As we prepare to launch our new program year in September, the Lifespan Learning team is working to develop curriculum for not only our Sunday morning programs, but for our additional programs as well. One of these programs is the Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality education program (see program description below). While this curriculum is available for a variety of ages, we are focusing on the program for our 11-14 year-old youth for next year.
The OWL program takes a lot of dedication; the program, in full, would run from the first week of October until the first week of May, with breaks for holidays. It is essential to the success of this program that the youth involved are committed to being there for every session. However, we do understand that a few absences over the course of the program might be necessary.
We hope to run this program on Sunday evenings from 6pm-7:30pm. I am asking parents to consider the following question and would like to hear back from parents no later than Friday July 22nd so that we may start planning the finer details of our programming:
Are you interested in the OWL sexuality education program for your youth during the 2011-2012 program year?
"Yes":
-Do Sunday evenings work for you and your family?
-Would you be willing to help with some of the organization for this program (snack provider, help with celebration dinner in May, participate in a UU parenting group that would meet at the same time)
- Please provide the name(s) and age(s) of your child(ren)
"Yes, but..." OR "I'm not quite sure..."
- I am available to meet with parents who would like to take a look at the curriculum or to answer other questions. Please contact me to schedule a meeting. Also, there will be an OWL parent orientation meeting in early September.
- Please let me know if there are obstacles in your life which might prevent a full participation in this program. There are adjustments that can be made in the presentation of the program that may help!
"No":
-Let us know why!
Please email your responses to: Director-lifespanlearning@uuflint.org or feel free to arrange a time to meet with me!
In Faith,
Amy Peterson Derrick
Director of Lifespan Learning
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From the UUA Website:
Our Whole Lives helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality,Our Whole Lives not only provides facts about anatomy and human development, but also helps participants clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality.
Our Whole Lives uses approaches that work. The curricula are based on the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education produced by the National Guidelines Task Force, a group of leading health, education, and sexuality professionals assembled by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
Our Whole Lives covers topics and skills that both parents and students want to have available but schools are less likely to cover. The Kaiser Family Foundation has an interesting report on this subject called "Sex Education in America: A View from Inside the Nation's Classrooms." New national surveys are challenging the convention that Americans are reluctant to have sexual health issues taught in school, the surveys show that most parents, along with educators and students themselves, would expand sex education courses and curriculum.
The Our Whole Lives values are:
Self Worth
Sexual Health
Responsibility
Justice and Inclusivity
Each level of Our Whole Lives offers:
Up-to-date information and honest, age-appropriate answers to all participants' questions
Activities to help participants clarify values and improve decision-making skills
Effective group-building to create a safe and supportive peer group
Education about sexual abuse, exploitation, and harassment
Opportunities to critique media messages about gender and sexuality
Acceptance of diversity
Encouragement to act for justice
A well designed, teacher-friendly leaders' guide
Parent orientation programs that affirm parents as the primary sexuality educators of their children
Sexuality and Our Faith, an optional religious component for Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ settings.
Our Whole Lives is appropriate for use in a variety of congregational, school, and community settings, including classrooms, after-school programs, and youth groups. Although developed by two religious organizations, Our Whole Lives contains no religious references or doctrine. Religious references are provided in a Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ companion publication, Sexuality and Our Faith.
Our Whole Lives helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality,Our Whole Lives not only provides facts about anatomy and human development, but also helps participants clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality.
Our Whole Lives uses approaches that work. The curricula are based on the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education produced by the National Guidelines Task Force, a group of leading health, education, and sexuality professionals assembled by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
Our Whole Lives covers topics and skills that both parents and students want to have available but schools are less likely to cover. The Kaiser Family Foundation has an interesting report on this subject called "Sex Education in America: A View from Inside the Nation's Classrooms." New national surveys are challenging the convention that Americans are reluctant to have sexual health issues taught in school, the surveys show that most parents, along with educators and students themselves, would expand sex education courses and curriculum.
The Our Whole Lives values are:
Self Worth
Sexual Health
Responsibility
Justice and Inclusivity
Each level of Our Whole Lives offers:
Up-to-date information and honest, age-appropriate answers to all participants' questions
Activities to help participants clarify values and improve decision-making skills
Effective group-building to create a safe and supportive peer group
Education about sexual abuse, exploitation, and harassment
Opportunities to critique media messages about gender and sexuality
Acceptance of diversity
Encouragement to act for justice
A well designed, teacher-friendly leaders' guide
Parent orientation programs that affirm parents as the primary sexuality educators of their children
Sexuality and Our Faith, an optional religious component for Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ settings.
Our Whole Lives is appropriate for use in a variety of congregational, school, and community settings, including classrooms, after-school programs, and youth groups. Although developed by two religious organizations, Our Whole Lives contains no religious references or doctrine. Religious references are provided in a Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ companion publication, Sexuality and Our Faith.
