supplies on Sunday, so you just have to bring them and show up!

Banana Split Ingredient Sign-Up!

Sat, 10 Feb 2024 01:43:20 GMT

On 2/18, we're having our Darwin Day platform. That means banana splits served by our Ethical Kids! No matter who you are, you can help us bring this tradition to life.

Are you an adult attending platform? Amazing! You can sign up to bring something on this handy dandy Google Sheet!

Are you a teen who has aged out of the regular program but is willing to come help us serve banana splits? You're my hero -- ask your parents to let me know that you're coming!

Are you a kid? Get your scooping arm ready -- the big day is coming up!

Ethical Education: What to Expect 2/4

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 23:03:10 GMT

As I mentioned last time we met up, we have a special guest teacher for our class on Sunday — Kimberly!! Kimberly is taking over for me while I take a weekend away in Brooklyn.

It’s the perfect week for it too! The kids will be making Valentine’s Day cards for family members or close friends, so Kimberly’s artistic skills and creativity will make for a great class!

When I return on the 18th, we’ll talk about showing love to people outside of that inner circle, expanding to more distant friends or acquaintances. This will lead right into our ethical action this month — writing letters to seniors (details coming soon!)

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 23:15:59 GMT

I hope you all have a wonderful 3-day weekend and take some time to reflect on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When we meet at Green Hedges on 1/21, we'll have an ethical education class dedicated to talking about how we can further his work in our everyday lives.

On Monday, I plan to attend the annual Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation March for Unity and Freedom at 10am. If you'd like to meet up, please email or text me and we'll see you there!

You can register in advance on Eventbrite to reserve your space.

Ethical Education: What Expect December 17

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:09:12 GMT

Our All-Music Platform is almost here! This week, our kids will stay with the adults and enjoy a platform full of music.

One thing I really appreciate about NoVES is how intentionally we blend our adult and children programming. We saw this earlier in December when our members helped the kids with their ethical action project, and I'm looking forward to everyone spending time together this Sunday.

A Huge Thank You From Our Ethical Kids!

Sat, 09 Dec 2023 02:36:03 GMT

Thank you to the many of you who donated items from our Amazon Wishlist to pack into care bags. We had an incredible amount of donations and Josie and Abby were excellent packers. We were able to talk about why each item was important and they worked together to fill each bag. On Sunday ask we talk about what brings us hope, the energy that I felt from all of you around this ethical action has certainly been a light in the darkness.

Speaking of lights, I know many of our NoVES families celebrate multiple holidays this time of year. For those of you who celebrate, Happy Hanukkah!

Ethical Education: What to Expect December 3

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 04:22:01 GMT

Thank you so much to the many of you who have donated items for our bags for people experiencing homelessness. Your donation will help us with our ethical action this Sunday, when we will spend our time putting together bags. In addition to the items donated, each bag will receive information about services in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties as well as a note from our ethical kids.

I'm looking forward to spending time with the kids to put these together on Sunday. We'll also do our own preview of the 12/17 Music Platform with our own playlist for our ethical action. If you are planning to attend and your child has any songs that they especially like, please let me know and I'll be sure to include it!

Help Our Ethical Kids With an Ethical Action!

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 00:20:19 GMT

Last Sunday, we welcomed some new friends to class and I'm looking forward to everyone coming together on the 19th for Stone Salad!

In November, we're focusing on gratitude. In December, we'll be focusing our classes on giving. Last Sunday, the 6+ kids talked about what helps them feel safe and comfortable. Through that conversation, we planned an ethical action, which those of you in attendance received some notecards about. I'm here with more details!

During Stone Salad, the kids will be collecting items to create toiletry bags for people experiencing homelessness. You can help out by donating or purchasing items from our Amazon Wishlist. (Note that if you'd prefer to use another retailer but purchase a similar item in a similar quantity, please let me know so that I can ensure that wishlist reflects what we have collected.)

For our first class in December, we will create toiletry bags. These will be available for members to keep in their car and hand out any extras will be donated to Cornerstones.

Where To Find Us October 29

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 22:35:49 GMT

While the AEU hosts its All-Society Platform on Sunday, you can find me and Joey at the Cascades Farmer's Market! We'll be hosting an art table again for their Halloween event. If you're interested, come out and join us!

Ethical Action October 22

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 01:47:27 GMT

Thank you to those of you who took some time on Sunday to participate in the vote set up by the kids! Our October topic was a lot of fun and a great way to remind everyone that we have state & local elections going on right now in Virginia!

This Sunday, I'll be at a local market hosting a coloring table for kids with voting-themed coloring pages. I encourage you all to take some time for ethical action yourselves. One way to spend your morning is to contact five people and make sure they have a plan to vote. You can share early voting information for Fairfax County and Loudoun County. Want to do more? There are plenty of opportunities to help in a way that speaks to you, like handing out sample ballots of door-to-door canvassing.

Ethical Education: What to Expect: October 15

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 01:42:45 GMT

This update isn't just for our Ethical Kids! Hopefully many of you will join us Sunday for Melissa's platform and our kid-led election following the platform! Last class, the kids talked about elections, helped put together a plan for an election on Sunday, and even made a special ballot box for us to use.

Our candidates? What treat I should bring to our 11/5 platform. Joey is advocating for chocolate pie, while Lily is promising an assortment of cake pops. It's up to you, the voters, to decide what happens next. Either way, I know what I'm doing on November 4 (and I'm accepting gluten-free and vegan recipes for both candidates if you have them!)

What to Expect: October 1

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 21:57:49 GMT

This Sunday we'll start our next topic: Voting and Advocacy! With state & local elections coming up, it's a great time to talk about why voting matters and how we can advocate for ourselves and others.

We'll meet at Green Hedges and start off in the main room with the platform. I'm reading the book this week, and right after that we'll move to the classroom. Parents are welcome to join in, or stay and listen to the platform.

This week, the students will be working on a campaign of their own -- to decide what snack I bring to our next class (on 10/15)! They'll practice their influencing skills by making signs and, at Josie's request, speeches.

I can't wait for Sunday! I'm so excited to see where the kids take this activity.

No Walk Sunday!

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 23:36:09 GMT

Our September classes on Interconnected Life have been a lot of fun! It's been wonderful to see the kids apply what they know about nature and communities to reflect on questions about how we rely on each other.

This Sunday, we planned to take a walk to cap off our conversation. Unfortunately, it looks like it will either be very rainy or very muddy on Sunday. Instead, let's take a well-deserved week off before we start our new topic in October -- voting and activism!

Ethical Education: What to Expect 9/17

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 23:50:09 GMT

It was so great to get the chance to meet some new families last Sunday! We spent our time together getting to know each other, doing some art, and talking about how living things are all connected to each other. We also set some norms for our class. I shared the goals of our space and encouraged them to always feel empowered to let me know what would be more fun or interesting for the group. We also started making our class playlist, which has some bangers so far.

This Sunday, we're going to meet at Green Hedges to continue on the theme of interconnectedness and take advantage of what looks like incredible weather! We'll start out in our classroom to share our joys and concerns and align on our goals for the day. Then we'll go outside to the playground and make some notes about plants and animals that we see. We'll take our notes back inside (or to the picnic tables) and talk about the different items we saw, what they need to thrive and what relies on them.

This will prepare us for next Sunday, when we spend NoVES's virtual Sunday on a nature walk!

Ethical Education: What to Expect on Sunday

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 23:01:20 GMT

I can't wait to see you all on Sunday! We're going to start off our year by talking about how we are all interconnected. After the children's story during platform, we'll move back to our classroom. After talking about the story and what it meant to us, we'll transition Into our topic for the month.

Our class on Sunday will be a mixture of group discussion and arts and crafts. While the kids are working on their art, we'll have some music playing, so please send me one or two of your kid's favorite songs so I can add them to our playlist!

For those in the platform, be sure to stick around to see what our Ethical Kids made this week!

Ethical Education Starts Next Week

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 19:24:14 GMT

Our September Ethical Education programming starts next Sunday! This month, we will focus on the relationships between plants, animals, and humans. We will also talk about relationships in communities to set us up for our October topic -- voting!

I'm looking forward to this programming, and I'm especially looking forward to meeting some new people and inviting them into our program. We've set ourselves up this year for maximum flexibility and I can't wait to start testing and learning with our families!

Less, But Better

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 01:49:18 GMT

One of my favorite books is Essentialism, which encourages the reader to focus on what they do best and focus on doing those things rather than all of the many other things that we can do with our days. This doesn't always work out -- I'm not great at cleaning but I can't get away with just not doing it!

The book can be quickly and roughly summarized as "Do Less, But Better". I've been thinking a lot this summer about what we do best as an Ethical Education program. There are a few things that have come up for me, and these are the areas where I want to really focus in the upcoming year:

Provide a space for kids to connect with each other and experience a community that is rooted not in belief, but in dedication to learning and growing.
Encourage kids to consider how we impact others and the world (and help them make that impact positive!)
Build critical thinking skills at all ages to prepare our kids to respond to challenges that they will inevitably face.

We'll structure this year to build in more space for iteration, with monthly topics rather than topics that span all year (less, but better). If you have any ideas or want to take a month to help teach, please reach out!

Connecting with Ethical Culture in Difficult Times

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 00:42:54 GMT

"The dead are not dead if we have loved them truly." - Felix Adler

This is going to be a bit of a downer, but I promise I have a point! However, as a content warning I'm going to be talking about pet death in my update this week.

