Owl Whole Lives (OWL)
NEW! A Parents' Awareness Meeting will be offered August 22, 2010, to answer your questions about this program which is being offered at the Unitarian Universalist Society. If you wish to attend, please reserve your lunch and child care by August 15, 2010, at 916-483-9283 Ext 207 or by email to miranda@uuss.org Click here to for information and reservation.
Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a series of sexuality education curricula for different age groups. At the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento (UUSS), the Religious Education (RE) department offers three different OWL programs to young people; one for youth in grades 4 and 5, one for those in grades 7 and 8 and another for youth in grades 10 and 11. All three of these programs are taught by a team of trained, dedicated and experienced OWL teachers who are responsible adult members of the UUSS congregation.
OWL helps teens make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips them 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 provides not only facts about anatomy and human development, but helps youth to 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).
OWL 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
- Self Worth
- Sexual Health
- Responsibility
- Justice and Inclusiveness
Each level of OWL offers
- Current information and honest, age-appropriate answers to all students’ questions
- Activities to help youth 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
Parent orientation programs that affirm parents as the primary sexuality educators of their children
A commitment and ability to attend all sessions is expected for all registrants. All OWL courses require parent/guardian attendance at an advance parent orientation session and signed parent/guardian approval.
For more information about OWL programs at UUSS please contact Rev. Roger Jones, Family Minister, at 483-9283 Ext 203 / roger@uuss.org or Sally Lewis, RE Teen Program Liaison at 646-3410.
More information about the Our Whole Lives programs please go to the Unitarian Universalist Association website at http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/frequentlyasked/index.shtml