Children's Summer Day Camp
for children ages 8 through 13
begins August 1st 2011.
CAMP PROPHETOLOGY has completed for summer 2011.
We look forward to another interfaith experience for our children in the summer of 2012!
Read a summary of the summer activities here.
View photos from our experience here.
Here is a daily summary shared by Director Tsukina Blessing:
WEEK 3 "ROOTS & BRANCHES" NATURE RELIGIONS TODAY Aug. 15-19, 2011
DAY 1 -- Pictures available here
DAY 2 -- Tuesday, August 16th:
Today: watching a little sumo, learning how to go to a shinto shrine, then field trip - Grand Tsubaki Shinto Shrine, lunch at the Nishiyama Japanese garden in Everett, and scrapbooking. Plus, we listed to Dreams of Rio in the car & learned about Candomble.
DAY 3 -- Wednesday, August 17th:
Morning slideshows on goddess worship and shinto, making mojo bags and studying goddess worship with Lila Reyes Rapcewicz and a ritual to bless them and amulets (YAY Lila!), a short film on Vodou in Haiti, and a slideshow on Ifa, Santeria/Lucumi & Candomble.What a lovely day - stories, songs, dances, slideshow & quiz game from the Ifa and Santeria/Lucumi traditions with Iya (priestess) Falana, Ricardo on drums, Patty dancing. Then, a procession to Ballard Corners park to make an offering to Eshu/Ellegua, and afterwards crafts to get in touch with the orishas.
DAY 4 - Thursday, August 18th:
Watched the film Shadow of the Salmon & Coast Salish slideshow, had a meditation with cedar branches, listened to stories with Johnny Moses and went to visit the Duwamish Longhouse. We were recommended to write to Congress to help get their federal tribal recognition.
DAY 5 - Friday, August 19th:
The last day of camp - The kids created a ritual to banish bad feelings, vibes, and entities and to invite good energies. Karen Lindquist talked to us about the spirit of interfaith and Interfaith Community Church. Scrapbooks, park time, and holy cooking with Qi Gong. And a party with parent visits. And now, I'm ready for a long nap, but first some cleanup!
WEEK 2 "WORLD of DHARMA" Aug. 8-12, 2011
DAY 1 -- Monday August 8th:
We had a short history of Hinduism slideshow with sacred readings, a Krishna dance and a Salute to the Sun yoga, we read How Ganesh Got His Elephant Head and discussed how to avoid jumping to conclusions, and then a field trip to Traveler's Tea Company for ladoos, followed by a short puja for the Durga altar.
DAY 2 - Tuesday August 9th:
Awesome field-trip day - great stories at the Hindu Temple with a sweet lady whose name I missed, and lunch (prasadem) and teachings from Khalsawant Babaji and other folks at the Gurudwara. We listened to Hindu devotional music on the way out to Bothell, and Sikh chants on the way back to church, and then we drew big yantras in sidewalk chalk out front!
DAY 3 - Wednesday August 10th:
Today, we had an awesome mental visit to the zoo doing yoga with Angelika, and then a slideshow on Buddhism. After lunch, we worked on scrapbooks, looked at the giant picture book of Buddhist thangkas, played the reincarnation game of the 6 realms, and looked at a picture book of the Dalai Lama giving the Kalachakra initiation with the beautiful sand painting.
DAY 4 - Thursday August 11th:
Great fieldtrip day - Vietnamese Amida Buddha temple, Loving Hut for lunch (not strictly Buddhist, but veg), the Buddhist Dharma Supplies & Repair store, and then Choeizan Enkyoji Nichiren Buddhist Temple for a great service, tea and sweets, and a discussion on how Buddhism will integrate into America.
DAY 5 - Friday August 12th:
A day of "rest" from camp, since half the kids are out of town - 40 books back to King County library & 15 back to Seattle, boxed up the new set out of the living room floor, return the Hindu & Buddhist altar stuff to its home, and out come the Shinto, NW Native and Goddess altar things. Uploading photos, printing out pictures for scrapbooks, reviewing movie clips. Phone calls to set up visits.
WEEK 1 "ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN" Aug. 1-5, 2011
DAY 1 -- Monday August 1st:
Blessings of the beautiful month of Ramadan to all!
An awesome first day of camp - beautiful pictures the kids did, and they were very patient for slideshows of of the Abrahamic religions.
DAY 2 - Tuesday August 2nd:
Today's adventures - a visit to the Islamic Community of Bosniaks in Washington Mosque in Shoreline with Imam Abdulah Polovina, and an afternoon visit to St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ballard with Tim, the faith formation director. We learned how to do rakats of prayer and genuflection, and everyone in camp got interviewed for Al-hurra satellite television to appear in 23 Middle Eastern Countries.
DAY 3 - Wednesday August 3rd:
We constructed a labyrinth on the floor of the sanctuary with string and tape. The kids made up games for it. Pastor Ken came to talk about religion as a way of working toward a win-win situation for everyone, and we played a game that demonstrated that, and he sang a great song about Jesus serving.
DAY 4 - Thursday August 4th:
Another gorgeous day at camp. The kids played in the labyrinth they built yesterday, Michael gave a slideshow on the history of sacred spaces from 30,000ya to the middle ages and we drew our own sacred spaces. And then Rabbi Olivier came from Bet Alef with a 300-year-old torah and its equally old jewelry! If only I'd remembered to take pictures - I was so enchanted with the Torah I forgot I had the camera in my pocket.
DAY 5 - Friday August 5th:
The end of an awesome week! Someone came to talk about the Baha'i faith, we said goodbye to the labyrinth in the sanctuary and unmade it, and had a party with festival foods of the 4 religions we studied and a short dervish turning ceremony.
Oh, yeah, we also looked up everybody's Bar or Bat Mitzvah torah portion and listened to cantors singing them.
***Tuition reduction for summer 2011: $120 per session (per week) and $300 for all three sessions (for all three weeks.)
We will meet from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm Monday through Friday in three sessions August 1 through 19.
Groups will be small with a maximum of 8 youth per adult and two adults available at at all times.
August 1-5: Abraham's Children ~ Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and more...
August 8 - 12: World of Dharma ~ Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism
August 15 - 19: Roots & Branches ~ "Nature Religions" today
Through field trips, visiting presenters, discussion, stories, crafts & games we will explore the beliefs and practices of several religions each week. Children Summer Day Campers are invited to participate respectfully in worship activities as appropriate.
Children Summer Day Campers of all religious backgrounds and of no particular religious background are welcome. The staff, guest presenters, and field trip guides make no attempt to proselytize on behalf of any religious, spiritual, or secular viewpoint.
Our mission comes from the Charter for Compassion: to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures, and to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity.
"All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth." - Mohandas Gandhi
Please view website: http://prophetology.us.
The teachers, Tuskina and Michael, will be available to visit spiritual communities and schools to offer short talks or full lessons from the curriculum.
You can contact us via email at CampProphetology (at) gmail (dot) com or via phone at 206-683-2126.
Please help us get the word out, and share this invitation with families near you so all know they are welcome!