On Wednesday night our cat, Pixel, passed. I've always felt like explaining death to kids without the "cheat code" of heaven was doing it on hard mode and that felt very real this week. However, the experience is a reminder of how important connecting in our community and continually reflecting on Ethical Culture is.

What I most hope to pass on to Josie through our ethical education program, and what I think is so unique to us, is that the present matters. How we treat each other, how we take care of the world around us, and how we move through life matters inherently, not in service of anything else. This is reinforced at how we talk about death. My answers about where Pixel is now may not seem magical or soothing, but they're also unimportant. They distract us from what does have meaning -- the time that we spent with her.

I appreciate this community today because I'm able to rely on friends for support, get advice that is meaningful and aligns with my values (thank you Melissa for recommending The Tenth Good Thing About Barney!), and remember to stay focused on the things that matter.

The Future of the AEU

Sat, 01 Jul 2023 01:16:16 GMT

The final AEU listening session is Saturday morning at 11am (you might be reading this as it’s happening!) I’m especially excited about this session because it’s truly about the future of the AEU — our ethical education programs.

I had the opportunity to talk to fellow education directors for over two hours last week. While our conversation was ostensibly about the future of the AEU, we kept coming back to our own immediate, tactical needs as educators trying to grow our societies and bring ethical education to more kids. I expect to hear the same dynamic tomorrow, and I hope to see some of you there to ask questions, comments, and make your voice heard!

What's Your NoVES Story?

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 01:20:26 GMT

During our Membership Meeting, we talked about two things that I've been thinking about all week.

The loneliness epidemic and the role of groups like NoVES in bringing communities together.
Showcasing our community on Facebook to grow the Society.

I'd like to bring these two things together over the summer, but I need your help! If you're interested and able, please email me a short description of what NoVES means to you. Try to keep it pretty short. I'll post the description on Facebook and call out a quote to put in a graphic. Just emailing me this would be a huge thing, but I have some bonus point activities to make it even better:

Send me a picture of yourself that I can use in the post!
Give me permission to tag you on Facebook, which will show the post to your friends! (I won't do this without your permission, so please be explicit here). If you don't have a Facebook account that's totally fine and doesn't disqualify you from sending me something to post.

Thank you, and I'm really looking forward to reading these!

Ethical Education in Action

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 02:06:31 GMT

Throughout this year, Jasper and Evie have been quietly serving on the board of La Mano Amiga, an incredible new non-profit run by Jessica Tyndall (a former student of NoVES)! La Mano Amiga serves as an anonymous helping hand for some of the poorest people in Honduras. The majority of the people that they support grew up in an orphanage called NPH (Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos). The orphanage met their basic needs when they were children, but as soon as they became adults (or teenagers in some cases), they were on their own, living in one of the poorest countries in the world with no social safety net and no one to turn to.

Living in extreme poverty, the people who La Mano Amiga helps don't have the family connections that people often use to borrow enough money to remove obstacles or jumpstart a new business. The organization’s goal is to help people remove these obstacles to help them move forward. People like Agueda, who needed a tortilla maker, a large bag of masa flour, and some supplies for $332. With that small gift, she was able to start selling tortillas out of her home (and now sells them to another recipient of funds from La Mano Amiga).

However, La Mano Amiga is a small organization and needs to make decisions about who they can fund. Jasper and Evie have been working this year to help make those decisions. They sorted through 30 applications and determined where the limited funds could do the most good. I've been part of these conversations and I can say that the choices have been difficult. In each of our meetings, I've seen Evie and Jasper work hard to empathize with the reality that people are facing and balance individual and community needs.

This year, they have allocated over $10,000 to help 17 adult orphans (and, by extension, their families and communities). They've helped people start new businesses, expand the possibilities of their existing businesses, and make better lives for their kids. They've also helped create an incredibly valuable framework for how La Mano Amiga makes funding decisions.

In Jessica’s words, “We are reaching a severely marginalized but incredibly resilient (and grateful!!) group of people and helping them in such an impactful way...and we absolutely could not have done it without Evie and Jasper's help!”

La Mano Amiga is such a strong example of what happens when we teach kids to recognize the humanity in others and to help bring out the best in them. I’m so grateful that Jessica shared this opportunity with us and so proud of Jasper and Evie for their amazing work. If you’d like to donate to La Mano Amiga, you can do so via venmo (@Jessica-Tyndall-13) or Paypal (Jessica.uze@gmail.com). To be added to their email newsletter or donate another way, please reach out to Jessica at jcudpt@gmail.com.

Summer is Coming!

Sat, 03 Jun 2023 00:40:31 GMT

In yesterday's newsletter, I mentioned that the AEU has been holding listening sessions (listen here and here) to learn more about how they can best support societies. We'll be doing some of our own listening and seeking over the summer, and I wanted to start with two questions:

We want to meet families where they are and provide the support that they need. Over the past few years, things have changed so it's important to ask: What do you need? What would best support the ethical education of your kids or families that you know?
With summer coming up, how do you want to stay in touch? Last year, we held some events at a local farm and the Nyilasi's neighborhood pool. The pool is a given, but what else should we plan?

Sunday's Platform: Kids Welcome!

Sat, 20 May 2023 00:03:31 GMT

This Sunday, artist Girasol O'Neill will share Project Illumination with the society. As part of this platform, he will have an interactive art project, and our kids are welcome to take part! Please join us to learn more about this project, which will be exhibited at Gallery 3700 in Arlington starting next month.

Unfortunately, I'll need to wait until June to see his work because I'll be away this upcoming Sunday. I'll see you all after Memorial Day!

AEU Board Meeting Saturday

Sat, 13 May 2023 12:00:00 GMT

Last week, I talked about stepping back and looking at how we can help our Sunday school best support our kids. Today, the AEU board is continuing a similar conversation about how they can best support Ethical Culture.

The board meetings are open to the public, and if you're interested in spending a bit of your Saturday thinking about the future direction of the AEU, join in! The meeting is from 10-12 EST and you can find more information on the AEU site.

Inspiring Ethical Kids

Sat, 06 May 2023 01:23:52 GMT

It's been about a year since I started as the Director of Ethical Education for NoVES. Over that year I've been thinking a lot about the value that we can bring to families in the community. On Sunday, I'll share my thinking so far. I can't promise any answers, but I'm excited to start the conversation.

I hope you're able to join us. After I talk a bit about our opportunities and approaches we'll get a preview of a game that the kids have been working on!

Stream Clean Up

Sat, 22 Apr 2023 05:40:15 GMT

Thank you to our families who participate in the Stream Cleanup last Sunday! Together, we collected several trash bags and several recycling bags, plus a bowling ball! Stream Cleanup is one of my favorite NoVES activities, and I was thrilled to see how the kids embraced the experience.

Thanks again to Jim and Amy for hosting us and leading the activity!

REMINDER: Stream Cleanup Sunday!

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 22:37:34 GMT

I hope you all had a great Spring Break! I'm thrilled that we're back with one of my favorite activities of the year -- Stream Cleanup!

For folks attending, please meet at the Ballanderson's house at 10:45. If you haven't already let me know that you're coming, please do via the Paperless Post invitation or through email or text. We'll be ordering pizza, so a rough number of how many people to expect would be helpful.

Don't forget your reusable water bottles and I can't wait to see you all on Sunday!

Book Discussion Details

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 23:01:53 GMT

Join us to discuss Ibram X. Kendi's newest book, How to Raise an Antiracist. This series is open to anyone who has kids in their lives -- not just parents! We will be reading a few chapters each week and, because the book focuses on different ages in each chapter you can join in at any time (or for the whole series)!

I'll be posting more details on the website, but please let me know if you are interested in participating and I will be sure to share details with you as they are posted.

Bring Ideas to Life: Part 2

Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:39:39 GMT

As you may have seen in the March newsletter, the kids participated in a fun design sprint last month. Last week, we continued our work by starting a project to help us "leave animals alone". What we decided on as a group was to create a game that we could share with others to share ways to avoid having a negative impact on our ecosystem. We spent our time together brainstorming and came up with a great idea...But we need your help!

At platform on Sunday, I'll put out some sheets of paper for you to write down ideas in two different categories:

Things that could help reduce our impact on the ecosystem (ex: using a reusable water bottle, composting, bringing a small trash bag on a hike to pick up any litter that you see)
Events that might harm the environment (ex: trees being cut down for development, a chemical spill)

I'm excited to bring you all into this process!

Last Few Days for the Book Club Survey!

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 01:45:31 GMT

I sent out a book club survey in last week's newsletter. If you happened to think, "wow, I should definitely fill that out" and then immediately forget and move on to something else then I have great news for you! The survey will be open for a few more days!

Please fill in your preferences by the end of the day on Tuesday, 3/14. After that, I'll be picking the days and times and advertising more broadly.

On a programming note, tomorrow is our Service Project day! We'll be continuing our work following our design sprint last month and figuring out what we want to do to "leave animals alone". With Jim's help we have some great options for places to raise money for or outreach activities that we can do and I'm looking forward to co-creating our next steps together!

What to Expect in March + Something for Parents!

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 01:31:12 GMT

I'm really looking forward to March, when we have four solid weeks of class before April's schedule of Spring Festival, Spring Break, and Stream Cleanup!

