Extracurricular activities at Children's Meeting House are as varied as our families interests. In fact, our afterschool activiites are almost always parent initiated and parent run. Our children have had the opportunity to participate in  Chess, Running Club, Outdoor Club and Soccer, to name a few.

Parents present an outline of the program, other families are surveyed about their interest in participating and if there is sufficient interest, the activity is scheduled. All of the parents hosting an afterschool activity follow the Montessori principles of respect and inclusion with the children in their group.

The benefits of chess have been recognized for hundreds of years. Perhaps most famously, Benjamin Franklin wrote in his essay The Morals of Chess, "By playing at Chess, then, we may learn, foresight ... circumspection ... caution, and ... the habit of not being discouraged ... and ... of persevering in the search of resources." Franklin goes on to describe the virtues of good sportsmanship that chess helps develop.

It is increasingly recognized that playing chess helps students become better students. CMH is pleased to offer its students a chess program that meets after school once a week. This program combines focused instruction, feedback to help students track their improvement, and ample time for playing games in an informal “tournament” setting. All interested Junior and Senior students, regardless of skill level, are invited and encouraged to participate — including those who have never played a game of chess. (Advanced Pre-Primary students may participate at the instructor’s discretion.)

There is a fee for participating in this program, but otherwise participants are not required to provide anything. Detailed information about the program is distributed to the CMH community at the beginning of each school semester.