Beacon Hill Friends Meeting
Beacon Hill Friends Meeting is an inclusive Quaker religious community in Boston that affirms the value of all people inclusive of race, nationality, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Welcome to our Children’s Program!
Beacon Hill Friends Meeting (BHFM) strives to be a welcoming place for parents and children.
During every meeting, child care for the youngest is provided. To find the child care room, head straight back, past the BHFM kitchen, or ask anyone to show you the way.
Children in elementary school meet twice a month at 10:45 in the parlor (from the main entrance from the street, turn left). The First Day* School (FDS) schedule is posted on our calendar page.
We encourage you and your children to participate in Meeting for Worship before FDS so that the children have some experience of Meeting for Worship with their parents and the community. If this is the first time your child is attending FDS, you may want to escort your child to the classroom. You are welcome to stay with your child in the classroom or check in later.
High school age children do not meet for First Day School. We encourage high school age youth to attend Meeting for Worship and/or to participate in the Boston Quaker Youth Group, which meets monthly at rotating locations in the greater Boston area and includes teenagers from several Quaker meetings. The group also organizes potlucks periodically for parents to build a network of support around parenting Quaker teens. Dates are posted on the BHFM calendar. For questions or to RSVP, contact: bostonquakeryouth@gmail.com
We've also provided links to other Quaker programs for youth below.
If your family plans to attend Meeting regularly, please email Margy Carpenter with:
your child’s name and age
your name, phone number, and email address
any allergies or special needs
Instructors are volunteers from our meeting, usually parents themselves, and are recruited and coordinated by the Young People's Ministry and Education committee (YoPME).
If you have questions about children's programs, or Friends more generally, members of YoPME would be glad to talk with you immediately following any Meeting for Worship, or you can reach out to us via email:
Margy Carpenter, Clerk (margycarp@yahoo.com)
Laura Sylvan (lesylvan@mac.com)
Janet Ackerman (janet.ackerman@gmail.com)
Helpful Links for Parents
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, the Quaker body for all of New England, has monthly weekend retreats for youth from grades 2 through 12 as well as for young adults age 18-35ish.
Friends Camp is a residential Quaker summer camp near Augusta, Maine.
Cambridge Friends School is a private Quaker day school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Helpful Links for Volunteers
New England Yearly Meeting Quaker Youth Education Committee has resources and cirricula for First Day School programs and teaching youth about Quakerism, religion, and spirituality. To subscribe to their newsletter, contact Beth Collea at recoord@neym.org.
Friends General Conference, an organization that serves Quakers across the United States, has resources for children.
Cambridge Friends School has a downloadable book where they discuss their faith and practice, which includes advices and queries on testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship.
Friends Council on Education, an organization that nurtures Friends Schools, maintains an on-line library of resources for Quaker Renewal and Growth in Friends Schools.
* Why "First Day"? Early Quakers were very concerned with speaking truthfully and avoiding even the suggestion of idolatry. Historically, the names of the days of the week in English do come from old deities: "Thor's Day" became Thursday. To avoid this, they numbered the days of the week in line with the account of creation in Genesis, beginning with the first day, Sunday, and continuing to the seventh day, Saturday, the Sabbath. These days we generally don't use the traditional Quaker nomenclature, but sometimes in Quaker settings we do.