Here's our schedule for March:

March 5: Regular Class (Every Day is Earth Day for K-2, Comparative Religion for the older kids)
March 12: Service Project building on our design sprint from last week
March 19: Regular Class
March 26: Regular Class

For those of you with kids in your life, I also have an ask of you! I'd like to organize a virtual book club to read How to Raise an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi. I want to make sure that we have the best chance possible at landing on a time when people are available, so please fill out this survey to let me know what does and doesn't work for you.

Bringing Ideas to Life

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 23:33:37 GMT

“By asking people for their input early in the process, you help them feel invested in the outcome.” (Jake Knapp)

In my day job, I often joke that I can turn anything into a (modified, short)design sprint https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-sprintsdesign sprint -- an activity where a diverse group come together to work together to brainstorm, narrow down solutions, and prototype ideas. Whenever we're faced with a big, ambiguous problem or a wide variety of solutions and idea that we need to organize I pull up a virtual whiteboard and we organize our thoughts on sticky notes.

When thinking about our next monthly service activity, I realized that I wanted to let the students help define what we work on between now and June. We're going to kick that off on Sunday with our own mini design sprint and I can't wait to see what the kids come up with. I'll bring the sticky notes and markers and I hope our students bring their ideas and open minds!

Darwin Day Reminder!

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 22:19:24 GMT

Thank you so much to all of you who signed up to bring something for Darwin Day! Keep an eye out for an email this morning reminding you of what you signed up for. If you aren't able to bring it, please let me know and I'll plan to go to the store in the evening to pick up anything outstanding.

I think it's so valuable for the kids to see us all chip in to make this successful. They're ready to do their part on Sunday!

Darwin Day Preparation!

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 02:03:31 GMT

Next Sunday, February 12, is Darwin Day! The Sunday School students are bringing back their tradition of serving banana splits after platform so I hope to see many of you there. This Sunday, I'll have a sign-up sheet at the front table in case you'd like to bring any ice cream or toppings. We'll provide bowls, napkins, utensils, and anything that doesn't get claimed.

I'm always happy when we're able to bring the NoVES membership and Sunday School together. NoVES membership is always so supportive of our Sunday School, and I really appreciate all of your help and support!

How NoVES Puts Ethics Into Action

Sat, 28 Jan 2023 02:22:11 GMT

This Sunday, some Ethical Societies across the country will be sharing how their students put ethics into action. I wanted to take this opportunity to share how our own students have helped the community in the past several months.

As you may know, our students do a service activity each month. This year, I've focused on bringing student choice into the activities and sharing the impact with the kids to help them understand the value that these activities bring to the community.

In September, we made cards for a charity that supports trans youth and adults.
In October, we trick-or-treated for donations, which went to two charities that the kids selected.
In November, we made no-sew fleece blankets that we donated to Atheists Helping the Homeless. (Quick plug, they're doing a distribution at the Silver Sprint metro on 2/4 -- contact them if you'd like to participate!)

On Sunday, we'll do our January service project by making Valentine's Day cards to sell for charity. We'll select the charity as a group and work on the cards while we watch the AEU Shared Platform to see what other Ethical Societies are doing to give back.

Wrap-Up of Our MLK Platform

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 03:58:06 GMT

Did you catch Elliot's interviewing debut last week? It was so much fun to listen to him interview Betty-Chia and Hank about their experiences in the Civil Rights Movement! I want to take a moment to extend a huge "thank you" to Elliot for taking on the role and for all of the work (and Betty-Chia and Hank!) did to prepare.

In case you want to learn more about some of the events that we discussed, links below!

Makers of History

Sat, 14 Jan 2023 01:52:09 GMT

"We are not makers of history; we are made by history. Longfellow said, "In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer," meaning that he is either a molder of society or is molded by society. Who doubts that today most men are anvils and are shaped by the patterns of the majority?"

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our Martin Luther King, Jr. Day platform holds a special place in our hearts at NoVES. We make sure that this time is spent learning about ongoing racial injustice and inspiring our members to continue the work that needs to be done to build a more equitable society.

This year, I'm thrilled that our Sunday School gets to participate in the tradition by hosting a conversational interview with our own makers of history, Betty and Hank! Join us to learn about the connections between Ethical Culture and the Civil Rights Movement and hear stories about participating in actions big and small to fight for equality.

Ethics Begins with Choice

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 03:10:39 GMT

I took some time in December with the students to talk about what they'd like to see in the upcoming year. These conversations made me reflect on my own religious education. I played piano and sang at my local church, and in order to do that I had to attend Sunday school. I dreaded it every week and mostly remember the feeling of guilt, sitting there in class trying to get through it without anyone realizing that I was just going through the motions.

In talking to the students, I felt so grateful that we have a space where they can learn about what it means to live ethically and, even more importantly, ask big, tough questions. I know that my Sunday mornings would have been much more valuable if I was able to challenge my teachers and argue a little bit.

Now that we have settled back into our in-person rhythm, it’s time to experiment a bit. In 2023, we’ll focus on finding the right balance between providing a structured experience and allowing for more student-led learning and exploration. After all, ethics begins with choice!

Resolutions and Growth Mindset

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 02:06:40 GMT

It's that time of year again! As we change the calendar to a new year, we're often encouraged to think about what we resolve to do differently in the new year -- how will we improve ourselves or fix our myriad flaws?

Personally, I do find some value in taking advantage of the change in calendar to do a little retrospective and set some goals. But there are a few different ways to look at New Year's Resolutions and they can have a huge impact on how we view ourselves.

Ignore them completely (admirable, but you may need something to tell your teacher on the first day back to school)
Focus on what you need to fix (who needs another excuse to think about their flaws? Boo to this!)
Identify opportunities to grow (I try to land here and check myself if I start to slide into focusing on flaws)

Finding the right approach is especially important when we talk to our kids about resolutions. This is a great time to talk about growth mindset and how we frame our mistakes and failures.

Are you or your kid interested in diving in deeper? There are a bunch of resources on growth mindset available on Khan Academy for all ages!

Revisiting Rest

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 02:09:13 GMT

Back in September, I posted about the different types of rest. I want to revisit that not because I just entered "holiday mode" and am low on ideas (I am), but because it's a reminder that I think we could all use right now.

During Holiday breaks, I often feel like I'm going to get a lot of things done. By the end I always feel like all I did was marathon-watch a new show while trying to avoid eye contact with the messy corner of my living room.

This break, I'm going in with a different attitude, especially because Josie is home from school for most of it and that redefines what "break" means. As we make our grand plans for day trips or cookie baking, we'll also talk about what our bodies and our brains need. Do we need a break from other people? Do we want to feel inspired by nature or art? Do we want to do something kind for someone else to create a connection? My goal this break is to define its success by how well we meet these needs rather than the number of items donated or books read.

The Season is What You Make It

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 04:52:36 GMT

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been enjoying seeing my friends sharing their holiday traditions. I’m lucky that my own traditions are fairly flexible, largely free of family or cultural pressures. That freedom allows me to choose every year what traditions serve me and what traditions we can do without.

I appreciate this opportunity for choice, and I’ve been thrilled to see how members celebrate this season in their own ways based on their own traditions and values.

In the remaining two weeks that we meet this year, we’ll be working on a service project to make no-sew blankets for a local shelter and the Every Day is Earth Day students will make some homemade recyclable wrapping paper. Both activities focus on giving and sharing what we have, embracing some of the best traditions that we encounter this time of year.

Learning by Doing

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 03:26:29 GMT

Most things are hard to learn without experience. Baking a cake is different than reading a recipe or watching a video. Even 16 years of riding in cars is little preparation for your first driving practice. That's why I love our tradition of bringing our Comparative Religion students to visit houses of worship.

Tonight, our students had their first visit! We joined the Family Shabbat Service at Temple B'nai Shalom in Fairfax Station.

Part of our Comparative Religion class is identifying themes across religions and tying those themes to our own Ethical Culture. During our visit we saw plenty of differences between our platforms and the service, but we also saw some similarities, noting the lighting of candles and language that reminded us of our own Commitments.

On Sunday, we will spend a few minutes reflecting on our visit. I encourage the parents who attended to do the same and talk to your kids about the experience. What was surprising? What did they recognize and what felt different? I can't wait to hear your reactions on Sunday!

Giving Thanks

Sat, 26 Nov 2022 03:54:35 GMT

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As a reminder, NOVES is taking our Thanksgiving break so we will not be holding Sunday School tomorrow.

In the spirit of gratitude I want to thank our teachers — Iris, Jim, and Elham — for sharing their time and energy with our kids each week! I’m so grateful for your willingness to step into the role and your flexibility as we navigate our way back to our regular, in-person classes.

I’ll see most of you next week, and some of you on Friday evening for our Comparative Religion class’s synagogue visit!

Making a Story Come to Life!

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 02:30:47 GMT

"Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form" - Jean Luc Godard

I remember reading Stone Soup as a kid. I was an ardent rule-follower as a kid and I remember wondering whether the young man was technically lying to get everyone to share their food with him. After all, he could make soup from a stone. I remember feeling the twinge of jealousy that I always felt when I read stories like that, where someone was brave enough to break a rule and it ended up benefitting others.

Like many books, this one helped me better understand myself and how I fit into the world around me. We think about this a lot with kids -- we know how critical storytelling is for their development. At NoVES we even honor this with our weekly Story for All Ages.

