Welcome to Our Whole Lives for Junior High Students

OWL supports parents in educating children about respect, relationships and responsibility. Following a Parent Meeting and Parent/Child Orientation, the 27 class sessions engage children with discussions and games focused on gaining the knowledge, values, and skills to lead sexually healthy, responsible lives.

This curriculum is designed to help young adolescents:

• Affirm and respect themselves as sexual persons and respect the sexuality of others (including the human diversity of bodies, orientation, and feelings).
• Increase comfort and skills for discssing and negotiating sexuality issues with peers, romantic partners, and people of other generations.

Why is sexuality education offered in a religious setting?

• The UUCUV respects and celebrates life in all its diversity
• We believe that our bodies and our sexuality are sacred.

Topics include:

• Values
• Body Awareness
• Gender and Diversity
• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
• Relationships
• Lovemaking
• Parenthood
• Responsible Sexual Behavior
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Abuse of Sexuality

This class teaches that it is much healthier for young adolescents to postpone sexual intimacy.

This intensive class will begin on January 5th at 3 PM with an orientation session for all students and parents. Classes will continue from 3 to 5 PM on Sundays with one or two sleepovers and no class on Easter. Please contact Sparrow to ask more about OWL and to register.

Parents are welcome to purchase their own copies of Our Whole Lives http://www.uua.org/bookstore from the UUA bookstore and to discuss the topics of the sessions with teachers and fellow parents.

OWL for grades 7 - 9 will be taught this year by Lori Harriman, a scientist and school teacher who loves helping kids find beauty in nature and themselves, and Sparrow F. Alden, a religious educator who enjoys creating learning experiences for non-traditional learners. Lori and Sparrow have led OWL together before - we count on a great deal of laughter and community building in this class!

Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality and spanning the ages, the Our Whole Lives program equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information and helps participants to clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality. Find out more about OWL from the UUA website.