Southie Spiritual Children's Class
Ages 0–11, four parallel tracks (toddler, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3)
When Sundays, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Where South Boston
RSVP: info@bostonbahais.orgValues-based character education · Weekly classes
Character classes for children in Boston
Weekly values-based classes for kids ages 0–11 in South Boston and Jamaica Plains. Non-denominational, free, and open to families of every faith and none.
Character education in Boston
Character classes in your Boston neighborhood
Two character classes for children meet weekly in Boston neighborhoods — South Boston on Sunday mornings and Jamaica Plains on Saturday mornings. Both meet in homes or community spaces, not in a religious building. Families walk over, drop off, or stay to connect with other parents while their kids learn.
Each class focuses on a single virtue — kindness, honesty, generosity, patience — through stories, songs, art, and cooperative games. The values-based curriculum comes from the Ruhi Institute, an educational nonprofit that began decades ago in rural Colombia and now reaches communities worldwide. Children learn that good character isn't an accident: it's something you practice, the same way you practice reading or math.
The program is non-denominational and free. Most families in the Boston classes are not Baha'i; many describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. The classes treat kids' spiritual development the way schools treat their cognitive development — something that needs intentional support, taught through experience rather than doctrine.
Active groups
Currently meeting
Jamaica Plains Children's Class
Ages 4–6
When Sundays, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Where Jamaica Plains
RSVP: info@bostonbahais.orgIn the neighborhood
Virtues that build a neighborhood
Classes meet in living rooms, community centers, and parks across Boston. The setting is familiar and intimate, never institutional.
Parents stay to connect while children learn. Over weeks and months, families who started as strangers become part of each other's lives. The class becomes the kind of neighborhood many parents wish they had grown up in.
The Baha'i community in Boston believes character education isn't only a family project — it's a neighborhood project. Children learn alongside their actual neighbors, the kids they'll see at the playground and in school.
Find a class near you
Common questions
Questions Boston parents ask
Which Boston neighborhoods have kids character classes?
Two regular classes run in Boston: one in South Boston (Sunday mornings) and one in Mission Park/Roxbury Crossing (Saturday mornings). If you're in a different neighborhood — Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, the South End, Back Bay, Allston, Brighton — tell us and we'll connect you with the closest active class, or help start one in your area if there's interest.
Are there weekend classes for kids?
Yes — both Boston classes meet on weekends. Weekend timing is intentional - it lets the entire family come by to participate.
What is character education, and what does it look like in practice?
Character education is the deliberate teaching of virtues — kindness, honesty, generosity, patience, justice — alongside the academic subjects kids learn in school. In our Boston classes, each weekly session focuses on a single virtue and explores it through a story, an art project, songs, and a cooperative game. Children memorize a short quotation and take home a coloring page so families can continue the conversation through the week. Classes run 60 to 90 minutes.
Is this a values-based or moral education program?
Yes. The curriculum is explicitly values-based moral education. Each lesson centers on a single moral quality — kindness, honesty, generosity, justice, patience, truthfulness — and gives children practical ways to recognize and practice it. The focus is on the universal virtues that show up in every tradition and culture, not on doctrine.
How does the program support kids' spiritual development?
The classes treat children's spiritual development as something that needs intentional support, the way cognitive development needs school and physical development needs exercise. Kids learn that they have a spiritual nature — that qualities like kindness and generosity are capacities of the soul, not just good habits — and that those qualities can be deliberately cultivated. The atmosphere is reverent without being doctrinal.
Is this program religious or non-denominational?
Non-denominational. The curriculum draws on Baha'i teachings but the virtues themselves — kindness, honesty, generosity, justice — are universal and appear in every faith tradition. Children are not asked to identify as Baha'i, accept any belief, or convert. Most families in the Boston program are not Baha'i. Parents of any faith or none are welcome.
What ages do the classes serve?
Ages 0 through 11, broken into four tracks: toddlers (0–3, caregivers stay), grade one (4–5), grade two (6–8), and grade three (9–11). The South Boston class runs all four tracks in parallel; the Mission Park class runs 4–11. When kids age out at 12, they're invited into the teen program.
How much does it cost?
Free. Always. There are no fees, no materials cost, no fundraising, and no donations expected.
Get started
Find a class for your child in Boston
Tell us a little about your family and which Boston neighborhood you live in. We'll connect you with the closest class and walk you through what to expect on the first visit.
A real person will follow up within a few days.