We sometimes forget how important storytelling is for us as adults, too. Stories are more than just an escape from the day, Stories are how we learn and process things around us. Imagine that someone is trying to explain something abstract to you that you're not quite getting. What do you do? You probably ask for an example. What you're really asking for in that moment is a story to give you real-life context.

On Sunday, I hope we can all embrace the joy of making a story come to life!

Communication Option Overload (+ One More!)

Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:15:12 GMT

Lately, I've been thinking about this old xkcd webcomic. It shows how we naturally fall into rhythms in how we talk to people and those can be tough to get out of.

It's been on my mind lately because I use Twitter professionally. When I started in my field, I was the only person who did the job at my company. Twitter provided me a huge community of other practitioners who I learned a lot from. As a result, I have a lot of friends and colleagues who I've met through the platform. Some of us have found new ways to connect off of the platform, and drastic changes to Twitter this week have made it clear that I need to find alternative methods for everyone else!

This also brings up the broader question of how we communicate. I tend to prefer text over email, but that doesn't mean that you do! Let me know what you prefer so I can make sure that I'm getting information to you in the best way I can.

I'm also starting a new connection point between the Sunday school and NoVES friends and members! Today you'll receive our first monthly newsletter, which details what we've been working on, what we've been reading, and what's coming up. Keep an eye on your inbox -- more from me soon!

Make the Next Few Days Count!

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 02:18:31 GMT

A week or two ago, Josie and I were looking through my memories on my phone and came across this picture from 2017. She asked what we were doing, and I told her that I took her canvassing because an election was coming up.

"Can we do that again?" she asked. I paused for a second. I was furiously chipping away at work deadlines before leaving for a conference. I knew I'd be exhausted the next weekend, then there were more deadlines to hit.

Then the guilt got to me. Not only had I not done anything this year to help get out the vote, but I wasn't modeling the civic engagement and action that I wanted to. "Of course we can," I said. "We'll figure out something that we can do".

Do I feel like I have time this weekend? Absolutely not! I have a house to clean! I have graphics to make for future platforms and a newsletter to write (by the way, look for the first monthly Sunday School newsletter in the next few days)! Whether it's handing out ballots for a while at an early voting site, knocking a few doors until she gets tired, or taking some time off on Tuesday to grab a shift at my polling place, I'm promising to do something. I hope you'll join me in that promise!

A Cause Worth Trick or Treating For?

Sat, 29 Oct 2022 04:33:20 GMT

Last week while our members were discussing causes worth dying for, the Sunday School students were having their own discussion — what causes did they want to trick-or-treat for?

Each year, for our October service project, the kids trick-or-treat after platform for donations to a charity. This year, we switched it up a little bit and let them pick their own charities while they decorated their collection boxes. We settled on two causes: LGBTQ+ rights and animals (specifically sea animals). With some research, we picked a local organization that works with LGBTQ+ youth and a global non-profit that cleans up trash in the ocean.

So…How did we do?

The children raised a total of $150, which we split between SMYAL and #TeamSeas! This money will go to provide programming and housing for LGBTQ+ youth in DC AND clean 75 pounds of trash from the ocean.

Thanks to our members for their generous support of this project! Without your help, this experience selecting a cause and donating wouldn’t be possible. I’m glad that we’re able to instill in our children that by working together towards a goal, we can do big things.

Choice in the Classroom

Sat, 22 Oct 2022 04:55:38 GMT

In the world of Learning & Development, where I spend most of my time, we talk about learner choice. It's important, we often preach, to give our learners autonomy and opportunities to choose what works best for them.

I've seen this described as a difference between adult learners and children, as if kids don't need choice or can't be trusted to make good decisions. In fact, all learners need, and deserve, autonomy. Sometimes our role is to deliver information and clear direction. Other times, our role is to stand back and provide guidance and support.

This Sunday, our students will participate in a Service Project to "trick or treat" for charity. What I know about this activity is that at the end of Platform the students will come around and collect donations for charity. What I don't know is what that charity will be.

While I was thinking about it and talking to some members, I realized that it doesn't need to be my decision. While we decorate our collection boxes, we'll talk about what cause the students would like to support and do research together to find the right place to donate.

If you're joining us at Green Hedges on Sunday, I ask that you bring some coins or a small amount of cash if you're able. I also ask that you trust the students to make a good decision.

Doing Our Best

Sat, 15 Oct 2022 03:29:24 GMT

Tom Nyilasi’s platform last week in Existentialism was a great excuse to share one of my favorite Frog & Toad stories — The Surprise. It led into a discussion with our Sunday school students about whether a kind act is “worth it” if it turns out to have no impact. The idea of doing the best you can without knowing the outcome reminded me of what I do daily as a parent.

Last month, I was part of a conversation about Ethical Education across our Ethical Societies. In that conversation, someone mentioned the idea that raising ethical children is a form of ethical action. Not only that, but the work that all of you do to help sustain our Sunday School program is an ethical action that we undertake as a society.

I appreciate all that you do for our Sunday School program! By teaching classes, reading our Story for All Ages (look out for a sign-up sheet Sunday!), and creating a welcoming environment for families, you are supporting this goal of raising our next generation of ethical children.

Building Community Through Play

Sat, 08 Oct 2022 02:13:10 GMT

I was thrilled to see how the Sunday School students embraced last week’s Service Project to make cards to be sent to trans people along with gender-affirming shapewear. I’ll be sending the cards out on Monday (I want to add in a few of my own) so if you’d like to add any to our shipment, please bring them on Sunday!

After we finished making cards (20 of them!) we had some time to hang out together before the Platform ended. One of our students taught us all how to make paper boats and we tested them in a puddle on the playground. They turned out to be seaworthy, and the impromptu activity brought some joy to a cloudy, drizzly day.

This week, we’re back with the regular program, continuing our exploration of Judaism in Comparative Religion and practicing our stewardship in Every Day is Earth Day. I’m looking forward to seeing you all!

Ethical Action by Kids, For Kids

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 02:29:48 GMT

With the public comment period open for Virginia’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools and this week’s walkout by students in Fairfax County, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can engage our Sunday School students. This week, we will take ethical action to support trans youth while also reminding our NoVES members that they can do their part by sharing their opinion with the Department of Education.

I couldn’t be more excited about this project! Point of Pride is a charity that provides financial aid and direct support to trans youth and adults who need help to access gender-affirming care. As part of their work, they provide free chest binders and femme shapewear to those who are unable to access them.

With each donation, they include a handwritten note affirming that the recipient is seen and loved. On Sunday, our kids will create handwritten notes to send off to Point of Pride. Jealous? Don't worry! We will also provide materials for the adults to add their own notes following platform.

Gender-affirming care saves lives. I’m grateful that we can come together to provide some light.

How Are You Resting?

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 15:42:57 GMT

The last month has been exhausting. My daughter, Josie, started school — a huge life transition for all of us that required us to learn new habits and routines. My regular workday has been completely booked (and complicated by the new routine of Josie showing back up at 3:30 every afternoon). As the new Director of Ethical Education, I also needed to plan for and organize the start of Sunday School at NoVES. From talking to NoVES members over the past couple of Sundays, I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like I’m constantly trying to catch up.

I’m happy to report, then, that I’m writing this from the balcony of a bed & breakfast at the beach. It’s a rainy afternoon, which means that instead of trying to pack in as much as possible, I’m being forced to sit down and relax.

This got me thinking about the different types of rest. In the linked article and TED Talk, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith describes the seven types of rest that we need (yes— seven!). Physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social and spiritual rest are all important.

These different types of rest help me understand why I tend to feel lighter and more energized on Sundays after platform. I may be forgoing physical rest by waking up to get to NoVES, but I’m getting the social and spiritual rest that I need. This Sunday, I’ll be catching up on my creative rest by staring at the beautiful Delaware Bay. I hope you all find yourselves getting the type of rest that you need!

This week in Sunday School:

In Comparative Religion, Iris and Elham will continue the conversation that they started last week about religion. This week, kids will get more hands-on by researching different religions to create a framework of understanding.
Every Day is Earth Day will be taking a break this week while Josie and I search for dolphins and other sea creatures!

We Are NoVES!

Sat, 17 Sep 2022 13:29:03 GMT

We had an incredible opening Sunday! It was thrilling to see friends new and old and to get back to our Sunday School routine. We read Misty the Cloud: A Very Stormy Day, a tie-in to Randy’s talk about finding hope in difficult times.

After the kids listened to the book (and two beautiful songs by our own Kimberly Nyilasi), we worked on our team-building project. We filled out cards with prompts to re-create our own NoVES logo:

I am…
I show kindness by…
I feel hopeful when…
I love…

Through this activity we learned about some unique passions (coding, aviation, Korean culture, and baking) and some shared interests (math!)

I loved getting to reconnect with the kids through this activity and it was a great way to welcome a new friend to the group. We talked about our hopes for the upcoming year (fun topped the list) and got excited to begin our classes this week.

Coming Up

This week, regular classes begin! In Comparative Religion, the students will start out with an introduction to Ethical Culture. This will serve as a point of comparison to true back to through the year.

Our younger kids in Every Day is Earth Day will practice recycling by making toilet paper roll monsters — a craft (loudly and emphatically) requested by one of the students!

See you Sunday!

Welcome Back to (Sunday) School!

