Our Whole Lives Human Sexuality Education

for 7th, 8th and 9th Graders and their Parents

Winter, 2020

 

Mandatory Organizing Meeting, for Adults only: Sunday, February 23 at 1 p.m..

Central Union Church, 1660 S. Beretania, Honolulu

 

Program: Saturdays, Feb 29 and May 16, Sundays, March 1 – May 10

Registration: OWL Application Registration 7-9 Grade Feb_May 2020

Return registration application form to OWL, at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, 2500 Pali Highway, Honolulu, HI 96817.  Or bring this form to the Parent Meeting on Sunday,  February 23, 2020.   If you have questions, please contact Nan Kleiber [nankleiber44@gmail.com], phone:  808 – 737 – 7544.  Registration will close after the Parent Meeting on Sunday,  February 23.

 

The topics included in the 7^th – 8^th – 9^th Grade OWL curriculum are: Sexuality, Values, Language, Anatomy and Physiology, Puberty, Body Image, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, Sexuality and Disability, Healthy Relationships, Relationship Skills, Sexuality, Social Media and the Internet, Bullying and Bystander Responsibilities, Abstinence, Lovemaking, Consent Education, Sexually Transmitted Infections, Pregnancy, Parenting and Teen Parenting, Unintended Pregnancy Options, Contraception and Safer Sex, Sexual Decision Making, Communicating with a Sexual Partner, and Self-Care!

 

Program Goals and Values

Our Whole Lives is a positive, comprehensive, and age-appropriate educational program that promotes sexual health and is informed by the guidelines of the Sexuality Information Council of the United States [SIECUS]. The curricula are based on four primary goals: to provide accurate, developmentally appropriate information; to increase self-esteem and understand relationships with and responsibilities toward others, to develop interpersonal skills including communication, decision making and problem solving, and to teach responsibility for personal health and safety.

Goals: Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education for Grades 7 ~ 9 is designed to help young adolescents:

•  Affirm and respect themselves as sexual persons, and respect the sexuality of others
• Increase comfort and skills for discussing and negotiating sexuality issues with others
• Explore, develop and articulate values, attitudes and feelings about sexuality
• Identify and live according to their values
• Increase motivation and skills for developing ajust sexual morality
• Acquire knowledge and skills for developing and maintaining healthy relationships
• Increase knowledge and skills for avoiding unintended pregnancy and STIs
• Express and enjoy sexuality in healthy and responsible age appropriate ways
• Assess the impact of messages from family, religion, culture on sexuality

Values: This program is designed for young people from a wide range of family backgrounds and religious traditions, and it is not value free.

• Self-worth: Every person is entitled to dignity and self-worth and to their own attitudes and beliefs about sexuality.
• Sexual Health: Knowledge about human sexuality is helpful, not harmful. Every person has the right to accurate information about sexuality and to have their questions answered.
• Responsibility: We are called to enrich our lives by expressing sexuality in ways that enhance human wholeness and fulfillment and that express love, commitment, delight and pleasure. All persons have the right and obligation to make responsible sexual choices.
• Justice and Inclusivity: We need to avoid double standards. People of all ages, sexual identities, races, ethnicities, genders, backgrounds income levels, physical and mental abilities and sexual orientations myst be equally valued and have equal rights. Sexual relatinships should never be coercive or exploitive.

 

Where does the Our Whole Lives program come from?

This curriculum is one of the seven programs in the Our Whole Lives lifespan sexuality education series published jointly by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. Although the Our Whole Lives curricula were developed by two religious organizations, the programs are completely secular and free of specific religious doctrine or reference. Other curricula in this series are available for Kindergarten – 1st Grade, 4^th –  6^th Grade, 10^th –  12^th  Grade and Young Adults and Adults and Older Adluts. The title, Our Whole Lives, expresses our belief that sexuality education is a lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and values about identity and relationships, intimacy and health. [From the Introduction to the Leaders’ Guide]

 

Program Facilitators

The folks who lead the OWL programs are dedicated volunteers who receive special training on how to facilitate these classes. The programs are always facilitated by a team of volunteers, some of whom work with the children and some with parents.

 

Questions?

If you have questions about this OWL program, please contact Nan Kleiber by phone at

808-737-7544, or even better, via email:  nankleiber44@gmail.com.