For over 10 years, Our Whole Lives (OWL) has been a cornerstone in our religious education programming at UUSS. OWL honors sexuality as a part of our human experience and provides age-appropriate information. Healthy sexuality education in the context of Unitarian Universalism offers a safe and open forum for people to make wise and moral decisions regarding relationships.
Teachers who lead the class are trained specifically to teach OWL for their grade level. They attend a 15 -hour training in order to be certified.
This year our RE program is re-committing itself to OWL and will offer additional classes. We will offer two of our OWL classes on a weeknight evening. There is a brochure you can pick up at church, or you can access a pdf brochure through the website here.
Briefly, we will offer an eight-session OWL for grades K/1 in January/February 2015. We will offer an eight-session OWL for grades 5/6, October - December, 2014. We will offer a 27-session OWL for grades 7/8, October, 2014 - May 2015, TUESDAY EVENINGS. And, brand new to UUSS, we will offer a 12-session OWL for grades 11/12, February - April 2015, TUESDAY evenings.
There will be regular RE programming Sunday mornings for youth in grades 7/8 and for senior youth in grades 9-12. Because of the nature of OWL and the length of the program for 7th and 8th graders, youth and their parents need to commit to the entire program and we can not allow youth to join midway. But the nature of our religious community is that people discover UUSS and begin attending throughout the year. Offering OWL on a Tuesday evening allows us to be welcoming on Sunday mornings for all ages.
There will be a general OWL informational session held at UUSS Thursday evening, September 11 from 7-8:15 PM. Additionally, parents with children who are eligible for OWL programs will receive a letter with information on an orientation specific to their child(ren)'s class and led by the OWL facilitators.