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 23:35:31 GMT

Over the past few weeks, my Facebook feed has been full of big smiles and even bigger backpacks as kids head back to school. I’m feeling similar excitement about the return of our Sunday Platform! While we’ve stayed connected all summer through Sunday School meetups, Happy Hours at House 6 Brewery, Zoom chats, and our Labor Day Picnic, I’m looking forward to the routine of coming to Green Hedges on Sunday morning to see old friends and make new ones.

Of course, I’m also looking forward to returning to the routine of reading a book together and then sending the kids off to Sunday School. This week, we’ll focus on returning together as a group and re-grounding ourselves through a collaborative art project. I can’t wait to show off what the kids create!

Starting with our September 18 platform, we’ll begin our classes for the year. More on that next week, but in the meantime I’d like to thank our volunteer teachers! Iris Woodward and Elham Hassen will be teaching Comparative Religion, and Jim Ball will be helping me teach the little ones environmental stewardship in Every Day is Earth Day!

See you on Sunday!

Exciting Sunday School Updates!

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 02:18:26 GMT

Hello! I'm Kristen, your new Director of Ethical Education (DEE)! I'm thrilled to be here to help manage our Sunday School program and support our community.

My goal as DEE is to build on Kimberly’s amazing work over the years to start the next generation on their journey to choose—and practice—ethical living.I see two critical activities in this goal. We need to teach kids, and we need to support parents.

I see two critical activities in this goal. We need to teach kids, and we need to support parents.

In the Fall, we’re planning to offer two courses — Every Day is Earth Day and Comparative Religion. We know it’s going to be a transitional year and, although we’d love to see every family every Sunday, we’re all figuring out what our new lives integrated into society, both Ethical and broader, look like. For me and others that’s included some fits and starts. Every Day is Earth Day gives us an opportunity to have something for kids to do that doesn’t build on the previous week’s curriculum or require a certain number of kids to be effective.

While we chose Every Day is Earth Day to be low-key, we chose Comparative Religion to respond to what our parents and kids need this year. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first I have my first ask for you all:

If you’d like to teach any of these curricula next year, please reach out to me at dee@noves.org.

The second thing that I’m focusing on this year is providing support for parents. This is a hard time to be a parent, and I know that because I’m a parent and it’s hard. The news is hard, finding like-minded parents with kids who you want your kid to learn from is hard, parenting in a pandemic is hard. It’s all hard.

I want to provide programs that support parents, regardless of whether their kids are able to or want to attend Sunday School. We’re working on that through the summer with monthly meetups. We’re holding one on June 25 at Cox Farms and another on July 30. I’d also like to create an online community for parents and maybe hold some discussion groups.

These ideas are based solely on the things that I would want. I want to go to Cox Farms and see friends so that I can talk to other adults while my daughter, Josie, plays and feeds goats. I’d love a local online discussion group where I can go to ask questions or get advice about raising ethical children. I’d love a Zoom chat where I don’t have to leave my house but I can see some friends and chat or learn something new. However, that’s me and I’m building this community for all of us — not just me. So here’s my second ask:

Tell me what you want out of this community. You can send me your thoughts at dee@noves.org. If you’re willing to grab coffee, either virtually or in person, let me know and we’ll set something up!

Thank you all for having me and for letting me do this work. And thank you to Kimberly, who helped make me feel like part of this community, has helped form and strengthen the connections between our NoVES families, and has been an incredible guide to this role. I’m so grateful for her guidance and for all of the incredible thought and work that she’s put into building this community.

See You Sunday!

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 18:23:46 GMT

Summer is winding down and kids all over Northern Virginia have returned to school. That means that NOVES Sunday School Classes will be resuming soon too! Sunday, September 8^th is our first Platform of the 2019/2020 School Year. WE HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US!

If you are new to the Northern Virginia Ethical Society or you haven’t visited in awhile, you may be wondering what kids do on Sunday morning? Our mission as a school community is to promote ethical behavior through educational experiences, including and social activism, so that students will become good world citizens. Children are in the main room for opening words, music and a Story For All Ages. Then the Sunday School heads to the classrooms to begin their lessons.

This year, younger children will be taking a class Called “Everyday is Earth Day”. This class uses experiments, crafts and hands-on activities to teach that every day is a day to think about taking care of our Earth. In this class children learn about conserving energy, how all creatures serve a purpose on Earth, reducing & recycling, and the frailty of ecosystems.

Students in 5^th grade and up will be taking a 2 part class that hopes to educate them to make informed and reasonable decisions called “Media Literacy/Ethical Conundrums”. Our pre-teens are exposed to all kinds of messages coming from media outlets, advertisers and peers. This class helps them become more able to analyze the veracity of those messages, as well as the intentions of the creators of the messages. It also gives them a chance to discuss and role play how they would ethically handle a difficult situation involving peer pressure and social media.

In addition to classes, we undertake one group service project per month. This year, we will be learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in conjunction with our service projects. These Service Lessons aim to teach our children how to recognize and differentiate levels of need. We can only “act so as the elicit the best in others” by taking the time to meet an individual at their level of emotional development. Children will get to participate in 5 projects that exemplify the 5 individual levels of the Needs Pyramid. We will be making lunches for the Embry Rucker Homeless Shelter, Trick or Treating for our Troops thru Operation Gratitude, raising money to fund a school in Africa thru the sale of hand drawn class valentines, and collecting old markers for Crayola Recycling from now until Earth Day We are also expanding our service program to include a monthly volunteer Sunday School Clean Up Crew. Students will be responsible for platform breakdown, cleanup and trash removal on the last platform of every month.

I also have plans to get our creative juices flowing again this year! The NOVES Puppeteers will be performing Stone Soup at The Stone Salad festival in November. And the students will be performing some musical selections for the society again on Darwin Day in February.

I hope that you are all as excited about the upcoming year as I am. Our children learn invaluable skills and lessons at NOVES. And they build strong friendships and supportive peer groups. If you have any questions about our Ethical Education here at Northern Virginia Ethical Society, please contact me at DEE@noves.org and I will be happy to assist you.

SEE YOU SUNDAY!

Touching One Heart at a Time

Fri, 03 May 2019 19:20:17 GMT

One of my jobs as your Director of Ethical Education is to facilitate the Monthly Sunday School service projects. Ethical Culture’s motto of “Deed Before Creed” is a simple but impactful philosophy. But how can we make our kids understand WHY we choose to serve?

To tackle this challenge I added something new to Service Sundays, a theme! This year I chose the theme of Gratitude. Prior to executing each monthly service project, I taught the kids a mini-gratitude lesson. Just a quick 5 minutes where students learned to be on the lookout for the 3 components of gratitude. The message is that once we learn to recognize gratitude and what it feels like to be grateful, we can begin to work at practicing gratitude thru our own words and actions. Ultimately, we can pay forward the feeling of gratitude thru our service to others. During my platform talk on March, 17th, I went over the service projects to date and their concurrent gratitude lessons in great detail. And I also discussed the scientific research regarding how gratitude can make you healthier happier and improve the quality and length of your life.
If you were unable to attend the talk, you can access the full video here: Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude

As a culmination to my mini Gratitude lessons for the kids and my platform talk on Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude, I collaborated on an Art of Giving Workshop with Allison Gallagher of Touching Heart. Mrs. Gallagher is the outreach director for this local non-profit organization. She gave us a platform talk about real needs in our community and encouraged us to enable our youth to come up with creative solutions to these social problems. After her talk, everyone got involved in assembling fleece blankets for Fairfax Foster Care. I will post pictures of our finished donations on our Facebook page.

This school year is almost over and we only have 2 Service Sundays left. I've already been thinking about what next years theme will be. And I wondered, "how can I teach our kids to know WHAT makes service effective?" I've decided that next year we will study Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Another motto of Ethical Culture is to "Act so as to bring out the best in others, and therby yourself" But in order to act in a way that impacts the recipient, you must be in tune with what their actual needs are. By studying the pyramid of needs, we can learn to be deliberate in our choices. What is best for us, may not be best for everyone. We can learn to discern the right balance between bringing out the best in another and expecting them to join us on our same level of the need pyramid. Each month we will study one of the 5 levels of need and execute a concurrent service project: physiological needs, safety needs, belonging & love needs, esteem needs and self-actualization. I will be taking Mrs. Gallagher's advice and asking our fearless and intelligent kids to come up creative solutions to social problems in each need category. I look forward to sharing our progress with you.

Abrahamic Religion - House of Worship Tours

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 00:42:47 GMT

The calendar year may have come to an end, but our school year is in full swing! Since NOVES reconvened in September, our Sunday School teachers have been tackling the daunting task of teaching the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in just a few short months. In the New Year, our curriculum will focus on the Dharmic religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. These religions share the same three foundational doctrines: 1 - the Karma principle, 2 - Re-birth or Reincarnations and 3 - Nirvana. The Sunday School team has set a goal to tour 6 different Houses of Worship this year as part of our curriculum and we are on track to meet that goal!

Our first tour was of the Temple Beth Torah in Chantilly, VA. We learned about what young Jewish children do in Sunday school to prepare for their coming of age ceremony at age 13. We listened as the Cantor led them in singing their prayers in Hebrew and we even joined in. We got to hear them blow the Shofar, view the ceremonial Torah and ask the Rabbi questions. He made a clear parallel between Judasim’s and Ethical Culture’s values when he explained that being Jewish means not focusing on the afterlife or any future rewards. The only thing that really matters is that you do good work in this life on Earth.

Our Second Tour was of a local Mosque called the ADAMS Center in Sterling, VA. Our guide talked to us about what it means to identify as a Muslim in America and filled us in on the multitude of community services that the ADAMS Center provides. They offer mental health services, food assistance, Sunday school, tutoring, career training, and interfaith initiatives throughout the Metro area. All of their funding comes from their members and they do not receive any funds from foreign countries. We toured their 3-story building replete with administration offices, a large worship area, a gymnasium, classrooms, community meeting rooms and bathrooms with ceremonial foot washing stations. Young Muslim children are taught the ideology of Islam in Sunday School including how to read Quranic Arabic. They stressed a shared value with Ethical Culture in their desire to serve their community by working cooperatively with people of all faiths toward the common good.

We invited the entire Society to join us on our third House of Worship tour. We reserved 35 seats at a Holy Eucharist at the National Cathedral. On the last Sunday of Advent, we were allowed to explore and photograph the beautiful carvings, stained glass and Neo-Gothic architecture of the second largest church building in the United States. We were treated to the cathedral choirs, congregational hymns, a sermon, scripture readings and an opportunity to partake in communion. They even allowed 3 NOVES children to carry the water and wine to the priests to be blessed. It was a great opportunity to see the ritual and sacraments of Christianity. The National Cathedral is a true treasure. In addition to carvings representing the many faces of America, the main hall flies the flag of every state, and the chapel is filled with needlepoint pillows sewn in honor of numerous American heroes, presidents, scientists and artists. Not to be forgotten is the spectacular Moon Window. Sealed between tempered glass in an inert nitrogen environment is a 2 3/8” piece of basalt collected on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. It is the only moon rock given by NASA to a non-governmental institution. I encourage you to stop by the next time you are sightseeing in NW DC.

Our littlest NOVES members are busy in the Holiday and Holy Days class learning about the Abrahamic religions too. They began the year with lessons on the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and the late harvest festival of Sukkot. The learned about Islam as they studied Mawlid Al Nabi, better know as Muhammed’s birthday. And they dove into Christianity during the Christmas season discussing many holiday traditions like the Sundays of Advent, including St. Lucy’s day. St. Lucy was a 3^rd century martyr who wore a wreath lit with candles on her head as she filled her arms with food and supplies for the persecuted Christians hiding in the catacombs. These children even have a head start on the Dharmic religions because they already covered Dasara and Diwali, Hindu holidays that fall in late Autumn. One thing that is similar about all of the holy days observed as the Winter Solstice approaches is the celebration of light and the comfort of family and fellowship. I think that it is easy see the commonality they share with our own Ethical Culture Winter Festival to be held next week. I look forward to enjoying the comfort of your fellowship on Sunday!

Please take a moment to view the House of Worship Tours photo album that I have created on our Facebook page to see all the wonderful experiences I have described above. And stay tuned to my blog for an update at the end of the year on the final 3 tours and the Spring holidays we have covered in class.

Teaching Our Ethical Core Values

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 22:00:14 GMT

What do Ethical Culturalists believe? What do they teach their children? “Ethical Humanism, also called Ethical Culture, is an evolving body of ideas that inspires Ethical Societies. Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. For Ethical Humanists, the ultimate religious questions are not about the existence of gods or an afterlife, but rather, ‘How can we create meaningfulness in this life?’ and ‘How should we treat each other?’ Ethical Culture is clear about the essential role that ethical principles play in human relationships. In order for human beings to have good lives, love must prevail, truth must be respected, honesty esteemed, justice secured and freedom protected. Learning how to realize these ideals in our lives is the purpose of Ethical Societies” *

The Comparative Religion class is about to begin the 1^st of several House of Worship Tours on November 11^th at 11 am at Temple Beth Torah in Chantilly, VA. Your Sunday School Team wanted to schedule a special event to reiterate our 12 Core Ethical Values and our expectations of the student’s behavior and respectful demeanor on these tours. We want our students to act as ambassadors of Ethical Culture and its core values as they are welcomed as guests into other local religious communities. To accomplish this goal, we decided to ask our leader, Randy Best, to meet with the children to deliver this message. This special class took place on October 21^st and we had 14 students in attendance. One of the most important core values of Ethical Culture is to treat others fairly and kindly and it is especially important when interacting with those who are different from us. Specifically to "act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby ourselves" Felix Adler. As Randy stated in the class, this is a universal moral philosophy that is shared by all world religions and ethical philosophies.

Christianity: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them Matthew 7:1

Confucianism: Do not do to others what you would not like yourself Analects 12:2

Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful Udana-Varga 5,1

Hinduism: This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself Sunnah

Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism: Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain and loss as your loss Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien

Zoroastrianism: That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5

With the numerous hate crimes in the news just this past week, it is more important than ever to be vigilant about raising kind, considerate, tolerant, fair and open-minded children. Children, who know that it is their inherent right to question the world around them and to choose what they believe. Young adults, who will continue the work of creating a world full of peace and justice. Teens, who will cherish the Earth and all life upon it. Future leaders, who will learn from all of the unique individuals that cross their path and from world history to create a better future for us all. Young adults, who will strive to live out their Ethical Culture Values and accept responsibility for their choices and actions.

Ethical Humanism is a religion of relationships. Ethical Sunday School allows children “of all ages to engage in ethical concepts and experiences that promote lifelong ethical development.” Our goal this year is to foster relationships within the diverse Northern Virginia Religious Community. To give our children an opportunity to learn about different theologies and meet real people who practice these faiths, with an emphasis on what we have in common instead of that which divides us.

Join us on Sunday and we can undertake this goal together!

*taken from www.AEU.org

This School Year is off to a GREAT start!

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 17:11:08 GMT

The NoVES Sunday School now has 1 month under their belts. Attendance and participation have been very high! Students have already had 2 classes this month and are focusing on the Abrahamic religions and Jewish holidays. Children have also participated in a collaborative art piece that helped kick off the year and facilitate getting to know one another better. We have undertaken our 1st Service Project of the school year and have solicited sock donations for our 2nd Service Project, a National Sock Drive called Socktober.

On our first Sunday back to Sunday School, we undertook a joint creative effort to make a visual art piece for the society. This puzzle mural was displayed at platform for the 1^st time this past Sunday, September 30^th . This year's mural theme was “Individually Unique....Together Complete”. It endeavors to illustrate how even though we are all unique individuals that have different interests, strengths and hobbies, we are stronger and more beautiful when we join together and collaborate. Collectively, we can make a difference! Our Sunday School Teaching Team had already created their personal puzzle pieces at our Summer Teacher Orientation Meeting. They used their puzzle pieces as a way to introduce themselves to their new students. Did you know that our teachers this year are artists, crafters, jokesters, conservationists and science fiction buffs? The students enthusiastically worked on their respective puzzle pieces, staying in the classroom long past dismissal time to make their pieces perfect. Please check out the mural photos on our Facebook page or attend our upcoming workshop or some of our Annual Festivals to see the mural in person. Ask a child or a teacher to show you their piece and to tell you what it says about their unique personality!

In addition to the unveiling of the mural this past Sunday, the students also performed a choral piece entitled “You Gotta Be” by Des'Ree. They have been practicing diligently before Sunday School Classes and at home. It was a “bucket-filling” performance exclaimed our guest speaker, Rachel Bailey! The children showed a lot of courage and dedication to this task and if you get a chance, be sure to fill their buckets with some well deserved praise for a job well done!

I have planned to teach our Sunday School students some mini Gratitude Lessons prior to the first few Service Projects of the year. This is in an effort to demonstrate to our students about WHY we perform acts of service and HOW we choose whom to serve in our communities. Our first Mini Lesson and Service Project were both carried out on September 23^rd and it was a huge success! Donated materials and stamps were used to make cards for use by our Caring Committee throughout the year. So keep your eyes peeled Society Members, because little envelopes filled with a child's imagination and heartfelt wishes may be coming to a mailbox near you!

The first month back to school has exceeded my expectations! I could not be happier with the students, our teaching team, the support of the Society and our class content. It is going to be a great year at the Northern Virginia Ethical Society. It's never too late to join us in seeking to create a more humane world together. Contact me at DEE@noves.org to enroll your student in our program today or to schedule a visit on Sunday!

Back to School means back to NOVES

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 17:33:28 GMT

The last wave of Northern Virginia students will go back to school this week. I always look forward to the start of a new school year. New teachers, new haircuts, new friends, new ideas, and new chances! Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping in, swimming and traveling all Summer. But as the Summer comes to an end, I am always glad to see the return to a stable routine. There's something soothing about the rhythms of routine in our daily lives. And the highlight of my weekly routine is attending the Northern Virginia Ethical Society on Sundays for fellowship with other Ethical Humanist families. Our school year for NOVES begins Sunday, September 9^th at 11:00 am. I hope that your family can join us this year!

The NOVES Sunday School Team of teachers and committees have been meeting throughout July and August to prepare an excellent year for our youngest freethinkers! We have 2 levels of curriculum that will address World Religion: Holidays and Holy Days (a hands-on craft based curriculum for ages 3-9) and Comparative Religion (a philosophical class partnered with tours to the following houses of worship: Jewish, Hindu, Coptic Christian, Sikh, Ba'hai, & Muslim) In my opinion, no other curriculum is as important for developing a peaceful worldview for our children than this one. How better to put into practice the values that we aspire to teach here at the Ethical Society than by studying the variety of philosophical opinions and the myriad of belief systems that different world cultures practice in their daily lives. Some of the ethical values that this curriculum will highlight are as follows:

“I am free to choose what I believe”

“I am free to question”

“Every person is important & unique”

“I can learn from everyone”

“Every person deserves to be treated fairly and kindly”

“I am a member of the world community which depends on cooperation of all people for peace & justice”

The only way we can really “strive to live these values” is to make connections with people who are different from us. To ask with an open heart to learn about a way of life or belief system different from our own. By educating our children (and ourselves) on the many different types of world regions, we become more connected to one another in our world community, able to thrive on what we have in common as human beings, instead of being divided by what we do not.

In addition to our blockbuster curriculum this year, we will undertake at least one service project per month. The plan I have laid out for this year's service projects really gets the kids involved in variety of charitable activities. Our kids will help to serve the Ethical Society by making cards for use by our own NOVES Caring Committee, dipping ice cream on Darwin Day, and performing music and puppet shows during platforms and festivals. They will help to serve our environment by holding a Wands for Wildlife drive and cleaning up a local stream. They will serve other children by trick-or-treating for Socktober, creating blankets for the foster care system and raising money for Kakenya's Dream – a girls school in Africa. Our Charities Committee graciously coordinates some of the congregation's weekly Sharing of Responsibility collections with our Sunday School Service Projects. By adding a monetary contribution to the children's labor, we can make an even greater impact to the organization we have chosen to support. On behalf of the Sunday School, I'd like to thank the members and visitors to the Northern Virginia Ethical Society that donate to the charity of the week. Your generosity helps to support the children's charitable endeavors.

One final thing that I want to let you know about our upcoming year is that we are planning some speakers and workshops that will support YOU as parents of these freethinking kids. While your children are growing and learning in Sunday School class, it is important that you are receiving support and tools for how to raise these intelligent, empathetic, kind and fair future leaders. Resilient children who will greet the world with open hearts and open minds and leave a legacy of ethical impact for future generations to come. Please check out the plethora of events, platforms and workshops that will be offered this year. Content is constantly being added and can be found in our weekly newsletter, on our web page, on our Facebook page and sent to Sunday School parents via email reminders throughout the year from yours truly!

I hope you are as excited about the NOVES Sunday School this year as I am. If you are a parent of a returning student, you are already registered for Sunday School this year and we will see your smiling faces on September 9th. If you are interested in visiting us on a Sunday to see what we are all about and join in on the fun, email me at DEE@noves.org to let me know to be on the lookout for you.

Here's to a great year, great friends and great fellowship!

Undercover Kindness Mission – Little people living out Big Love!

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 00:03:27 GMT

The NOVES year has come to an end and we are on Summer Break until September. Our last Sunday, June 17^th , was Recognition Sunday. The excellent Sunday School teachers and Sunday School committee members were thanked for their service to the NOVES kids this year. They had to work very hard without a DEE for 5 months and they deserve our gratitude! The children present on June 17^th gathered on the playground for an informal outdoor origami session and said goodbye to their classmates for the Summer.

Our last Service Project was executed on Sunday June 10^th . The book read that Sunday was a story about a tiny spy who called herself “006 and a Bit”. The story was written by Kes Gray and described some of the things required to be a successful secret spy. The children then gathered in the main classroom and I played “Try a Little Kindness” by Glen Campbell on guitar. I asked them think about how we could combine kindness with being spies as we watched a video by the Kid President. In the video he describes how easy it is to change the world by spreading kindness. He says, “If one person is filled with love and they live it out then it will go on and on and on. The world is changed by ordinary people, Little people living out Big Love”. What a great message! You can view the video here: https://youtu.be/4z7gDsSKUmU

Now that I had them thinking, I assigned them their SUMMER UNDERCOVER SECRET KINDNESS MISSION. The idea is that over the Summer Break, they will be in the Secret Service and their Mission (should they choose to accept it!) is to serve others without being asked and without their knowledge. When each mission is completed, they are to leave a Secret Service Calling Card and track their progress on their Mission Sheet. When we gather back together in September, we will share stories of our successful undercover missions with the other Sunday School SPIES!

To kick off the spirit of performing Random Acts of Kindness, we did 2 clandestine missions together before class was dismissed. First, we left some Clorox Wipes as gifts to the 2 teachers whose classrooms we have used all year. All the students signed the White Boards like a big Thank You card. Then we crawled under the windows to the auditorium and snuck out into the parking lot. Once there, we left sunny yellow and white flowers all over the cars of the society members with a tag that that read “Please enjoy this Random Act of Kindness. Now its your turn to pay it forward, do something kind and leave this card behind” If you received a flower and decided to pay it forward in some way, please share that with me so that I can inform the children of how the love they chose to live out is going on and on and on!

Remember, “ the world is changed by ordinary people, Little people living out Big Love”. So give out Big Love all Summer long and make the world a better place for all of us! See you in the Fall!

Kindness Rocks!

Wed, 23 May 2018 15:13:51 GMT

This Sunday, the children learned about the Kindness Rocks Project. The concept is simple, to cultivate connections within communities and lift others up through simple acts of kindness. Rocks with positive messages are left for others to find, because one message at the right time can change your whole outlook. You can learn more about the project here: https://www.thekindnessrocksproject.com/

We began the day by reading the book, “What Does it Mean to Be Kind” by Rana DiOrio which described many ways to show unexpected kindness to others. The children then shared examples of when they did something kind for someone else in their own lives. We watched a video describing the Kindness Rocks Project and then kids got busy painting!

There was plenty of enthusiasm on behalf of the kids for this Service Project and resultantly, the students painted many rocks each. We all took a walk together to the Green Hedges Sensory Garden where there is a pond already surrounded by brightly painted rocks. We hid some of our rocks there, hoping it may brighten the day of the students who attend school at Green Hedges. We are so very appreciative that they rent us the use of their space for our school!

Please check the corresponding Facebook post for pictures of this exciting project! And please, consider painting your own rocks to hide for others to find!

The Children Are Our Future

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:44:27 GMT

Yesterday, I delivered my first Sunday platform address at NOVES entitled, “The Children Are Our Future”. I shared my ideas on how we can raise a generation of children that will make this world a better place and stand up for what they believe is right. I personally came to the Ethical Society to be inspired and educated on ways that I can live a more ethical life. To be reminded weekly of how to model the kind of behavior I want my children to exhibit in their own lives. I’m really honored to have the opportunity and the platform that comes along with being your DEE. The ability to plan classes, schedule activities, arrange acts of service and foster an environment where we can all grow in body and spirit. Where we learn to lift each other up. Where we stand up for others and the causes we believe in. Where we practice our Ethical Values in our every day lives.

I started by thanking our hardworking and patient teachers. Our teachers make certain that their lessons reinforce our beliefs and that the ideas they present keep our Ethical Core Values as their primary focus. And I thanked our awesome NOVES Sunday School Committee, who have kept the Sunday School going without a DEE for 6 months. They made sure the program was jam-packed with great activities, staffed by excellent teachers and organized administratively, to ensure that our kids received the best Sunday School experience possible.

Our Sunday school program puts exemplifying our Ethical Core Values at the forefront of our curriculum. Our classes this year have been focused on LIFE: where life begins, how life is created and what makes life is sustainable. Next year, our focus is going to be on WORLD RELIGIONS. How better to put into practice the values that we aspire to teach here at the Ethical Society than by studying the variety of philosophical opinions held around the globe and the myriad of belief systems that different world cultures practice in their daily lives. We endeavor to honor the diversity of cultural traditions and the commonality of the human condition. I further explained that our Children's Story Committee supports our Sunday School efforts by picking books that take the general message of that Sunday’s adult platform topic and putting it in a simpler format that the children can more easily relate to and understand. They also try to respect diversity and be cognizant of representing all races, religions, and a variety of protagonists in the stories they choose to present.

My own children are in the program and it’s very important to me that they observe me practicing what I preach about Ethical Culture's motto of “Deed Before Creed”. It is in this spirit that I am planning to add some new and different service projects to our repertoire next year. Our children are involved in at least one act of service every month and I have decided to focus on charities that directly affect our children's peers – other children in our community.

“We learn empathy through our service to one another because empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.” Alfred Adler

In conclusion, I came to NOVES because I was looking to be a part of a community that stood for something greater than themselves, greater than a sense of winning, greater than fanaticism. A place where I could join like-minded individuals in work that betters our world. I am proud to put my energy into activities that aspire to make the world a better place for our future generations, for my children's generation. Because I truly believe that the children are our future. Because I truly believe that we are what we repeatedly do. We have the collective power to raise intelligent, empathetic, kind and fair future leaders, who will greet the world with open hearts and open minds and leave a legacy of ethical impact for future generations to come.

Several members approached me after my talk to volunteer their time and their talent to contribute to the the overall success of the Sunday School. I will be in touch and I will attempt to utilize everything you have offered! Thank you all for your continued support!

The Children Are Our Future, lets continue to pave the way for them to make a difference.

Sunday School Update: Spring Festival

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 00:02:24 GMT

“We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results”

Herman Melville

I am in possession of an artist's heart. I find it hard to even get dressed in the morning without expressing my individuality and mood thru my outfit choice. I arrange the food on my plate as if it were a painting and parent like a sculptor, trying to mold the raw clay into a something beautiful and unique. My favorite medium is fiber. I will weave yarn into clothing, reeds into baskets, and guitar strings into melodies. As I sat in attendance at the Spring Festival this weekend, my mind kept thinking of the word INTERCONNECTION. Everything that I was observing reminded me of Herman Melville's quote that states our lives are all connected and what energy we send out into the world comes back to us. The energy at Sunday's Spring Festival could not have been more positive. The theme was CREATIVITY and our society connects us with many talented members who exhibited their creative spirit for everyone to enjoy.

Several individuals displayed their art and spoke of its personal significance. It takes courage to get in front of a crowd and share something so deeply personal. But with great risk comes great reward and we all grow closer to one other in the moments when we are vulnerable. When we are willing to dance, sing, speak, read and share in front of a crowd. Our society is filled with wonderful people who could not be more supportive and encouraging towards our members young and old who are willing to put themselves out there. Our society connects us to people who will join together to show fellowship and acceptance to one another.

Our unique geographical location affords us the opportunity to make a wide impact with our good deeds. Spring Festival marked the culmination of a Youth-led Conservation Service Project. We raffled off the milkweed seeds that were planted and nurtured by our Sunday School students over the past 3 weeks. The Sunday School learned in class about how we are interconnected to our environment. They discussed what is causing the decimation of pollinating insects and how its effects will be felt at our kitchen tables when we no longer have certain foods available to eat. Six lucky winners were able to take home a milkweed seedling from the festival to plant in their yard in order to assist in habitat restoration for our insect pollinators. Because our members live across several states in the Mid-Atlantic region, our conservation efforts can reach far and wide. Our society connects us to people who share our passion for taking care of our planet and all of its inhabitants.

Tradition also weaves our lives together. And Sunday's March of the Turtles and Snails was a prime example of this. Children in the Special Places class are taught a hands-on curriculum that explores basic needs, comfort, homes, and community. The class is taught through stories and the building of various homes. One of those homes are the shells of turtles and snails and the children get very excited about building their own cardboard shells and performing a small skit for the society. Especially touching this year was that two graduates of the Sunday School program were in attendance and shared their own happy memories of when they took this class and marched across the stage to Raffi's song “Slow Day”. Our society connects us to people who help us mark the passage of time thru the traditions we share.

This society connects us and I am so blessed to be a member of a diverse group of individuals that come together for fellowship, social action, community and expression.

Sunday School Update: Youth Led March Conservation Project

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 16:44:43 GMT

Spring is Coming! Daylight Savings Time went into effect last Sunday and the sun stays up longer in the evenings. My daffodils are blooming and the trees are budding. The robins with their big red, round & egg laiden bellys are gathering worms and building their nests. The whole world is preparing to awaken from its winter slumber. I love this time of year because it's so exciting to see everything “Spring” to life! This seasonal change is what inspired two of our youth to plan a Butterfly Conservation project for the Sunday School this March.

Please see below a Guest Blog from NoVES teens, Ananda Kalukin & Noah Crook:

Spring is fast approaching, and so are the millions of pollinators that call our region home at this time of year. These pollinators are responsible for feeding the world through pollination, and are integral parts of every ecosystem. However, many of these pollinators are dying off and it is critical that humanity prevents them from going extinct. We decided to come up with a Sunday School project in keeping with this time of growth and that would help, in some small way, these imperiled pollinators.

On March 18th, the students of the NoVES Sunday School will participate in a planting session. Each student will plant pollinator-friendly seeds in a pot, and then take the pot home. They will then raise the seeds until April 8th.

At Spring Festival, on April 8th, the students will bring back the seedlings and we will raffle them off to lucky NoVES attendees! If you receive seedlings, plant them outdoors so pollinators will have access to them.

With the help of an Ethical Society member, we have also chosen the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy for our charitable contribution. The LWC leads field trips and programs to educate people about conservation. They also provide citizen science data to various organizations to keep track of the health of Loudoun County Wildlife. The organization also participates in habitat restoration projects.

We will be supporting The Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy through the Sharing of Responsibility at Spring Festival. Learn more about this organization's work here: https://loudounwildlife.org/habitat-restoration/bringing-back-monarch/

Sunday School Update: 1 Month has passed!

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 23:49:18 GMT

Tomorrow marks my 1^st month on the job as your Director of Ethical Education. This month I have been settling into the rhythm of things. Remembering to lock the classroom doors, creating email distribution lists, brainstorming ideas and collecting some fresh paperwork from our Sunday School parents. I also took a day to visit our gone but never forgotten previous DEE and current member, Melissa Sinclair. Melissa and I had lunch and the Washington Ethical Society allowed me to sit in on some of their internal staff meetings. I guess you could say, my feet are officially wet!

In addition to the administrative side of this position, I will be scheduling some future events and workshops for our society families. Most imminent, I have arranged a group rate for us to attend the Cirque Du Soleil LUZIA show in Tysons Corner on May 6th. You can register to attend here: https://noves.org/event-2845795 Further into the future, I have been in contact with Rachel Bailey, a local parenting expert whose web class Tom and I took a couple of years ago. I found her program to be be exactly what our family needed and her approach was one of loving, self-esteem building guidance for our children, as opposed to shaming, yelling & corporal punishment. Her tactics are framed for the parent-child relationship, but her tools and tricks can help you navigate spousal relationships, grandparent-grandchild relationships, even platonic friendships. As I explained to her, “Rachel, you taught me how to make my son FEEL loved, not just BE loved” She has agreed to give a platform to NOVES in the beginning of our 2018-2019 society year and will follow it up with a 90 minute in-depth Saturday workshop. I am looking to assemble a team to pull off this large Adult Education class. If you are interested, please contact me or Jaime Argandona directly. I am hoping to take our assembled committee to see one of her other talks in the county this Spring before we begin to plan our own Fall Workshop. Please peruse her website and reach out to me if you can help. http://rachel-bailey.com/about/

Finally, I am pleased to report that our Sunday School Acts of Service are in full swing. After we completed the Kakenya's Valentine Project in early February, we moved onto holding a small Orange Ribbon Party for the Love Your Neighbor Campaign. The platform that Sunday was entitled, “What Being an American Means to Me”. We also had a new student join our Sunday School program that day who moved here all the way from Puerto Rico! Welcome to NOVES Amalia!! To reinforce the message of inclusion and acceptance to people of every race, creed, lifestyle and ability, our kids spent a few minutes before their classes making orange ribbons to tie on their mailboxes and wear on their shirts as a visual symbol of unity and equality. A table was set up after platform for the adult members to participate in the party too! If you wish to learn more about this grassroots movement, join me at an event this Monday, March 5^th in Leesburg, VA. Congr. Barbara Comstock and Atty. Gen. Mark Herring will be speaking. The event details can be found here: https://noves.org/event-2845622 The Sunday School Service Project for March has been placed in the hands of two of our teen youth. They have come up with a great concept and I will be sharing more details in a future blog post. Also, mark your calendars because our annual Stream Cleanup at the Ballanderson's is scheduled for April 22^nd. Our NOVES kids are exemplifying the message of Deed Before Creed this Spring!

Stay Tuned to this blog for more updates on what is happening with the youth of the Northern Virginia Ethical Society.

Sunday School Update: Valentines Day Service Project

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 19:39:30 GMT

I'd like to begin this post by taking a moment to thank everyone in our NOVES family for their voracious support of my hiring as the new Director of Ethical Education. I have received so many words of encouragement, congratulations and validation since the announcement was made at Winter Festival. Many of you took the time to personally congratulate me face to face, via email and by telephone. Your collective enthusiasm inspires me to do my very best for our kids!

My first official task as the DEE was to undertake the the Sunday School Service Project for February by creating and selling Valentines to benefit the Kakenya Center for Excellence. This project has been a tradition at NOVES for several years. Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya has previously spoken at NOVES about her dream and hopefully she will join us again in the future to share how she is seeing her dream become a reality. You can learn more about this organization here: https://www.kakenyasdream.org/our-work/

Step one in executing this service project was to have the kids create the art needed for the Valentines. After watching a video on the KCE and discussing the students thoughts and reactions, everyone settled down to draw. However, unbeknownst to me, there was a hidden gift awaiting me that day. I asked the children if they would like some background music and the room was unanimous: “only if its Imagine Dragons!” As I sat back and watched them work, they all began to softly sing together. Little voices lilting across the room and singing a song about believing in yourself and trusting that adversity makes you stronger. I will always smile to myself when I remember my “first day on the job” and being serenaded by the children of NOVES! The positivity of that day permeated the entire project. The members of NOVES were generous in their support of this service project and the Sunday School Valentines sale raised $228.00 for its charity. In addition, $332.00 was collected during the Sharing of Responsibility, bringing the total to $560.00 dollars raised for Kakenya's school!

I would like to close my first blog entry by thanking all of the people who have kept the Sunday School thriving despite not having a Director in place. Our teachers Iris, Heather W, Patrick, Julien, Kelly and Jaime are engaging and educating our kids every week. And the Sunday School Committee has kept this ship on course for over 6 months without a Captain! Thank you Heather W, Heather M, Marian, Jeff, and Randy.

Stay Tuned to this blog for more updates on what is happening with the youth of the Northern Virginia Ethical Society.